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RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims provisional priority to United States Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/387,158, filed 6 Jun. 2002.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] This invention relates to a method of drilling and completing a well.
[0004] More particularly, this invention relates to a method for placing a means of communication between an injection zone and the well borehole without perforating and gravel packing. The method focuses on improving the reliability over current methods of sand control used in injection wells and will also reduce time, improve safety, and reduce costs.
[0005] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0006] The need for reliable injection well completions crosses industry boundaries. Highly corrosive or toxic industrial wastes from chemical plants, fluids from mining operations, water from hydrocarbon production, and cooling water from power plants can be safely disposed of in subterranean formations. However, the injection well completions these wastes are injected into need to be reliable to ensure the safety of employees, surrounding communities, and the environment. Also, reliability is required to ensure that production of chemicals, minerals, and energy can continue without interruption should an injection well completion failure occur. The cost of a failed injection well can be very high, not just in financial terms, but in terms of human and environmental risk. Because of the tangible and intangible costs associated with an injection well failure, it is important that injection wells be as reliable as possible. Also, it is important to seek ways to reduce the time spent on injection well construction and completion operations to minimize cost. Also, if the number of personnel and the amount of equipment can be reduced during injection well completion operations safety inherently improves.
[0007] Many injection zones are by their very nature weak or unconsolidated rock and/or sandstone. These weak formations contain formation particles and other debris which can slough into the well borehole and negatively affect the injectivity of the well. There has been much effort and focus on preventing formation sloughing in production wells. Water wells and hydrocarbon production wells have been the primary focus of study in regard to sand production or formation sloughing. The same means of preventing formation sloughing in production wells have been applied to injection wells throughout the years.
[0008] One common method of injection well construction and completion is to install a gravel pack to control formation sloughing. A gravel pack is a two stage filter that consists of a sized screen and sized sand. The sized sand stops sloughing of the formation matrix and the screen keeps the sized sand in place. A typical method would be to drill a borehole with conventional drilling fluids, run casing into the borehole and cement the casing in place, displace the conventional drilling fluids with a clear brine, filter the brine and clean the borehole, run perforating guns in the well and perforate the casing, remove the perforating guns and re-clean the casing, re-filter to the clear brine fluids, run in the well with a gravel pack screen assembly, use high-pressure pumps place sized sand between the sized screen assembly out into the perforation tunnels and against the formation face and filling the annulus between the sized screen and casing. This is a costly, time-consuming process.
[0009] There are many disadvantages from the above procedure. These disadvantages can be broken into two categories; equipment and process reliability. There have been instances where leaks have caused perforating guns to low order detonate resulting in no or poor perforating performance and expensive fishing operations to remove the damaged perforating gun bodies. Also, sized screens have failed during the high-pressure pumping operation used to place the sized sand around the screen causing additional fishing operations.
[0010] Formation damage is also a problem during injection with this type of injection well construction and completion. Conventional drilling fluids can allow filtrate and solid particles to invade the formation causing restrictions in the productive pore spaces. Another source of formation damage is the shaped charges or explosives used in perforating. The energy from these explosives pushes the casing, cement, and formation aside when creating the perforation tunnel. This causes crushing of the formation matrix reducing the permeability and limiting flow potential of injected fluids into the formation.
[0011] Another common method of injection well construction and completion is to drill a borehole and not run casing across the productive formation. This type of well construction is termed barefoot or openhole. The most common practice is to run a sized screen assembly in the openhole section and place sized sand around the screen filling the area between the screen and the formation face. The large increase in formation surface area available to accept fluid in an openhole helps improve injectivity in these types of completions when compared to cased and perforated completions.
[0012] In both openhole and cased hole completions the sized screen assembly itself can serve as the restriction in the well borehole. This may cause unnecessary pressure drops which restrict injection. Also, the sized screen may need to be removed for remedial operations. The process of removing an object from a well borehole is called fishing. These operations are costly and time consuming and not always successful resulting in a need to re-drill a portion of, or possibly the entire well. When hazardous wastes have been injected into the well, fishing can prove to be a hazard to the workers, community, and environment. Reliability is a key driver for injection well design and completion.
[0013] Keeping in mind that the methods described above were developed for production operations, the question of reliability in injection wells becomes a big issue. In the production environment, the fluid flows from the productive formation, any sloughing or movement of formation material is retained by the sized sand which in turn is retained by the sized screen. This combination yields a reliable means of preventing the formation material from sloughing into the well borehole. However, in the injection mode, fluid moves from the well borehole, through the sized screen, through the sized sand, and into the formation. If the sized sand is pumped away from the sized screen, formation material is free to move into the well borehole through the sized screen. There are several possible mechanisms which would cause the size sand to be displaced from the sized screen.
[0014] In both types of completions, openhole and cased hole, formation damage can restrict injection into the well. The may also be times when it is desirable to inject larger volumes of fluids into the well at high injection rates. If the desired injection rate and pressure exceeds the formation fracture pressure, the formation matrix parts and a fissure opens. When the formation is fractured, the surface area of the injection zone increases along the part or fracture face. This allows the fluid to enter the formation at the desired pump in rate. A detrimental side effect of fracturing the formation is that the sized sand, which was placed around the screen as an essential component of the gravel pack filter, is pumped away from the screen into the fissure which developed as the formation matrix is fractured. When this occurs the formation can slough into the well borehole through the sized screen.
[0015] Acid is sometimes used in injection wells to improve fluid infectivity into a formation. The acid can, in some cases, dissolve enough of the formation matrix to allow the sized sand to be pumped a way from the screen allowing formation material to enter the well borehole. In some cases the injected fluid being pumped into the well borehole causes a redistribution of the formation matrix which can cause the formation matrix to compact or rearrange in such a manner as to allow the sized sand to be pumped away from the sized screen. Any operation which causes the slightest void in the sized sand can lead to formation sloughing and loss of injectivity into the well.
[0016] Devices which eliminate perforating and gravel packing have been introduced for application in hydrocarbon production wells. U.S. Pat. No. 3,347,317 to Zandmer disclosed an extendable duct with solid particles acting as a gravel pack median. W09626350 to Johnson disclosed an extendable. These devices have not been widely used in hydrocarbon production. These devices trap drilling mud filter cake between the sand control filter media and formation face which limit productivity due to plugging of the formation and filter media. In another invention targeting hydrocarbon production, U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,424 to Reinhardt disclosed no gravel pack median is used in these extendable ducts. These devices have not been adopted as an accepted practice in the hydrocarbon production because of poor productivity when applied in production wells.
[0017] For injection wells poor injectivity can be overcome by exceeding the fracture pressure of the formation as injection rate requirements dictate. By applying a preformed perforation which contains a high strength filter material, sized to prevent formation sloughing, injection well reliability will be greatly improved.
[0018] Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method of injection well construction and completion that reliably prevents the formation from sloughing into the injection well borehole, while eliminating internal diameter restrictions associated with the sized screens.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0019] The present invention provides a method of injection well construction and completion including the steps of drilling a productive interval or formation and positioning a laterally extendable assembly containing a filter media on a casing so that when the casing is run the extendable assembly is aligned with an injection zone. The method also includes the steps of extending the member so that it comes into direct contact with the injection zone of the productive interval, running production tubing/equipment into the well and injecting fluids into and through the extendable assemblies and into the injection zone of the productive formation of the well. The method may further include steps to cement the casing prior to injecting into the well.
[0020] The present invention provides a fluid system for injection well completion includes a borehole drilled into an injection zone of a productive internal or formation and a casing including an extendable assembly run into the borehole so that the extendable assembly is positioned adjacent a site in the interval and extends to directly contact a face of the formation at the site form an injection conduit, where the member includes a filter media within an extendable portion of the extendable assembly. The system also includes production tubing and equipment and a fluid supply system, where the fluid supply system is adapted to inject an injection fluid through the conduits in the interval. Preferably, the casing includes a plurality of extendable assemblies, each member positioned adjacent a site in the interval and extended to form a conduit between an interior of the casing and the formation through which fluids can flow. Preferably, the injection fluid is a fluid having an injection pressure below the fracture pressure of the formation; these fluids, which are used in hydrocarbon production well construction for drilling openhole horizontal wells, are a class of drilling fluids known as “Drill-In Fluids”. Conventional fluids drilling fluids maybe used; however, in most cases, the injection pressure for these fluids exceeds an injection zone fracture pressures.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0021] The invention can be better understood with reference to the following detailed description together with the appended illustrative drawings in which like elements are numbered the same:
[0022] FIG. 1 is a schematic illustrating drilling an injection well to a point above the anticipated injection zones.
[0023] FIG. 2 is a schematic that represents drilling through the injection zone with a “Drill-In Fluid”. Also shown are logging while drilling tools which can be used to determine the depth and length of injection zones.
[0024] FIG. 3 is a schematic that illustrates running the extendable devices on the casing and positioning them across from the injection zone.
[0025] FIG. 4 is a schematic that illustrates extending the devices to contact the formation face and centralize the casing.
[0026] FIG. 5 illustrates the casing been cemented into place.
[0027] FIG. 6 is a schematic of the well in an injection mode.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0028] The inventor has developed anew injection well construction and completion method and system involving drilling into a productive formation and positioning within the productive formation a casing including at least one and preferably a plurality of extendable assemblies. After positioning the casing so that the extendable assemblies are within the productive formation and especially within an injection zone of the productive formation, the members are extended so that the distal end of the members come into direct contact with a face of the formation. Once the members are extended, the casing can be cemented in and production tubing/equipment can be run into the well. A fluid can then be pumped into the tubing so that it is forced out through the extended member into the injection zone of the productive formation.
[0029] The present invention broadly relates to a method of injection well construction and completion including the steps of drilling a borehole into a productive interval or formation and positioning a casing including at least one laterally extendable assembly having a filter media so that the extendable assemblies can be extended forming conduits into an injection zone of the formation. The method also includes the steps of extending the members so that they come into direct contact with a formation face of the injection zone of the productive interval, running production tubing/equipment into the borehole and injecting fluids into the tubing, through the extendable assemblies and into the injection zone of the productive formation. The method may further include the step of cementing the casing prior to injecting fluids into the well.
[0030] The present invention also broadly relates to a system for a completed injection zone including a borehole including an interval within a productive formation and a casing having at least one extendable assembly run into the borehole, where the members are positioned within the interval and extended to form conduits between the casing and the interval by having a distal end of each of the members makes direct contact with a face of the formation at sites within the interval. The system also includes production tubing and equipment and a fluid supply system, where the fluid supply system is adapted to inject an injection fluid through the conduits in the interval.
[0031] Suitable injections fluids including, without limitation, any fluid capable of being injected into a well. Although conventional drilling fluids can be used, in most cases, the pressures needed to inject these fluids well exceed the injection zone fracture pressure. Preferred fluids include, without limitation, fluids disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,062 to Johnson; U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,062 to Johnson; U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,596 to Mondshine; U.S. Pat. No. 4,369,843 to Mondshine; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,186,803 to Mondshine, incorporated herein by reference, or any other similar fluid. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the types of fluid systems disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,062 have the ability to minimize filtrate and particle invasion into the formation. The fluids disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,062 represent fluid formulation of particle sizes that protect the formation and flow back through conventional gravel pack media with minimal damage to a formation. These fluids have been designed for use in openhole well construction for hydrocarbon production; more particularly they are used for openhole horizontal drilling. The Mondshine fluid systems containing sized salts protect the formation during well construction and workover operations for wells used in hydrocarbon producing formations. The Mondshine fluids have been applied as drilling fluids in horizontal openhole well construction. If the Mondshine fluids were applied in this invention, a solvent could be used to reduce the filter cake particle sizes or to completely dissolve the salt particles in the filter cake. These particular fluids are of interest in the invention because the solvent may come from injected water or water based fluids injected into the injection zone. While the use of the fluids mentioned above are preferred embodiments for the inventive method, the use of these fluid systems should not be interpreted as a limitation. As new polymers and fluid formulations are tested and become available in the market which protect the formation and have the ability to be dissolved to allow for maximum injectivity. These fluids, which are used in hydrocarbon production well construction for drilling openhole horizontal wells, are a class of drilling fluids known as “Drill-In Fluids”.
[0032] The injection zones can be identified during well construction by utilizing logging while drilling tools or openhole electric logs. These tools identify the permeable formations depth and thickness of the injection zones. The extendable assemblies which will replace the perforation and gravel pack completion are spaced out on the casing string to allow them to be aligned within the injection zones as determine by the well logs. Depending on the expected injectivity requirements of the formation generally between 1 and 20, preferably between 1 and 12 extendable assemblies per foot may be required to minimize well borehole injection pressures. In many cases, 4 extendable assemblies per foot will be adequate. The casing is then run into the borehole such that the extendable assemblies are positioned within the injection zones so that once extended the member directly contact the formation. The extendable assemblies are extended mechanically, electromechanically, or hydraulically sot that the members come in contact with the formation face. Also, the devices will help centralize the casing in the borehole. After member extension, the casing may then be cemented. The injection tubing/equipment is then run into the well. Depending on the type of “Drill-In Fluid” used in the drilling process, the well may be placed on injection or solvents pumped to remove the filter cake.
[0033] Referring now to FIG. 1 , a drilling system, generally 100 , is shown to include a drilling vessel or platform 102 having a drilling rig 104 positioned thereon. The drilling system 100 may optionally include a subsea blowout preventer stack (not shown) positioned above a well head 106 located on an ocean floor 108 . The system 100 also includes a well casing strings 110 including a conductor member 112 , a surface member 114 , and an intermediate member 116 . As is well understood by those of ordinary skill in the art, the casing strings 110 is placed in a borehole 118 and cemented in place. As is shown in FIG. 1 , drilling is continuing to a target injection zone 120 within a productive formation 122 (see FIG. 2 ) using a drilling assembly 124 . The drilling assembly 124 includes a drill string 126 and a bottom hole assembly 128 . The bottom hole assembly 128 includes logging while drilling formation evaluation sensors 130 , a drilling motor 132 , a drill string stabilizer 134 , and a drill bit 136 .
[0034] Looking further at FIG. 1 , the bottom hole assembly 128 has-intersected a marker formation 138 . The marker formation 138 is a selected geological indicator that is reached prior to intersecting the target injection zone 120 . The marker formation 138 provides an indication of an additional drilling depth that needs to occur from a bottom hole position 140 to the injection zone 120 . When the bottom hole position 140 is approximately 200 to 500 feet above the injection zone 120 , conventional drilling mud will be displaced with a “Drill-In Fluid” selected to protect the injection zone formation 120 . The “Drill-In Fluid” displaces the conventional mud by pumping the “Drill-In Fluid” into the drill string 128 and taking returns (the conventional drilling fluid) up an annulus 142 of the borehole 118 .
[0035] Referring now to FIG. 2 , drilling of the borehole 118 is continued and extended through the injection zone 120 using the “Drill-In Fluid”. The bottom of the well 140 is now shown extended through the injection zone 120 . After reaching a desired total depth, the drill string 126 and bottom hole assembly 128 are pulled from the borehole 118 . Production casing 144 (see FIGS. 3-6 ) then is run into the well. The production casing 144 includes a plurality of extendable assemblies 146 so that when the casing 144 reaches the bottom 140 of the borehole 118 the extendable assemblies 146 are positioned within the injection zone 120 of the productive formation 122 .
[0036] Referring now to FIGS. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 and 7 A-C, an enlarged section 148 of the injection zone 120 is shown including an extendable assembly 146 . As shown in FIGS. 7 A-C and as previously discussed, one or more extendable assemblies 146 are positioned in the casing 144 in a spaced apart configuration designed to form a corresponding spaced apart configuration of conduits from an interior 150 of the casing 144 to sites 152 in the injection zone 120 adjacent the assemblies 146 . The number of extendable assemblies 146 will depend on the injectivity requirements of the well borehole. It is anticipated that twelve extendable assemblies per foot of injection zone will be adequate for most applications; however, more or less members per foot can be used, with the limitation on maximum number being controlled by maintaining sufficient casing strength so that the casing can be run. Three illustrative configurations of 12 extendable assemblies 146 per foot of the casing 144 are shown in FIGS. 7 A-C
[0037] Looking at FIG. 3 , an extendable assembly 146 in the run in position is shown. The extendable assembly 146 is built into the casing 144 . The annulus 142 (now between the casing 144 and the borehole 118 ) may be filled at this point with “Drill-In Fluid” or the “Drill-In Fluid” displaced with a solids free fluid. The extendable assembly 146 extends out past an exterior wall 154 of the casing 144 and extends inward into the interior 150 of the casing 144 . The extendable assembly 146 includes a fixed portion 156 and a moveable portion 158 having a sand control or filter media 160 located in a distal portion 162 of the moveable portion 158 . The fixed portion 156 is anchored into the casing 144 and supports the moveable portion 158 , so that the moveable portion 158 can telescope out past the exterior surface 154 of the casing 144 toward the site 152 in the injection zone 120 .
[0038] Looking at FIG. 4 , the movable portion 158 is extended by means of hydraulic pressure bringing its distal end 164 into direct contact with a filter cake 166 associated with a face 168 of injection zone 120 adjacent the extendable assembly 146 , where the filter cake 166 protects the injection zone 120 . The extended moveable portion 158 forms a conduit 170 between the interior 150 of the casing 144 and the injection zone 120 . The production casing 144 is now ready to be cemented in the well borehole 118 . Looking at FIG. 5 , the annulus 142 is filled with cement 172 isolating the injection zone 120 from fluid flow except through the conduit 170 formed by extendable assembly 146 . At this point, injection tubing/equipment is run into the well and the well is made ready for fluid injection.
[0039] Referring now to FIG. 6 , a fluid 174 is injected into formation 122 through the conduit 170 formed by the extendable assembly 146 . It should be noted that the injected fluid 174 into the formation 122 has removed a portion 176 of filter cake 168 constrained by the extendable assembly 146 . The injected fluid 174 is pumped down the injection tubing and into the casing 144 and eventually enters the conduit 170 formed by the extendable assembly 146 . The injected fluid 174 then travels through the conduit 170 formed by the extendable assembly 146 and into the formation 122 . Of course, each extendable assembly 146 operates in an analogous manner so that a conduit is formed for each extendable assembly 146 conforming to the patterns of the extendable assemblies mounted in the casing. It should also be recognized that the injected fluid 174 may be hazardous or corrosive in nature. Should injection rates not reach desired levels without exceeding the formation fracture pressure, the fracture pressures may be exceeded without fear that formation material will slough into the well borehole 118 because the formation is only assessable via the conduits 170 formed by the extendable assemblies 146 and the injected fluid 172 maintains a flow into the formation 122 through the conduits 170 resisting flow into the borehole 118 or casing 144 .
[0040] All references cited herein are incorporated by reference. While this invention has been described fully and completely, it should be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described. Although the invention has been disclosed with reference to its preferred embodiments, from reading this description those of skill in the art may appreciate changes and modification that may be made which do not depart from the scope and spirit of the invention as described above and claimed hereafter.
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A method for well construction and completion is disclosed. Generally the method comprises the steps of 1) drilling through an injection zone, 2) positioning an extendable permeable element on the casing capable of stopping formation material from entering the well bore, 3) positioning the casing such that the extendable elements are aligned with the injection zone, 4) extending the member such that they come into direct contact with the injection zone formation, 5) running tubing/completion equipment, and 6) begin injecting the desired fluids into the well. Thus eliminating the need to perforate and gravel pack the well while improving reliability of the injection well completion.
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[0001] This application is filed within one year of, and claims priority to Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/460122, filed Apr. 4, 2003.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] This invention relates generally to games and devices and, more specifically, to a Baseball Training Method and Device Therefor.
[0004] 2. Description of Related Art
[0005] Baseball is one of the, if not the most popular organized sport in the entire world. In the United States, it is still referred to as the National Pastime, and is played by children at a very young age, and there is extreme competition even at these early levels. While pitching and fielding are very important to a player's overall skill rating, pitching is a talent that depends largely on purely natural physical ability. Fielding, on the other hand, is a skill that even players of average physical skills can be taught the fundamentals that, with practice, can lead to above-average skills. What truly separates the great players from the average players in baseball is that player's ability to hit the ball. Even players having below average defensive skills are sought after by teams if they can demonstrate the ability to hit well with regularity.
[0006] The result of the high value that is placed on hitting ability is that a cottage industry has evolved for teaching players how to hit a baseball. There have been innumerable books, schools, devices, systems and methods for teaching a player to hit, and then to enable that player to practice hitting on his or her own time. Of course, the devices and methods that are most successful are those that provide the most real-life experience for the batter. One particularly popular device is the automatic pitching s machine; this device will automatically shoot balls to a batter's strike zone (or thereabouts), at a variety of speeds and spins, and is generally recognized to be second-best only to a live pitcher. The problem with the pitching machine is that it is prohibitively expensive for the average family or many schools to purchase. As a result, its use is limited to those that can afford it, and only then in specialized batting practice cages.
[0007] The other very prevalent device is the pitch-back net. This is essentially an upright rectangular frame having a net stretched over it. A strike zone is marked in the center of the net. The batter stands next to, and in front of the pitch-back net, and a “pitcher” throws baseballs at the strike zone; the pitch-back net bounces the balls back to the pitcher (unless the batter hits the ball, of course). The problem with this device and method is that the quality of the training really depends on the quality of the “pitcher.” If the pitches are easy to hit, and lack any spin or the high speed that emulate game pitching, then the batter will not get any real valuable training experience. As such, this device and method is limited as well, because it is rare that a batter has a high-quality pitcher to hit against.
[0008] What is needed, therefore, is a batting practice device and method that is simple, low cost, and provides a good simulation of hitting pitches thrown by seasoned pitchers, but does not require the involvement of a pitcher with any real pitching skills.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] In light of the aforementioned problems associated with the prior games and devices, it is an object of the present invention to provide a Baseball Training Method and Device Therefor. The device should enable users to experience a very realistic batting practice without the high cost associated with an automated pitching machine. The device should be low cost and be very small in profile. The device should further not require any pitching skill in order to provide a very realistic hitting experience. The system or device should further include a novel ball that is smaller and much softer than a conventional baseball. Finally, the ball may have holes or indentations formed in a portion of its cover to permit the user to create differential drag on the ball when launched to the batter, thus providing curved ball movement when in flight.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] The objects and features of the present invention, which are believed to be novel, are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The present invention, both as to its organization and manner of operation, together with further objects and advantages, may best be understood by reference to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, of which:
[0011] FIG. 1 is a side view of a preferred embodiment of the baseball/softball training device assembly of the present invention;
[0012] FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of the launcher pouch of the device of FIG. 1 ;
[0013] FIG. 3 is a cutaway top view of the launcher pouch of the device of FIGS. 1 and 2 ;
[0014] FIG. 4 is a side view of the method for use of the assembly of FIG. 1 ; and
[0015] FIG. 5 is a flowchart depicting the methods for creating and practicing with the baseball/softball training device assembly of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0016] The following description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention and sets forth the best modes contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention. Various modifications, however, will remain readily apparent to those skilled in the art, since the generic principles of the present invention have been defined herein specifically to provide a Baseball/softball Training Method and Device Therefor.
[0017] The present invention can best be understood by initial consideration of FIG. 1 . FIG. 1 is a side view of a preferred embodiment of the baseball/softball training device assembly 8 of the present invention. The assembly 8 consists of two important devices—the baseball/softball training device 10 and the custom compressible ball 32 . The training device 10 can be based upon a conventional slingshot. It has a handle 12 having a head 14 from which a wrist stabilizer frame 16 and launcher frame 20 extend. The wrist stabilizer frame 16 is typically a closed loop that is designed to pass over the top of the pitcher's wrist when the pitcher holds onto the handle 12 . The wrist stabilizer frame 16 may have a wrist cushion 18 or pad at covering or attached to the portion of the frame 16 that passes over the pitcher's wrist for comfort. Furthermore, the extent that the frame 16 extends backwardly from the handle head 14 can be adjusted to accommodate wrists of virtually any user.
[0018] The launcher frame 20 also may be adjustably extendable from the handle head 14 . The launcher frame 20 is generally made from a pair of upwardly bent rounded metal bars that terminate in launcher frame tips 22 at their distal ends. An elasticized band 24 is slipped over or otherwise attached to each tip 22 of the frame 20 . The elasticized bands 24 are preferably made from surgical tubing, but could be any type of durable material exhibiting elastic traits similar to surgical tubing.
[0019] The elasticized bands 24 attach, at their distal ends, to a pair of attachment members 28 . The attachment members 28 are typically made from durable fabric, and serve to provide a durable, flexible attachment point between the elasticized bands 24 and the launcher pouch 26 . In some versions, the distal ends of the elasticized bands 24 actually attach to loop inserts (not shown) that are plastic or metal hooks or loops that have an elongated end that is configured to fit inside of the distal ends of the surgical tubing. The other end of the loop inserts are loops or hooks that are easily attached to the attachment members 28 .
[0020] The attachment members 28 are stitched or otherwise securely attached to the launcher pouch 26 . The launcher pouch 26 is also preferably made from a durable fabric, and terminates in a grasping tab 30 . The pouch 26 is designed to cooperate with the compressible ball 32 so that the ball 32 will easily fit into the pouch 26 , and will also be easily released from the pouch 26 when the pitcher “shoots a pitch.”
[0021] The compressible ball 32 has very particular features. First, it is made from a soft rubberized material, which makes it much safer to use than a conventional baseball or softball. Second, it is much smaller than a baseball, and is actually the approximate size of a golf ball; one particularly desirable size has been found to be 4 centimeters in diameter. Third, the ball 32 weighs much less than a conventional baseball; one particularly desirable weight has been found to be approximately less than five ounces. Finally, in some versions of the compressible ball 34 one or more apertures 34 are formed on one side of the ball 34 ; while these are referred to as apertures herein, the term is intended to refer to indentations or grooves as well. These apertures 34 have been found to enable to pitcher to create differential drag on one side of the ball 34 when he or she shoots it. Changing the orientation of the aperture(s) 34 when the ball 32 is in the pouch 26 allows the pitcher to controllably create more challenging pitches for the batter to hit. Now turning to FIG. 2 , we can look at the pouch 26 more closely.
[0022] FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of the launcher pouch 26 of the device of FIG. 1 . As discussed above, the pouch 26 is made from nylon or other durable flexible material. The grasping tab 30 is provided to give the pitcher a comfortable and reliable location to pull back on the launcher pouch 26 , without needing to grasp the outer surface 40 of the pouch 26 ; this makes tensioning and releasing of the pouch 26 to shoot a pitch much easier and more reliable for the pitcher. In another non-depicted form, the grasping tab has a thickened portion at its distal end to aid the user in obtaining a firmer grasp.
[0023] As shown here, a loop insert 23 is attached to each side of the pouch 26 at the attachment members 28 . The elongated ends of the inserts 23 are configured to fit inside of the elasticized bands, and then be held therein by interference fit between the bands and the loop inserts 23 .
[0024] The pouch 26 forms a ball receptacle 36 that is defined by the inner surface 38 of the pouch 26 . As will be discussed below in connection with FIG. 3 , the pouch 26 will hold the compressible ball 32 when the user puts tension on the grasping tab 30 , and will cleanly release the compressible ball 32 when the user releases the grasping tab 30 .
[0025] FIG. 3 is a cutaway top view of the launcher pouch 26 of the device of FIGS. 1 and 2 . What is critical in the design of the pouch 26 and the ball 32 is that when tension is placed on the grasping tab 30 when the pitcher pulls back on the grasping tab 30 in the tensioning direction T, the side walls 33 of the inner surface of the launching pouch 26 will pinch in direction P against the compressible ball inserted into the ball receptacle 36 . Alternatively, the side walls 33 will travel opposite to direction P when the user releases the grasping tab 30 . The result, as stated above, is a clean release of the ball 32 for a pitching shot for the batter. FIG. 4 depicts how the system operates as a pitching training aid for baseball/softball batting practice.
[0026] FIG. 4 is a side view of the method for use of the assembly of FIG. 1 . The pitcher and batter 44 are separated by spacing S; this can actually be 60 (sixty) feet, 6 (six) inches, which is the same distance between a regulation pitcher's mound and home plate. Because of the simplicity of the design of the current invention, it eliminates the need for the pitcher to really understand the pitching motion. The pitcher needs only to shoot the compressible ball 32 at the imaginary strike zone 46 of the batter 44 . Because there is no pitcher's windup, that batter's skill is actually tested more than with a conventional pitcher, because there is no telegraphing of the pitch. This makes the timing of the pitch much more difficult for the batter. Finally, turning to FIG. 5 , we can examine the method for creating and using the assembly of the present invention.
[0027] FIG. 5 is a flowchart depicting the methods for creating 48 and practicing 50 with the baseball/softball training device assembly of the present invention. The users can either start with a completed training device 10 , or they can actually convert a conventional slingshot to function as a training device 10 . If converting a conventional slingshot, the user begins by obtaining a conventional slingshot 100 . Next, the conventional pouch or pocket is replaced with the launcher pouch 26 described hereinabove. Usually this can be most easily accomplished by cutting or pulling off the loop inserts from the conventional slingshot and replacing them with new loop inserts that are a part of and/or already attached to the launcher pouch 26 .
[0028] After obtaining the compressible ball 102 , the user places the compressible ball into the launcher pouch 106 . If the ball has apertures formed in it, the user orients the ball in the pouch 108 in order to generate the desired drag and resultant curved flight characteristic when shot.
[0029] Next, the “pitcher” pulls back on the pouch via the grasping tab until the desired tension in the elasticized bands is achieved 110 . The pitcher then aims the baseball/softball training device at the batter's strike zone 112 , and releases the grasping tab 114 . The compressible ball will immediately be released and will travel towards the strike zone at speeds verified to be up to 70 (seventy) miles an hour; hitting this undersized ball at such a speed has proven to provide an extremely realistic and high-quality batting practice.
[0030] While the application as a pitching practice system is disclosed specifically herein, other uses for this unique assembly have been tested and are extremely desirable. Namely, an alternative game to paint ball. The players each are armed with the training device 10 and a plurality of compressible balls 32 of the present invention (and safety glasses). The object is then to shoot and hit one another with the compressible balls 32 . Because the compressible balls 32 are much softer than paint balls, this game is just as high-speed, without the danger and pain associated with paintball.
[0031] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various adaptations and modifications of the just-described preferred embodiment can be configured without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore, it is to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced other than as specifically described herein.
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A Baseball/Softball Training Method and Device Therefor is disclosed. Also disclosed is a device that enables users to experience a very realistic batting practice withouth the high cost associated with an automated pitching machine. The device is low cost and very small in profile. The device further does not require any pitching skill in order to provide a very realistic hitting experience. The game using the device further includes a novel ball that is smaller and much softer than a conventional baseball. Finally, the ball may have holes formed in a portion of its cover to permit the user to create controllable differential drag on one side of the ball when launched to the batter.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a new method for extraction and purification of cartilage type proteoglycan.
Description of the Prior Art
One molecule of cartilage type proteoglycan recognized as a conjugated carbohydrate is characterized to have a structure shown in FIG. 1, which is a biopolymer having following structural feature. That is, from several to tens of glycosaminoglycan chains (hereinafter shortened to GAG) whose each molecular weight is from several ten thousand to several hundred thousand are bonded to one backbone protein molecule having molecular weight of from several ten thousand to several hundred thousand which is called as a core protein. GAG can be classified to several kinds such as chondroitin sulfate or dermatan sulfate according to the base structure, and, basically is a long chain hetero acidic polysaccharide composed of repeating structures of disaccaride with amino sugar and uronic acid. In said structure, GAG except hyaluronic acid are bonded to a core protein and forms proteoglycan.
In almost all animal organisms, proteoglycan is generally existing as one of the important component of extracellular matrix which exists among cells (refer to FIG. 2 ), which is similarly existing with collagen and hyaluronic acid. And, not only it plays the important part of organism construction, but also forms physical circumference surrounding cells and controls various cell activities such as coupling, multiplying or differentiating. Each component of extracellular matrix or GAG individually has some functions such as retaining and supplying of water, antidote or analgesic. When these components bond each other and form macro-molecule structure and each component acts reciprocally, more remarkable effect is displayed.
The cartilage type proteoglycan, which is the object of the present invention, has a huge molecular weight in comparison with collagen, hyaluronic acid or GAG and has a complicated structure. Therefore, even if proteoglycan alone, it has better water retaining and supplying ability than other components in the extracellular matrix, further, can have other functions depending on biological information signal organization of it's GAG portion.
In the meanwhile, in the method for extraction and purification of proteoglycan of nowadays, cartilage of cow or whale is used as a starting material, and extracted and purified by a complicated procedure using toxic or harmful agents such as chloroform, methanol or guanidine hydrochloride. And this method is not recognized as an industrial level. Some kinds of proteoglycan are available in the market by very small amount as a reagent, and the price of them is approximately tens million yen per one gram.
The applicant of the present invention had previously invented a novel mass-producing simplified method for extraction and purification for proteoglycan that can be used as an industrial scale using nasal cartilage of salmon and filed a patent application (Japanese Patent Application 11-331375 filed on Nov. 22, 1999). This method is concretely composed of crushing process of nasal cartilage of salmon, deoiling process, extraction process by solvent and dialysis process. By this method, a method for extraction and purification characterized by mass-producing and low price could be accomplished, however, not only chloroform, methanol and guanidine hydrochloride but also a harmful agent such as hindering agent for protein decomposing enzyme are used, therefore, the possibility for use as the material for medicine took into human body or additives to healthy supporting foods or supplements was difficult, and the use is limited to non-drug chemicals or cosmetics. Further, since the market price of above mentioned chemical agents are relatively expensive, the reducing of extraction and purification cost is limited.
In the meanwhile, since the applicant of this application had presented said low cost proteoglycan, the volition for the development of goods in connection with proteoglycan is enhanced not only in cosmetics industry but also in processed foods industry, healthy supporting foods or supplements industry and medicines industry. However, for the substantial application of proteoglycan to the processed foods industry, healthy supporting foods or supplements industry or medicines industry, the special consideration must be cared for the method for purification of proteoglycan. In the conventional method for extraction and purification of proteoglycan, the use of hydrochloric acid salt of guanidine is common. But, for the new application of proteoglycan, it is strongly required not to use said guanidine hydrochloride further toxic or harmful agents such as chloroform, methanol or hindering agent for protein decomposing enzyme. Still further, the development of more simplified and lower cost method for extraction and purification of proteoglycan had been strongly required.
The inventor of this invention has conduced the intensive study to develop the method for extraction and purification of proteoglycan, in the procedure of which the toxic or harmful agents are not used, further, which is characterized to be more simplified and lower cost, and accomplished the present invention. Namely the object of the present invention is to provide more simplified and lower cost method for extraction and purification for cartilage type proteoglycan.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention of claim 1 of the present invention is an extraction method of crude proteoglycan characterizing to use acid as eluting solvent of cartilage. The invention of claim 2 of the present invention is a purification method of crude proteoglycan comprising; extracting crude proteoglycan using acetic acid as eluting solvent of cartilage, filtrating solution containing crude proteoglycan to remove dregs from said solution, centrifuging the solution obtained by said filtrating, adding ethanol saturated with sodium chloride to the supernatant liquid obtained by said centrifuging, and then centrifuging said supernatant liquid added said ethanol saturated with sodium chloride to concentrate said crude proteoglycan in the precipitate. And the invention of claim 3 of the present invention is a further improving method of the purity of crude proteoglycan comprising; extracting crude proteoglycan using acetic acid as eluting solvent of cartilage, filtrating solution containing crude proteoglycan to remove dregs from said solution, centrifuging the solution obtained by said filtrating, adding ethanol saturated with sodium chloride to the supernatant liquid obtained by said centrifuging, centrifuging said supernatant liquid added said ethanol saturated with sodium chloride to concentrate said crude proteoglycan in the precipitate, dissolving said precipitate containing crude proteoglycan using acetic acid as eluting solvent of said crude proteoglycan, and then dialysising.
That is, the important point of the present invention is to use acetic acid, sodium chloride and not-modified ethanol in all processes of extraction and purification of proteoglycan instead of the toxic or harmful agents such as chloroform, methanol or hindering agent for protein decomposing enzyme. These above mentioned agents, that is, acetic acid, sodium chloride and not-modified ethanol are the agents which are used in the ordinary processed foods. For the purpose to accomplish more simplified method for extraction and purification, the substitution process by urea and separation and purification process by DEAE-Sephacel method which are used in above mentioned patent application (JPA 11-331375) are omitted.
BRIEF ILLUSTRATION OF DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is the structural model of proteoglycan,
FIG. 2 is the schematic view of extracellular matrix and
FIG. 3 is the graph showing the change of eluting state of crude proteoglycan with the passage of time.
In the drawings, each numerical marks are indicating follows,
1: core protein, 2: glycosaminoglycan chain, 3: hyaluronic acid,
4: collagen, 5: proteoglycan
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The present invention will be illustrated more minutely by the following description.
As the starting material of proteoglycan of the present invention, cartilage of cow or whale can be used, however from the view point of easy purchase and price, the nasal cartilage of salmon is desirably used. Especially, it is desirable to use head parts of white salmon wasted from the process of processed foods such as a canning industry using white salmon which are caught at the coastal fishery along the coast of Aomori prefecture of Japan.
As the acetic acid to be used in the present invention, any kind of acetic acid e.g. for foods use or for industrial use is possible to use, and voluntarily selected concerning the purpose of the use of proteoglycan. The desirable concentration of the acetic acid eluting solvent is approximately 4% according to the test results mentioned later, however, not intending to be limited to said concentration.
EXAMPLE
As the starting material, the wasted head parts of white salmon from the canning process of processed food manufacturing, which are caught at the coastal fishery along the coast of Aomori prefecture, and the head parts are temporary preserved at the temperature of −30° C.
The above mentioned preserved material is defrosted at 4° C. for 20 hours, and nasal cartilage part is cut off from the head part using a kitchen knife and the starting material is prepared. From the nasal cartilage of salmon, solid fat is removed using tweezers and rinsed by physiological saline solution. Then pulverized finely by a hand mincing machine and mincemeat of nasal cartilage of salmon is obtained.
A part of said mincemeat is soaked into 4° C. business use brewing vinegar diluted to 10 w/v (used by diluting to 4% concentration which is same concentration to that of acetic acid in vinegar. Hereinafter, shortened to 4% acetic acid solvent) for 0, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72, 120 and 168 hours and stirred. The change of eluting state of crude proteoglycan is observed with the passage of time, as the amount of uronic acid by carbazole-sulfuric acid method. The obtained results are shown in FIG. 3 . As clearly indicated in FIG. 3, the amount of eluted crude proteoglycan remarkably increases at the first 24 hours, and the increasing of eluting amount is not so remarkable after 24 hours. From the obtained results, it is understood that the most effective eluting time of crude proteoglycan with 4% acetic acid solvent is 48 hours.
Based on the above mentioned results, 50 g of mincemeat of nasal cartilage of salmon is soaked into 4% acetic acid solvent of 4° C. for 48 hours and stirred so as to elute nasal cartilage, and crude proteoglycan is obtained (invention of claim 1 ).
Then the eluted solution is filtrated using stainless steel mesh (150 μm) so as the not eluted subject to be removed. After that, the solution in which crude proteoglycan is contained is separated by a centrifuge (4° C., 10000 r.p.m., for 20 minutes). Three times amount of ethanol saturated sodium chloride is added to the obtained supernatant liquid, and separated by a centrifuge (4° C., 10000 r.p.m., for 20 minutes) again, then concentrated precipitate containing crude proteoglycan is obtained (invention of claim 2 ).
The obtained precipitate containing crude proteoglycan is dissolved again with 4% acetic acid solvent, then the solution is sufficiently dialysised against water by membrane dialysis tube of cellulose ester of molecular mass cut off of 1000 Kda, and high purity liquid state proteoglycan is obtained (invention of claim 3 ).
It is desirable to freeze-dry the obtained liquid state proteoglycan and preserve it in powder state. In this Example, the dialysised inner solution is freeze-dried and 240 mg of powder state proteoglycan specimen is obtained.
The chemical features of proteoglycan specimen obtained by the invention of claim 3 are measured by following method.
The results of chemical analyses are shown in Table 1.
TABLE 1
Chemical analysis of proteoglycan specimen from nasal cartilage of
salmon
molar ratio
hexosamine
uronic acid
sulfate
protein (% w/w)
1.00
0.99 a
0.67 a
6.99
a indicates molar ratio when the amount of hexosamine is settled to 1.00
In Table 1, the amount of uronic acid and sulfate are indicated by mole ratio when the amount of hexosamine is settled to 1.00, and are respectively 0.99 and 0.67. It is understood that these three components are existing by almost same amount. Further, the amount of core protein is 6.99% (w/w), and the ratio to uronic acid (core protein/uronic acid) is 0.23 (w/w). This numeric value shows one index to indicate the purity of proteoglycan and is closed to 0.2 which is the theoretical value.
The kinds of amino acid composing the protein of this specimen are analyzed, and the results show that the amount of glycine, serine and glutamic acid are remarkably great. Namely, in all amino acid 1000 residues, total number of glycine, serine and glutamic acid residues is 386, while, the number of hydroxyproline residues is 2. Hydroxyproline is a typical amino acid in collagen protein, and the mingle of collagen in this salmon nasal cartilage proteoglycan can be recognized, but the amount is very small and cannot be said as significance. Therefore, it can be said that the purity of the obtained salmon nasal cartilage proteoglycan is very high.
Then, for the purpose to obtain information referring to the molecular size of salmon nasal cartilage proteoglycan, high-performance liquid chromatography analysis is carried out using SB805HQ column (8×300 mm), and the eluting position is confirmed by UV absorbency at 215 nm. This result is compared with that of cow nasal cartilage proteoglycan which is available in the market as the reagent. In a case of salmon nasal cartilage proteoglycan, the elution position (Kav) recognized as a symmetrical peak from SB805HQ column is 0.28, while in a case of cow nasal cartilage proteoglycan is 0.17. These results show that the molecular size of salmon nasal cartilage proteoglycan is smaller than that of cow nasal cartilage proteoglycan.
Further, the core protein part of salmon nasal cartilage proteoglycan is digested by pronase, and remained GAG specimen is treated by an electrophoresis analysis on a film made of cellulose acetate together with chondoroitin sulfate (Ch6S), dermatan sulfate (DS) and hyaluronic acid (HA) which are the standard specimens. According to the results, the single band coincided with chondoroitin sulfate (Ch6S) which is standard specimen is indicated, and consequently it becomes clear that most of GAG of salmon nasal cartilage proteoglycan is chondoroitin sulfate.
This disaccharide unit isomer is investigated too. After proteoglycan is digested by pronase, further digested by chondoroitinase ABC, and generated unsaturated disaccharide is analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (Polyamin-II). The obtained results are shown in Table 2. From the results of Table 2, it is clear that the most part of GAG is monosulfated disaccharide unit.
TABLE 2
unsaturated disaccharide analysis
Δ Di-OS
Δ Di-6S
Δ Di-4S
Δ Di-diSD
Δ Di-triS
15.1
59.4
25.1
0.3
0.1
As mentioned above, the fact that the proteoglycan whose starting material is salmon nasal cartilage is obtained only by using agents listed as the additives to foods [for example, “Explanation of Analytical Method of Additives in Foods, part III, Food Additives Except Chemically Synthetic Compound” edited by Akio Tanimura et al (1992, Kodansha)], or agents used as the material for a food preserving agent or a seasoning [“Encyclopedia of Safety Supply of Food” edited by Kageaki Kuriihara et al (1995, Publishing Center of Sangyo Chosakai)], can be said as an epoch making invention. Further, the fact that by the present invention, the processes which takes time and troublesome such as substitution by urea or separation and purification by DEAE-Sephacel method are omitted can be said as an epoch making invention. That is, by the present invention, the object to develop a simplified and low cost method for extraction and purification of proteoglycan can be accomplished.
From the above mentioned results, salmon nasal cartilage proteoglycan obtained by the method of the present invention can be orally taken, and the purity of it is almost same to that of obtained by a conventional method.
Effect of the Invention
Currently, hyaluronic acid can be produced from bacterium safely and in large quantities, and is used for medicine application. In the meanwhile, proteoglycan is known to have an excellent water retaining ability, water supplying ability, antidote function and analgesic function, further is expected to have other functions based on GAG portion. However, proteoglycan obtained by a conventional method for extraction and purification can not be prescribed to human and to inspect it's usefulness to human body. Still further, the separation of conjugated carbohydrate proteoglycan originated from salmon nasal cartilage was not tried until said method is developed and applied. However, by the present invention, it becomes possible to extract and purify proteoglycan which has excellent functions safely and in large quantities. Therefore the needs to proteoglycan becomes more impatient and more wide applications are expected.
Further, since organic solvent such as chloroform, methanol or acetone which are used to remove solid fat from head part of salmon are not used, the treatment of wasted liquid becomes not necessary and consequently the problem of environment does not occur. The procedure of the present invention is simplified and effective, and proteoglycan obtained by said method is safe and can be orally taken. The development of novel applied products becomes possible in the fields of cosmetics, non-drug chemicals, medicines, medical products, processed foods, healthy supplemental foods and artificial internal organs by the development of this invention. Therefore, the present invention largely contributes to the health of human and medical fields.
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The present invention relates to a new method for extraction and purification of cartilage type proteoglycan, and is to provide a method for extraction of crude proteoglycan characterizing to use acid as eluting solvent of cartilage.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The field of the invention is rotary drum vacuum washers, e.g., filters, used in the pulp and papermaking industry to form a mat of wood pulp and cleanse the mat of filtrate. In particular, the invention relates to the filtrate drainage systems for vacuum drum washers.
Vacuum washer drums remove pulping liquors and other liquids from pulp. A vacuum washer has a large rotating cylindrical drum that sits partially in a vat of pulp and liquor. The following references the drum as it rotates in a clockwise direction. As the drum surface rotates through the vat, e.g., 3:00 to 9:00 drum positions, a pulp mat forms on the wire screen surface of the drum. The screen prevents pulp from flowing into drainage passages in the drum. A suction is applied to the drum surface through the drainage passages. The suction pulls the liquor through the wire screen on the drum surface and causes a pulp mat to form on the surface. The suction draws the wash liquid through the mat and into the drainage passages. As the drum surface with pulp mat rotates up and out of the vat from the 9:00 to 12:00 position, water is sprayed on the pulp mat to remove cooking liquor from the pulp. The water and liquor (but not pulp fibers) pass through the wire screen and flow into the drainage passages. The water and liquor in the drainage passages is referred to as “filtrate”. The washed pulp mat is removed from the drum surface, at about the 2:00 to 3:00 drum position, before the drum surface rotates down into the vat. The drum surface rotates back into the vat to pickup another pulp mat.
The drainage passages are internal to the drum and typically include channels immediately behind the wire screen surface and deck extending along the entire length of the cylindrical wire screen surface. The channels conventionally drain into radial passages at the end of the drum (“end draining drum”) or into a conical array of drain tubes extending from a center annular drain behind the wire screen and deck (“annular center draining drum”). The drain tubes of the annular center draining drums extend from the drum surface at the center of the drum to an end of the drum. The conical array of drainage tubes discharge through an annular disc tube sheet at an end of the drum and into a V-trunnion that caps the tube sheet. The tube sheet and V-trunnion have relatively large diameters, e.g., 50 inches to 60 inches (127 cm to 152 cm), to accommodate a large number of drainage tubes, e.g., 30 to 36 tubes, that each have a relatively large diameter of, for example, 6 inches (15 cm).
The radial end drain tends to be inexpensive to manufacture and maintain, as compared to the center draining drum. The radial end drain has difficulty in draining filtrate from the far end of long drums, such as where the drum length exceeds 20 feet (6 meters). The annular center drain is typically used for longer drums, e.g., longer than 20 feet (6 meters), but is expensive to manufacture and maintain. The annular center drain is expensive, in part, because the V-trunnion is a large device having intricate drain passages that direct filtrate from each of the tubes to an axial drain. There is a long felt need for a less expensive filtrate drainage system for vacuum washers having long drums.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A novel drainage system for a vacuum drum washer has been developed that includes an end-draining drum and a reduced size annular drain that is offset from center towards a far end of the drum. The reduced sized annular drain has relatively small diameter drain tubes that discharge through a small diameter tube sheet. A V-trunnion is unnecessary because the small tube sheet is suitable to operate with a cylindrical trunnion. As the radial passages and drain tubes rotate through the radial position where substantially no filtrate flows, e.g., 1:00 to 5:00 positions, a novel valve seal blocks suction for both the radial end drain passages and drain tubes that is typically used with end-draining drums. The novel drainage system is suitable for drums having a length greater than 20 feet (6 meters).
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
An embodiment of the vacuum drum washer is described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings which include:
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional end view of a conventional vacuum drum washer assembly.
FIG. 2 is perspective view of a conventional end-draining vacuum washer drum.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a conventional center draining vacuum washer drum.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional side view of a vacuum washer drum having an end drain and an annular drain offset from the center of the drum.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the valve seat and tube sheet of the vacuum washer drum shown in FIG. 4 .
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 shows a conventional end-drain rotary drum vacuum filter 10 that includes a rotary drum 12 in a vat 14 of pulp slurry. The drum is partially submerged in a pulp slurry vat vessel, such as up to the horizontal centerline of the drum. As the outer drum surface rotates clockwise through the slurry (3:00 to 9:00 positions), a pulp mat 16 forms on the outer face 17 of the drum. To promote mat formation, suction is applied to the drum porous outer surface 17 , e.g. a screened and wire or corrugated deck surface. The porosity of the screen surface 17 is sufficiently fine to retain fibers on the surface and pass primarily filtrate, e.g., cooking liquor and water, into the channels 18 behind the porous surface. The channels 18 are arranged in a longitudinal array behind the screen and extend the length of the drum. The channels drain into radial channels 20 at one end of the drum or, alternately, tubes extending from a center annular drain. The radial channels or tubes lead to a central filtrate chamber 28 . As the surface 17 of the drum travels up and out of the vat (corresponding to the 9:00 to 12:00 rotational positions of the drum), the pulp mat 16 on the surface is washed with a liquid spray 22 , e.g., wash water, that cleans the pulp mat of chemical pulping liquor. Suction draws the water and liquor from the pulp mat into the channels 18 behind the drum surface 17 . The channels drain to the radial end channels 20 which drain into a filtrate chamber 28 that is typically at one end of the drum and coaxial to the drum. As the drum surface passes over the top rotational position (12:00 to 1:00), the wash water spray is stopped. As the drum rotates towards the 2:00 position, the suction stops, but water continues to drain through the pulp and into the channels and radial drain passages. Air also starts to enter the channels and ribs because of the stoppage of wash water.
The concentrated pulp is generally referred to as a pulp cake. As the drum rotates through to the 2:00 to 3:00 position, a scraper 24 removes the pulp mat from the drum surface. The pulp cake is collected in a chamber 26 for further processing. Vacuum washers typically receive a low consistency pulp slurry (1.0-1.5% pulp by weight) in the vat vessel. The pulp is thickened on the drum surface as the drum surface rises out of the vat to about a 10% consistency. The pulp is further thickened to a discharge consistency from the drum of 12% or greater. After the cake is removed, the drain channels 18 and ribs (e.g., radial drain passages) are typically filled with air. As the drum surface (now scraped clean of the pulp mat) rotates past the 3:00 position, the surface renters the vat 14 . Suction is reapplied to the channels and ribs after the surface is submerged into the vat. A pulp mat 16 begins to form again on the drum surface 17 . The formation of a pulp mat, water cleaning of the mat, and scraping of the map off the drum is a continuous process that occurs as the drum rotates.
The motive force for the suction on the drum surface is a vacuum created in the drain passages as the extracted filtrate drops approximately 30 feet (ft.) to 40 ft. (10 to 13 meters) from the rotary drum vacuum washer 10 to a filtrate tank (below the washer). The pipe through which the filtrate passes is known as a drop leg 32 ( FIG. 2 ).
FIG. 2 shows an exemplary prior art end drain vacuum drum 19 . The radial end drain channels 20 , e.g., ribs, are each separated by channel walls 21 . The filtrate chamber 28 in the drum 12 is coupled to a cylindrical trunnion conduit 34 that rotates with the drum. The trunnion conduit 34 is typically driven through a worm gear 36 and a matching drive worm gear collar 37 to rotate the drum. The elbow 30 and down leg 32 conduits are stationary. An inlet end of the elbow is coupled to the outlet of the rotating trunnion conduit. FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the trunnion conduit and elbow and down leg. In practice, the outlet of the trunnion conduit is rotatably coupled to the inlet to the elbow conduit 30 and the elbow and down leg 32 conduits are connected.
The center shaft supports a valve seal 40 that includes a generally arc shaped section that extends from about the 1:00 position to the 5:00 position relative to the rotation of the drum. The outer face of the valve seal is positioned in the filtrate chamber 28 and juxtaposed against the drainage outlets for the ribs 20 (as the ribs pass through the 1:00 position to the 5:00 position). The drainage outlets of the ribs open to the filtrate chamber 28 .
A center shaft 38 extends from the elbow into the trunnion conduit 34 . The center shaft is of a relatively small diameter as compared to the inner diameter of the filtrate passage in the elbow and down leg. The center shaft 38 is hollow to allow gases in the filtrate to vent into an aperture in the valve seal 40 and into the shaft and avoid entering the filtrate passage in the elbow 30 and down leg 32 .
The valve seal 40 blocks the outlets of the ribs 20 in the drum as the ribs rotate through the 1:00 to 5:00 positions. The arc width of a conventional valve seal is typically about 120 degrees which corresponds to rotating the drum through the 1:00 to 5:00 positions. The ribs are prevented by the valve seal from draining to the filtrate chamber 28 and into the trunnion conduit. As the ribs rotate from 1:00 to 5:00, filtrate and gases, e.g., air, in the ribs are intended to remain in the ribs. The valve seal 40 prevents most of the gases in the ribs from flowing into the filtrate chamber 28 and to the trunnion conduit 34 , elbow conduit 30 and down leg conduit 32 .
The valve seal 40 also prevents suction from being applied to the ribs as the ribs pass from the 1:00 to 5:00 positions. Suction is neither needed nor desired as the surface 17 of the drum passes from the 1:00 to 5:00 positions because gravity holds the pulp mat 16 on the surface until the scraper 24 ( FIG. 1 ) removes the pulp cake 16 at about the 2:00 to 3:00 position. Suction if applied from the 1:00 to 5:00 positions would draw air into the channels and ribs and impede removal of the pulp mat.
The valve seal 40 does not block the application of suction to the ribs or the drainage of filtrate from the ribs as the ribs rotate clockwise from the 5:00 position to the 1:00 position. As the ribs move through the vat, suction (applied through the ribs by the down leg) draws a pulp slurry onto the drum face screen and pulls filtrate through the screen and into the channels, ribs and to the filtrate chamber 28 . Similarly, as the ribs move up out of the vat to the top drum position (3:00 to 12:00), the suction draws filtrate, including the wash water, through the screen and into the channels, ribs and filtrate chamber. The flow of filtrate into the ribs moving from the 5:00 position to the 1:00 position is sufficient to create a substantial suction as the filtrate flows into the elbow conduit 30 and down leg conduit 32 . Substantial amounts of air are prevented from entering the elbow and down leg because the channels and ribs are substantially filled with liquid filtrate as the channels are submerged in the vat and pass under the water spray, which occurs as the drum moves from the 5:00 position to the 1:00 position. After the channels rotate past the water spray (at about the 12:00 to 1:00 position), the outlets to the ribs are blocked by the valve seal to prevent gas from entering the filtrate chamber and trunnion conduit.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the end and side of a conventional center drain vacuum drum washer 50 . The drum includes a pulp mat 16 [not labeled], a porous cylindrical surface 52 , a deck 54 supporting the surface 52 , a cylindrical drum support surface 56 and longitudinal channel bars 58 supported by the support surface 56 and in turn supporting the deck 54 . The longitudinal filtrate channels 18 are defined by the channel bars 58 and are formed between the deck 54 and the support surface 56 . At the longitudinal center (C) of the drum is an annular center drain 60 which includes an annular channel beam 62 attached to the support surface 56 . The support surface has an annular opening for the channel beam. The channel beam has an open face that receives filtrate from the filtrate channels 18 . The channel beam 62 is segmented by dams 64 . Each segment of the channel beam drains into a drain tube 66 . The drain tubes are typically about 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter. The drain tubes 66 are arranged in a conical array that extends from the channel beam 62 to an annular tube sheet 68 at one end of the drum.
The tube sheet 68 has openings for each of the drain tubes. A conventional tube sheet 68 is typically 50 to 60 inches (127 cm to 152 cm) in diameter. The large diameter of the tube sheet 68 is necessary to accommodate the ends of the drain tubes 66 . The tube sheet must have sufficient surface area to provide an outlet to each of the drain tubes. The tube sheet has an opening for each of the drain tubes. The large number of drain tubes and their relatively large diameter, e.g., 6 inches, cause the tube sheet to have a relatively large diameter.
Because of the large diameter of the tube sheet, a V-trunnion is conventionally used in center drain drums rather than the cylindrical trunnion used in radial drain drums. The V-trunnion 70 covers the tube sheet and provides a corresponding filtrate passages for each of the outlets in the tube sheet for the drain tubes. The filtrate passages in the V-trunnion each have an inlet corresponding to an outlet on the tube sheet. To correspond to the outlets on the tube sheet, the inlet diameter of the V-trunnion must be as large as the diameter of the tube sheet. Because of its relatively large inlet diameter, and the need for internal passages corresponding to each drain tube, conventional V-trunnions are expensive to manufacture and maintain. The filtrate passages in the V-trunnion conduct the filtrate flow from each drain tube towards an internal filtrate chamber and to an outlet 71 of the V-trunnion. A stationary conical valve seal is arranged in the V-trunnion to block outlets of the filtrate passages in the V-trunnion as those passages move from the 1:00 to 5:00 positions.
The V-trunnion 70 is mounted to the end of the drum, is coaxial to the drum and covers tube sheet 68 . The V-trunnion rotates with the drum and is mounted on a bearing 72 . A worm gear 74 on the outlet to the trunnion coupled to a drive motor (not shown) to turn the vacuum drum washer 50 .
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional diagram of a novel vacuum washer drum 80 for washing and concentrating pulp. The drum includes an end drain 82 and an annular drain 84 . Drain tubes 85 are arranged in a conical array in the interior of the drum and extend from the annular drain 86 to a filtrate chamber 28 . The annular drain is offset from the longitudinal center (C) towards an end 79 of the drum opposite to the radial drain 82 . The annular drain 90 for the drain tubes 85 may be offset form center (C) such that it is in the last one third or one fifth of the drum length. For example, if the length (L) of the drum is between 22 feet to 32 feet (7.7 meters to 9.8 meters), the distance between the annular drain 84 and the end 86 of the drum may be 4 feet to 12 feet (1.2 meters to 3.7 meters).
The drum 80 is generally conventional except for its combined end drain 82 and annular 86 drain with drain tubes 85 , a small diameter tube sheet, and a novel valve seat. As does the drum shown in FIG. 3 , the drum 80 picks up a pulp mat 90 as it rotates through a vat and the mat is sprayed with water and the mat is removed as the drum rotates through the 3:00 position and down into the vat. The drum includes a porous cylindrical screening surface 92 , that may include a cylindrical wire screen or deck, and channel bars 93 supported by a cylindrical support surface 94 . The screening surface 92 is supported by the channel bars. Filtrate flows through the filtrate channels 18 between the channel bars 93 and in the annular gap between the screening surface 92 and the support surface 94 .
The drain end 76 of the drum 80 includes the end drain 82 , a filtrate chamber 28 coaxial to the rotation axis of the drum, a cylindrical trunnion conduit 34 , a trunnion bearing unit 77 , an elbow joint 30 and a drop leg 32 that extends down, e.g., 30 to 40 ft (10-13 meters) to a sealed filtrate collection chamber. The trunnion bearing unit may include a worm and bull gear that are coupled to a motor that turns the drum. Alternatively, an electric motor and drive gear unit 78 may be attached to the opposite end 79 of the drum to turn the drum. Generally, the drive unit 78 is on just one end of the drum.
The annular drain 86 may include an annular channel attached to the cylindrical support surface 94 . The annular drain 86 may be similar in structure (but not position) to the annular center drain shown in FIG. 3 . The inner support surface 94 has an annular slot opening for the channel beam 84 such that filtrate flowing along the longitudinal channels 18 flows into the annular filtrate drain 86 . The channel beam has an open face that receives filtrate from the filtrate channels 18 . The upper rim of the filtrate drain 86 is at or below the inner support solid surface 94 for the filtrate channels 18 . The annular filtrate drains include dams (see 64 of FIG. 3 ). The dams block filtrate from flowing annularly around the channel of the filtrate drain and seeping out through the pulp mat and back into the vat (rather than into the drain tubes). Each segment of the channel beam between opposite dams has a drain 86 coupled to a corresponding drain tube 85 .
The longitudinal channels direct filtrate along the length of the drum to either the end drain ribs 82 or the annular drain 86 . Other than longitudinal channel bars, flow guides may not be needed in the longitudinal channels to direct filtrate to the end drain or to the annular drain. The filtrate should naturally flow to the end ribs and annular drain that offers the least resistance to the filtrate in the longitudinal channels 18 . Presumably, most of the filtrate flows towards the ribs at the end of the drum. The filtrate near the opposite end of the drum will flow to the annular drain 86 .
The lateral distance (LD) between the far end of the drum and the annular drain 86 can be selected such that the volume of filtrate expected to flow into the drain 86 can be accommodated by the small diameter drain tubes 85 . Further, the total cross-sectional area of all of the drain tubes can be divided by the total volume of filtrate that passes through the drum in a single revolution. The resulting fraction, which should be less than one half, can be used to estimate the distance from the far end of the drum at which the annular drain 96 should be positioned.
The drain tubes 85 , e.g., conduits, are typically about 2, 2½ or 3 inches (5 cm, 6.3 cm or 7.6 cm) in diameter and are substantially small in diameter than a conventional drain tube. The drain tubes 85 are arranged in a conical array such that each tube extends from its corresponding filtrate inlet 86 to an annular tube sheet 92 at one end of the filtrate chamber. The tubes may be arranged in a symmetrical radial array about the axis of the drum.
The tube sheet 92 defines one end of the filtrate chamber 28 . The tube sheet is attached to the drum and includes an outlet apertures for each of the drain tubes. The apertures are arranged annularly to correspond to the annular arrangement of the drain tubes 85 . The apertures in the tube sheet for each drain tube is at an angular position corresponding to the angular position of the inlet 86 to the tube. Filtrate flowing through the drain tubes discharges through the tube sheet into the filtrate chamber 28 . Filtrate also flows into the end drain 82 from the outer edge of the cylinder and at the discharge of the gap between the screening surface 93 and the support surface 94 . The end drain comprises an annular array of radial channels 20 ( FIG. 2 ) each separated by a radial dam 21 ( FIG. 2 ) extending substantially from the drum axis to the cylindrical support surface 94 .
The filtrate chamber 28 has a bottom semi-cylindrical wall 88 to direct filtrate into the trunnion conduit 34 and to prevent filtrate from flowing into the vat.
The filtrate flows from the filtrate chamber, through the trunnion conduit and elbow 30 and down into the down leg 32 . The downward flow of the filtrate creates a suction in the end drain, drain tubes and in the filtrate channels. The suction draws the pulp slurry onto the screening surface while the drum surface is in the pulp slurry vat and draws water and cooking liquor through the pulp mat as the drum surface is raised and subjected to the water spray wash. Suction is not applied to the ribs and tube as they rotate from about the 1:00 position to about the 5:00 position which is while there is no water spray (and thus a lack of liquid to support a continual flow of filtrate through the channels 18 ) and while the pulp mat is removed from the cylinder surface. A valve seal in the filtrate chamber stops suction.
FIG. 5 is an exploded view of a valve seal 100 , a tube sheet 92 and radial channels 102 (which are show exposed but would in practice be confined between opposite walls of the end drain). One wall 103 of the end drain is in the same plane as the tube sheet 92 and an opposite wall (not shown) is forward of the tube sheet. The channels walls 104 between the drain channels, e.g., ribs, have a radial inner edge near the perimeter of the tube sheet.
To block the suction as the drum rotates from the 1:00 to 5:00 positions, a valve seal 100 is applied to the outlet ends of the radial channels 102 of the end drain as the channels pass from the 1:00 position to the 5:00 position. The valve seal includes a curved plate 106 that is positioned adjacent the outlet of the radial channels 102 . The valve seal plate 106 may include an aperture(s) 108 that allow gases and filtrate in the end drain channels 102 to drain as the channels pass over the plate. The aperture 108 is an inlet to a gas and filtrate drain that extends through the valve seal and through a support shaft 110 . The plate may be doubled-walled to provide a closed passage for the aperture or include a pipe behind the plate that directs gas and foam into the shaft 110 .
The valve seal also includes a pie-shaped plate 109 that faces and is adjacent the tube sheet 92 . The pie-shaped plate blocks the outlets to the drain tubes as the tubes pass from the 1:00 to 5:00 positions. The pie-shaped plate may include aperture(s) to allow foam and gas from the drain tubes (as they pass from 1:00 to 5:00) to discharge into the valve and into the shaft 110 . The pie-shaped plate may be doubled-wall to provide a closed passage for foam or gas or have a pipe behind the plate for foam and gas to flow to the shaft 110 .
The valve seal is stationary and is supported by the shaft 110 extending from the elbow conduit 30 ( FIG. 4 ) and through the trunnion conduit. The support shaft is hollow to allow gas and filtrate from the drain tubes and end drain channels to exhaust from the drum without being drawn into the filtrate flowing down into the down leg 32 . The support shaft may be offset from the rotational axis of the drum and positioned down below the axis to facilitate the drainage of gases and foam from the drain tubes and end drain channels.
While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, 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.
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A vacuum drum washer including: a cylindrical drum including a screen and deck defining an exterior cylindrical surface; a plurality of outer filtrate channels disposed inward of the screen, the outer filtrate channels extending along a longitudinal axis of the drum and substantially an entire length of the drum; an radial array of filtrate end conduits extending radially inward from the outer filtrate channels towards a rotational axis of the drum, the radial filtrate conduits have an inlet positioned at a first end of the drum and draining filtrate from the outer filtrate channels; a filtrate chamber at the first end of the drum and receiving filtrate discharged from the end conduits, and an array of radial filtrate drainage conduits coupled to receive filtrate from the filtrate channels, the drainage conduits each having an inlet proximate to the filtrate channels, the inlets are arranged between a center of the drum and a second end of the drum, and the radial drainage conduits directing filtrate to the filtrate chamber.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, in general, to illumination means and, more specifically, to illumination means for being worn about a person's head to direct a beam of light in the direction the person is looking.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The following U.S. patents relate to the present invention: Matz, U.S. Pat. No. 1,215,043; Waechter, U.S. Pat. No. 2,234,995; Rowland, U.S. Pat. No. 2,739,225; Scott, U.S. Pat. No. 3,086,516; Kivela, U.S. Pat. No. 3,601,595; and Eriksson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,919. None of the above patents disclose or suggest the present invention.
Heretofore, all known illumination means for being worn about a person's head have been disadvantageous for one reason or another. For example, all known self-contained headlights and spotlights must be partially disassembled to change, replace or recharge the batteries and light bulbs thereof. Also, all known headlights are uncomfortable to wear for extended periods since the weight thereof is concentrated over one area of the wearer's head. Scott, U.S. Pat. No. 3,086,516, utilizes a counterweight to offset the weight of the headlight. This approach, while offsetting the weight of the light unit and therefore making the unit more comfortable to wear, also results in substantially doubling the weight of the unit which, in itself, prevents optimum comfort to the wearer of the headlight.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed towards overcoming the above and other disadvantages of prior self-contained headlights and the like. The concept of the present invention is to provide an illumination means for being worn about a person's head to direct a beam of light in the direction the person is looking and which includes a source of electric power, an electric light bulb, a circuit means for electrically coupling the source of electric power and the light bulb, the circuit means including an adjustment means for varying the amount of electric power passing from the source of electric power to the light bulb to thereby vary the brightness of the light bulb, and an attachment means for attaching the source of electric power and the light bulb to a person's head.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the illumination means of the present invention shown being worn by a person.
FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a portion thereof.
FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a portion thereof as taken on line IV--IV of FIG. 3.
FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a portion thereof as taken on line V--V of FIG. 1.
FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a portion thereof as taken on line VI--VI of FIG. 2.
FIG. 7 is an electrical schematic view thereof.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The illumination means 11 of the present invention is for being worn about the head of a person P so as to direct a beam of light in the direction the person P is looking. The illumination means includes, in general, a source 13 of electric power (see FIG. 7); an electric light bulb 15 (see FIG. 3, 6 and 7); a circuit means 17 for electrically coupling the source 13 of electric power and the electric light bulb 15 so as to allow the source 13 of electric power to activate the electric light bulb 15 in a well known manner (see FIG. 7); and an attachment means for attaching the source 13 of electric power and the light bulb 15 to the head of a person (see, in general, FIGS. 1 and 3).
The source 13 of electric power preferably consists of one or more electric storage batteries 19, four being shown in the drawings. Preferably, the batteries 19 are nine-volt alkaline or mercury batteries which can be readily recharged for reasons which will hereinafter become apparent. The circuit means 17 is preferably provided with a battery connector (not shown) for electrically connecting each battery 19 in series as well as apparent to those skilled in the art to allow electric power to pass from the batteries 19 to the light bulb 15.
The electric light bulb 15 may be of any type apparent to those skilled in the art for being activated by the batteries 19. For example, the light bulb 15 may be a 5.95 volt light bulb for use with the four nine-volt batteries 19. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that different light bulbs may be used for different sources of electric power.
The circuit means 17 includes an adjustment means such as a rheostat 21 or the like for varying the amount of electric power passing from the batteries 19 to the light bulb 15 so as to thereby vary the brightness of the light bulb 15 in a manner which will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The circuit means 17 preferably includes an on-off switch 23 for selectively allowing or preventing the passage of electric power from the batteries 19 to the light bulb 15 to thereby allow the person P to turn the illumination means 11 on or off as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
The illumination means 11 preferably includes an auxiliary source 25 of electric power (see FIG. 7). The circuit means 17 preferably includes an auxiliary means 27 for electrically coupling the auxiliary source 25 of electric power to the light bulb 15. The auxiliary source 25 of electric power preferably consists of a battery 29 (see, in general, FIG. 1) which may be a 12-volt car battery, a 6 volt lantern battery, a standard electric trolling motor battery, as typically used by boaters such as fishermen, or the like. It should be noted that when a 12-volt battery is used, the light bulb 15 should be an 8.63-volt light bulb or the like as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The auxiliary means 27 of the circuit means 17 preferably includes an on-off switch 31 for selectively allowing or preventing the passage of electric power from the battery 29 to the light bulb 15 to thereby allow the person P to turn the illumination means 11 on or off. Standard alligatortype clamps 32 (see FIG. 1) may be provided to removably attach the battery 29 and the auxiliary means 27. Additionally, the auxiliary means 27 preferably includes a plug-in type connector 33 for reasons which will hereinafter become apparent. The circuit means 17 is preferably adapted to allow electric power to pass from the battery 29 to the batteries 19 when both on-off switches 23, 31 are closed to allow the electric power from the battery 29 to recharge the batteries 19 in a manner which should now be apparent to those skilled in the art.
The attachment means preferably includes a hat member 35 for fitting over the head of the person P and for supporting the light bulb 15, batteries 19, and a portion of the circuit means 17. More specifically, the light bulb 15, batteries 19, rheostat 21, and on-off switches 23, 31 are preferably mounted on the hat member 35 as clearly shown in the drawings. The hat member 35 may be of any construction apparent to those skilled in the art. Preferably, the hat member 35 is constructed of a substantially hard substance. The light bulb 15, batteries 19, rheostat 21 and on-off switches 23, 31 are preferably arranged on the hat member 35 in such a manner so as to substantially evenly distribute the weight thereof over the head of the person P so as to make the illumination means 11 comfortable for the person P to wear.
The attachment means preferably includes one or more clip members 37 fixedly attached to the hat member 35 by rivets 39 or the like (see FIG. 4) for removably mounting the batteries 19 to the hat member 35, thereby allowing the batteries 19 to be removed and/or replaced without having to remove or disassemble any other part of the illumination means 11. The clip member 37 may be constructed of spring metal or the like.
The illumination means 11 preferably includes an opened reflector member 41 (see, in general, FIG. 6) associated with the light bulb 15 to cause the light bulb 15 to form a beam of light when activated and to allow the light bulb 15 to be removed and/or replaced without having to remove or disassemble any other part of the illumination means 11.
The attachment means preferably includes means for mounting the light bulb 15 and reflector member 41 to the hat member 35 in such a manner that the beam of light created by the light bulb 15 can be vertically adjusted. This means preferably includes a bracket like member 43 for being fixedly attached to the hat member 35 by bolts 45 or the like (see, in general, FIG. 5). The bracket like member 43 is preferably adapted to support the rheostat 21 and the on-off switches 23, 31 in a position which allows the person P to operate the same and as clearly shown in the drawings. Additionally, an arm-like member 47 is pivotally mounted to one or more projections 49 of the bracket-like member 43 by a rivet 51 or the like (see, in general, FIGS. 5 and 6).
The light bulb 15 and reflector member 41 is, in turn, attached to the distal end of the arm-like member 47 so that the beam of light created by the light bulb 15 and reflector 41 can be vertically adjusted by merely pivoting the arm-like member 47 about the rivet 51 as should be apparent to those skilled in the art from the drawings. The light bulb 15 and reflector member 41 may be attached to the arm-like member 47 in any manner apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, a light bulb holder 53 may be provided for fixedly holding the light bulb 15 and for being screwably attached to the reflector member 41 as clearly shown in FIG. 6. The arm-like member 47 may be provided with an aperture 55 for allowing a portion of the light bulb holder 53 to extend therethrough so as to fixedly attach the reflector member 41 to the arm-like member 47 as clearly shown by FIG. 6.
The use of the illumination means 11 is quite simple. to activate the light bulb 15 by way of the batteries 19, the on-off switch 23 is merely closed, thereby allowing electric power to pass from the batteries 19 to the light bulb 15. The brightness and intensity of the beam of light thus created by the light bulb 15 can be varied by adjusting the rheostat 21 in a manner and for reasons which will be apparent to those skilled in the art. If it is desired to activate the light bulb 15 by way of the battery 29, the on-off switch 23 is left open and the on-off switch 31 is closed to allow electric power to pass from the battery 29, through the plug-in type connector 33 and to the light bulb 15. Here again, the brightness and intensity of the beam of light created by the light bulb 15 can be varied by adjusting the rheostat 21.
Although the invention has been described and illustrated with respect to a preferred embodiment thereof, it is not to be so limited since changes and modifications may be made therein which are within the full intended scope of the invention.
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A light for being permanently attached to a hat and for directing a beam of light in the direction the person wearing the hat is looking. The light is adapted to allow the user thereof to vary the brightness of the beam of light produced thereby. Further, the light is adapted to be powered either by one or more electric storage batteries mounted on the hat or by an auxiliary source of electric power such as a standard electric trolling motor battery or the like. The auxiliary source of electric power is capable of, in addition to activating the light, recharging the electric storage batteries. The electric storage batteries are positioned about the hat so as to substantially evenly distribute the weight of the light over the head of the person wearing the hat.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the past, when high voltage transmission lines have been removed prior to replacement or the installation of higher capacity lines, the old lines were de-energized and removed from the tower insulators and pulley blocks set up at each insulator to contain the new wire as it was pulled in a rope or the old wire. This practice required erecting a series of pulley blocks to guide the wire as it was pulled into place and required frequent trips up and down the towers by workmen in order to install the new wire in place.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a new and improved wireguide and transport line adapted to be positioned on high top insulators for guiding a high voltage line as it is pulled into place on the insulators. Further, with the present invention, the new wire may be attached to the end of a length of the old wire and as the old wire is pulled off of the insulators, the new wire is pulled into place by the old wire.
The guide and transport comprises a pair of opposed open-sided guide members adapted to be releasably latched together on an insulator to provide a low-friction roller and guide means for supporting and guiding the old wire as it is removed and the new wire as it is pulled into position on the insulators.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a top view showing the guide transport positioned on an insulator and supporting the wire;
FIG. 2 is a side view of the guide transport means shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is an endview of the guide transport means of FIGS. 1 and 2;
FIG. 4 shows the guide transport means rotated 90° from the position shown in FIG. 1 and out of a supporting position of the wire; and
FIG. 5 shows the guide transport segments disconnected from each other and removed from the insulator.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Considering now the apparatus of the present invention in more detail, the guide transport apparatus is designated generally A in the drawings. The insulator is I and the high voltage line or wire is marked W. The guide transport A comprises a pair of segments S-1 and S-2, respectively, which are substantially identical to each other.
To facilitate the description of these segments S-1 and S-2, attention is drawn to FIG. 5 where they are shown drawn apart from one another and the insulator I, yet nevertheless, aligned with another as will be described shortly.
First, it should be noted that segment S-1 has a L-shaped base member, designated generally 10, including a short leg 11 (FIG. 3) and a long leg 12. The long leg 12 has a tapered end 13 and a plurality of spaced transverse notches 14 arranged at spaced intervals along the long leg 12 for receiving a latch member L mounted on the other segment S-2 and for providing a means for adjusting the size of the apparatus A to fit different size insulators.
A curved portion designated 16 is provided between the short leg 11 and the long leg 12 for fitting around the neck N of the high top insulator I when the segments S-1 and S-2 are drawn together as will be described herein.
As best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, the segment S-1 also has a tubular housing 20 affixed to the end of the short leg 11. Such tubular housing 20 is welded or otherwise secured to the end of the short leg 11 and is disposed with the bore 22 of the tubular housing aligned substantially parallel with the axis of the long leg 12. This bore is provided for receiving the long leg 12 of the segment S-2 when the segments S-1 and S-2 are connected together (FIG. 1) as will be described. Also, the tubular housing 20 has a latch member L pivotally mounted thereon on pin 23 carried by a pair of spaced ears 24 and 25. Such latch member includes a tapered point 30 formed at the end of a shank 31. Such shank has a hole through which pin 23 passes. Further, the shank has a flattened finger or thumb depressing portion 33 at the end opposite the point 30 to facilitate manually pivoting the latch member to withdraw the point 30 from one of the notches 14 in the long leg 12.
As shown, the notches have one side 14a which is substantially perpendicular to the axis of the long leg 12 and another side 14b which is tapered or inclined in substantially the same angle as the tapered end 13 of the long leg 12. Further, a spring 35 is provided for urging the tip or end 30 of the latch into the notch 14. Manually depressing the thumb or finger depressor 33 will compress the spring 35 and permit the tip 30 to be withdrawn from the notch 14 when desired.
Also, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, an upwardly extending guide member 40 is provided which projects vertically upwardly from the tubular housing 20 at substantially a right angle with respect to the axis of the bore 22. Such upwardly extending guide member terminates with a horizontal finger or guide member 41 which projects laterally substantially parallel to the short leg 11. A second intermediate finger 44 is provided between the short leg 11 and the finger guide 41. The intermediate finger 44 is substantially parallel to the short leg 11 and has a roller 50 rotatably mounted thereon. The roller 50 is disposed between circular washers 51 and 52 and a pin or cotter key 53 is provided for holding the roller 50 in place on the shaft 44.
As stated earlier, the segment S-2 is substantially identical to the segment S-1 and, therefore, like numbers or letters will be used to identify like parts in the drawings.
It will be appreciated that the wire W is normally lashed in place on top of the insulator I by wire seizing or the like. However, to remove a wire W from the insulator I, the lashing is removed and the segments S-1 and S-2 are coupled together in position on the neck portion N of insulator I beneath the wire W. To couple the segments S-1 and S-2, they are aligned in facing relationship much as shown in FIG. 5 with the tapered end 13 of the long leg 12 aligned with the bore 22 of the opposite segment. With the latch means L depressed so as to withdraw the tip portion 30 from the bore opening, the long legs 12 are inserted into the bores 22 and the segments S-1 and S-2 are moved toward one another until the curved portion 16 engages the neck N of the insulator I. Thereafter, the wire W is lifted off of the insulator I and the segments S-1 and S-2 are rotated 90° to position the rollers 50 beneath the wire W. Whereupon, the wire W is lowered onto the rollers 50. In this position (FIGS. 1- 3) the wire W is supported on the rollers 50 on either side of the top of the insulator I and the wire W is constrained against lateral movement by the vertical members 40 on opposite sides of the wire W. Further, the wire W is constrained against upward movement by the horizontal finger guides 41 positioned above the wire W. However, it will be appreciated that the wire W is free to move axially through the guide transport apparatus of this invention on the low friction rollers 50.
By placing the guide transport apparatus on a number of adjacent high line insulators, a substantial length of wire or cable may be removed and a new length of cable of the same or different size may be attached to one end of the existing cable and strung in place on the insulators I as the old or previously existing cable is withdrawn. With this invention, a new length of cable may be substituted for an old length of cable merely by placing the existing cable in the wire guide transports of this invention and pulling the old cable out and the new cable in place and, of course, the new cable may be attached to the end of the old cable so that the new cable is strung in place as the old cable is being removed.
Once the new cable is in place, the cable may be lifted slightly to free or unload the guide transport rollers and the guide transport is then rotated 90° and the cable then lowered onto the top of the insulator I. Thereafter, the guide transport may be removed from the insulators by depressing the latches L and drawing the segments S-1 and S-2 apart. The wire then may be latched to the insulators in the usual manner.
It will be understood that the guide transport devices of the present invention can be attached to the insulators I while the wire W is energized with the electric current and does not require that the wire W be de-energized while the devices are being set up on the insulators.
The foregoing disclosure and description of the invention are illustrative and explanatory thereof, and various changes in the size, shape and materials as well as in the details of the illustrated construction may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.
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A temporary guide support adapted to be removably connected to a high top insulator for guiding and transporting a wire or high voltage electrical line while it is being strung in place on its insulators. After the line is positioned on the insulators, the guide is removed and the line permanently connected to the insulators.
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CLAIM TO PRIORITY
The present application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application serial No. 60/108,732, filed Nov. 17, 1998, and entitled “Ergonomic Posture Ambulation and Exercise Apparatus and Method.” The priority provisional patent application is hereby incorporated, in its entirety, by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to devices for the disabled user that enable the disabled user to be raised from a seated position to a supported standing position and, more-particularly, to devices that enable the disabled user to raise himself/herself from a seated position to a supported standing position independently, i.e. without the aid of an intervening party.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Disabled wheel chair users and other individuals with limited trunk or leg control, experience difficulties in moving their limbs and other parts of the body. Further, subjects who maintain prolonged sedentary sleeping or sitting positions, due to muscle and limb limitations or disabilities, experience, inter alia, atrophy of the limbs and muscles. The inability of a person to flex the muscles coupled with a loss of sensation contributes to nerve degeneration and eventually will result in the muscles undergoing atrophy. In the absence of physical therapy, these individuals will suffer not only from progressive muscular weakness but declining health because of poor fluid circulation, and diminishing kidney, lung and cardiac efficiencies.
Existing therapeutic methods include a regimen of flexion and extension of various parts of the body performed with the aid of a therapist. Generally, these methods employ various mechanical supports to position the patient in a vertical and/or supine posture. Movements of the trunk or neck, the forearm and the legs in a flexion and extension manner are then performed with the assistance of the therapist. While these methods are useful, they are not conducive to universal applications because of inherent limitations. Primarily, the method employed by current disability management and therapy is labor intensive and requires a continuous attendance and help by the therapist. Further, current methods and devices do not enable a coordinated and repeated multiple muscle movement and do not reform the disabled limb to follow/assume the most clinically desirable motion/orientation to efficiently tone major parts of the body. For example, a person with a paralyzed lower limb extends the stiffly extended limb in a partial arch when walking. A therapist may have to “force” the partial arc into a straight forward motion. However, in the absence of a restraining device, such forced motions may not be precisely repeatable and are frequently laborious. Accordingly, depending on the type of the disability, a sequence of precise, repeatable beneficial movements may not be possible unless the patient is placed in such a position, posture and orientation to enable specific muscular and body movements.
More importantly, current therapy methods and devices require maintenance of a patient-therapist interaction. Generally, the patient is required to be physically present at a clinic or hospital to enable the therapist to help in performing the therapeutic exercises. Consequently, patients needing to perform the exercises on an intensive basis are faced with the burdensome prospect of frequently visiting their therapist at a clinic or hospital. These difficulties are particularly burdensome to patients who live in remote areas and who need to be on a permanent therapy program. Further, presently available therapeutic devices are designed for use in hospitals or clinics and are not conducive for individual home use. In spite of the proliferation of exercise and health enhancing equipment designed for use by the average physically fit person, there is a serious lack. of exercise and ergonomic support equipment for home use by disabled and wheel chair bound individuals. Specifically, there is a need for devices which enable a disabled person to independently perform therapeutic exercises on a self-directed basis. Further, there is a serious lack of stand-support devices for wheel chair bound persons to enable them to form into clinically beneficial and ergonomically sound postures. Such devices are most desirable to enhance the health and independence of a disabled person.
Some of the most critical factors in the design and implementation of ergonomic apparatus for wheel chair bound and disabled individuals include features such as availability, maintainability and simplicity. For example, to be independently operable by a wheel chair bound person the device must have features which enable ease of transfer mount/ dismount from the wheel chair to the device and vise versa. Further there should, preferably, be no assembly and disassembly involved to change from one posture to the next or from one exercise regimen to the other. Additionally, all pressure surfaces including contact and positioning surfaces should be designed to eliminate shear, torsion and similar stresses to avoid aggravation and injury to limbs and body parts. This is particularly important as it relates to users who have lost sensation in the legs, knees and certain parts of the body. In cases such as these, therapeutic methods which impart shock, impact, stresses and the like to parts of the body where the subject has lost sensation may inflict tissue, muscle and skeletal damage without the user knowing of the injury until a later diagnosis.
Accordingly, there is a need for assemblies which help disabled persons to form into ergonomic postures, without outside intervention such as a therapist, for task sitting, standing, ambulating and exercising purposes. Preferably, such assemblies would have features to enable a self-directed easy mount and dismount to and from a bed, wheel chair or any other similar support. More preferably, the assemblies would include features designed to provide full natural movements and support of the limbs and the body at all postures and activity events.
While many devices and methods for lifting and orienting disabled individuals in a substantially vertical and/or supine orientation exist, the applicant is unfamiliar with any assembly which disclose the structures and the combinational advantages of the present invention. Applicant is familiar with lift mechanisms and assemblies which are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,054,852; 4,569,094 and 4,725,056. These assemblies do not provide fore, aft and lateral ergonomic supports and are generally complex in structure and operations.
Applicant is also aware of disclosures made in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,545,616; 4,456,086 and 4,054,319 which teach seat assemblies that provide for seated and upright postures. Those seat assemblies, however, lack adequate pressure surfaces and lateral structures, and are cumbersome for a user to mount and dismount. Further, applicant is aware of wheelchairs including seat mounted, hydraulic assist cylinders, which facilitate a standing posture for users who have partial use of their lower limbs and which are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,023,048; 4,569,556 and 4,632,455.Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,151 discloses a person support assembly for ambulation. However, none of the references address the problems and issues outlined above.
Accordingly there is a need for a rehabilitation and therapeutic system capable of transposing a wheel chair bound and/or disabled person into various preferred and healthy postural configurations, to maintain comfortable ergonomic ranges to a task seating work station and to further enable standing, ambulation and therapeutic exercise to thereby enhance health, independence and productivity.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to various assemblies which enable users with appreciably limited muscular, body and coordination control to assume ergonomic postures for task seating, standing, ambulation and physical exercise. Particularly, the invention provides secure support and positioning mechanisms to safely aid the user through an entire process involving transfer from a wheel chair to the assemblies. The mechanisms also assist the user to assume a desired posture and provide ergonomic and integral support after the user is situated in the desired posture. More particularly, the use of the present invention does not require the help of a therapist or additional muscle control on the part of the user. The assemblies of the present invention are advantageously structured and adjustably implemented to enable users, with a broad range of muscular and body coordination disabilities in addition to wide variations in physical size and configurations, to perform the many useful and advantageous activities safely and efficiently made possible by the invention.
More particularly, the invention relates to lift systems of various embodiments advantageously structured to lift a wheel chair bound or similarly situated person to a substantially vertical postural orientation for task standing, ambulation and exercise. Specifically some embodiments of the invention relate to a vertical lift device for positioning, a wheel chair bound or similarly situated user, into a substantially standing posture while enabling safe movement and ambulation. Another embodiment provides a self-activated lift system for positioning and securing a wheel chair bound or disabled person in a substantially vertical orientation to enable dynamic leg motion and full body exercise ranging from mild to vigorous workouts. Yet another embodiment of the invention provides a quick and smooth transition from a sitting position to a substantially standing position and is particularly conducive to disabled users who otherwise have good upper body balance and strength. Further, another embodiment relates to a system which enables a wheel chair bound person to transpose into a standing position without transferring to an intermediate structure such as a seat. The system utilizes a flexible slingoidal pressure surface with specialized friction and support patterns structured to provide gluteal and lumbosacral support.
One of the many objectives of the embodiments disclosed in the invention is to enable a disabled person to experience a variety of clinically desirable postures while promoting economic self-reliance, safety and health. Specifically, the embodiments provide various features which include ease of adjustments for statistical variance in the users' weight, height, physical configurations and the like.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a user controlled drive system with safety lock mechanisms including a center of gravity stabilization assembly to prevent tipping.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a substantially flexible slingoidal pressure surface, adaptable to a wheel-chair, bed and similar body support structure. The slingoidal pressure surface includes strategically placed attachments which enable the slingoidal pressure surface, in cooperation with uniquely set structural assemblies, to cradle the gluteal and back regions while simultaneously transferring and lifting the user from a wheel chair to a substantially standing position.
Another object of the invention is to provide a quick and smooth lift of a wheel chair bound person from a sitting position to a standing posture. The assembly is particularly advantageous for users with appreciable upper body strength with disabilities and/or appreciable limited control of the lower limb and muscles. Lift-handles featuring articulating loop geometries are advantageously implemented to provide multifunctions including structural support for the seat, actuation of the lift mechanism and provision of lateral support to the user.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an exercise machine to enable safe, dynamic and repeatable leg and upper body motion and exercise while the user is standing. The assembly includes adjustable resistance for programmed exercise and workout. One of the many unique innovations of the assembly includes a knee support structure and pressure surface which eliminates vertical shear, friction, torsional and lateral stresses and maintains the knee in preferably orthoangular alignment with the motion of the legs. Further, pressure surfaces are implemented to keep the user in a secure and ergonomically desirable orientation to promote full extension and flexion of the upper body and limbs.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is plan view of a disabled user lift system of the present invention, wherein the disabled user lift system comprises a lift, positioner, and therapeutic exercise system, the system is shown in a seated position.
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the lower half of the system of FIG. 1, the system is shown in an ambulatory position.
FIG. 3 is a rear view of the system of FIG. 1, the system is shown in an ambulatory position.
FIG. 4 is a plan view of the system of FIG. 1, the system is shown in an ambulatory position.
FIG. 5 is a front perspective view of the system of FIG. 1, the system is shown in a seated position.
FIG. 6 is a side perspective view of the lower half of the exercising structure of the system of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 7 depicts a user in an ambulatory position within the system of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 8 is a front perspective view of a second embodiment of a disabled user lift system of the present invention, wherein the disabled user lift system comprises an ambulatory system, the system is shown in the ambulatory position.
FIG. 9 is a rear perspective view of the system of FIG. 8, the system is shown in a seated position.
FIG. 10 is a close-up perspective view of a lift structure of the system of FIG. 8 .
FIG. 11 is a close-up perspective of a propulsion pulley and wheel of the system of FIG. 8 .
FIG. 12 is a front perspective view of a third embodiment of a disabled user lift system of the present invention, wherein the disabled user lift system comprises a work station system, the system is shown in a seated position.
FIG. 13 a plan view of the system of FIG. 12, the system is shown in a standing position.
FIG. 14 is a side view of a lift structure of the system of FIG. 8, the system is shown in a seated position.
FIG. 15 is a close-up, rear perspective view of the lift structure of the system of FIG. 8, the system is shown in a standing position.
FIG. 16 is a plan view of an alternative embodiment of the third embodiment of FIG. 12 .
FIG. 17 is a plan view of a fourth embodiment of a disabled user system of the present invention, wherein the disabled user system comprises a sling lift work station system, the system is shown in a seated position.
FIG. 18 is a rear perspective view of the system of FIG. 17, the system is shown in a seated position.
FIG. 19 is a plan view of the system of FIG. 17, the system is shown in a standing position.
FIG. 20 is a close-up, plan view of a lift structure of the system of FIG. 17 .
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
A first embodiment of a disabled user lift system 10 of the present invention comprises lift, positioner, and therapeutic exercise system 100 is depicted in FIGS. 1-7. System 100 is generally comprised of a base structure 102 , which supports a plurality of articulating and adjustable elements, and a plurality of pressure surfaces 104 , e.g. seat, back rest, knee support, torso pad, which operate with base structure 102 to provide ergonomic support and physical exercise options to the user.
Specifically, base structure 102 includes a central support bar 110 that is slidably connected to a forward stabilizing cross member 112 and to a rearward stabilizing cross member 114 . The slidable connection between central support bar 110 and cross members 112 and 114 , allow for maximum flexibility in achieving the most stable position of system 100 ; cross members 112 and 114 are then fixed in position. Further, each cross member 112 and 114 is provided with a pair of adjustable stablizing feet 115 to accommodate various surface configurations upon which system 100 is set. Casters 113 are also provided on cross member 112 to allow system 100 to more easily be moved to a desired location.
Referring specifically to FIGS. 1-3, base structure 102 operates to support a lift structure 116 of system 100 that provides for user seat and back support. Specifically, lift structure 116 includes a base structure 117 , a seat structure 118 , and a back support structure 119 . Base structure 117 is preferably comprised of an adjustable, telescoping support column 122 whose lower portion 124 is preferably fixedly secured to central support bar 110 and whose upper portion 125 is vertically adjustable by virtue of a removable locking pin 127 . Support member 126 adds structural rigidity to support column 122 . Further defining base structure 117 is a first rigid linkage 128 and a second rigid linkage 130 . A first end of each rigid linkage 128 and 130 is preferably secured by one or more pins 132 , or other appropriate fastener, to opposing sides of support column 122 . A third rigid linkage 134 is preferably fixedly secured at a first end between first and second rigid linkage 128 and 130 utilizing at least one of pins 132 for securement purposes.
Seat structure 118 of the lift structure 116 of system 100 preferably includes a first seat linkage 140 and a second seat linkage 142 . A first end of each of first seat linkage 140 and second seat linkage 142 are preferably pivotally secured to a second end of third rigid linkage 134 . The second ends of first and second seat linkages 140 and 142 are preferably fixedly secured to a fixed end 144 of an adjustable, telescoping seat support 146 . An adjustable end 148 of seat support 146 is preferably adjustable by virtue of a removable locking pin (not shown). Fixed end 144 is preferably secured to the underside of a padded seat 150 with a pair of brackets 153 . The adjustable, telescoping nature of seat support 146 allows a user to move seat 150 more forward or rearward as desired and/or necessary for suitable user positioning.
Pivotally secured between the forward portion of fixed end 144 of seat support 146 , and, first and second rigid linkage 128 , 130 is an air spring 152 . Air spring 152 is operably connected to a pressure handle 154 , which the user may motion back and forth to increase pressure within air spring 152 . Adjustable end 148 of seat support is preferably rigidly secured, e.g. by welding, to an arm support cross bar 155 . At either end of arm support cross bar 155 is preferably mounted an L-shaped arm support 156 . L-shaped arm support 156 is fixedly mounted to arm support cross bar 155 by virtue of a bracket 158 extending from the underside of arm support cross bar 155 and fixedly bolted to L-shaped arm support. L-shaped arm support 156 operates as more than an arm support. Specifically, L-shaped arm support 156 provides the user with lateral movement protection, keeping the user within system 100 while sitting and while ambulatory.
Back support structure 119 of the lift structure 116 of system 100 preferably includes a u-shaped support bar 160 , the open end of which is preferably fixedly secured to the underside of a padded back rest 162 . The closed end of support bar 160 is preferably pivotally secured to a first end of an adjustable, telescoping height adjustment bar 164 . The second end of height adjustment bar 164 is preferably pivotally secured to the exterior of one of first or second rigid linkages 128 , 130 . Adjustable, telescoping height adjustment bar 164 is preferably adjustable by virtue of a contained, depressible locking pin 166 . To provide additional support and structural rigidity to back rest 162 , u-shaped support bar 160 is preferably secured to arm support cross bar 155 . Specifically, a bracket 168 extends rearward from arm support cross bar 155 and is preferably bolted to the interior of u-shaped support bar 160 . Referring specifically to FIGS. 1 and 4 - 7 , the exercise/stabilizer structure 180 of system 100 operates in conjunction with lift structure 116 and base structure 102 to stabilize the user in an ambulatory position and to enable the user to exercise via a walking motion. Exerciser/stabilizer structure 180 includes a user stabilizing structure 182 and a user exercising structure 184 . The user stabilizing structure 182 generally includes an adjustable, telescoping central support column 190 . The lower portion of support column 190 is fixedly secured to central support bar 110 . The upper portion of support column 190 is preferably vertically adjustable by virtue of a removable locking pin 192 . A substantially horizontal handle bar 194 is preferably fixedly secured to a perpendicular extender bar 196 , whose end opposite handle bar 194 is fixedly secured, e.g. by welding, to the upper portion of support column 190 . Handle bar 194 is preferably provided with a padded gripping surface 198 . Handle bar 194 is provided to aid the user in positioning himself/herself in seat structure 118 . An adjustable, telescoping torso position bar 200 is provided at the top of upper portion of support column 190 and is preferably fixedly secured thereto, e.g. by welding.
Torso position bar 200 is substantially horizontal and is adjustable by virtue of a removable locking pin 202 . The telescoping portion of torso position bar 200 is preferably fixedly secured through use of brackets (not shown) to a cushioned torso pad 204 . Torso pad 204 is preferably positioned to align with the user's lower chest and abdominal area when the user is in an ambulatory position to provide maximum support.
The user exercising structure 184 generally comprises a pair of articulating exercise arms 210 , a pair of foot supports 212 , and a pair of knee supports 214 , all of which work in combination to provide the user with ambulatory exercise. Each articulating exercise arm 210 is elongate in nature incorporating an adjustable, telescoping upper portion and a pivoting lower portion. The upper portion is vertically adjustable relative the lower portion of the exercise arm 210 by virtue of a removable locking pin 216 , best seen in FIG. 7. A sidewise u-shaped handle 218 is preferably fixedly secured, e.g. by welding, to the top of the upper portion of exercise arm 210 and is provided with a padded gripping surface 220 . The sidewise u-shape of handle 218 allows the user to grab exercise arm 210 at either the upper or lower of the u-shape legs and, if grabbing at the lower of the u-shape legs, prevents the user's hand from sliding out to the side.
The lower portion of each articulating exercise arm 210 is preferably pivotally secured to one corner of a four-bar support 230 . Four-bar support 230 comprises two parallel support bars 232 that are fixedly secured to the lower portion of support column 190 and two parallel cross-support bars 234 that extend perpendicularly to support bars 232 . Support bars 232 are preferably fixedly secured to the interior of cross-support bars 234 such that each cross-support bar 234 extends beyond the width created by support column 190 and the two support bars 232 to provide four corners for affixation. The lowermost end of the lower portion of each articulating exercise arm 210 is preferably pivotally secured to the distal end of a foot support extender 236 .
The two corners of four-bar support 230 that are not secured to articulating exercise arm 210 are each preferably pivotally secured to an exercise arm linkage 240 . The opposite end of exercise arm linkage 240 is preferably secured to the proximal end of foot support extender 236 . Extending diagonally between each articulating exercise arm 210 and exercise arm linkage 240 , is an adjustable damper 242 that provides resistance to the articulating motion of exercise arm 210 . The ends of damper 242 are preferably fixedly secured, one to the lower portion of articulating exercise arm 210 and one to exercise arm linkage 240 .
A directional mechanism 243 is additionally secured to both of exercise arm linkages 240 . Directional mechanism 243 comprises a pair of directional bars 244 and a pivoting link 246 . Each directional bar 244 is preferably vertically, pivotally connected at a first end to the inner side of exercise arm linkage 240 . The second end of each directional bar 244 is preferably horizontally pivotally connected to one end of pivoting link 246 . Pivoting link 246 is preferably provided with a centrally-positioned horizontal pivotal connection to the lower portion of support column 190 . This horizontal pivotal connection is preferably achieved by use of a bracket 248 whose back is fixedly secured to support column 190 and whose legs extend one above and one below pivoting link 246 ; legs and pivoting link 246 are preferably joined by a pin 250 . Direction mechanism 243 maintains the sequencing of the exercise. In other words, direction mechanism 243 operates from to prevent both feet/arms from moving forward/aft simultaneously. Rather, direction mechanism 243 ensures that as one foot support 212 moves aft the other foot support 212 moves forward and likewise with articulating exercise arms 210 .
Each foot support 212 generally comprises a foot rest portion 260 , having upward extending side walls 262 , and foot support extender 236 . Foot rest portion 260 , side walls 262 and foot support extender 236 are preferably unitary in nature and, as such, are preferably fabricated from single mold. Upward extending side walls 262 help to prevent the slipping of the user's foot from foot support 212 while foot support extender 236 allows for connection of foot support 212 to articulating exercise arm 210 and exercise arm linkage 240 , as described above. Each side of the rear of each foot support 212 , i.e. the heel portion, is pivotally secured to one end of a foot support linkage 264 . The opposite end of each foot support linkage 264 is preferably fixedly secured to one end of a knee support connector rod 266 . The opposite end of knee support connector rod 266 is fixedly secured to a plate 268 that is affixed to the back side of knee support 214 .
Each suspended foot support 212 responsively interacts with articulating exercise arms 210 under the influence of the resistance provided by dampers 242 . Each foot support 212 is designed to swing linearly, substantially friction-free, in coordination with and opposite to the direction of motion of the corresponding articulating exercise arm 210 . The connection of elements within system 100 enable near 100 percent transfer of adjustable resistance to articulating exercise arms 210 . This means that the user is set to simulate a linear motion pivoted at the hip. This arrangement promotes maximum extension and flexion of the upper limbs and torso while maintaining the knees stabilized in a vertical orientation with no shear, flexure, torsion or lateral stresses.
Plate 268 of knee support 214 is preferably provided with a bracket 270 that is permanently affixed thereto. The legs of bracket 270 are each pivotally connected to a knee support linkage 272 . The opposite end of knee support linkage is preferably pivotally secured to exercise arm linkage 240 . Plate 268 is additionally fixedly secured to a knee support bracket 274 . Each knee support bracket 274 is provided with two legs which support the contoured padding 276 of knee support 214 . Contoured padding 276 is preferably provided with a strip 278 of hook and loop fabric so that the user's knee/lower leg may be secured to knee support 214 to help prevent slippage and possible injury.
Knee support 214 is preferably geometrically shaped and sized to fit a statistically broad segment of both the adult and youth group population. Specifically, each knee support 214 is preferably provided with geometric shapes (as shown) that are formed to hold the knee in a stable stress-free state such that vertical shear, torsional, and flexural stresses are eliminated. Further, each knee support 214 acts as a brace to provide support and structural integrity to the knees so that a disabled person with limited control of the legs does not experience dangerous buckling and/or instability at the knees. The elimination of stress at the knees is a clinically desirably feature to help avoid injury to the knees and legs.
In use, system 100 is presented to the user in the seated position. Seat structure 118 is approximately at wheelchair height allowing for a user to transfer from their wheel chair to a seated position in system 100 . Once seated, the user may then swing their legs around and position each foot in one of foot supports 212 . The user then preferably secures each of their knees to knee support 214 with hook and loop strip 278 . With their body appropriately positioned within system, the user may, at any desired time, motion pressure handle 154 back and forth to increase pressure in air spring 152 thereby causing the raising of back rest 162 , the raising of the rear of seat 150 and the lowering of the front of seat 150 . Eventually, the user is completely raised to an ambulatory position, as shown in FIG. 7 .
As can be seen, the user is completely supported and contained within system 100 ; seat 150 and torso pad 204 act as a clamp about the torso of the user while arm supports 156 prevent excessive lateral motion of the user and prevent the user from falling out of either side of system 100 . Further, the user is secured at the knees by frictionless knee supports 214 with feet set in independently operable secure foot supports 212 .
The user may now simulate a normal walking motion by grasping handles 218 and motioning back and forth with the arms. This back and forth motion not only exercises the user's lower body, by moving the feet back and forth, but also exercises the upper body by flexing and extending the arms. The elements of system 100 , as described above, cooperate to optimize the user's physical movements by providing ergonomically efficient linear motions which are coordinated and repeatable for a symmetrically comprehensive workout of the upper and lower body.
Note that numerous height, distance, and resistance adjustments are provided within system 100 so that it may be particularly configured for a certain user. To reiterate that stated above, those adjustments include: (1) the height of seat 150 by adjusting telescoping support column 122 ; (2) the forward/aft position of seat 150 by adjusting telescoping seat support 146 ; (3) the height of back rest 162 by adjusting telescoping height adjustment bar 164 ; (4) the height of torso pad 204 by adjusting telescoping central support column 190 ; (5) the forward/aft position of torso pad 204 by adjusting telescoping torso position bar 200 ; (6) the height of sidewise unshaped handle 218 by adjusting telescoping articulating exercise arms 210 ; and (7) the tension in dampers 242 .
System 100 may additionally be provided with a monitor 280 to track calories burned, distance, time and speed if desired.
Referring to FIGS. 8-11, a second embodiment of a disabled user lift system 10 generally comprises ambulatory system 400 . System 400 is generally comprised of a base structure 402 , which supports a plurality of articulating and adjustable elements, and a plurality of pressure surfaces 403 , e.g. seat, back rest, knee support, torso pad, etc., which operate with base structure 402 to provide ergonomic support and mobility to the disabled user.
Specifically, base structure 402 includes a central, adjustable telescoping support column 404 , having a vertically adjustable upper portion 406 , by virtue of a removable locking pin (not shown), and a fixedly positioned lower portion 408 . Base structure 402 further includes a pair of rear support arms 410 and a pair of forward support arms 412 . Rear support arms 410 extend outward from support column 404 in a v-configuration having a first end of each support arm 410 fixedly secured to lower portion 408 of support column 404 . The second end of each support arm is directed downward where it is preferably fixedly secured to a swiveling caster 414 . Forward support arms 412 extend outward from the lowermost end of support column 404 in a v-configuration having a first end of each forward support arm 412 fixedly secured, e.g. by welding, to lower portion 408 of support column 404 . Forward support arms 412 serve to support a pair of foot rests 413 and ambulatory structure 415 . The second end of forward support arms 412 are left free but are provided with a downward angle and rubberized tip 411 to help in stabilizing and preventing forward tipping of system 400 .
A lift structure 416 of system 400 provides for user seat and back support. Specifically, lift structure 416 includes a base structure 417 , a seat structure 418 , and a back support structure 419 . Base structure 417 utilizes support column 404 to which is attached the upper portion of a first rigid linkage 428 and a second rigid linkage 430 . The upper portion of rigid linkages 428 and 430 are preferably secured by one or more pins 432 , or other appropriate fastener, to opposing sides of support column 404 . A third rigid linkage 434 is preferably fixedly secured at a first end between first and second rigid linkage 428 and 430 utilizing at least one of pins 432 for securement purposes.
Seat structure 418 of the lift structure 416 of system 400 preferably includes a first seat linkage 440 and a second seat linkage 442 . A first end of each of first seat linkage 440 and second seat linkage 442 are preferably pivotally secured to a second end of third rigid linkage 434 . The second ends of first seat linkage 440 and second seat linkage 442 are preferably fixedly secured to a fixed end 444 of an adjustable, telescoping seat support 446 . An adjustable end 448 of seat support 446 is preferably adjustable by virtue of a removable locking pin (not shown). Fixed end 444 is preferably secured to the underside of a padded seat 450 with a pair of brackets 452 . The adjustable, telescoping nature of seat support 146 allows a user to move seat 450 more forward or rearward as desired and/or necessary for suitable user positioning.
Pivotally secured between the forward portion of fixed end 444 of seat support 446 , and, first and second rigid linkages 428 , 430 is an air spring 453 . Air spring 453 is operably connected to a pressure handle 454 , which the user may motion back and forth to increase the pressure within air spring 453 . Adjustable end 448 of seat support 446 is preferably rigidly secured, e.g. by welding, to an arm support cross bar 455 . At either end of arm support cross bar 155 is preferably mounted an L-shaped arm support 456 . L-shaped arm support 456 is fixedly mounted to arm support cross bar 455 by virtue of a bracket 458 extending from the underside of arm support cross bar 455 and fixedly bolted to L-shaped arm support 456 . L-shaped arm support 456 operates as more than an arm support. Specifically, L-shaped arm support 456 provides the user with lateral movement protection, keeping the user within system 400 while and sitting and ambulatory.
Back support structure 419 of the lift structure of system 400 preferably includes a u-shaped support bar 460 , the open end of which is preferably fixedly secured to the underside of a padded back rest 462 . The closed end of support bar 460 is preferably pivotally secured to a first end of an adjustable, telescoping height adjustment bar 464 . The second end of height adjustment bar 464 is preferably pivotally secured to the exterior of one of first or second rigid linkages 428 , 430 . Adjustable, telescoping height adjustment bar 464 is preferably adjustable by virtue of a contained, spring-return, depressible locking pin 466 . To provide additional support and structural rigidity to back rest 462 , u-shaped support bar 460 is preferably secured to arm support cross bar 455 . Specifically, a bracket 468 extends rearward from arm support cross bar 454 and is preferably bolted to the interior of u-shaped support bar 460 .
Ambulatory structure 415 operates in combination with lift structure 416 and base structure 402 to stabilize the user in an ambulatory position and to enable the user to propel himself/herself directionally as desired. Ambulatory structure 415 includes a pair of adjustable, telescoping side supports 470 . Each of side supports 470 is preferably adjustable by virtue of a removable locking pin 472 . Each of a fixed position, lower portion 474 of side support 470 is preferably fixedly secured at a first end to one of forward support arms 412 . Each of an adjustable position, upper portion 476 of side support 470 is preferably fixedly secured to the legs of a u-shaped handle 478 .
Fixedly secured to the closed, underside of u-shaped handle 478 is an adjustable, telescoping torso position bar 480 . As shown, torso position bar 480 is substantially horizontal and is adjustable by virtue of a removable locking pin 482 . The telescoping portion of torso position bar 480 is preferably fixedly secured through use of brackets (not shown) to a cushioned torso pad 484 . Torso pad 484 is preferably positioned to align with the user's lower chest and abdominal area, when the user is in an ambulatory position, to provide maximum support.
A knee support pad 490 is preferably secured to a backing plate 492 which in turn is preferably fixed secured to a pad support bar 494 . Each end of pad support bar 494 extends beyond the overall length of knee support pad 490 such that the extended ends of pad support bar 494 may be fixedly secured at an intermediate position along each fixed position, lower portion 474 of side support 470 .
A pair of drive wheels 500 , each operably coupled to a belt drive pulley 502 , are connected by a shaft 504 to one of side supports 470 . Drive wheels 500 are positioned along side supports 470 such that casters 414 and drive wheels 500 provide system 400 with substantially level support. Each belt drive pulley 502 , and its corresponding drive wheel 500 , is connected via a drive belt 506 to a propulsion pulley 508 , and a corresponding propulsion wheel 510 to which propulsion pulley 508 is operably coupled. Each propulsion wheel 510 and pulley 508 are preferably connected via a shaft at a second end of each fixed position, lower portion 474 of side support 470 . Propulsion pulley 508 is preferably provided with an adjustable tensioning device 512 , best seen in FIG. 11 . Tensioning device 512 provides for increasing or decreasing the tension placed by propulsion pulley 508 on drive belt 506 by providing for adjustment, e.g. raising and lowering, of the position of propulsion pulley 508 and corresponding propulsion wheel 510 by loosening/tightening a position key 513 . Propulsion wheel 510 is preferably provided with a plurality of raised surface areas 514 to enable easier user propulsion of wheels 510 . Additional information regarding drive wheel/propulsion wheel drive systems may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,151 which is hereby incorporated by reference.
In use, system 400 is presented to the user in the seated position. Seat structure 418 is approximately at wheelchair height allowing for a user to transfer from their wheel chair to a seated position in system 400 . Once seated, the user may then swing their legs around and position each foot in one of foot rests 413 . With their body appropriately positioned within system 400 , the user may, at any desired time, motion pressure handle 454 back and forth to increase pressure in air spring 452 thereby causing the raising of back rest 462 , the raising of the rear of seat 450 and the lowering of the front of seat 450 . Eventually, the user is completely raised to an ambulatory position, similar to that of system 100 of FIG. 7 .
The user is completely supported and contained within system 400 ; seat 450 and torso pad 484 act as a clamp about the torso of the user while arm supports 456 prevent excessive lateral motion of the user and prevent the user from falling out of either side of system 400 . Further, the user is stabilized at the knees by frictionless knee support pad 490 with feet set in foot rests 413 .
The user may now propel himself/herself directionally as desired by rotating propulsion wheels 510 in a forward or aft direction, simultaneously or independently.
Note that numerous height, distance, and resistance adjustments are provided within system 400 so that it may be particularly configured for a certain user. To reiterate that stated above, those adjustments include: (1) the height of seat 450 by adjusting telescoping support column 404 ; (2) the forward/aft position of seat 450 by adjusting telescoping seat support 446 ; (3) the height of back rest 462 by adjusting telescoping height adjustment bar 464 ; (4) the height of torso pad 484 by adjusting telescoping side supports 470 ; (5) the forward/aft position of torso pad 484 by adjusting telescoping torso position bar 480 ; (6) the height of u-shaped handle 478 by adjusting telescoping side supports 470 ; and (7) the tension in drive belt 506 by adjusting the vertical position of propulsion pulley 508 .
Referring to FIGS. 12-15, a third embodiment of a disabled user lift system 10 generally comprises a work station system 600 . System 600 is generally comprised of a base structure 602 , which supports a plurality of articulating and adjustable elements, and a plurality of pressure surfaces 604 , e.g. seat, knee support, torso pad, etc., which operate with base structure 602 to provide ergonomic support in a standing position to a disabled user.
Specifically base structure 602 includes a central support bar 610 that is slidaby connected to a forward stabilizing cross member 612 and to a rearward stabilizing cross member 614 . The slidable connection between central support bar 610 and cross members 612 and 614 allow for maximum flexibility in achieving the most stable position of system 600 whereby cross members 612 and 614 are then secured in position. Further, each cross member 612 and 614 is provided with a pair of adjustable stabilizing feet 615 to accommodate various surface configurations upon which system 600 is set. Base structure 602 is additionally provided with a pair of foot rests 606 , each of which are provided with a vertical wall 608 to prevent slippage of the user's foot. Each foot rest 606 is preferably fixedly secured to central support bar 610 .
Base structure 602 operates to support a lift structure 616 which provides rear support to the disabled user. Specifically, lift structure 616 includes a base structure 617 , a seat structure 618 , a lift handle support structure 619 . Base structure 617 is preferably comprised of an adjustable telescoping support column 622 whose lower portion 624 is preferably fixedly secured to central support bar 610 and whose upper portion 625 is vertically adjustable by virtue of a removable locking pin 627 . Further defining base structure 617 is a lift handle extender 628 that protrudes perpendiculary from, and has a first end fixedly secured to, upper portion 625 of support column 622 . Additionally, a rigid linkage 630 has a first end pivotally secured to the top of upper portion 625 of support column 622 .
Seat structure 618 of lift structure 616 of system 600 preferably includes a first seat linkage 640 and a second seat linkage 642 . A first end of each of first seat linkage 640 and second seat linkage 642 are preferably pivotally secured to a second end of rigid linkage 630 . The second ends of first and second seat linkages 640 and 642 are preferably fixedly secured a seat support 646 . Seat support 646 is preferably affixed to a plate supporting the underside of a padded seat 650 with a pair of brackets 652 .
Pivotally secured to the distal end of seat support 646 is a first end of a pair of parallel linkages 660 . A second end of parallel linkages 660 is preferably pivotally secured to a first end of a stabilizer bar 662 . A second end of stabilizer bar 662 is preferably pivotally secured to a first end of a pair of parallel linkages 664 . Parallel linkages 664 straddle lift handle extender 628 and their second end is fixedly secured to a first end of a pair of parallel air springs 666 . The second ends of parallel air springs 666 are preferably fixedly secured to either side of seat support 646 .
Lift handle support structure 619 preferably comprises a substantially u-shaped lift handle support 670 . The closed portion of unshaped lift handle support 670 is preferably rotatably coupled to lift handle extender 628 through use of a bracket 672 and frictionless coupling 674 . The legs of unshaped lift handle support 670 are each preferably, fixedly secured to a center support 676 of each loop lift handle 678 . A connector bar 680 connects center support 676 of one loop lift handle 678 to center support 676 of the second loop lift handle 678 to ensure simultaneous motion of loop lift handles 678 .
Work station structure 680 operates in combination with lift structure 616 and base structure 602 to stabilize the user in a standing position and, then, provide the standing user with usable work surface. Work station structure 680 includes a telescoping support column 682 having a lower fixed portion 684 , that is fixedly secured to central support bar 610 , an adjustable intermediate portion 686 , that is adjustable relative lower fixed portion by virtue of a removable locking pin 687 , and an adjustable upper portion 688 , that is adjustable relative intermediate portion 686 by virtue of a removable locking pin 689 .
Fixedly secured to adjustable upper portion 688 is a telescoping torso position bar 690 . As shown, torso position bar is substantially horizontal and is adjustable by virtue of a removable locking pin 692 . The telescoping portion of torso position bar 690 is preferably fixedly secured through use of brackets (not shown) to a cushioned torso pad 694 . Torso pad 694 is preferably positioned to align with the user's lower chest and abdominal area, when the user is in the standing position, to provide maximum support.
A knee support pad 696 is preferably secured to a backing plate 698 , which in turn is secured to a bracket 700 that is fixedly secured to a first end of a knee support pad extender 702 . Knee support pad extender 702 is preferably telescopically adjustable by virtue of a removable locking pin (not shown). The opposite end of knee support extender is preferably fixedly secured to adjustable intermediate portion 686 of support column 682 .
Adjustable upper portion 688 of support column 682 is preferably provided with a stationary work surface 704 that is fixedly secured to adjustable upper portion 688 . Stationary work surface 704 may be configured with storage compartments, troughs, trays, etc., as desired. Alternatively, work surface 704 may be provided with a telescoping connection to support column 682 allowing the horizontal distance between work surface 704 and the user to be adjustable.
In use, system 600 is especially suited to a user having good upper body balance and strength as lift structure 616 does not provide back support. As such, system 600 is presented to the user in a seated position. Seat structure 618 is approximately at wheelchair height allowing for a user to transfer from their wheelchair to a seated position in system 600 , loop lift handles 678 may be used by the user to aid in transfer. Once seated, the user may then swing their legs around and position each foot in one of foot rests 606 . The user then preferably presses their knees against knee pad 696 . With the user's body appropriately positioned within system 600 , the user may, at any desired time, grasp each loop lift handle 678 and push, or pull, loop lift handle 678 forward thereby raising the rear and lowering the front of seat pad 650 through actuation of air springs 666 . Quickly and efficiently, the user is raised to a standing position. Loop lift handles 678 provide continuous dynamic support as the user translates through various postures.
When in a standing position within system 600 , the user is supported and contained therein. Specifically, seat 650 and torso pad 694 act as a clamp about the torso of the user while the configuration of loop lift handles 678 provide lateral support to position and cradle the user. Further, foot rests 606 are strategically placed at central support bar 610 to enable the user to be positioned in an ergonomically compatible orientation during the transition from a sitting position to a quick upright/standing posture.
FIG. 16 depicts an alternative embodiment of system 600 . In this embodiment, lift structure 616 is provided with a back rest 710 , similar to systems 100 and 400 , and is further provided with lift handles 712 that allow an assistant to raise lift structure 616 . Additional, precautionary safeguards are provided with this embodiment as well. Specifically, a waist restraint strap 714 and hip stabilizers 716 . Further note that the torso pad has been secured to the work surface rather than existing as a separate and distinct component. All and/or any of these variations may be incorporated into the various systems described herein.
Referring to FIGS. 17-20, a fourth embodiment of a disabled user lift system 10 generally comprises a sling lift work station system 800 . System 800 is generally comprised of a base structure 802 , which supports a plurality of articulating and adjustable elements, and a plurality of pressures surfaces 804 , e.g. sling seat, knee support, torso pad, etc., which operate with base structure 802 to provide ergonomic support in a standing position to a disable user.
Specifically base structure 802 includes a pair of elongate, substantially unshaped side supports 806 . Side supports 806 are preferably not in parallel configuration but rather the distance between side supports 806 widens as towards the rear of base structure 802 to provide additional stability. Each leg of side support 806 is preferably provided with an adjustable stabilizing foot 808 . A cross bar 810 extending between the opposite legs of each side support 806 adds structural strength and rigidity to each side support 806 ; the ends of cross bar 810 are preferably fixedly secured to the legs of side support 806 . Additional support is provided to a lift structure 816 of system 800 through support bar 812 . Support bar 812 extends between the forward leg of side support 806 and the closed end of side support 806 , as indicated in the figures, and is fixedly secured thereto.
Base structure 802 operates to support lift structure 816 which provides rear support to the disabled user. Specifically, lift structure 816 includes a base structure 817 and a sling seat support structure 818 . Base structure 817 is preferably comprised of an adjustable, telescoping central support column 822 , the lower fixed portion 824 of which is fixedly secured to a cross support 826 . The upper portion 828 of central support column 822 is vertically adjustable, relative lower portion, by virtue of a removable locking pin 830 . Cross support 826 is preferably fixedly secured at both ends to opposite support bars 812 . An L-shaped extension 832 is preferably fixedly secured to the lowermost end of lower fixed portion 824 of support column 822 . The long leg of extension 832 extends substantially perpendicularly to support column 822 and supports a pair of foot rests 834 , which are preferably fixedly secured thereto. Foot rests 834 are preferably provided with rear walls 836 to prevent the user's foot from sliding from foot rests 834 .
Sling seat support structure 818 generally comprises a pair of parallel. sling seat supports 840 . A first end of each sling seat support 840 is preferably fixedly secured to a cross support 842 . The center of cross support 842 is preferably secured to the first ends of a pair of parallel linkages 844 . The second ends of the pair of parallel linkages 844 are preferably pivotally secured to lower portion 824 of support column 822 . An air spring 846 extends angularly between cross support 842 , to which one end of air spring 846 is fixedly secured, and a lower end housing 848 , which supports the second end of air spring 846 . Lower end housing 848 is preferably fixedly secured to lower portion 824 of support column 822 by a pair of parallel brackets 850 . Lower end housing 848 and brackets 850 accommodate an operable connection between air spring 846 and a pressure handle 852 . The forward and back motion of pressure handle 852 operates to increase/decrease pressure in air spring 846 causing air spring to raise/lower, respectively.
Each sling seat support 840 of sling seat support structure 818 preferably incorporates a plurality of support pegs 860 . Support pegs 860 support corresponding, adjustable seat straps 862 that are fixedly secured to a fabric sling seat 864 . Each seat strap 862 is provided with a loop connector 866 that may easily be slid over one of support pegs 860 .
A work station structure 880 operates in combination with lift structure 816 and base structure 802 to stabilize the user in a standing position and, then, provide the standing user with a usable work surface. Work station structure 880 utilizes adjustable, telescoping central support column 822 . Fixedly secured to upper portion 828 of support column 822 is an adjustable, telescoping torso position bar 890 . As shown, torso position bar 890 is substantially horizontal and is adjustable by virtue of a removable locking pin 892 . The telescoping portion of torso position bar 890 is preferably fixedly secured at one end, through use of brackets (not shown), to a cushioned torso pad 894 . Torso pad 894 is preferably positioned to align with the user's lower chest and abdominal area, when the user is in the standing position, to provide maximum support.
A knee support 896 is preferably fixedly secured to a backing plate 898 , which in turn is secured to a bracket (not shown) that is fixedly secured to the first ends of a pair of parallel, knee support pad extenders 902 . The second end of knee support pad extenders 902 are preferably fixedly secured to lower portion 824 of support column 822 just below linkages 844 . Knee support pad extenders 902 are preferably of sufficient length to present knee support pad 896 in front of, but below, cross support 842 so that no interference occurs between cross support 842 and knee support pad extenders 902 . Knee support pad 696 is preferably of sufficient de minimis width so as not to interfere with the motion of sling seat supports 840 . Additionally, knee support pad extenders 902 straddle air spring 846 , so as not to interfere with the operation of air spring 846 .
Upper portion 828 of support column 822 is preferably provided with a stationary work surface 904 that is fixedly secured to upper portion 828 . Stationary work surface 904 may be configured with storage compartments, troughs, trays, etc., as desired. Alternatively, work surface may be provided with a telescoping connection to support column 822 allowing the horizontal distance between work surface 904 and the user to be adjustable.
In use, system 800 is especially suitable to those individuals desiring to go to a standing position directly from a wheelchair. As such, system 800 is presented to the user in a seated position, as depicted in FIG. 18 . The user may then remove one side or both sides of seat straps 862 from pegs 860 and position sling seat 864 beneath them while still remaining substantially seated in their wheelchair. With sling seat 864 positioned, seat straps 862 are once again secured, via loop connectors 866 , pegs 860 . The user may then motion pressure handle 852 back and forth to increase the pressure within air spring 846 thereby raising sling seat supports 840 and sling seat 864 to a standing position, see FIG. 19 .
Sling seat 864 may be termed a slingoidal support. The slingoidal support enables secure gluteal and lumbosacral support to the user during and after the transition from a wheelchair to an upright position. Slingoidal support has a shape wherein the widest segment is preferably located at the center and a plurality of adjustable supports, i.e. seat straps 862 , are provided at the extremities. The central portion of slingoidal support forms a flattened bucketal shape to scoop and support the user at the gluteal and lumbrosacral regions of the body. The extremities of slingoidal support are securely attached to articulating sling seat supports 840 to promote full support and secure translation from a sitting position to a standing position without roll, tipping, or lateral sway of the user. Slingoidal support is preferably plied with reinforcing stitches and geometries to provide the user a non-skid surface. These stitching geometries preferably additionally provide structural integrity to slingoidal support and provide the user with additional cushion and comfort. In a standing posture, slingoidal support provides gluteal and lumbrosacral support and cooperates with knee support pad 896 and torso support pad 894 to keep the user in a secure standing position.
The above description describes a number of different embodiments of disabled user system 10 . Each embodiment of system 10 incorporates a slightly different lift structure, e.g.,. lift structure 116 , 416 , 616 , 816 , however, it should be noted that each of the different lift structures may be interchanged with any of the lift structures of the various embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Likewise, any of the accessory structures, e.g., exercise/stabilizer structure 180 , ambulatory structure 415 , work station structure 680 , work station structure 880 , may be interchanged with any of the other accessory structures without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.
With reference to the above description it should noted that any adjustable element may use any suitable adjustment device, e.g. removable locking pin, spring-return pin, screw tension device, etc., without departing from the spirit of scope of the invention.
The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit of the essential attributes thereof; therefore, the illustrated embodiments should be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being made to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.
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The present invention relates to various systems that enable users with appreciably limited muscular, body and coordination control to assume ergonomic postures for task seating, standing, ambulation and physical exercise. Particularly, the embodiments of the invention provide secure support and positioning systems to safely aid the user through an entire process involving transfer from a wheel chair to the assemblies. The systems also assist the user to assume a desired posture and provide ergonomic and integral support after the user is situated in the desired posture. More particularly, the use of the present invention does not require the help of a therapist or additional muscle control on the part of the user. The systems of the present invention are advantageously structured and adjustably implemented to enable users, with a broad range of muscular and body coordination disabilities in addition to wide variations in physical size and configurations, to perform the many useful and advantageous activities safely and efficiently made possible by the invention.
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BACKGROUND
The present invention relates to article carriers and more particularly to multiple rail article carriers and to adjustably positionable brackets therefor.
Luggage racks, ski racks, bicycle carriers and similar carriers for mounting to the exterior sheet metal of motor vehicles are well known and have been disclosed in various forms. Many comprise two or more longitudinal parallel slat assemblies fastened to the trunk or to the roof or to a similar flat exterior sheet metal surface of a motor vehicle. Two or more transverse rails are supported above the sheet metal surface by brackets mounted to the slat assemblies. Some article carriers have brackets allowing adjustability of the spacing between transverse rails. Examples of such article carriers include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,253,755; 3,554,416; 4,099,658; 4,106,680; and 4,132,335. While such devices may function satisfactorily, some involve a substantial number of components and are subject to a considerable amount of wear, particularly where threaded members are used to lock the brackets in position.
The environment in which article carriers are used is far from ideal. They are subject to vibrations, to moisture, and to a wide range of temperatures. Furthermore, they must endure road dirt and atmospheric contaminants.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an article carrier having an adjustably positionable bracket comprised of few parts. It is another object of the present invention to provide an adjustably positionable bracket for an article carrier in which the bracket is not susceptible to vibrating loose or becoming loose after repeated cycles of locking and unlocking. It is a further object of the present invention to provide an adjustably positionable bracket for an article carrier that permits rapid removal of the brackets and the transverse rails when the article carrier is not in use. A still further object of the present invention is to provide an adjustably positionable bracket for an article carrier in which the bracket may be reliably locked in position with a minimum amount of effort by the operator.
SUMMARY
The present invention provides an article carrier for mounting on an exterior surface of a motor vehicle. The article carrier has two slats or slat assemblies fixedly secured to the surface in a parallel, spaced apart relationship. Each slat assembly extends longitudinally along the surface. Each of the slat assemblies has rib means defining a track. At least one bracket is removably and slidably fastened to the rib means of each slat assembly. Preferably two brackets are provided for each slat assembly. Locking means are provided for securing the bracket in position along the slat assembly by clamping the rib means between the bracket and the locking means. At least two transverse rails are provided. Each rail is fastened at one end to one of the brackets on one of the tracks and is fastened at its other end to one of the brackets on the other of the tracks.
Preferably, each slat assembly has a longitudinal horizontal base, a pair of longitudinal vertical webs extending upwardly from the base, and a pair of inwardly oriented coplanar horizontal ribs, one rib extending from each of the webs to form an upwardly oriented C-shaped track. Preferably, the locking means comprises a clamping plate disposed within the track and a pin fastened to the clamping plate and extending upwardly through a cavity in the bracket. A toggle arm is pivotally fastened to the uppermost end of the pin. The toggle arm selectively draws the clamping plate upwardly against the ribs by means of a camming action between the toggle arm and the bracket or, alternatively, by means of a camming action between the toggle arm and the pin.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the article carrier affixed to the roof of a motor vehicle;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion of the article carrier of FIG. 1 showing a portion of one slat assembly, one bracket and a portion of one rail;
FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken through the bracket and the slat assembly of FIG. 2 with a portion of the transverse rail cutaway;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an end cap for the slat assembly of FIGS. 2 and 3;
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 5--5 of FIG. 3 showing the toggle arm of the bracket in an unlocked, movement permitting position;
FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 showing the toggle arm of the bracket in a locked, movement preventing position;
FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view similar to FIGS. 5 and 6 showing the toggle arm of the bracket in a position intermediate the unlocked and the locked positions;
FIGS. 8, 9 and 10 are views similar to FIGS. 3, 5 and 6, respectively, but depicting an alternate bracket structure according to the present invention;
FIG. 11 is a view similar to FIGS. 9 and 10 but showing the toggle arm of the bracket in a position intermediate the unlocked and locked positions;
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing illustrate an example of an article carrier 10 according to the present invention. The article carrier 10 is mounted on an exterior sheet metal surface of the motor vehicle 12. In the illustrations, it is shown mounted on the roof 14 of the motor vehicle 12. The article carrier 10 has two slat assemblies 16 and 18. The slat assemblies 16 and 18 are arranged in a parallel, laterally spaced apart relationship and extend longitudinally along the roof 14. The slat assemblies 16 and 18 are fastened to the roof 14 for example by screws 20, shown in the drawing in FIG. 2.
FIG. 3 shows one of the slat assemblies 16 in cross-section. While the following detailed description is of one of that slat assemblies 16, it is understood that the other slat assembly 18 is identical to it. As best seen in FIG. 3, the slat assembly 16 has a substantially flat lower member or runner 22 and an upper member or track 24. The runner 22 preferably is comprised of an extruded plastic for protection of the painted surface of the roof 14.
The track 24 is preferably one piece and is preferably a single sheet metal stamping of roll formed steel. The track 24 has a horizontal longitudinally extending central portion or base 26 resting upon the runner 22. Two inner webs 28 extend upwardly from the base 26. One of a pair of coplanar longitudinally extending horizontal ribs 30 extend inwardly from the upper ends of each of the inner webs 28. A longitudinal slideway cavity 32 partly surrounded by the base 26, the webs 28, and the ribs 30 is thereby formed in the track 24. A portion 34 of the sheet metal of the track 24 is bent back over itself at each of the ribs 30 and extends horizontally outwardly from the slideway cavity 32. An outer web 36 extends downwardly from each portion 34. A pair of gaps 37 are provided between the inner webs 28 and the outer webs 36.
A lip 38 is formed at each of the edges of the sheet metal of the track 24 at the lower end of each outer web 36. Each lip 38 extends inwardly toward the center of the track and cooperates with a pair of upwardly extending longitudinal flanges 39 and 40 of the runner 22 to loosely attach the members 22 and 24 together. The screws 20, as shown in FIG. 2, secure the track 24 to the runner 22 and secure the slat assembly 16 to the roof 14.
As best seen in FIG. 1, four identical end caps 41 are provided, one being inserted in each end of each of the slat assemblies 16 and 18. One representative end cap 41 is illustrated in FIG. 4. The end caps 41 reduce wind noise when the vehicle 12 is in motion. The end caps 41 have some aesthetic value as well. Each end cap 41 consists of a molded plastic unit having a rectangular base portion 42 of substantially the same thickness as the combined thickness of the slat assembly runner 22 and the sheet metal of the track 24. A pair of curved wedge-shaped side members 43 and 44 extend upwardly from the rectangular base portion 42. The end cap 41 is affixed to the slat assembly 16 by means of a pair of flat snap tabs 45 and 46. Each snap tab 45 and 46 extends from one of the side members 43 and 44. Each snap tab 45 and 46 extends from one of the side members 43 and 44. Each snap tab 45 and 46 is inserted into one of the gaps 37, FIG. 3, between the inner webs 28 and outer webs 36 of the track 24. The end cap 41 is thus secured to the track 24 by the screw 20, shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The end cap 41 closes the gaps 37 between the webs but does not close the end of the slideway cavity 32 of the track 24, as is best seen in FIG. 2.
Returning to FIG. 1, two identical brackets 48 are slidably positioned along the track 24 of the slat assembly 16. A second pair of brackets 50 are slidably positioned along the track 24 of the slat assembly 18.
FIGS. 3, 5, 6 and 7 illustrate an example of structure of one of the two brackets 48 according to the present invention. The bracket 48 comprises a main body 52 generally disposed above and resting on the track 24. The main body 52 is preferably a unitary plastic molding having a plurality of cavities described hereafter. Alternatively, the main body 52 may be metallic die casting. The specific exterior geometric shape and the contours of the sides 54 main body 52 are matters of design preference and are only of ornamental significance.
Two small tabs 56 extend downwardly from the base 58 of the main body 52 into the slideway cavity 32 to keep the bracket 48 aligned with the track 24. Each tab 56 has a neck portion 60, as best shown in FIG. 3, disposed between the ribs 30 of the track 24. Together, the two neck portions 60 prevent the bracket 48 from being pivoted about an axis perpendicular to the track 24. Each tab 56 preferably also has an enlarged portion 62 dependent from neck portion 60 and located within the slideway cavity 32. The portion 62 prevents removal of the bracket 48 from the track 24 except at the ends of the track.
The main body 52 is slidable along the track 24. A selectively operable clamping assembly 64 is provided to secure the bracket main body 52 in place once it has been moved into the desired position along the track 24. The clamping assembly 64 comprises a pin 66 disposed within a vertical cavity 68 through the main body 52. The cavity 68 is substantially V-shaped in longitudinal cross-section as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 and is rectangular in transverse cross-section as shown in FIG. 3. The cavity 68 terminates in a circular opening 70 at the base 58 of the main body 52. The pin 66 extends downwardly from above and through the cavity 68, through the opening 70, and into the slideway cavity 32 of the track 24. The pin 66 swings within the cavity 68 about the opening 70 and reciprocates vertically through the opening 70.
A clamping plate 72 disposed within the longitudinal slideway cavity 32 of the track 24 is mounted to the end of the pin 66. The clamping plate 72 illustrated is a rectangular stamping made from spring sheet metal, preferably spring steel. The clamping plate 72 may be secured to the end of the pin 66 by means, for example, clip 74 which is stamped into the clamping plate.
A cylindrically shaped enlargement 76 is provided at the uppermost end of pin 66. The enlargement 76 comprises a short cylindrical member having its longitudinal axis disposed perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the pin 66. The enlargement 76 and the pin 66 illustrated are formed from a single piece of metal or may be molded as a single piece of plastic. Preferably the pin 66 is made of stainless steel.
A second and more shallow cavity 80 is provided in the main body 52 above the cavity 68 and in communication with the cavity 68. The cavity 80 is wider in transverse cross-section than cavity 68, thus providing a shoulder 82 on the floor of the cavity 80 on either side of the opening for the cavity 68. A lever or toggle arm 86 mounted to the enlargement 76 of the pin 66 is partially disposed within the cavity 80. An open ended slot 90, FIGS. 6 and 7, is provided in the toggle arm 86 for passage of the enlargement 76 therealong. A second open ended slot 92, as shown in FIG. 3, is provided for the passage of the pin 66 therealong. The lower side of the toggle arm 86 is provided with an extension 93 defining a camming surface 94 resting on the shoulder 82 in the cavity 80.
In operation, the toggle arm 86 is manually movable to pivot about the enlargement 76 between the extreme positions shown in FIG. 5 and in FIG. 6. Due to the camming action of the camming surface 94 of the extension 93, when the toggle arm 86 is pivoted counterclockwise from the position shown in FIG. 5 to the position shown in FIG. 7, the pin swings slightly and then is urged upwardly. As shown in FIG. 6, the clamping plate 72 is raised and pressed against the rib 30 of the track 24, prohibiting movement of the bracket 48 along the track 24.
The clamping plate 72 is flexible and acts as a spring in response to the tension exerted on the pin 66 by the toggle arm 86. The amount of force exerted by the clamping plate 72 on the track 24 increases with the upward displacement of the pin 66. The extension 93 is designed so that the greatest displacement of the pin 66 and thus largest tension forces exerted on the pin occur at the intermediate position of the toggle arm 86 depicted in FIG. 7, thus providing a "cam over center" locking effect. A small but definite exertion is required to move the toggle arm 86 from the extreme locked position of FIG. 6 to the extreme unlocked position of FIG. 5. The force required to raise the toggle member from the position shown in FIG. 6 to that shown in FIG. 7 is sufficient to prevent accidental disengagement of the clamping plate 72 and the ribs 30. Sufficient locking force is, however, provided in the position shown in FIG. 6 to prevent movement of the bracket 48 along the track 24.
It should be noted that the flexible clamping plate 72 has additional advantages. Use of a flexible clamping plate 72 reduces the wear on the other components, particularly the main body 52 and the extension 94 of the toggle arm 86. Furthermore, the use of a flexible clamping plate decreases the chance that the clamp will be loosened due to vibrations during vehicle operation.
A third cavity 96 adjacent to cavity 80 is provided in the surface of the bracket 48. The cavity 96 provides a location in which the toggle arm 86 is located in the locked position shown in FIG. 6. This allows the toggle arm 86 to be flush with the sides 54 of the main body 52 in the locked position for aesthetic and wind noise reduction purposes. The toggle arm 86 does not, however, entirely fill the cavity 96. Thus, access is provided in the cavity to the end 99 of the toggle arm 86 farthest from the pin 66 for unlatching the clamping assembly 64.
A tie ring aperture 100 is provided transversely through the main body 52 of the bracket 48 for tie ropes or the like to secure loads to the article carrier.
As best shown at FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, a pair of transverse rails 102 are provided. Each rail 102 extends transversely across the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and between the upper portions of oppositely facing brackets 48 and 50. The means fastening the rails 102 to the bracket 48 are not shown in detail in the drawing and will not be described in detail here since many appropriate fastening means are well known in the art.
As previously described, brackets 50 on the slat assembly 18 are preferably identical to the brackets 48 on the slat assembly 16. In the event that identical backets 48 and 50 are used, brackets 50 must be positioned along the slat assembly 18 with the tongues 104 facing inwardly. The end 99 of the toggle arm 86 will therefore be pointed towards the front of the motor vehicle on one set of brackets 48 and towards the rear of the motor vehicle on the other set of brackets 50. This design is to keep to a minimum the number of different component parts that must be manufactured and maintained in inventory. Alternatively, and as illustrated in FIG. 1, the brackets 50 differ from the brackets 48. As shown, the brackets 50 have the toggle arm 86a mounted oppositely to the orientation of the toggle arm 86 on the bracket 48. Thus, as shown, the ends 99 of the toggle arms 86 and 86a are both oriented in the same direction, in this case, towards the rear of the motor vehicle 12. This design is preferable if it is desired to obtain an ornamental symmetry to the article carrier 10. Furthermore, less wind noise is created if the toggle arm faces the rear of the vehicle.
FIGS. 8 through 11 illustrate still another example of structure for a bracket 48' according to the present invention. The bracket 48' has a main body 52' similar to the main body 52 described above. A clamping assembly 64' includes a pin 66' disposed within a vertical bore 140 with the lowermost end of the pin inserted into the slideway cavity 32' of the track 24'. A clamping plate 142 is mounted to the end of the pin 66'. A horizontally disposed cylindrical member 144 is fastened to the opposite end of the pin 66'.
A toggle arm 86' is pivotally fastened to the cylindrical member 144 to pivot between the extreme positions illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13. As with the clamping assembly 64 described previously, the maximum tension force exerted by the toggle arm upon the pin at a position of the toggle arm (shown in FIG. 14) that is between the extreme positions.
As is readily apparent from the above description, the present article carrier has a small number of components that may be rapidly and easily assembled and attached to motor vehicles. The brackets are not easily vibrated loose. The toggle arm 86 and 86', the clamping plate 72, the pin 66, and the main body 52 of the brackets 48 and 48' and 50 are each protected against direct exposure to the environment at critical locations. The rails may be moved closer together or farther apart depending on the size of the article carried and then may be rapidly and reliably secured in position. Additional rails may be added as needed. Furthermore, when the article carrier is not in use, the rails and the bracket may be easily removed from the motor vehicle to prevent damage or theft and to reduce the wind noise associated with some article carriers when they are not carrying cargo.
The above constitutes a detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention and is intended by way of example and not by way of limitation. Obvious modifications may be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit thereof.
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An article carrier for mounting on a substantially flat exterior surface of a motor vehicle. The article carrier has two slat assemblies fixedly secured to the motor vehicle surface in a spaced apart, parallel relationship. Each slat assembly has at least one longitudinal rib. At least two pairs of brackets are provided, two brackets being removably and slidably fastened to the rib of each of the slat assemblies. A locking mechanism depending from the bracket is provided for securing the bracket in a fixed position along the slat assembly by clamping the rib between the bracket and a clamping member. One rail is supported by each pair of brackets to extend transversely therebetween above the surface.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2006-104602 filed on Oct. 26, 2006, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates to a broadband antenna, and more particularly, to an antenna in which a stub is extended from bending portions of a meander line radiator formed at an acute angle to achieve broadband characteristics and the number of turns of the meander line radiator is adjusted to tune antenna characteristics.
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] Antennas in recent use for mobile phones have seen diversity in usable frequency bands thereof due to advancement in wireless technology. Specific examples adopting a variety of usable frequency bands include antennas for use in global system for mobile communications (GSM), and code division multiple access (CDMA) mobile phones (800 MHz to 2 GHz), wireless local area network (LAN) (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz), contactless radio frequency identification (RFID) (13.56 MHz, 433.92 MHz, 908 to 914 MHz, 2.45 GHz), Bluetooth (2.4 GHz), global positioning system (GPS) (1.575 GHz), FM radio (88 to 108 MHz), TV broadcasting (470 to 770 MHz), ultra-wideband (UWB), and Zigbee. Other notable examples include antennas for use in digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) including a satellite DMB (2630 to 2655 MHz) and a terrestrial DMB (174 to 216 MHz), which has been commercially available since 2005 and, and Nokia's DVB-H broadcasting (475 to 750 MHz) which has been commercially viable since June 2006.
[0006] To accommodate these broad bandwidths and multiple telecommunication channels, a wireless device is internally equipped with a plurality of antennas. The wireless device having the antennas installed therein as described above is rendered complicated and increased in size and manufacturing costs thereof.
[0007] A general antenna beneficially operating in a multi-band is a planar inverse F-type antenna (PIFA). This antenna assures signals to be received at different frequencies, thereby operating in multiple bands. However, the signals are hardly received in neighboring frequency bands.
[0008] Conventionally, an inverted F-type antenna, a helical antenna and an antenna utilizing a high dielectric substrate are employed to develop an antenna device having a size of 10 mm×10 mm at a frequency of at least 1 GHz. However, at a lower frequency band, i.e., a very high frequency (VHF) of up to hundreds of MHz like a terrestrial DMB, a ½ wavelength antenna and a ¼ wavelength antenna are lengthened to tens of cm, thus hardly installed in the mobile phones.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] An aspect of the present invention provides a broadband monopol antenna in which a stub is formed on a meander line radiator, and a magnetic dielectric composite material is utilized to reduce size of the antenna and achieve broadband characteristics.
[0010] According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a broadband antenna including: a dielectric substrate; a meander line radiator formed on the dielectric substrate to be bent at an acute angle; and a stub extended from at least one of bending portions of the meander line radiator, wherein the meander line radiator has 2n number of the bending portions thereon to form an n number of turns, where n≧1.
[0011] The meander line radiator may have two bending portions formed at an identical acute angle in each of the turns. The meander line radiator may have the bending portions formed at a greater acute angle with increase in the number of the turns.
[0012] The meander line radiator may have parallel lines disposed at an equal interval so as to have bending portions formed at an identical angle.
[0013] The broadband antenna may further include a stub formed at another end of the meander line radiator provided at one end thereof with a feeder.
[0014] The bending portions may have respective stubs extended therefrom, and the stubs are oriented in an identical direction. The stubs may be formed in parallel with a length direction of the meander line radiator.
[0015] The broadband antenna may further include a dielectric layer covering the meander line radiator.
[0016] The dielectric substrate may be formed of a composite material having a magnetic material and a polymer resin mixed together. The magnetic material may be selected from one of carbonyl iron, nickel-zinc ferrite powder, and Z-type ferrite powder.
[0017] The broadband antenna may further include at least one radiator connected to an identical feeder where the meander line radiator is connected. The at least one radiator may be a meander line radiator bent at the acute angle and having a stub extended from at least one of bending portions. The meander line radiator may include a plurality of meander line radiators having a different number of turns from one another.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0018] The above and other aspects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
[0019] FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a broadband antenna according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention;
[0020] FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a broadband antenna according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention;
[0021] FIGS. 3A and 3B are perspective views illustrating broadband antennas, respectively, according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention;
[0022] FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a broadband antenna according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention;
[0023] FIGS. 5A and 5B are graphs illustrating voltage standing wave ratios (VSWRs) and gains which are varied with a change in the number of turns of a meander line radiator according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention;
[0024] FIGS. 6A and 6B are graphs illustrating VSWRs and gains which are varied with a change in permittivity and permeability of a magnetic dielectric composite material according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention; and
[0025] FIGS. 7A and 7B are graphs illustrating VSWRs and gains of the antenna according to the embodiment of FIG. 4 .
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0026] Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0027] FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a broadband antenna according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
[0028] The broadband antenna of the present embodiment includes a dielectric substrate 11 , a meander line radiator 12 , and a stub 13 .
[0029] The meander line radiator 12 is formed on a top of the dielectric substrate 11 .
[0030] The meander line radiator 12 may be formed of a conductive paste such as silver Ag and copper Cu.
[0031] The meander line radiator 12 of the present embodiment has bending portions formed at an acute angle to define a meander line.
[0032] The meander line with the bending portions formed at an acute angle θ prevents magnetic fields generated by a current flowing through the meander line radiator 12 from being cancelled out each other, while improving broadband characteristics of the antenna. That is, the radiator is beneficially increased in length, thereby transmitting and receiving signals in a low frequency band.
[0033] The meander line radiator formed on the dielectric substrate 11 may be shaped variously. That is, the meander line may be increased in the number of turns, with the dielectric substrate sized identical and also adjusted in width thereof.
[0034] With such adjustment in width and the number of turns, antenna characteristics can be controlled.
[0035] In the present embodiment, a plurality of parallel lines constituting the meander line radiator 12 are disposed at an equal interval and radially connected in an identical direction. Accordingly, the meander line radiator has the bending portions formed at an identical acute angle.
[0036] Also, the meander line radiator of the present embodiment has six bending portions to form three turns.
[0037] A stub 13 is extended from each of the bending portions of the meander line radiator 12 .
[0038] The stub 13 is extended from each of the bending portions formed on the meander line radiator 12 toward the adjacent bending portion. That is, the stub 13 formed in one 15 of the bending portions is disposed close to the adjacent bending portion 14 , however not connected thereto.
[0039] This stub 13 allows a current flowing through the meander line radiator 12 to flow therethrough. The current flowing through the stub 14 is matched with a current flowing through the adjacent bending portion 14 to alter antenna characteristics.
[0040] That is, frequency characteristics of the antenna can be controlled by adjusting a length of the stub formed on the bending portion.
[0041] FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate voltage standing wave ratios (VSWRs) and gains which are varied with a change in the number of turns of meander line radiators of antennas.
[0042] Here, magnetic dielectric composite devices each having a permittivity of 5.5 and a permeability of 1.2 were adopted as dielectric substrates. Each of the magnetic dielectric composite devices was shaped as a block having a size of 10×40×20 mm. The meander line radiators formed on the respective dielectric substrates each had a width of 1 mm but differed in the number of turns, with 2 in the antenna A, 5 in the antenna B, and 10 in the antenna C, respectively.
[0043] Referring to FIG. 5A , each of the antennas exhibits a frequency bandwidth of at least 100 MHz at a VSWR of 3, thus operating in abroad band. These broadband characteristics are attributed to permittivity and permeability of the magnetic dielectric composite devices and a configuration of the meander line radiators having stubs extended from the bending portions.
[0044] Also, with the number of turns increasing from 2 to 10, a resonance frequency is lowered. That is, the antenna having the meander line radiator with two turns has a resonance frequency of about 750 MHz, the antenna having the meander line radiator with five turns has a resonance frequency about 700 MHz, and the antenna having the meander line radiator with ten turns has a resonance frequency of about 600 MHz. This results from increase in inductance and capacitance generated around the meander line radiator.
[0045] Referring to FIG. 5B , with increase in the number of turns of the meander line radiators, each of the antennas is gradually increased in gain at a low frequency band of 700 MHz or less. On the contrary, with decrease in the number of turns, each of the antennas is increased in gain at a frequency band of at least 700 MHz.
[0046] The number of turns of the meander line radiator can be adjusted to enhance frequency characteristics of the antenna at a low frequency band of 700 MHz or less. This accordingly produces a small broadband antenna capable of transmitting and receiving signals at a frequency band of 475 to 750 MHz for use in a DVB-H broadcasting.
[0047] As described above, in the antenna of the present embodiment, the meander line radiator is adjusted in the number of turns to tune antenna characteristics.
[0048] The dielectric substrate 11 may be formed of a magnetic dielectric composite material having a magnetic substrate and a polymer resin mixed together.
[0049] Conventionally, an antenna has adopted a conductor with a ½ or ¼ length of a free space wavelength. A representative example includes a metal rod antenna or an antenna having a conductor coated with a non-insulating material.
[0050] Compared with these antennas, a chip antenna or a patch antenna utilizing a dielectric material may be reduced in size according to following Equation:
[0000]
λ
λ
0
=
1
ɛ
[0000] where λ is an actual wavelength, λ 0 is a wavelength of a free space, and ε is a dielectric constant.
[0051] That is, higher permittivity leads to a smaller size of the antenna, but a narrower bandwidth at the same time, rendering the antenna unlikely to be commercially viable. Therefore, the antenna is chiefly formed of a material having a permittivity of 5 to 10.
[0052] A representative material for this dielectric material includes glass ceramics with a permittivity of 4 to 7. Thus, the glass ceramics can be co-fired at a relatively low temperature together with a conductive pattern mainly formed of silver Ag or palladium Pd, thus significantly used in a mobile chip antenna.
[0053] The antenna using a magnetic material has been conventionally utilized in an amplitude modulation (AM) radio broadcasting covering a medium frequency (MF) band of 300 kHz to 3 MHz. The conventional magnetic material is degraded in magnetic properties at a frequency band higher than the MF due to resonance thereof. Therefore, to manufacture an antenna using the magnetic material at a very high frequency (VHF) band or ultra high frequency (UHF) band, a low-loss material should be essentially developed. The material with such characteristics includes Z-type hexagonal ferrite, i.e., soft magnetic ferrite, Ni—Zn-based ferrite having a permeability regulated to be as low as 20 or less and carbonyl iron.
[0054] A resonance length, which is the fundamental factor in reducing size of the antenna, satisfies following Equation:
[0000]
λ
λ
0
=
1
ɛ
×
μ
[0000] where λ is an actual wavelength, λ 0 is a wavelength of a free space, ε is a dielectric constant, and μ is permeability. Therefore, when the substrate is formed of a material having permittivity and permeability satisfying the Equation above, a resonance length is decreased at a much greater rate than when a substrate with a high permittivity (permeability 1) is adopted. This reduces a length of an antenna line, beneficially leading to a smaller size of a mobile terminal.
[0055] Particularly, while glass ceramics currently in great use for a portable terminal antenna have a permittivity of 1 to 6, the ferrite material has a permeability of 1 to 20 and a permittivity of 5 to 20. The substrate formed of the glass ceramics and ferrite material allows electromagnetic waves to propagate at a much slower rate and, accordingly, a wavelength to be lengthened, thereby realizing a more compact antenna easily.
[0056] Moreover, higher permittivity of the dielectric material advantageously shortens a resonance length but disadvantageously narrows bandwidth of the antenna. On the other hand, higher permeability of the magnetic material has insignificant effects on usable bandwidth.
[0057] The present embodiment employs a magnetic dielectric composite material having carbonyl iron, i.e., a magnetic material, and a silicon resin mixed together to overcome problems with a conventional technology.
[0058] FIGS. 6A and 6B are graphs illustrating antenna characteristics changing according to a change in permittivity and permeability of the magnetic dielectric composite materials utilized for antennas.
[0059] The magnetic dielectric composite materials each were shaped as a block with a size of 10×40×2 mm. Meander line radiators formed on the dielectric composite materials had a width of 1 mm and 8 turns. The magnetic material mixed in the magnetic dielectric composite material adopted carbonyl iron.
[0060] FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate VSWRs and gains according to frequencies. The antenna A was formed of carbonyl iron and a silicon resin mixed at a ratio of 1:1, the antenna B was formed of carbonyl iron and a silicon resin mixed at a ratio of 2:1 and the antenna C was formed of carbonyl iron and a silicon resin mixed at a ratio of 3:1.
[0061] A mixing ratio between the carbonyl iron and the silicon resin was varied to change permittivity and permeability of the magnetic dielectric composite material. According to detailed experimental results, the antenna A had a permeability of 4.8 and a permittivity of 1.6, the antenna B had a permeability of 6.5 and a permittivity of 2.1, and the antenna C had a permeability of 8 and a permittivity of 2.8.
[0062] A change in permittivity and permeability brings about a change in antenna characteristics, and thus a greater mixing ratio of the magnetic material, which means higher permittivity and permeability, lowers a resonance frequency and reduces bandwidth of the antenna.
[0063] Therefore, a broadband antenna can be obtained by adjusting permittivity and permeability. Each of the antennas is gradually increased in gain at a low frequency of 700 MHz or less.
[0064] FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a broadband antenna according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
[0065] Referring to FIG. 2 , the broadband antenna of the present embodiment includes a meander line radiator 22 having stubs 23 extended therefrom and dielectric substrates 21 and 26 overlying and underlying the radiator.
[0066] In the antenna of the present embodiment, a meander line radiator 22 is formed between the dielectric substrates. To manufacture the dielectric substrates 21 and 26 , dielectric substrates having permittivity and permeability different from each other may be bonded together and co-fired. Also, the dielectric substrates 21 and 26 may have permittivity and permeability identical to each other.
[0067] As described above, the meander line radiator 12 is formed between the dielectric substrates 21 and 26 , thereby altering antenna characteristics according to permittivity and permeability of the dielectric substrates 21 and 26 .
[0068] FIGS. 3A and 3B are perspective views illustrating broadband antennas, respectively, according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
[0069] Referring to FIG. 3A , the meander line radiator 32 a formed on the dielectric substrate 31 a has parallel lines disposed at a gradually greater interval so that bending portions are formed at a greater acute angle with increase in the number of turns. Referring to FIG. 3B , the meander line radiator 32 b has parallel lines disposed at a gradually short interval so that bending portions are formed at a smaller acute angle with increase in the number of turns.
[0070] The parallel lines of the meander line radiator disposed at a greater or shorter interval allow the bending portions to be formed at a different acute angle and stubs to be extended in a different length from the bending portions. This accordingly changes inductance and capacitance generated by currents flowing through the meander line and the stubs.
[0071] FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a broadband antenna according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
[0072] Referring to FIG. 4 , a meander line radiator 42 a is formed at an acute angle on a top of a dielectric substrate 41 a and a stub 43 a is extended from each of bending portions of the meander line radiator toward an adjacent bending portion.
[0073] On the meander line radiator 42 a is deposited a dielectric substrate 42 b having a meander line radiator 42 b formed to have a different number of turns from the meander line radiator 42 . That is, the underlying meander line radiator 42 a has 3 turns and the overlying meander line radiator 42 b has 10 turns.
[0074] The meander line radiators 42 a and 42 b with different numbers of turns each have one end connected to an identical feeder to receive a signal.
[0075] As described above, the meander line radiators with different numbers of turns are connected to the identical feeder, thereby producing an antenna capable of transmitting and receiving signals at different frequency bands. As shown in FIG. 5B , a greater number of turns increases gain with respect to a low frequency band and a smaller number of turns increase gain with respect to a high frequency band. Thus, the antenna of the present embodiment provides a broadband antenna which assures high gain with respect to a low frequency and high frequency.
[0076] FIGS. 7A and 7B are graphs illustrating VSWRs and gains according to frequencies of antennas as shown in FIG. 4 .
[0077] Here, two meander line radiators were employed, of which the underlying radiator had 3 turns and the overlying radiator had 10 turns. A dielectric substrate formed between the radiators adopted a magnetic dielectric material with a permittivity of 5.5 and a permeability of 1.2.
[0078] FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate VSWRs and gains of the antenna A having a meander line radiator formed in a width of 2 mm and the antenna B having a meander line radiator formed in a width of 3 mm, respectively.
[0079] Referring to FIG. 7A , regardless of width, the two meander line radiators employed ensure a broader bandwidth than in a case where only one meander line radiator is employed.
[0080] Also, referring to FIG. 7B , the two meander line radiators enhance gain at a low frequency and a high frequency over a case where only one meander line radiator is employed as shown in FIG. 5B .
[0081] As shown, a greater width of the meander line radiator lowers a resonance frequency and increases gain at a low frequency bandwidth. Therefore, antenna characteristics can be tuned by adjusting the width of the meander line radiator.
[0082] As set forth above, according to exemplary embodiments of the invention, to produce a broadband antenna, a meander line radiator has bending portions formed at an acute angle and a stub extended from each of the bending portions. Antenna characteristics of the broadband antenna can be tuned by adjusting the number of turns and width of the meander line radiator, and permittivity and permeability of a dielectric substrate.
[0083] While the present invention has been shown and described in connection with the exemplary embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
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A broadband antenna including: a dielectric substrate; a meander line radiator formed on the dielectric substrate to be bent at an acute angle; and a stub extended from at least one of bending portions of the meander line radiator, wherein the meander line radiator has 2n number of the bending portions thereon to form an n number of turns, where n≧1.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a new nonwoven material which, when employed as a surface web or sheet or in addition to the surface web as a strip in the crotch region in an absorbent article of hygiene, such as a diaper or dressing for an incontinent person, permits a better isolation of the user's skin from the absorbent part of the article of hygiene.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Absorbent articles of hygiene such as diapers and dressings for incontinent persons generally comprise an outer layer made of material which is impervious to body fluids, a pad or mat of absorbent material and a surface web or sheet which is permeable to body fluids such as urine, of size and shape which are similar to those of the impervious outer layer of the article. This surface web which is permeable to body fluids is intended to isolate the skin from the moistened absorbent pad. Consequently, the surface web must have a suitable degree of softness and must ensure a desired isolation between the skin and the absorbent pad. The function of the absorbent pad is to absorb the fluids and consequently it must have a high rate of absorption as well as a high absorption capacity. A particularly effective absorbent pad is described in document EP-A-0,232,729. This absorbent pad or mat is made up of a sheet of long absorbent fibers lined on its faces with a layer of cellulose wadding. The sheet lined with the layers of wadding is needled from both faces.
A particularly effective mat described in this Patent Application EP-A-0,232,729 comprises two sheets of long fibers, a first sheet of absorbent fibers and a second sheet of nonabsorbent fibers, between which particles of superabsorbent material are arranged, the sheet of nonabsorbent fibers being lined externally with a layer of nonwoven and the sheet of absorbent fibers being lined externally with a layer of cellulose wadding. The whole is bonded by needling from both faces.
In absorbent articles of hygiene such absorbent mats or pads are covered with a surface web generally made of nonwoven material, the purpose of which is to isolate the skin from the absorbent pad and which must ensure a pleasant contact with the skin and the desired isolation with the absorbent pad. These surface webs or sheets must exhibit, as essential properties, a pleasant contact with the skin, a high rate of passage by the body fluids and must form a barrier against rewetting.
Document FR-A-2,588,285 describes a multilayer nonwoven textile which has at least two layers of nonwoven web, one of the layers consisting of fibers of bilobed cross-section and the other layer consisting of fibers of trilobed cross-section. Each web layer is preferably obtained by the spin-bonding technique and the two web layers are joined to form the multilayer nonwoven by heat bonding in compacted and noncontinuous regions.
Document WO 87/07,117 describes an absorbent article of hygiene comprising an absorbent body surrounded by a cover. This cover or surface web consists of two layers made of nonwoven material. The first layer of nonwoven material, in contact with the user's skin, consists of a thin layer of spin-bonded fibrous tissue made of a hydrophobic material, and the second layer in contact with the absorbent body is a hydrophobic fibrous layer of fiber tissue, which is melt-bonded, similar in construction to the first layer. These two layers of surface web are not joined together in the region intended to come into contact with the user's body.
Document WO 88/05,269 relates to a surface web for a disposable absorbent article made up of at least two layers of nonwoven, which may be identical or different and which are joined by lines of adhesive forming an open pattern.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY
An aim of the present invention is therefore to provide a composite nonwoven material which has a desired degree of softness, an improved rate of passage by the liquids and improved resistance to rewetting.
Another aim of the present invention is to provide an absorbent article of hygiene such as diapers and dressings for incontinent persons, comprising a surface web made of such a composite nonwoven material.
Another aim of the present invention is to provide an absorbent article of hygiene such as diapers and dressings for incontinent persons, comprising, in addition to a surface web made of conventional nonwoven material, a strip in the crotch region which is made of the composite nonwoven material according to the invention.
According to the present invention a composite nonwoven material is produced, which comprises at least one first layer consisting of a nonwoven material and, on this first layer, a sheet of fibers of carded type, the sheet of fibers of carded type being bonded to the base layer by needling.
In another embodiment of the present invention the composite nonwoven material comprises a first layer made of a nonwoven material, a sheet of fibers of carded type and a second layer made of a nonwoven material of lower weight per unit area than the first layer of nonwoven material, the sheet of fibers of carded type being arranged between the first and the second layers of nonwoven material, the whole being bonded by needling.
The composite material according to the invention has a time of break-through by the body fluids which is shorter and a degree of isolation which is better than the previous nonwovens employed hitherto for making the surface webs and crotch region strip of absorbent articles of hygiene.
According to the present invention an absorbent article of hygiene such as a diaper is also produced, which comprises an outer layer made of impervious material, an absorbent mat and, on this absorbent mat, a surface web consisting of the composite material according to the invention. When the surface web consists of the composite material according to the invention comprising a nonwoven layer and the sheet of fibers of carded type, the sheet of carded type forms the outermost layer of the web, that is to say the layer directly in contact with the absorbent pad, whereas the nonwoven layer forms the innermost layer of the surface web, which will be in contact with the user's body. When the surface web consists of the composite material according to the invention comprising a carded sheet of fibers between two nonwoven layers, the nonwoven layer of lower weight per unit area forms the outermost layer of the surface web, that is to say the layer directly in contact with the absorbent pad, and the nonwoven layer of higher weight per unit area forms the innermost layer of the web, which will be directly in contact with the user's body.
The invention also provides an absorbent article of hygiene such as a diaper, which comprises an outer layer made of material which is impervious to body fluids, an absorbent mat, a surface web made of nonwoven material and a strip in the crotch region, consisting of the composite material according to the invention. The strip in the crotch region may be arranged either on the surface web made of conventional nonwoven material, or between this web made of conventional nonwoven material and the absorbent pad. As previously described, when the composite material according to the invention is employed, consisting of a nonwoven layer and of the sheet of fibers of carded type, this sheet of fibers of carded type will form the outermost layer of the crotch region strip, whereas the nonwoven layer will form the innermost layer of the crotch region strip. Similarly, in the case where the crotch region strip consists of the composite material according to the invention, comprising a sheet of fibers of carded type included between two nonwoven layers, the nonwoven layer of lower weight per unit area will form the outermost layer of the crotch region strip, whereas the nonwoven layer of higher weight per unit area will form the innermost layer of this strip.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The description which follows refers to the attached figures, which show, respectively:
FIG. 1, a first embodiment of the composite nonwoven material according to the invention;
FIG. 2, a second embodiment of the composite nonwoven material according to the invention;
FIG. 3, a top view, with partial cutaway, of an absorbent article of hygiene such as a diaper, comprising a surface web consisting of the composite material of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4, a view in section along the line IV--IV of FIG. 3;
FIG. 5, a top view, with partial cutaway, of an absorbent article of hygiene such as a diaper, comprising a crotch region strip consisting of the composite material of FIG. 1;
FIG. 6, a view in section along the line VI--VI of FIG. 5;
FIG. 7 a top view, with partial cutaway, of an absorbent article of hygiene such as a diaper, comprising a surface web made of composite nonwoven material according to FIG. 2;
FIG. 8, a view in section along the line VIII--VIII of FIG. 7;
FIG. 9, a top view, with partial cutaway, of an absorbent article of hygiene such as a diaper, comprising a crotch region strip consisting of the composite nonwoven material of FIG. 2; and
FIG. 10, a view in section along the line X--X of FIG. 9.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
With reference to FIG. 1, a first embodiment of the composite nonwoven material 1 according to the invention is shown. This material comprises a first layer 2 made of a nonwoven material permeable to body fluids such as urine, and on this first layer made of nonwoven material, a sheet of fibers of carded type 3, forming a mat, permeable to body fluids, the sheet of fibers of carded type being bonded to the first layer made of nonwoven material by a needling 5 from both faces.
All types of conventional nonwoven material, for example made of natural or synthetic textile fibers such as cellulose, viscose, polyester, polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon or ethylene-propylene copolymer fibers can be employed for the first layer made of nonwoven material. In addition, the first nonwoven layer 2 may be made of one kind or of different kinds of fibers. Also, this nonwoven layer may consist of fibers of the same denier or of different deniers. This first nonwoven layer may consist of a nonwoven material manufactured by any conventional process such as, for example, spin bonding, heat bonding, chemical bonding, bonding air blowing and spin lacing. This first nonwoven layer 2 preferably has a weight per unit area of between 10 and 30 g/m 2 .
The sheet of fibers of carded type 3, permeable to the fluids, may consist of synthetic textile fibers such as polyester, polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon or ethylene-propylene copolymers. Polyester fibers are very particularly recommended for their resilience and comfort characteristics. It is also possible to employ profiled fibers, for example bi- or trilobed fibers. The use of such fibers makes possible the transport or diffusion of the fluids owing to their own shape. The sheet of fibers of carded type may consist of fibers of the same kind or of a mixture of fibers as a function of the type of barrier which is desired. Similarly, the sheet of fibers of carded type 3 may consist of fibers of identical or different deniers (measurement of the thickness of diameter of the fibers), the denier of the fibers of this sheet being generally between 3 and 13. In general, the sheet of fibers of carded type has a weight per unit area of between 20 and 60 g/m 2 . The sheet of fibers of carded type 3 is obtained by well-known carding or pseudocarding techniques.
The first layer of nonwoven 2 and the layer of fibers of carded type 3 are preferably bonded by needling from both faces of the composite. Obviously, the needling density and the choice of the denier of the fibers determine the bulk (thickness of the nonwoven material). A needling density of 10 to 100 needle strokes per cm 2 and per face is generally employed. A single-stroke or double-stroke needling process may be employed for the needling. The composite nonwoven material obtained generally has a density of between 50 and 300 kg/m 3 and the layer of sheet of fibers of carded type 3 generally has a thickness greater than that of the first nonwoven layer 2.
With reference now to FIG. 2, another embodiment of a multilayer nonwoven material according to the present invention is shown. The material comprises a first nonwoven layer 2 similar to the nonwoven layer 2 of the embodiment of FIG. 1. On this first nonwoven layer 2 there is a sheet of fibers of carded type 3, also similar to the sheet of fibers of carded type of FIG. 1. On the upper surface of the sheet of fibers of carded type 3 there is a second nonwoven layer 4. This second nonwoven layer 4 is similar to the first nonwoven layer 2 except insofar as weight per unit area is concerned. This second nonwoven layer preferably has a weight per unit area which is lower than that of the first nonwoven layer 2, and preferably lower than 20 g/m 2 , for example 17 g/m 2 , and, better still, lower than or equal to 15 g/m 2 . As in the case of the composite nonwoven material of FIG. 1, the layers of the composite nonwoven material of FIG. 2 are joined by needling in the same way.
The composite nonwoven materials according to the invention are found to be particularly useful as surface webs or crotch region strip in absorbent articles of hygiene such as diapers or dressings for incontinent persons.
With reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, an absorbent article of hygiene 10, such as a diaper, is shown, comprising an outer layer 11 made of a flexible material impervious to body fluids, to which there is secured an absorbent mat or pad 12 which is permeable to body fluids, smaller in size than the outer layer. The absorbent pad 12 is secured to the impervious layer 11 by any conventional means such as by adhesive bonding. On this absorbent pad 12 there is a surface web 13 which is permeable to body fluids, of a size similar to that of the outer layer 11. The surface web 13 is bonded on the periphery of the absorbent pad 12 to the outer layer 11 by any means such as by adhesive bonding. As is well known in the art, the outer layer 11, the absorbent mat 12 and the surface web 13 have the shape of an hourglass comprising two relatively wide opposite end parts joined by a narrower part or crotch region. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the surface web consists of the composite nonwoven material which is shown in FIG. 1 and which comprises a first nonwoven layer 2 and a sheet of fibers of carded type 3. As shown in the figures, the sheet of carded type 3 is placed directly above the absorbent pad, whereas the nonwoven layer 2 forms the innermost layer of the web intended to come into contact with the user's body.
When employed in addition to a conventional surface web, the composite material according to the invention is preferably employed in the form of a crotch region strip which has a width similar to that of the crotch region of the pad and a length similar to that of this pad. In this embodiment the crotch region strip consisting of the material according to the invention is arranged either above the conventional surface web or between this conventional surface web and the pad. Such a crotch region strip consisting of the composite material shown in FIG. 1 is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. In this embodiment the absorbent article of hygiene such as a diaper comprises an outer layer made of a material which is impervious to body fluids 11, an absorbent pad 12 secured to the outer layer 11, for example by adhesive bonding, a crotch region strip made of material according to the embodiment of FIG. 1 and a surface web 13 made of conventional nonwoven material. The surface web is joined to the impervious outer layer 11 by any conventional means such as by lines of adhesive bonding 14. As shown in the figures, the crotch region strip consisting of the material of FIG. 1 is arranged between the absorbent pad 12 and the surface web made of conventional nonwoven material 13. In this embodiment the sheet of fibers of carded type 3 of the composite material 1 is arranged directly on the inner surface of the pad 12, whereas the nonwoven layer 2 forms the innermost layer of the crotch region strip which is found to be in contact with the outer surface of the surface web made of conventional nonwoven material 13. The crotch region strip is joined to the outer surface of the web made of conventional nonwoven material 13 or to the inner surface of the absorbent pad 12 by any conventional means such as by adhesive bonding, heat-sealing, ultrasonic sealing or by needling. As indicated above, this crotch region strip made of composite material according to the invention may be arranged either on the inner surface of the surface web made of conventional nonwoven material 13 or between this surface web 13 and the absorbent pad 12. However, in all cases the nonwoven layer 2 of the composite material must form the innermost layer of the crotch region strip.
An absorbent article of hygiene according to the invention is thus produced, which has improved properties of softness, rate of passage of the body fluids and rewetting barrier.
With reference to FIGS. 7 and 8, an absorbent article of hygiene such as a diaper is shown, comprising a surface web consisting of a composite material according to the invention as shown in FIG. 2. As above, the absorbent article of hygiene comprises an outer layer 11 made of material which is impervious to body fluids, an absorbent pad 12 and a surface web 13 consisting of the composite material according to the invention described in connection with FIG. 2. The impervious outer layer 11, the pad 12 and the surface web 13 have a shape similar to that described in connection with FIGS. 3 and 4. In this case,the surface web is arranged so that the nonwoven layer 4 of lowest weight per unit area forms the outermost layer of the surface web 13, whereas the nonwoven layer 2 of highest weight per unit area will form the innermost layer of the surface web 13 intended to come into contact with the user's body.
With reference now to FIGS. 9 and 10, an absorbent article of hygiene such as a diaper 10 is shown, similar to the absorbent of hygiene shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 and comprising, in addition to a conventional surface web 13, a crotch region strip consisting of the composite material according to the invention, described in connection with FIG. 2. The diaper 10 comprises an outer layer 11 which is impervious to body fluids, an absorbent pad 12, a crotch region strip of width similar to the width of the crotch region of the pad and of length similar to that of this pad and a surface web 13 made of conventional nonwoven material. The pad 12 is secured to the outer layer 11 by any conventional means, for example by adhesive bonding, and the surface web made of conventional nonwoven material 13 is bonded to the outer layer 11 on the periphery of the absorbent pad 12 by any conventional means such as by lines of adhesive bonding 14. The crotch region strip which, in the embodiment shown, is arranged between the pad 12 and the conventional surface web 13 is made up, as described above, of two nonwoven layers 4 and 2 between which there is the sheet of fibers of carded type 3. The nonwoven layer 4 of lower weight per unit area is situated directly on the inner surface of the pad 12, whereas the nonwoven layer 2 of higher weight per unit area forms the innermost layer of the crotch strip which is in contact with the inner surface of the web 13 made of conventional nonwoven material. The crotch region strip made of composite material according to the invention may be bonded to the absorbent pad 12 by any known means such as by adhesive bonding, heat-sealing, ultrasonic sealing or by needling, the use of the nonwoven layer 4 of lower weight per unit area allowing the absorbent pad 12 to be better secured. Obviously, as above, the crotch region strip made of composite material according to the invention could be arranged on the inner surface of the web 13 made of conventional nonwoven material, and, in this case, the nonwoven layer 4 of lower weight per unit area will form the outermost layer of the crotch region strip which will be bonded to the inner surface of the conventional surface web 13, whereas the nonwoven layer of higher weight per unit area will form the innermost layer of the crotch region strip intended to come into contact with the user's body.
An absorbent article of hygiene has thus been produced which has improved properties of softness, rate of passage of the body fluids and of rewetting barrier.
The following nonlimiting examples demonstrate the advantages obtained by employing the composite material according to the invention as surface web in diapers.
Comparative Example A
A determination was made of the speed of break-through and the rewetting resistance of a commercial diaper (Peaudouce Action Girl® corresponding to the 8-18 kg size, of total weight 59 g, this absorbent pad having a weight of 48 g including 4.6 g of superabsorbent material) and which comprises a conventional surface web made of nonwoven polypropylene fibers (of spin-bonded type) which has a weight per unit area of 20 g/m 2 . The results of the tests are given in Table 1.
Comparative Example B
A determination was made of the speed of break-through and the rewetting resistance of another commercial diaper, identical in size to that of comparative Example A and comprising a surface web consisting of a base layer made of nonwoven polypropylene fibers of spin-bonded type which has a weight per unit area of 30 g/m 2 and a crotch region strip made of nonwoven predominantly polyester fibers of air-through-bonded type which has a weight per unit area of 52 g/m 2 , that is a total weight per unit area of 82 g/m 2 . The results of the tests are given in Table 1.
Comparative Example C
The surface web of the diaper of Comparative Example A was replaced with the surface web of the diaper of Comparative Example B and the speed of break-through and the rewetting resistance of the article thus obtained were measured. The results are given in Table 1.
Comparative Example D
The crotch region strip of the diaper of Comparative Example B, that is to say the strip made of nonwoven material of air-through-bonded type which has a weight per unit area of 52 g/m 2 , was added to the surface web of the diaper of Comparative Example A, and the speed of break-through and wetting resistance were measured. The results are given in Table 1.
Comparative Example E
Four layers of a nonwoven material of polypropylene fibers of the spin-bonded type, each with a weight per unit area of 20 g/m 2 were added to the surface web of the diaper of Comparative Example A. The speed of break-through and the rewetting resistance of the article obtained were measured. The results are given in Table 1.
Example 1
The surface web of the diaper of Comparative Example A was replaced with a surface web consisting of a composite material according to the invention. In this example the composite material according to the invention consisted of a first layer of a nonwoven material of polyethylene fibers of spin-bonded type with a weight per unit area of 20 g/m 2 from the Corovin company, bonded by needling to a sheet of polyester fibers of carded type of 6.6 deniers which had a weight per unit area of 50 g/m 2 , that is a total weight per unit area of 70 g/m 2 . The needling density was 20 needle strokes per cm 2 and per face and the density of the material obtained was 150 kg/m 3 . The sheet of polyester fibers of carded type was arranged directly on the absorbent pad. The speed of break-through and the rewetting resistance of the article obtained were measured. The results are given in Table 1.
Example 2
The surface web of the diaper of Comparative Example B was replaced with a web made of composite nonwoven material according to the invention, identical with that of Example 1, in which the sheet of fibers of carded type is then situated directly in contact with the absorbent pad of the diaper. The speed of break-through and the rewetting resistance of the article obtained were measured. The results are given in Table 1.
Example 3
The nonwoven strip of 52 g/m 2 of the diaper of Comparative Example B is withdrawn and replaced with the composite nonwoven material of Example 1, with the layer of fibers of carded type in contact with the base layer made of nonwoven material of 30 g/m 2 of the initial surface web of the diaper. The speed of break-through and the rewetting resistance of the article obtained were measured. The results are given in Table 1.
Example 4
To the surface web of the diaper of Comparative Example A was added a web consisting of a composite nonwoven material according to the invention comprising a first layer of a nonwoven of polyethylene fibers of spin-bonded type of 20 g/m 2 , a sheet of polyester fibers of carded type of 50 g/m 2 , similar to those of Example 1, and a second layer of a nonwoven of polypropylene fibers of spin-bonded type of 17 g/m 2 , the three layers being bonded by needling. The needling density was 20 needle strokes per cm 2 and per face. The composite nonwoven according to the invention is arranged with the second nonwoven layer in contact with the initial surface web. The speed of break-through and the rewetting resistance of the article obtained were measured. The results are given in Table 1.
TABLE 1__________________________________________________________________________ Comparative Comparative Comparative Comparative Comparative Example Example Example Example Example A Example B Example C Example D Example E 1 2 3 4__________________________________________________________________________1st break- 67 57 50 44 246 47 48 40 35through time (s)2nd break- 209 173 74 80 498 73 92 109 62through time (s)3rd break- 225 249 204 118 424 80 120 220 68through time (s)Rewettingresistance (g)after 20 minutes 2.95 0.32 0.12 0.23 0.17 0.20 0.23 0.38 0.30after 40 minutes 33.46 2.70 4.71 8.50 15.00 1.93 0.30 0.63 0.45after 60 minutes 56.17 14.00 30.00 31.60 49.00 16.00 5.20 1.03 11.00__________________________________________________________________________
The break-through times and the rewetting resistance were determined as follows:
The finished products are conditioned at 23° C. and 50% relative humidity for 24 hours before the tests.
A 7×7 cm sheet of Plexiglas® perforated in its center is placed in the center of the surface web of the tested article. 100 cm 3 of a saline solution containing 9 g/l of sodium chloride in distilled water is poured into the orifice in the sheet by means of a separating funnel, the flow of the funnel being adjusted so as to have a constant high level in the sheet orifice. The time elapsed between the beginning of the introduction of the saline solution and the moment at which the saline solution has disappeared into the article is measured. The measured time constitutes the first break-through time.
Six Dimar ED 939® filter papers cut into 10.2×10.2 cm squares are then weighed. A 10.2×10.2 cm 3.5 kg weight is then placed for 10 minutes on the surface web of the tested article, after the perforated sheet has been taken off. Once 10 minutes have elapsed, the six filter papers are placed under the weight and are left for another 10 minutes. At the end of this period the weight and the filter papers are removed. The filter papers are weighed. The difference in weight, in grams, between the first and second weighing gives a measure of the rewetting resistance after 20 minutes.
The above procedure is restarted twice with the same article, 24 filters being used after the second addition of saline solution and 30 filters after the third addition, respectively. The second and third break-through times and the rewetting resistance after 40 and 60 minutes are thus obtained.
As is clearly shown by the examples of Table 1 above, the use of the surface web made of composite nonwoven according to the invention as a replacement for or in addition to a conventional surface web results in a particularly advantageous combination of a short break-through time and better rewetting resistance. In particular, Example 1 shows a break-through time in the third test which is approximately 60% shorter than that of Comparative Example C and an improvement in the rewetting resistance after 60 minutes of approximately 47%.
A comparison of the results obtained in the case of Example 2 with those of Comparative Example B shows that by substituting a surface web according to the invention for the initial surface web an improvement of approximately 50% in the second and third break-through times and of approximately 63% in the rewetting resistance after 60 minutes are obtained.
Comparison of the results obtained in Example 4 with those of Example 1shows that the use of a composite nonwoven according to the invention comprising a second nonwoven layer in addition to the conventional surface web does not ham the break-through time, while improving the rewetting resistance after 60 minutes by approximately 30%.
Finally, a comparison of the examples according to the invention with Comparative Example E shows that the total weight per unit area of the surface web does not affect the results. Thus, it may be considered that the surface web of Example 4 consists of four layers with a total weight per unit area of 107 g/m 2 and the surface web of Comparative Example E of five layers with a total weight per unit area of 100 g/m 2 . Comparison of the results obtained showing, in the case of the comparative example, an increase of 500 to 600% in the break-through times and a deterioration of 345% in the rewetting resistance after 60 minutes.
A nonwoven composite material which is particularly useful in the manufacture of surface webs for absorbent articles of hygiene has thus been produced according to the invention.
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Material having improved body fluid run through time and reletting resistance is disclosed. The nonwoven composite material comprises a first layer consisting of a nonwoven which is permeable to body fluids and including a layer of carded fibers, also pervious to body fluids, linked to the first layer by needling. In another embodiment, there is a second nonwoven layer on the other side of the carded fiber layer with a weight per unit are less than the weight per unit area of the first layer.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to connector devices for fastening together relatively thin-walled, light-weight, planes or structures. An important application for such devices is light-weight models possessing plane surfaces, whereby one plane is to be fastened to another. An example of such a model is an educational toy consisting of geometric shapes of various sizes and conformations. Such a toy will be reconfigured and/or expanded by the user by fastening together different geometrical elements, which are constructed of planes. For reasons of manufacturing economy and ease of manipulation by the user (often a child), such models or toys are constructed of thin-walled, light-weight, relatively stiff materials such as plastic or cardboard.
Fastening together the elements of such a toy or model poses unusual problems because the materials to be fastened are light-weight and thin-walled, and therefore possess limited structural strength. The fastening means also must result in a tight connection, whereby the elements, once joined, will not slip or move relative to each other. Further, the means for fastening such a toy or model must permit easy assembly and disassembly of such elements. Lastly, such fastening means cannot be expensive to manufacture.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditional fastening means for such toys or models have been magnets or Velcro.® Such fastening means are described in Roane U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,258,479, 4,334,870, and 4,334,871 (magnets) and Billis U.S. Pat. No. 3,117,384 (Velcro®). Also very generally related to the present invention are the "pop beads" popular some years ago. As will better be described below, the only common element between such "pop beads" and the present invention is the concept of inserting one element into a companion receptacle in order to join the elements.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to fastening or connector devices for light-weight, thin-walled, models or toys. The connectors of the present invention have substantially advantages over prior art connecting means such as magnet or Velcro®. In the first place, unlike magnets or Velcro® connecting devices, they do not require a particular orientation in order to achieve a fastening effect. Magnets, of course, have polarity, and it is necessary for the user of a toy with magnets to be sure that the surfaces being attached are properly oriented in order to achieve a magnetic effect. Similarly, Velcro® surfaces may be attached only if the correct surfaces are aligned. In the context of an educational toy, wherein the user often will be a young child, the need to orient the attachment means may interfere with the principal point of the learning process, namely, the creation of diverse and/or larger geometrical forms. Another significant factor, because of the educational context, is that the mystery attaching to the operation of a magnet may distract the attention of the user--often a child--from the block building and arrangement process itself.
Further, certain conventional attachment means, such as magnets, are relatively heavy. Some of the models with which such magnets are to be used will be quite large and the combined weight of the magnets may cause the structure to become unstable and even collapse. This especially will be so because in order to permit maximum flexibility in orienting the elements of the structure, it may be necessary to provide both positive and negative polarity at each location of a magnet, thereby requiring twice as many magnets. A further disadvantage of magnets, particularly when used by children to attach educational blocks, is that they must be carefully and correctly aligned; if not, they will lose attachment capability. This problem can be overcome by using larger magnets but these have the disadvantage of being heavy and, particularly for children, difficult to separate. Other conventional attachment means, such as Velcro® attachment surfaces, are not heavy but may require a relatively large overall attachment area in order to be effective. Velcro® wears out relatively quickly, an especially important factor in the instant context because children will be principal users of the material. Both magnets and Velcro® attachment means are relatively expensive to manufacture. Prior attachment means suitable for the present purpose, namely, attaching the elements of educational toys, must be separately manufactured and attached as a unit to the surfaces of the toys, a relatively expensive process which adds to the expense of manufacture.
Lastly, surfaces attached by conventional attachment means, such as magnets and Velcro®, are relatively difficult to separate, a task which may be unduly difficult for the coordination skills of young children. Such conventional attachment means also lose their attachment capability with age and use.
The present invention avoids the problems and limitations attached to conventional attachment means by providing simple, light-weight, connectors or fasteners which are constructed from inexpensive materials such as plastic, and are easily inserted or removed by young children, without the need for orientation of the connecting elements. The connectors of the present invention are, at least in part, integral with the surfaces to be joined, and may be made of the same material. The manufacturing process required to make them is in most cases simple and inexpensive, for example, molding or stamping. Such connectors are especially suitable for use with light-weight, thin-walled, materials such as those from which geometrical educational toys are constructed. They do not interfere with the basic aim of the learning process, namely, to associate, orient, and create structures from smaller elements. The connectors contemplated by the present invention are best described in respect to the drawings and to the preferred embodiments which are set out below.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a side view of a connector, representing one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the embodiment of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of one embodiment of the receptacle element of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of another embodiment of the receptacle element of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIG. 4, showing the insertable element of a connector of the present invention which has been inserted into the connector receptacle.
FIG. 5A is a side sectional view similar to FIG. 5 showing the insertable element of a connector of the present invention joining two surfaces by being inserted into the connector receptacles associated with each of the two surfaces.
FIG. 6 is a side sectional view of a further variation of the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIG. 4, showing the insertable element of a connector of the present invention inserted into the connector receptacle.
FIG. 7 is a side view of the insertable element of a further embodiment of a connector of the present invention, a variant of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1.
FIG. 7A is a top plan view of the insertable connector element of FIG. 7.
FIG. 8 is a side sectional view of the insertable element of a connector of the present invention inserted into the connector receptacle, the connector being a variant of the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIG. 7.
FIG. 9 is a side sectional view of a further embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 9A is a side sectional view showing two of the connector elements of FIG. 9 prior to being joined.
FIG. 9B shows the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIG. 9A, in which the connector elements have been joined and attached.
FIG. 10 is a side view, showing the connector and receptacle, of a further embodiment of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Following is a description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, with reference to the FIGS.
FIG. 1 (FIG. 2 is a top plan view) illustrates the form of a typical, and preferred, embodiment of one of the two parts, the insertable element, of one of the connectors of the present invention.
In a typical embodiment, the connector of the present invention consists of two elements, one being an insertable element of the type shown in FIG. 1, and the other element being the receptacle into which the insertable element is inserted (e.g., as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4). In a typical two-part embodiment of the present connector, the two parts shown as joined in FIG. 5, the insertable element of the present connector is a separate unattached, piece. The receptacle element of the connector, however, is typically part of the surface or plane which is to be attached to another surface. The user of such an embodiment will take a surface, which will typically be part of a geometric structure, and bring it close to another surface (of another structure). Each of such surfaces will have already formed in it a connector receptacle or receptacles, as shown in, e.g., FIG. 4. An insertable connector element such as is shown in FIG. 1 will be inserted into the connector receptacle(s) built into each of the surfaces to be joined. The sequence of steps by which this may be performed is variable, but a convenient procedure is to insert the insertable connector element into the connector receptacle of one of the surfaces to be joined (as in FIG. 5) and then to insert the insertable element into the connector receptacle of the other surface. (as shown in FIG. 5A).
It will be seen that the insertable connector element of FIGS. 1 and 2 consists of 3 elements, a larger central sphere, 1, (for purposes of convenience, all numbers referred to herein which designate elements of the FIGS. retain the same meaning throughout all the FIGS.) which is connected at the opposite poles to smaller spheres, 2 and 3. Each of the smaller spheres 2 and 3 is connected to the large central sphere 1 by a neck, 4 and 5, respectively. The large central sphere, 1, is intended to be grasped by the user of the connector and the distal spheres, 2 and 3, are intended to be inserted into a coordinate receptacle element, such as is shown in FIG. 4, located on the surfaces to be attached. It will be understood that while the central and distal elements of the insertable connector element typically will be spheres, other geometrical forms (some of which are described hereinafter) may also be suitable, particularly for special application.
FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of a connector receptacle of the type into which the insertable connector element shown in FIG. 1 may be inserted. The walls of such a connector receptacle, which is typically built into and is part of each of the surfaces to be joined, are as thin as possible, consistent with minimal strength, stiffness, and integrity, in order to minimize weight and the cost of the material from which they are constructed.
In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, the receptacle is formed with a cavity, part (7) of which receives and encloses one of the small distal connecting spheres of the insertable connector elements (shown in FIG. 1 as 2 or 3), another part (8) of which receives and encloses the neck (shown in FIG. 1 as 4 and 5) connecting the small distal sphere to the large central sphere (shown in FIG. 1 as 1), and the remainder (9) of which receives the large central sphere (shown in FIG. 1 as 1) of the insertable connector element. The connector receptacle of FIG. 3 performs one of the objectives and illustrates certain of the advantages of the connectors of the present invention; namely, it is light-weight, the insertable element may be easily inserted, and, once inserted, the connector elements are firmly seated and will not slip. In part, such ease of use and freedom from slippage are accomplished because the dimensions of the connector receptacle are carefully selected in order to be only slightly greater than those of the insertable connector element. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, this is somewhat less important in achieving minimal slippage than in certain other embodiments, for example, that shown in FIG. 6, because in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 there is no portion of the cavity of the connector receptacle especially designed to accommodate the small distal sphere or the neck of the insertable connector element. The connector receptacle of FIG. 3 relies as much upon shape as well as upon close control of dimensions, in order to hold the insertable connector element firmly in place.
FIG. 4 illustrates a varient of the embodiment of the connector receptacle shown in FIG. 3. The connector receptacle 11 of FIG. 4 is identical to that illustrated in FIG. 3, except that it lacks a separate cavity (7, in FIG. 3) for the small distal sphere of the insertable connector element and does not have a cavity (8, in FIG. 3) for the neck. The insertable element (for example, that shown in FIG. 1) is inserted through an opening 10 in the receptacle wall 12 of FIG. 4. Such a configuration is a preferred embodiment because it is easier and cheaper to manufacture than the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 and insertion of the insertable connector element is easier. However, in order to be fully effective, the wall 12 of the receptacle 11 shown in FIG. 4 must be dimensioned so that the insertable element of the connector is firmly seated and does not move. In substantial part, this will be accomplished by dimensioning receptacle 11 of FIG. 4 to very closely approximate the dimensions of the central sphere (e.g. 1 of FIG. 1) of the insertable connector element and by determining the thickness of the wall 12 of FIG. 4 so that the wall 12 will be only marginally thicker than the length of the neck (e.g., 4 in FIG. 1) of the insertable element. Although achieving the relative non-slippage of the joined surfaces will be easier with the receptacle of FIG. 3, the same end may be accomplished by the receptacle of FIG. 4. It will be appreciated that the wall thickness required to achieve the desired seating effect will vary with the dimensions of the receptacle and the insertable element. A further important factor is the nature of the material from which the connector receptacle is formed. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, such material, which will be the same as that from which the surfaces to be joined are formed, will have to be relatively tougher and stiffer than that from which the embodiment of FIG. 3 is formed, since the embodiment of the connector receptacle shown in FIG. 4 will be subject to additional stress, both in respect to inserting the insertable connector element and while the surfaces are attached.
FIG. 5 illustrates a preferred embodiment of the insertable connector element, illustrated in basic form in FIG. 1, inserted into a receptacle element 19 of the type shown in FIG. 4. In FIG. 5, the elements of the insertable connector element 13 are the same as those in FIG. 1, but the proportions are different. The insertable member 13 of FIG. 5 consists of a larger central sphere 1 to which smaller distal spheres 16 and 17 are attached by necks 14 and 15. In the insertable connector element 13 of FIG. 5 the smaller distal spheres 16 and 17 are relatively larger in proportion to central sphere 1 than are distal spheres 2 and 3 to central sphere 1 in FIG. 1. Further, in FIG. 5, the necks 14 and 15 are proportionately shorter and wider than are their counterparts 4 and 5 in FIG. 1. In FIG. 5, neck 15 is only very slightly longer than the thickness of wall 18 of the connector receptacle 19. As a result, insertion of distal sphere 17, which is only moderately greater in diameter than the diameter of the opening 20 in the connector receptacle wall 18, is relatively easy. Once inserted, because of the length of the neck 15 is almost the same as that of the thickness of the receptacle wall 18, the central sphere 1 of the insertable connector element 13 is tightly seated against the receptacle wall 18 and the distal sphere 17 is unable to move relative to the connector receptacle 19. The result is that there will be no slippage of each of the two elements of the connector relative to the other.
In FIG. 5, wall 18 of the connector receptacle 19 is also an integral part of one of the surfaces being joined by the insertable connector element 21. FIG. 5A shows two such connector receptacle/surfaces 22 and 23 joined together by an insertable element 21. In FIG. 5A, it will be seen that surfaces 22 and 23 each contain a connector receptacle, designated 24 and 25, respectively. Therefore, in use, a connector of the type embodied in FIG. 5 may be visualized as the two surfaces to be joined, each containing a connector receptacle of the type illustrated as 11 in FIG. 4, and a single insertable connector element which has been inserted into the connector receptacle located on each of the surfaces to be joined.
It will be understood that a given surface to be joined to another surface may contain as many connector receptacles as may be deemed appropriate to join the surface firmly to another surface. The number of such receptacles will depend upon such factors as the weight, area, shape, and thickness of the surfaces to be joined. If the surfaces to be joined are part of a unitary geometrical toy, such surfaces will be part of a configuration of surfaces that has substantial strength and rigidity by virtue of that configuration. As a result, the surfaces used for such a purpose, unless very large, may not require more than one receptacle/insertable element per surface. Such a structure is easier to use and less expensive to manufacture than a structure made up of surfaces containing more than 1 connector receptacle.
FIG. 6 illustrates a variation of the connector shown in FIG. 5. In FIG. 6, an insertable element, having a central sphere and distal spheres 26 and 27, has been inserted into a connector receptacle 31. The distal spheres 26 and 27 of the insertable connector element of FIG. 6 are proportionately not much greater in diameter than the diameter of the necks 28 and 29. The ratio between the diameter of distal spheres 26 and 27 of the insertable element of FIG. 6 and the respective necks is more nearly 1:1 than is the same ratio in FIG. 5. As a result, distal spheres 26 and 27 are relatively easy to insert through the opening 30 in the connector receptacle 31 (and of the wall 32 of the surface to be attached). Slippage is eliminated because the length of neck 29 is very nearly the same as the thickness of connector receptacle wall 32 and by the relatively greater width of neck 29 and distal sphere 27. As a result, the areas of the contacting surfaces, and the attendant friction and resistance to slippage, are greater, and the very close fit of the neck of the insertable connector element to the receptacle opening minimizes longitudinal movement.
FIG. 7 illustrates an insertable connector element which is a variant of that shown in FIG. 1. In the embodiment of FIG. 7, at the polar ends of the large central sphere 1 are necks 33 and 34, to each of which is attached a modified version (35 and 36, respectively) of the insertable smaller distal spheres 2 and 3 in FIG. 1. The modified distal elements 35 and 36 of FIG. 7 are not spheroidal but are more or less trapezoidal in cross section, and are bevelled at the ends (the bevelled surfaces in FIG. 7 are denominated 37 and 38, and, as shown in FIG. 7A, which is a top plan view, are circular around the ends of distal spheres 35 and 36). Elements 35 and 36 of FIG. 7 will seat more firmly and provide a closer, tighter, connection between the adjoining surfaces to be connected, than, for example, will the undifferentiated distal spheres 2 and 3 of FIG. 1. They also are inserted with more difficulty (more force is required) than a rounded sphere and are less easily removable. Such a connector therefore will be useful where a tighter attachment of surfaces is required, and typically will be used by older children or adolescents who have the combined strength and dexterity to manipulate them.
FIG. 8 illustrates a variant of the insertable connector element shown in FIG. 7, shown seated in a receptacle element. In FIG. 8, the distal connecting elements (39 and 39A), in generally the same configuration as shown in FIG. 7, are present, but the distal elements 39 and 39A are attached directly (at areas 41 and 42) to the central sphere 1 without a neck. In the embodiment of FIG. 8, the connecting surfaces 41 and 42 perform the same function as the neck. FIG. 8 shows an insertable connector element 40 having been inserted into a receptacle 43 of the type illustrated in FIG. 4. The connecting areas 41 and 42 are dimensioned so as to be only very slightly thicker than the receptacle wall 44 of the surface 45 to be attached. The insertable connector element 40 of FIG. 8 will be somewhat easier to insert into and remove from the opening 46 in the connector receptacle but will retain much of the resistance to lateral and longitudinal movement that characterizes the distal elements 35 and 36 of FIG. 7.
FIG. 9 illustrates a highly modified variant of the connectors shown in FIGS. 1-8. In FIG. 9, shallow cavity 47, a counterpart of the central sphere of the previously discussed connector embodiments (e.g. 1, of FIG. 1) is formed within one of the surfaces (here, 48,) to be joined. Extending from the cavity 47 is a protrusion 49, a counterpart of a combination of the neck and the smaller distal sphere shown previously (e.g. 4 and 5 and 2 and 3, respectively, of FIG. 1). The distal end of protrusion 49 is at least somewhat greater in diameter than the base of the protrusion, in order to assure better retention of the counterpart protrusion to be inserted within it. In practice, each surface (e.g. 48 of FIG. 9) to be joined employing the connector embodied in FIG. 9 has elements 47 and 49 formed as part of surface 48. The connector embodied in FIG. 9, however, is invertible. The protrusion 49 has a cavity 50 (a "dimple") at its distal end. The cavity may be a hole, for easier grasping. When pressed sufficiently firmly by a finger, the protrusion 49 will invert (the inverted position is shown as 51 in FIG. 9), as will the cavity 47 (in inverted position, shown as 52 in FIG. 9). Instead of the protrusion 49, once having been pressed into inverted position, there is now a relatively shallow cavity 52 (the inverted counterpart of cavity 47) containing a smaller but deeper cavity 51, (the inverted counterpart of protrusion 49). Into cavity 51 may be pressed a counterpart of protrusion 49 of FIG. 9. It thus will be seen that the connector embodiment of FIG. 9 serves as both insertable connector element and connector receptacle and that conversion between these phases is accomplished merely by pressure on the connector in its convex, protuberant phase (49 of FIG. 9).
The connector of FIG. 9 is advantageous because the separate insertable connector element (as in FIG. 1 or FIG. 7) has been eliminated. There are therefore no connector elements which are not integral with the surfaces to be joined. Manufacture of such a connector is therefore less complex than a connector with a separate insertable connector element. The manufacturing process for the connector of FIG. 9 combines manufacture of the surfaces to be joined with that of the connector, which is part of the surface. There is no separate insertable connector element. The greater ease of manufacture, and therefore the reduced expense, created by the integral surface/connector configuration is, however, somewhat offset by the need for a relatively hard and firm surface (48, in FIG. 9) which incorporates a relatively flexible but tough area, cavity 47 and protrusion 49. Such a hard/flexible combination of materials is well within the manufacturing state of the art, however, and any additional manufacturing expense required will be at least offset by not having to manufacture a separate insertable connector element, thereby requiring one less die (if, for example, the material is plastic), and less material overall.
Once the concept of an invertible connector of the type shown in FIG. 9 is understood, which is well within the grasp of all but the youngest users, carrying out the inversion and attachment process of the connector of FIG. 9 is relatively simple and requires no particular manual dexterity. Because there are no separate connector elements (all are incorporated within the surfaces to be joined) for at least some users less manipulation than for the two-part connectors described herein is required, and there are no small pieces to be mislaid. However, as better described below in reference to FIG. 9A, the range of applications of the connector embodiment of FIG. 9 is limited to circumstances in which a very tight fit of the surfaces to be joined is required.
FIG. 9A illustrates one application of the connector shown in FIG. 9. In FIG. 9A are shown two surfaces, 53 and 54, each with a shallow cavity, 57 and 58 respectively, and each with a protuberant element (55 and 56 respectively). Cavities 57 and 58 and protuberant elements 55 and 56 are formed from and as part of surfaces 53 and 54. In practice, protuberances 55 and 56, because they must be somewhat stronger and more flexible than surfaces 53 and 54, are made from a different material than that used for surfaces 53 and 54. Accordingly, although surfaces 53 and 54 will be made of any suitably lightweight but reasonably strong and stiff material, protuberances 55 and 56, as well as the areas of the cavities 57 and 58 immediately adjacent, will suitably be made from a firm but resilient material. There are a number of materials, for example, certain types of plastics, which are suitable for this purpose. The need to join two such different materials during the manufacturing process will of course increase the cost of manufacture of the surface/connector assembly of FIG. 9A, and, consequently, this embodiment likely will be used only in special applications, as discussed below. However, because the surface to be joined and the connector are a single unit, the ease and cost of manufacture, because of the lack of multiple connector pieces, will correspondingly be reduced.
FIG. 9B shows the two surfaces 53 and 54 of FIG. 9A after they have been joined. The result is a very close fit, with little possible lateral or vertical slippage. Because of the close fit of the joined surfaces 53 and 54, disassembly of the two surfaces 53 and 54 may not be easy for young children and this embodiment will undoubtedly be used by older children and adults. The connector embodiment of FIGS. 9A and 9B will also be especially suitable when it is desired to join two surfaces of different dimensions or thickness. Within reasonable limits, and depending upon the flexibility and firmness of the material from which the connector area is made, the permissible thickness of surfaces 53 and 54 is variable, because the connector areas (cavities) 57 and 58, as well as the protuberances 55 and 56, are flexible. Therefore, it will be recognized that as long as the surfaces to be joined and the connector cavities and protuberances in particular are more or less congruent, the thickness, surface area, or dimensions of surfaces 53 and 54, within practical limits, may be variable.
FIG. 10 illustrates a variant of the connector embodiment shown in FIGS. 9, 9A and 9B. FIG. 10 shows two surfaces, 59 and 60, one of which (59) has a connector/protuberance 61. The other surface 60 has an opening 62, of slightly lesser diameter than protuberance 61, through which the connector/protuberance 61 may be inserted. Opening 62 is surrounded by a strengthened lip 63, the thickness of which, in order to impart additional strength to the connector area, is greater than that of surrounding surface 60. All elements of the connector, including protuberance 61 and lip 63, are integral with surfaces 59 and 60. As is the case with the embodiment shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the embodiment shown in FIG. 10, lacking multiple elements, may be inexpensively and easily manufactured. Because the material from which surface 60 and lip 63 is formed is the same (the only difference between the lip 63 and the surface 60 being the greater thickness of the lip 63), and surface 59 and protuberance 61 are made of the same material, there are no different materials to be joined and the surface/connector unit may be easily and cheaply cast or stamped as a unit. As is the case with the embodiment shown in FIGS. 9, 9A and 9B, the embodiment of FIG. 10, because of the tightness of the fit and the relative difficulty of disassembly, will be more advantageously used by older children and adults, and is especially well adapted to the joining of surfaces which are of variable and unequal shape, area, and thickness, and which do not require frequent attachment and disassembly.
While the present invention has been described as above and in connection with the preferred specific embodiments thereof, it will be understood that this description is intended to illustrate and not limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by the following claims.
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Connectors for attaching thin, lightweight, walls of the type appearing in children's toys made up of geometrical units, and methods for using the same. In one embodiment, the connector consists of a cavity with a basal opening built into each of the walls to be connected and a separate insertable member, each end of which snaps into a corresponding cavity on each wall. The insertable member consists of a central element attached at each of its polar ends to a smaller distal element. The basal opening of the cavity may consist of an opening enclosed by the wall or may be a hole through the wall. The smaller distal element of the insertable member is of variable shape and diameter depending upon the specific attachment requirement. Other embodiments include connectors without a separate insertable member, wherein the cavity and the insertable member are part of the wall, and, in one embodiment, may be inverted, and, in another embodiment, a fixed protuberaance on one wall may be inserted into an opening on another wall.
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REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is the national stage under 35 USC 371 of International Application No. PCT/JP2009/058718, filed Apr. 28, 2009, which claims the priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-143399, filed May 30, 2008, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to bulky paper with a concavo-convex pattern, and to a process for producing thereof.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-59198 discloses a process for producing a sheet with a concavo-convex pattern obtained by thermal expansion of heat-expanding particles. Specifically, Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-59198 discloses anchoring heat-expanding particles in pulp and then aggregating them to form flock, dispersing the flock in a paper-making material containing no heat-expanding particles and making a paper, and then heating the obtained sheet to cause expansion of the heat-expanding particles to form a patterned sheet with a concavo-convex pattern wherein the flock-containing sections have become the expanded bulky sections.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
According to the process disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-59198, a sheet is formed by dispersing flock that contains heat-expanding particles in a paper-making material and causing thermal expansion of the heat-expanding particles to form a patterned sheet with a concavo-convex pattern wherein the flock-containing sections have become the bulky sections. Since the flock is dispersed in the paper-making material and paper is made from the material, the concavo-convex sections can only be formed in a random pattern, making it impossible to freely create designs of the concavo-convex sections.
The process of the invention is a process for producing a bulky paper with a concavo-convex pattern comprising the steps of producing a wet mixed sheet comprising high-basis-weight regions and low-basis-weight regions from a paper-making material prepared by dispersing a fiber starting material and heat-expanding particles in water, wherein the wet mixed sheet has the heat-expanding particles evenly dispersed in the fiber in the respective regions, and then heating the wet mixed sheet to cause expansion of the heat-expanding particles and form a concavo-convex pattern.
According to a preferred embodiment, the invention is characterized in that the paper-making material comprises 1-40 parts by mass of heat-expanding particles having a mean particle size of 5-30 μm before expansion and expanding 20- to 125-fold by volume upon heating, with respect to 100 parts by mass of a fiber starting material composed of 30-100% by mass natural pulp and 0-70% by mass other fiber. According to other preferred embodiment, the invention is characterized in that the density of the bulky paper is at least 0.01 g/cm 3 and less than 0.1 g/cm 3 . According to other preferred embodiment, the invention is characterized in that partially blocked paper-making wire is used to produce a wet mixed sheet composed of high-basis-weight regions and low-basis-weight regions. According to other preferred embodiment, the invention is characterized in that the low-basis-weight regions are interspersed within the high-basis-weight regions. According to other preferred embodiment, the invention is characterized in that the high-basis-weight regions are interspersed within the low-basis-weight regions. According to other preferred embodiment, the invention is characterized in that the high-basis-weight regions and low-basis-weight regions are alternately arranged in a linear fashion in one direction of the sheet.
The bulky paper with a concavo-convex pattern according to the invention is obtained by producing a wet mixed sheet comprising high-basis-weight regions and low-basis-weight regions from a paper-making material prepared by dispersing in water 1-40 parts by mass of heat-expanding particles having a mean particle size of 5-30 μm before expansion and expanding 20- to 125-fold by volume upon heating, with respect to 100 parts by mass of a fiber starting material composed of 30-100% by mass natural pulp and 0-70% by mass other fiber, wherein the wet mixed sheet has the heat-expanding particles evenly dispersed in the fiber in the respective regions, and then heating the wet mixed sheet to cause expansion of the heat-expanding particles.
According to the invention, a paper-making material having heat-expanding particles evenly mixed throughout is screened using partially blocked paper-making wire to obtain a sheet comprising low-basis-weight regions and high-basis-weight regions compared to the average basis weight, and the sheet is thermally expanded, thus obtaining paper with a larger apparent thickness than paper with a uniform basis weight having the same average basis weight. The process is economically advantageous since a sheet with an apparent thickness equivalent to a high basis weight can be obtained without increasing the basis weight.
The bulky paper of the invention has a density of less than 0.1 g/cm 3 , and preferably no greater than 0.05 g/cm 3 . Low density sheets of the same level, such as airlaid pulp nonwoven fabrics commonly used as materials for absorption cores in absorbent articles because of their bulky properties and liquid retention properties, have been associated with the disadvantage of poor liquid diffusibility and the disadvantage of decreased bulk under wet pressure. The bulky paper of the invention, however, exhibits bulkiness by expansion of the heat-expanding particles, the fiber sections maintaining a relatively high-density state while the gaps are blocked by the balloons of the expanded heat-expanding particles. Therefore, not only is there no decrease in bulk, but repulsion elasticity against pressure is also exhibited so that when the sheet is used as the absorption core of an absorbent article such as a paper diaper or sanitary product, the product undergoes minimal twisting.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of a bulky paper with a concavo-convex pattern according to the invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a bulky paper with a concavo-convex pattern according to the invention.
FIG. 3 is a simplified view of a paper machine depicted as being used for actual production.
FIG. 4 is a plan view of paper-making wire for obtaining a bulky paper having low-basis-weight regions interspersed within high-basis-weight regions.
FIG. 5 is a plan view of paper-making wire for obtaining a bulky paper having high-basis-weight regions interspersed within low-basis-weight regions.
FIG. 6 is a plan view of paper-making wire for obtaining a bulky paper having high-basis-weight regions and low-basis-weight regions arranged as lines in an alternating fashion in one direction.
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the bulky paper obtained in Example 1.
FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the bulky paper obtained in Example 2.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, with the understanding that the invention is not limited to the examples depicted in the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of a bulky paper 1 with a concavo-convex pattern according to the invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view along line X-X′. The bulky paper 1 with a concavo-convex pattern according to the invention is composed of high-basis-weight regions 2 and low-basis-weight regions 3 .
FIG. 3 is a simplified view of a paper machine 4 used in the production process of the invention. The paper machine 4 comprises a paper-making material liquid 5 , a paper-making cylinder 6 , a first conveyor belt 8 , a second conveyor belt 9 , a suction box 10 , a spray nozzle 11 , a screen drum 12 , a dryer 13 and a finished product take-up roll 14 . A paper-making cylinder 6 is used to make a wet mixed sheet 7 comprising high-basis-weight regions and low-basis-weight regions from a paper-making material liquid 5 obtained by dispersing a fiber starting material and heat-expanding particles in water, wherein the wet mixed sheet 7 is conveyed by a first conveyor belt 8 and a second conveyor belt 9 , the wet mixed sheet 7 is subsequently heated by moist hot air or water vapor from the spray nozzle 11 to cause expansion of the heat-expanding particles, the sheet is then dried with the dryer 13 , and the finished bulky paper is taken up with a finished product take-up roll 14 to obtain a bulky paper with a concavo-convex pattern.
FIG. 4 is a plan view of an embodiment of paper-making wire 15 used in the production process of the invention. The paper-making wire 15 is composed of non-blocked sections 16 and blocked sections 17 . The blocked sections 17 are round with diameters of 6 mm and are arranged on the paper-making wire at 5 mm spacings. Using the paper-making wire 15 shown in FIG. 4 can yield a bulky paper having low-basis-weight regions interspersed within high-basis-weight regions. The area ratio of the blocked sections 17 is 23.4% with respect to the entire paper-making wire 15 .
FIG. 5 is a plan view of another embodiment of paper-making wire 15 used in the production process of the invention. The paper-making wire 15 is composed of non-blocked sections 16 and blocked sections 17 . The non-blocked sections 16 are round with diameters of 6 mm and are arranged on the paper-making wire at 1 mm spacings. Using the paper-making wire 15 shown in FIG. 5 can yield a bulky paper having high-basis-weight regions interspersed within low-basis-weight regions. The area ratio of the blocked sections 17 is 42.3% with respect to the entire paper-making wire 15 .
FIG. 6 is a plan view of yet another embodiment of paper-making wire 15 used in the production process of the invention. Linear blocked sections 17 with 2 mm widths and linear non-blocked sections 16 with 6 mm widths are arranged in an alternating fashion. Using the paper-making wire 15 shown in FIG. 6 can yield a bulky paper having high-basis-weight regions and low-basis-weight regions arranged as alternating lines in one direction. The area ratio of the blocked sections 17 is 25% with respect to the entire paper-making wire 15 .
The fiber starting material used for the invention may be any one ordinarily used for paper making, and examples include natural pulp, synthetic pulp, organic fiber and inorganic fiber. For example, the fiber starting material may consist of 30-100% by mass natural pulp and 0-70% by mass fiber selected from the group consisting of synthetic pulp, organic fiber and inorganic fiber. From the viewpoint of paper making properties, a pulp content of 50% by mass or greater will result in superior sheet formation and strength. The natural pulp may be wood pulp such as chemical pulp or mechanical pulp from a conifer or broadleaf tree, waste paper pulp, or nonwood natural pulp such as hemp or cotton, although there is no restriction to these. As synthetic pulp there may be mentioned synthetic pulp obtained from polyethylene or polypropylene starting materials, although there is no limitation to these. As organic fiber there may be mentioned acrylic fiber, rayon fiber, phenol fiber, polyamide fiber and polyethylene fiber, with no limitation to these. As inorganic fiber there may be mentioned glass fiber, carbon fiber, alumina fiber and the like, with no limitation to these.
The heat-expanding particles used for the invention are heat-expanding particles obtained by encapsulating a low boiling point solvent in microcapsules. The capsules are particles with a mean particle size of 5-30 μm and preferably 8-14 μm before expansion, which expand 20- to 125-fold and preferably 50- to 80-fold by volume upon brief heating at a relatively low temperature of 80-200° C. The heat-expanding particles are obtained by encapsulating a volatile organic solvent (expanding agent) such as isobutane, pentane, petroleum ether, hexane, a low-boiling-point halogenated hydrocarbon or methylsilane as the low boiling point solvent, with a thermoplastic resin composed of a copolymer such as vinylidene chloride, acrylonitrile, an acrylic acid ester, a methacrylic acid ester or the like, and upon heating at above the softening point of the film polymer of the microcapsules, the film polymer begins to soften causing the vapor pressure of the encapsulated expanding agent to increase simultaneously, so that the film is pushed outward resulting in expansion of the capsules. The heat-expanding particles expand at relatively low temperature and in a short period of time to form closed cells, thus providing a material with excellent thermal insulation properties, which is also relatively manageable and suitable for the present purpose. As such heat-expanding particles there are known Matsumoto Microsphere F-36, F-30D, F-30GS, F-20D, F-50D and F-80D (product of Matsumoto Yushi-Seiyaku Co., Ltd.) and EXPANCEL WU and DU (product of Sweden, marketed by Japan Fillite Co., Ltd.), although there is no limitation to these. The heat-expanding particle content is 1-40 parts by mass and preferably 3-20 parts by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of the pulp fiber, because at less than 1 part by mass the expansion will not be sufficient, while economical disadvantages are presented at greater than 40 parts by mass.
The pulp slurry may further contain various anionic, nonionic, cationic or amphoteric yield improvers, paper strength additives, sizing agents and the like, selected as appropriate. Specifically, as paper strength additives and yield improvers there may be used combinations of organic compounds such as polyacrylamide-based cationic, nonionic, anionic and amphoteric resins, polyethyleneimine and its derivatives, polyethylene oxide, polyamines, polyamides, polyamidepolyamine and its derivatives, cationic and amphoteric starch, oxidized starch, carboxymethylated starch, vegetable gum, polyvinyl alcohol, urea-formalin resin, melamine-formalin resin and hydrophilic polymer particles, and inorganic compounds including aluminum compounds such as aluminum sulfate, alumina sol, basic aluminum sulfate, basic aluminum chloride and basic polyaluminum hydroxide, and iron(II) sulfate, iron(II) chloride, colloidal silica, bentonite or the like.
In the paper-making process of the invention, the starting slurry obtained by mixing within water in the prescribed proportions is sheeted with a wire part and then dewatered with a press part. The paper-making wire used may be 70-100 mesh and preferably 80 mesh. The paper-making wire, if it is partially blocked wire, can produce a wet mixed sheet comprising partial low-basis-weight regions with small amounts of paper-making material and partial high-basis-weight regions with large amounts of paper-making material. Specifically, the paper-making material flows poorly at the blocked sections and fails to accumulate, thus forming partial low-basis-weight regions with small amounts of paper-making material, while the paper-making material flows easily at the non-blocked sections and readily accumulates, thus forming partial high-basis-weight regions with large amounts of paper-making material. According to the invention, the partial regions with small amounts of paper-making material and a lower basis weight than the average basis weight are the low-basis-weight regions, while the partial regions with large amounts of paper-making material and a higher basis weight than the average basis weight are the high-basis-weight regions. If the heat-expanding particles are evenly dispersed in the paper-making material as according to the invention, the heat-expanding particles will be present in about the same proportion in the low-basis-weight regions and high-basis-weight regions, so that heating will cause expansion to produce bulk equally in both. The apparent bulk of the paper in the high-basis-weight regions having a higher basis weight than the average basis weight is larger than the average basis weight, while the low-basis-weight regions are the opposite. It is therefore possible to obtain a bulky paper with high apparent bulk in a large concavo-convex pattern. Blocking of the wire can be accomplished using a reaction curing resin or the like, and the sizes, number, shapes and arrangement thereof may be freely designed. For example, the blocked regions may be interspersed in the non-blocked regions, the non-blocked regions may be interspersed in the blocked regions, or the non-blocked regions and blocked regions may be arranged in an alternating linear fashion in one direction of the sheet. Low-basis-weight regions do not form as easily with a smaller single blocking size, while low-basis-weight regions form more easily at larger sized sections. If the single blocking size is too small, the blocked sections will become covered with the paper-making material, filling in the blocked sections and thus preventing formation of low-basis-weight regions. On the other hand, if the single blocking size is too large, uniform low-basis-weight regions will not form but rather open sections without paper-making material will tend to be created, tending to result in tearing at the open sections during movement from the paper-making wire to the conveyor belt, thus impeding movement. The optimum range for the single blocking size cannot be specified since it will vary depending on the basis weight of the sheet. The area ratio of the blocked sections with respect to the total wire may be varied as necessary, but a larger area ratio is more effective for improving the apparent bulk of the sheet, whereas a smaller one reduces the apparent bulk. If the area ratio is too large, the starting material will concentrate excessively at the non-blocked sections during paper making, thus interfering with production of the sheet. The area ratio of the blocked sections with respect to the total wire will vary depending on the blocking pattern, but may be 10%-60% and preferably 20%-50%.
In an ordinary paper-making process, the moisture content is usually brought to around 60% by mass of the paper-making material by dewatering, but the moisture content is preferably adjusted by the degree of expansion of the heat-expanding particles. When expansion is carried out simultaneously with drying, a larger moisture content is preferred so that expansion is completed before drying produces bonding force between the fibers. In this case, the dewatering pressure may be reduced for a moisture content of 60% by mass or greater, but a high moisture content exceeding 100% by mass can result in drying efficiency problems. When employing a method in which drying is carried out after expansion has been completed, it is necessary for the temperature of the sheet as a whole to be raised to the initial expansion temperature in an efficient manner using moist hot air or water vapor so that the wet mixed sheet does not dry at the expansion stage, and therefore the moisture content is preferably as low as possible, such as 40-60% by mass. If necessary, the common dewatering method of press dewatering may be combined with a different type of dewatering method such as, for example, evaporation dewatering with warm air below the initial expansion temperature of the heat-expanding particles. However, even a high moisture content will not present any problem in the completed state, despite some reduction in thermal efficiency.
In the thermal expansion step of the invention, heating may be conducted at a temperature above the initial expansion temperature of the heat-expanding particles in order to cause expansion of the heat-expanding particles. A simple method may utilize heat for drying to cause expansion of the heat-expanding particles simultaneously with the drying. In this method, bonding between fibers during drying will inhibit expansion of the heat-expanding particles, and therefore some modification is necessary to maximize the moisture content of the wet mixed sheet. Even with a high moisture content, however, the sheet will often dry before the heat-expanding particles have sufficiently expanded, and therefore this method cannot be considered suitable for obtaining sufficient bulk. As an optimal thermal expansion process for exhibiting greater bulk, the sheet may be heated without drying for expansion of the heat-expanding particles, and then drying performed in a separate drying step. Since no bonding force is be produced between fibers in the expansion step for the heat-expanding particles in this method, the bulk of the sheet is not inhibited by expansion of the heat-expanding particles and sufficient bulk can be exhibited. If the sheet is placed on a support and suction is applied from the bottom of the support while spraying moist hot air or water vapor from the top side, the entire sheet will be heated rapidly and evenly, thereby increasing the thermal expansion effect, and therefore this method may be considered to be most efficient. The support may be, but is not limited to, a net or other type of conveyor belt. When steam is sprayed onto the sheet from a nozzle hole positioned at a prescribed spacing from it in a method that involves spraying moist hot air or water vapor, an excessively high moisture content of the sheet (about 80% by mass or greater) will produce uneven expansion due to the pitch of the nozzle hole regardless of whether the sheet surface is at uniform temperature, for this reason a lower moisture content of the sheet is preferred. When steam is evenly sprayed onto the entire sheet, on the other hand, the moisture content of the sheet is not restricted if the steam spraying is accomplished using a slit nozzle, for example, although the moisture content is preferably as low as possible from the viewpoint of thermal efficiency.
The wet expanded sheet that has been thermally expanded is then sent to a drying step for drying. Although an ordinary drying method of the prior art may be used for drying, it is essential to avoid crushing the sheet with a strong press.
The temperature of the moist hot air or water vapor used for the invention may be above the temperature at which the microcapsule shell walls of the heat-expanding particles soften and begin to expand, and it will be determined by the heat-expanding particles used. The relative humidity is preferably 100% in order to prevent drying of the wet mixed sheet during the thermal expansion step, but it does not necessarily need to be 100%. The method of supplying the moist hot air or water vapor is most preferably a method in which high-temperature steam from a boiler is ejected and directly sprayed onto the sheet, but moist exhaust from the drier may also be used.
The density of the bulky paper of the invention is at least 0.01 g/cm 3 and less than 0.1 g/cm 3 , and preferably at least 0.01 g/cm 3 and no greater than 0.05 g/cm 3 . The density of the bulky paper of less than 0.01 g/cm 3 is not practical because the strength will be reduced and tearing will easily occur, tending to cause problems with surface friction durability. As mentioned above, the arrangement of the high-basis-weight regions and low-basis-weight regions of the bulky paper can be freely designed by varying the blocked sections and non-blocked sections of the wire. The arrangement of the high-basis-weight regions and low-basis-weight regions of the bulky paper may be regular or irregular, appropriately selected according to the purpose of the bulky paper. Uses of the bulky paper of the invention include paper diapers and sanitary napkins, as well as cut packaging sheets, packing cushion sheets, wiping sheets and the like.
EXAMPLE
The present invention will be explained in greater detail by examples, with the understanding that the invention is in no way limited by the Examples.
Example 1
To a pulp slurry obtained by dispersing 85 parts by mass of conifer bleached Kraft pulp in water there were added 15 parts by mass of Matsumoto Microsphere F-36 (product of Matsumoto Yushi-Seiyaku Co., Ltd., particle size: 5-15 μm, initial expansion temperature: 75-85° C.) as heat-expanding particles, 0.2 part by mass of FILEX RC-104 (product of Meisei Chemical Works, Ltd., cation-modified acrylic copolymer) as a heat-expanding particle anchoring agent and 0.2 part by mass of FILEX M (product of Meisei Chemical Works, Ltd., acrylic copolymer) while stirring, to obtain a paper-making material with a pulp concentration of 1.0% by mass. The obtained paper-making material was used to make paper with a basis weight of 50 g/m 2 using a rectilinear handsheet machine (80 mesh) according to a common method, and the paper was dewatered by sandwiching between filter sheets to obtain a wet mixed sheet with a moisture content of 60% by mass. The paper-making wire of the handsheet machine was the paper-making wire shown in FIG. 4 . The wet mixed sheet made was placed on a conveyor belt and transported at a speed of 5 m/min. During this time, suction was applied from the bottom of the conveyor belt and water vapor obtained from a boiler (nozzle manifold internal temperature: 172-174° C., pressure: 0.82-0.85 MPa) was sprayed from a nozzle (hole diameter: 0.3 mm, hole pitch: 2 mm, single row arrangement) through a 90 mesh wire mesh, from the top side of the wet mixed sheet, to cause expansion of the sheet. Next, the sheet was dried with a rotary dryer set to 120° C., without applying strong pressure thereto, to obtain a bulky paper with a basis weight of 50 g/m 2 . A cross-sectional view of the obtained bulky paper is shown in FIG. 7 . It had a concavo-convex pattern with depressed low-basis-weight regions in a circular island pattern interspersed in high-basis-weight regions, and the degree of expansion of the heat-expanding particles was approximately the same in both regions. The high-basis-weight regions had a basis weight of about 59.1 g/m 2 , a thickness of about 2.3 mm and a density of about 0.026 g/cm 3 , while the low-basis-weight regions had a basis weight of about 20 g/m 2 , a thickness of about 0.8 mm and a density of about 0.025 g/cm 3 .
Example 2
A bulky paper was obtained by the same procedure as Example 1, except that the paper-making wire shown in FIG. 6 was used. A cross-sectional view of the obtained bulky paper is shown in FIG. 8 . It had a concavo-convex pattern with depressed low-basis-weight regions with widths of about 2 mm arranged in a linear fashion within the high-basis-weight regions at a pitch of about 8 mm. The high-basis-weight regions had a basis weight of about 57 g/m 2 , a thickness of about 2.2 mm and a density of about 0.026 g/cm 3 , while the low-basis-weight regions had a basis weight of about 30 g/m 2 , a thickness of about 1.55 mm and a density of about 0.019 g/cm 3 .
Comparative Example 1
A bulky paper with a basis weight of 51 g/m 2 was obtained with the same materials and procedure as in Example 1, except that a non-blocked paper-making wire was used. The thickness of the obtained sheet was 1.95 mm and the density was 0.026 g/cm 3 .
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A process for producing a bulky paper with a concavo-convex pattern includes the steps of producing a wet mixed sheet comprising high-basis-weight regions and low-basis-weight regions from a paper-making material prepared by dispersing a fiber starting material and heat-expanding particles in water, the heat-expanding particles being evenly dispersed in the fiber in the high basis-weight and low basis-weight regions; and then heating the wet mixed sheet to cause expansion of the heat-expanding particles and form a concavo-convex pattern. This allows the free designing of concavo-convex sections on bulky papers.
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BACKGROUND
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to methods and apparatus for reversibly coupling rotating shafts.
2. Coupling Tools to High-Speed Motors
Many types of rotary tools are preferably coupled to a driving shaft with a safe and reliable coupler which is also reversible (allowing for the rapid removal of a tool from the coupling and/or the coupling of one tool in place of another to a driving shaft). Applications in which there are particularly stringent safety and reliability requirements for couplers include the drilling, grinding, polishing and related material-removal operations which are inherent in many medical and dental treatment plans. Rotary tools (e.g., drills, burs, grinding wheels and cutting wheels) reversibly coupled to high-speed motors can precisely shape tooth, bone, or biocompatible implant material during certain surgical procedures. Such shaping operations often require precise tool positioning and as many as thirty tool changes in the course of a single operation. Thus, each rotating tool shaft would preferably be lockable securely into its coupler (i.e., substantially preventing its accidental disconnection from the coupler), but the lock would preferably be easily and surely reversed to allow tool insertion or removal or tool changes.
Surgical applications of a tool shaft coupler include a requirement to keep the total time under anesthesia as short as possible for each patient. Thus, connecting and disconnecting tools via a reversibly locking tool shaft coupler should preferably be quick and simple, even for a person wearing surgical gloves. Required motions to lock or unlock the connector, or to insert or remove a tool should be relatively uncomplicated. Further, because tools may reach rotational speeds in excess of 20,000 revolutions per minute, positive (and separate) indications would preferably be provided to clearly signify to a human operator either improper placement of a tool shaft within a coupler or inoperability of a coupler shaft lock. Moreover, once connected, a tool shaft and tool shaft coupler should not be subject to accidental unlocking (which could allow disconnection of the tool), either due to operator error or mechanical failure. Thus, a tool shaft coupler lock release mechanism would preferably comprise a separate coupler unlocking component which would be required to release the lock but which would normally be removed before the motor applies torque to the tool. Accidental failure of the operator to remove the unlocking component should not, however, pose a safety hazard during relatively brief operation of the motor. Further, accidental application of motor power to a tool shaft coupler during changing of a tool should not result in driving shaft rotation before the tool is securely locked in the coupler.
Tool shaft couplers should be capable of transmitting axial forces (i.e., tension or compression forces acting substantially parallel to the tool shaft longitudinal axis) alone or in combination with torque (i.e., rotational forces acting substantially about the tool shaft longitudinal axis). All such forces should be effectively transmitted, i.e., without substantial axial displacement of the tool shaft with respect to the driving shaft, without substantial rotational slippage of the driving shaft with respect to the tool shaft, and without substantial distortion of the driving shaft, tool shaft or coupler. Any tool shaft coupling failure leading to shaft displacement, distortion or slippage could lead to whipping of the tool shaft, tool overheating and/or tool shaft breakage. In turn, any of these events could lead to accidental uncoupling of the tool shaft from the driving shaft, leading to a risk of patient injury and possible difficulty in removing a damaged tool shaft from a coupler. These problems would be particularly acute in coupler and tool designs wherein both torque and axial forces are transmitted by substantially identical tool shaft surfaces. Hence, improved tool shaft couplers and mating tool shafts would comprise surfaces used to transmit torque which would preferably be different from those used to transmit axial forces. Even more preferably, at least some surfaces transmitting torque and axial forces would preferably be spaced apart to avoid or reduce potentially damaging stress concentrations within a tool shaft and/or driving shaft.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention comprises reversibly locking tool shaft couplers and mating tool shafts, and methods of using the couplers to drivingly couple a driving shaft and a mating tool shaft drivingly (effectively) engaged therewith. The couplers and mating tool shafts incorporate design improvements to enhance safety and ease of operation, and comprise surfaces and/or structures for drivingly coupling (i.e., for transmitting torque and/or axial forces between) a driving shaft and a mating tool shaft. Note that a driving shaft to which a tool shaft coupler of the present invention could be applied would be a driving shaft (substantially rigid or flexible) which is rotatable about a substantially longitudinal axis within a driving shaft housing. Note also that a mating tool shaft may comprise a portion of a tool itself (e.g., the shank of a drill bit), or a shaft which itself is drivingly coupled with a tool shaft (e.g., a flexible or geared shaft tipped with a tool or coupled to a tool shaft).
A tool shaft coupler of the present invention comprises at least one torque transmission surface fixedly coupled to the driving shaft for axially slidingly mating with a mating tool shaft to transmit torque between the mating tool shaft and the driving shaft. Additionally, the coupler comprises at least one compression transmission surface as well as tension transmission means, the tension transmission means being spaced apart from the at least one compression transmission surface and the at least one torque transmission surface, and comprising at least one tension transmission surface and at least one movable tension-resisting member, the at least one tension-resisting member being reversibly and slidingly movable to a tension-resisting position to couple the driving shaft and a mating tool shaft to reversibly limit maximum axial movement of the mating tool shaft with respect to the driving shaft under an axial tension load (i.e., a force substantially parallel to the tool shaft longitudinal axis which tends to pull the driving and mating tool shafts apart). The at least one compression transmission surface is fixedly coupled to the driving shaft for substantially limiting maximum axial movement of a mating tool shaft with respect to the driving shaft under an axial compression load. For reversibly locking said at least one tension-resisting member in a tension-resisting position, the invention comprises shaft locking means having an (optionally high-friction) engagement surface (for slidably engaging safety lock release means), the shaft locking means being slidably coupled to the driving shaft. The slidable coupling of the shaft locking means to the drive shaft may also include guide means which act to substantially prevent rotation of the shaft locking means with respect to the drive shaft while allowing substantially free sliding coupling as described herein.
Preferred embodiments of tool shaft couplers of the present invention may also comprise substantially toroidal safety lock release means and attachment means, the attachment means being reversibly coupled (e.g., as by screw threads or a twist-lock connector) to the driving shaft housing and serving one or more functions, as in guiding a mating tool shaft during connection to or disconnection from a coupler, supporting the tool shaft with one or more bearings, facilitating locking and/or unlocking of a coupler, and/or reducing any likelihood of tool shaft whipping (i.e., tool shaft rotation which is not substantially confined to rotation about the tool shaft longitudinal axis). The attachment means comprise at least one spindle cap access slot and may interact with the substantially toroidal safety lock release means which are slidably positionable over said attachment means and slidingly engagable through said at least one spindle cap access slot with said engagement surface of said shaft locking means to move said shaft locking means to a first unlocking position for allowing said at least one tension-resisting member to move from said tension-resisting position to allow reversible placement of a mating tool shaft within said shaft locking means, and to allow movement of said shaft locking means to a second locking position for moving said at least one tension-resisting member to said tension-resisting position and for locking said at least one tension-resisting member in said tension-resisting position.
Besides the tool shaft coupler described herein, the present invention may additionally comprise one or more other improvements, including a mating tool shaft with correspondingly shaped and positioned axial force and torque transmission surfaces, as well as a method of coupling a driving tool shaft and a mating tool shaft, and warning means to visually indicate malfunction of said shaft locking means. The warning means preferably comprise at least a warning portion of the attachment means and/or the mating tool shaft having a distinctive visual appearance. Safety lock release means may comprise (in addition to or in place of the substantially toroidal safety lock release means) a lock release lever reversibly insertable in one or more lever access ports in the attachment means and movable therein to facilitate unlocking of a coupler. In preferred embodiments of mating tool shafts, one or more warning bands of distinctive visual appearance may be applied to the portion of a mating tool shaft surface adjacent to and just concealed by the attachment means when the mating tool shaft is drivingly engaged with the tool shaft coupler. Because such driving (effective) engagement implies sliding insertion of the mating tool shaft within the coupler to an effective depth wherein all corresponding axial force and torque transmission surfaces on the mating tool shaft and in the coupler are substantially fully engaged, faulty engagement of the force transmission surfaces occurs when the mating tool shaft is inserted in the coupler to a depth less than the effective depth. Insertion of a mating tool shaft to a less-than-effective depth will then leave at least one visually distinctive band on the mating tool shaft unconcealed by the attachment means, thus providing a visual warning of its improper insertion into the coupler. For embodiments comprising the toroidal safety lock release means, a visually distinctive warning portion of the attachment means would be substantially visible with the toroidal safety lock release means contacting the shaft locking means in the first (unlocking) position, and substantially invisible with the toroidal safety lock release means contacting the shaft locking means in said second (locking) position.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1A schematically illustrates a preferred embodiment of a tool shaft coupler including attachment means and toroidal safety lock release means in a first, unlocking, position (in partial cross-section).
FIG. 1B schematically illustrates a preferred embodiment of a tool shaft coupler including attachment means and toroidal safety lock release means in a second, locking, position (in partial cross-section).
FIG. 2 schematically illustrates the steps of a method of reversibly coupling a driving shaft and a mating tool shaft.
FIG. 3A schematically illustrates (in partial cross-section) a disconnected view of a driving shaft and mating tool shaft, including tension-resisting members.
FIG. 3B schematically illustrates (in partial cross-section) a connected view of a driving shaft and mating tool shaft, including tension-resisting members.
FIG. 3C schematically illustrates a cross section of a driving shaft and mating tool shaft effectively engaged.
FIG. 4 schematically illustrates (in partial cross-section) an exploded view of a tool shaft coupler, including attachment means and toroidal safety lock release means.
FIG. 4A schematically illustrates tool shaft coupler attachment means rotated 90 degrees relative to the attachment means view in FIG. 4.
FIG. 5 schematically illustrates an exploded view of tool shaft coupler attachment means.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
In the following description, two alternative embodiments of the mating tool shaft 50,50' are identified, the embodiments being substantially similar except for differing forms of tension transmission surface 53,53'. Only one embodiment (i.e., either 50 or 50') of a mating tool shaft is used with tool shaft coupler 15 at any one time. Since in general one or the other of the embodiments 50 and 50' may be desired in certain applications, both embodiments are identified when a general reference to a mating tool shaft is required in the following discussion. Other corresponding features of mating tool shaft 50,50' are similarly identified by unprimed and primed numbers.
Referring to FIGS. 1A, 1B, 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, 4A and 5 for schematic illustrations of the features discussed, a preferred embodiment of the invention is seen to comprise a tool shaft coupler 15 for drivingly coupling a driving shaft 60 with a mating tool shaft 50,50' which is effectively engaged with the driving shaft 60, the driving shaft 60 being rotatable about a substantially longitudinal axis BB within a driving shaft housing 65. Note that for the sake of clarity in the schematic illustrations, components and features described herein may be labeled only in the figure(s) in which they appear most clearly.
A mating tool shaft 50,50' has surfaces and/or structures functionally and spatially corresponding to surfaces and/or structures within tool shaft coupler 15. Effective engagement of a mating tool shaft 50,50' comprises insertion of mating tool shaft 50,50' within the tool shaft coupler 15 an effective distance which would allow substantially full mating of corresponding torque and axial force transmission surfaces and effective engagment of the mating tool shaft 50,50' with the shaft locking means. With the corresponding torque and axial force (i.e., compression and tension) transmission surfaces (or structures comprising one or more of such surfaces) of the tool shaft coupler 15 and the mating tool shaft 50,50' thus brought into effective apposition, transmission of torque and axial compression and tension forces between the driving and mating tool shafts may then take place. However, effective engagement of a mating tool shaft 50,50' with respect to the driving shaft 60 also facilitates reversible locking of a mating tool shaft 50,50' within the tool shaft coupler 15. Such locking is a safety feature, malfunction of which will be readily apparent to a human operator of the tool through the appearance of areas of distinctive visual appearance on attachment means 17 and/or mating tool shaft 50,50'.
Surfaces for transmission of torque and axial forces within a tool shaft coupler 15 are preferably fixedly attached to (e.g., as by welding, brazing, crimping, swaging, screwing, clamping, by interference fit, or by forming as an integral part of) a driving shaft 60 which, in preferred embodiments, comprises a motor shaft or a shaft which is drivingly coupled to a motor shaft (by a flexible shaft in certain embodiments). Typically, a driving shaft 60 will be rotatable within a driving shaft housing 65, the housing 65 (e.g., a motor stator) often providing a convenient hand grip for a human operator. Surfaces for transmission to the driving shaft 60 of (axial) tension on the mating tool shaft 50,50' (tending to pull the mating tool shaft 50,50' away from the tool shaft coupler 15 substantially along longitudinal axis BB) are spaced apart from the surfaces for transmission of torque and (axial) compression forces.
Tool shaft coupler 15 comprises at least one torque transmission surface (see, e.g., surface 64 of spindle chip 62 in FIG. 3A) fixedly coupled to the driving shaft 60 for axially slidingly mating with a corresponding torque transmission surface 54,54' of mating tool shaft 50,50' to transmit torque between mating tool shaft 50,50' and the driving shaft 60. Note that torque transmission surface 64 may, for example, be formed as an inherent part of driving shaft 60 or, as in FIGS. 1A, 1B, 3A, 3B, 3C and 4, torque transmission surface 64 may be formed on a separate piece of material (e.g., spindle chip 62) which is then itself fixedly coupled to driving shaft 60. The latter configuration may be preferable in certain applications because it allows spindle chip 62 to be fabricated and hardened separately from driving shaft 60. Note also that the configuration shown in cross section in FIG. 3C (i.e., a torque transmission surface 64 which lies substantially in a single plane and which has a width substantially equal to the diameter of spindle chip 62 may be replaced by other preferred configurations having a plurality of torque transmission surfaces lying in two or more different planes (e.g., as in a square or hexagonal drive). However, for certain relatively high-torque applications, the configuration illustrated in FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C may be preferred because it provides substantial torque transmission capability with a relatively low likelihood of distortion (e.g., rounding of comers) on spindle chip 62 or mating tool shaft 50,50'.
Tool shaft coupler 15 also comprises tension transmission means spaced apart from said at least one torque transmission surface and comprising at least one tension transmission surface (e.g., the walls 80,80' of substantially cylindrical holes in which balls 82,82' substantially reside) and at least one movable tension-resisting member (e.g., balls 82,82' comprising hardened steel or, preferably, chrome alloy steel). Note that although two tension-resisting members (i.e., balls 82,82') and two tension transmission surfaces (i.e., the walls 80,80' of substantially cylindrical holes) are illustrated herein, more than two balls in their respective substantially cylindrical holes, spaced around the circumference of driving shaft 60, may be preferred for certain relatively highload applications. Note further that although the illustrated embodiments of tool shaft coupler 15 comprise equal numbers of tension-resisting members and tension transmission surfaces, the number of tension-resisting members may exceed the number of tension transmission surfaces in cases where two or more tension-resisting members simultaneously engage a single tension transmission surface (e.g., two or more tension-resisting members are present substantially side-by-side in an elongated hole).
As illustrated, balls 82,82' are substantially free to move substantially radially within substantially cylindrical walls 80,80' respectively, except as limited by the inner surface 75 (the inner surface 75 itself comprising a cam surface 72) of spindle cap 70 (which limits movement of balls 82,82' away from driving shaft 60), and by retaining ledges 85,85' (seen best in FIG. 3A) which limit movement of balls 82,82' respectively toward the longitudinal axis BB. Ledges 85,85' preferably comprise substantially frusto-conically shaped surfaces which neck-down or reduce the nominal inner diameter of substantially cylindrical walls 80,80'. Ledges 85,85' thus prevent balls 82,82' respectively from failing toward axis BB when a mating tool shaft 50,50' is not present within driving shaft 60 (as shown in FIG. 3A).
However, when a mating tool shaft 50,50' is inserted within driving shaft 60 so as to effectively engage torque transmission surface 64 (as shown in FIGS. 1B and 3B), ledges 85,85' do allow balls 82,82' respectively to move into a tension-resisting position, which allows substantially simultaneous (interference) contact of balls 82,82' with both substantially cylindrical walls 80,80' respectively and tension transmission surface 53,53' of mating tool shaft 50'. If the balls 82,82' are held in such a tension-resisting position (e.g., by the inner surface 75 of spindle cap 70, as shown in FIG. 1B), mating tool shaft 50,50' could not be disconnected (i.e., withdrawn) from effective engagement with torque transmission surface 64 by a tension force tending to separate driving shaft 60 and mating tool shaft 50,50' which is applied substantially parallel to longitudinal axis BB. Such a tension force would put balls 82,82' in compression because of the interference nature of such a tension-resisting position. Note that the groove 52,52', one portion of which is tension transmission surface 53,53', is preferably deep enough so that balls 82,82' never touch the groove surface closest to axis BB (i.e., balls 82,82' preferably can not bottom out in groove 52,52').
Note also that balls 82,82' are shown in similar tension-resisting positions in FIG. 1B and in FIG. 3B, but with mating tool shafts 50 and 50' in the two figures respectively. The difference between mating tool shafts 50 and 50', which is schematically illustrated in FIGS. 1B and 3B respectively, is that mating tool shaft 50 comprises groove 52 and tension transmission surface 53 (see FIG. 4), whereas mating tool shaft 50' comprises groove 52' and tension transmission surface 53'. Surface 53, as illustrated in FIG. 4, lies substantially entirely in a plane which is itself substantially perpendicular to longitudinal axis BB. Thus, contact of balls 82,82' with surface 53 is substantially limited to its outer (substantially circular) peripheral edge.
In contrast, tension transmission surface 53' is a substantially frusto-conically shaped surface which is substantially symmetrical about longitudinal axis BB, surface 53' being oriented to allow balls 82,82', when in tension-resisting positions, to contact portions of surface 53' which are closer to longitudinal axis BB than the outer (substantially circular) periphery of the surface 53'. Tension transmission by surface interference contact between balls 82,82' and surface 53' may better limit axial free play between driving and mating tool shafts (compared to interference contact between balls 82,82' and the outer edge of surface 53) in certain applications having relatively high axial tension loads tending to separate a tool shaft from tool shaft coupler 15. Assuming a substantially fixed distance between an interference tension-resisting position of a tension-resisting member (e.g., one of the balls 82,82') and the compression transmission surface 67 (see FIG. 3A) of a tool shaft coupler 15, axial free play then becomes substantially a function of the distance between compression transmission surface 67 and tension transmission surface 53 or 53' on a mating tool shaft 50 or 50' respectively (the latter measurement is labeled X' on FIG. 3A). In certain applications, surface 53' is more protected (and thus less subject to wear) than the peripheral edge of surface 53. Edge wear on surface 53, when combined with normal manufacturing tolerances, may then result in unacceptably large values of possible relative motion (free play) between driving shaft 60 and mating tool shaft 50, substantially along longitudinal axis BB, even when balls 82,82' are very repeatably moved into tension-resisting positions.
The said at least one tension-resisting member (e.g., balls 82,82' for illustrative purposes) is reversibly and slidingly movable through the action of the inner spindle cap surface 75, which in turn comprises a cam surface 72. Spindle cap 70 is springingly coupled to driving shaft 60 through the action of spring 78 acting on spring stop ring 79. Spring stop ring 79 in turn rests against driving shaft shoulder 61 to transfer the force of spring 78 to driving shaft 60. Spindle cap 70 is retained on driving shaft 60 by spindle cap nut 74.
Thus, if spindle cap 70 is first moved to compress spring 78 (i.e., moved toward the fight as in FIG. 1A to a first or unlocking position), a mating tool shaft 50,50' may, if present within coupler 15, be substantially freely withdrawn from coupler 15. If, on the other hand, a mating tool shaft 50,50' is not effectively engaged in coupler 15 when spindle cap 70 is moved to a first (unlocking) position, a mating tool shaft 50,50' may then be inserted and effectively engaged with torque transmission surface 64. Spindle cap 70 may then be released to move to the left toward its resting position with spring 78 extending and cam surface 72 contacting balls 82,82' (as in FIG. 1B). As cam surface 72 contacts both bails 82,82', the bails are substantially simultaneously moved by cam surface 72 into tension-resisting positions (assuming a mating tool shaft 50 or 50' is at that time inserted sufficiently far into coupler 15 to effectively engage with torque transmission surface 64). When cam surface 72 has maximally moved balls 82,82' into tension-resisting positions, continued movement of spindle cap 70 in a direction which would tend to extend spring 78 is effectively stopped by spindle cap nut 74. The interference tension-resisting positions of bails 82,82' thus act to couple the driving shaft 60 and a mating tool shaft 50 (or 50') to reversibly limit (in conjunction with compression transmission surfaces 55,67) maximum axial movement (i.e., movement substantially parallel to longitudinal axis BB) of the mating tool shaft 50,50' with respect to the driving shaft 60 under alternating axial compression and tension loads. Such maximum axial movement is preferably less than about 0.020 inches to improve mating tool shaft placement precision, more preferably less than about 0.010 inches to reduce the risk of shaft vibration and most preferably less than about 0.005 inches to reduce wear on components of tool shaft coupler 15.
All embodiments of tool shaft couplers 15 of the present invention comprise at least one compression transmission surface (see, e.g., 67 in FIG. 3A) fixedly coupled to the driving shaft 60 for substantially limiting, in conjunction with at least one corresponding compression transmission surface on a mating tool shaft 50,50', maximum axial movement of a mating tool shaft 50,50' with respect to the driving shaft 60 under an axial compression load. Compression transmission surface 67 in the illustrated embodiments of tool shaft coupler 15 has substantially the same shape and cross-sectional area as that portion of mating tool shaft 50,50' (i.e., compression transmission surface 55,55' respectively) illustrated in cross-section in FIG. 3C (i.e., substantially a semicircle having substantially one-half of the largest cross-sectional area of mating tool shaft 50,50' as illustrated). Note that compression transmission surface 67 may be reduced in size (e.g., by chamfering its edges) if the resulting area would substantially match or mate with the corresponding mating tool shaft compression transmission surface 55,55', and if the size reduction would not result in excessive material stress (i.e., leading to permanent o deformation or premature failure) under the anticipated axial compression load.
The invention also comprises shaft locking means having an engagement surface 71 and being slidably coupled to the driving shaft 60 for reversibly locking said at least one tension-resisting member (i.e., balls 82,82') in a tension-resisting position. The shaft locking means in the illustrated embodiments comprises the spring stop ring 79, spring 78, spindle cap 70, and spindle cap nut 74, some interactions of which are described above. Note that the outer surface 73 of spindle cap 70 comprises a substantially frusto-conical surface 71 which in the illustrated embodiments functions as the engagement surface of the shaft locking means. Functions of the engagement surface 71 are described below.
In preferred embodiments, shaft locking means of the present invention may also comprise guide means for the shaft locking means. The guide means, in turn, may comprise one or more substantially longitudinal splines and grooves on the driving shaft matable with correspondingly spaced substantially longitudinal grooves and splines respectively on proximate surfaces of the shaft locking means. Alternative embodiments of the guide means (as in FIG. 4) may comprise one or more pairs of correspondingly spaced grooves or depressions 66,76 on proximate surfaces of the driving shaft 60 and/or spring stop ring 79 and the spindle cap 70 respectively, each pair of corresponding grooves or depressions 66,76 being coupled via one or more ball bearings 77 substantially free to roll and/or slide within the corresponding grooves or depressions 66,76 (but not outside of the grooves or depressions 66,76) when the shaft locking means is slidingly moved longitudinally with respect to the driving shaft 60. In either the spline/groove embodiment or the ball bearing/groove or depression embodiment, the shaft locking means will be substantially prevented by the guide means from rotating with respect to the driving shaft about the rotational axis of the driving shaft (i.e., longitudinal axis BB), its preferred motion instead being a sliding motion in directions substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis BB.
Preferred embodiments of the invention may additionally comprise safety lock release means and attachment means 17. Attachment means 17 comprises at least one spindle cap access slot 32 (illustrated in two views in FIGS. 4 and 4A). Attachment means 17 may be reversibly coupled to the driving shaft housing 65 (e.g., as by screw threads cut into or set fixedly into housing 65 (as illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B), or a twist-lock connector which tends to be tightened when attachment means 17 is rotated in the expected direction of rotation of mating tool shaft 50,50') for guiding and supporting the mating tool shaft 50,50'.
Various sizes of attachment means 17 are illustrated in FIGS. 1A, 1B, 4, 4A and 5, each comprising a tubular attachment shaft 20, one end of which is reversibly secured within (e.g., as by set screw 35) an attachment base 30. Within attachment shaft 20 are firmly but removably mounted at least one beating 22 and at least one spacer tube 23, the beating 22 being closely and slidably matable with a mating tool shaft 50,50', and the spacer tube acting to maintain a desired beating mounting position as described below. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, attachment means 17 comprises attachment shaft 20, two bearings 22,22' and two spacer tubes 23,23', both bearings 22,22' and both spacer tubes 23,23' being mounted substantially coaxially (about longitudinal axis BB) within attachment shaft 20. Note that when attachment means 17 is coupled to driving shaft housing 65 as in FIGS. 1A and 1B, a mating tool shaft 50,50' which is reversibly coupled to driving shaft 60 via coupler 15 will tend to be rotatable substantially about longitudinal axis BB. Any whipping tendency of mating tool shaft 50,50' will be at least substantially reduced by the guiding action of beatings 22,22' through which mating tool shaft 50,50' passes.
Substantially toroidal safety lock release means 18 are slidably positionable over said attachment means 17 and slidingly engagable through said at least one spindle cap access slot (e.g., access slots 32,32') with said engagement surface (e.g., see 71 on FIGS. 1A, 1B and 5) of said shaft locking means to move said shaft locking means to a first (unlocking) position (e.g., see the position of spindle cap 70 in FIG. 1A) for allowing said at least one tension-resisting member (e.g., see balls 82,82') to move from said tension-resisting position to allow reversible placement of a mating tool shaft 50,50' within said shaft locking means, and to allow movement of said shaft locking means to a second (locking) position (e.g., see the position of spindle cap 70 in FIG. 1B) for moving said at least one tension-resisting member (bails 82,82') to said tension-resisting position and for locking said at least one tension-resisting member (bails 82,82') in said tension-resisting position.
Toroidal safety lock release means 18 comprise at least one radially directed pin 42 (two substantially diametrically opposed pins 42,42' are illustrated in FIGS. 1A, 1B and 4) mounted fixedly in attachment ring 40 and extending far enough toward ring 40's longitudinal axis (e.g., see axis BB in FIGS. 1A, 1B and 4) to contact engagement surface 71 of spindle cap 70 through slot 32 in attachment means 17 (slots 32,32' are illustrated in FIGS. 1A, 1B and 4 to accept the two pins 42,42' which are also illustrated). Note that, because its larger diameter provides a convenient finger-gripping surface, toroidal safety lock release means 18 can be used to facilitate manually tightening or loosening attachment base 30 from its threaded coupling to driving shaft housing 65.
The tool shaft coupler shaft locking means engagement surface 71 may also interact with the safety lock release means to result in a driving shaft break-away torque of at least one inch-ounce with the safety lock release means in the first, unlocking, position. Note that engagement surface 71 and pins 42,42' may optionally be given complimentarily formed or otherwise relatively high-friction surface finishes (e.g., as with matching machined grooves, knurling, sand-blasting or coating with frictional material). Sufficient friction force may then be developed between the pins 42,42' and engagement surface 71 to assure that sufficient braking force acts on spindle cap 70 (and thence through guide means to driving shaft 60) to exceed the break-away torque applied to driving shaft 60. This condition reversibly prevents rotation of driving shaft 60 with respect to driving shaft housing 65 when manual pressure is applied to attachment ring 40 to move (through pressure exerted by pins 42,42' on engagement surface 71) spindle cap 70 substantially into a first, unlocking, position.
Note also that attachment means may additionally comprise in preferred embodiments warning means to visually indicate malfunction of said shaft locking means. Malfunction of the shaft locking means embodiments illustrated herein would result from a failure of spindle cap 70 to move from a first (unlocking) position to a second (locking) position under the influence of spring 78. Such failure to move even when no restraint is imposed through attachment ring 40 may be caused by a broken spring 78 and/or improper insertion of a mating tool shaft 50,50' through the tension transmission means resulting in a failure to effectively engage the mating tool shaft 50,50' with torque transmission surface 64. Failure to effectively engage torque transmission surface 64 will cause tension transmission surface 53,53' of the mating tool shaft 50,50' respectively to be positioned too far from a movable tension-resisting member (e.g., balls 82,82') to engage such member as attempts are made to move the member into an interference tension-resisting position. This is the condition illustrated schematically in FIG. 1A. Hence, with driving shaft 60 and mating tool shaft 50 in the relative positions illustrated in FIG. 1A, substantial release of manual pressure on attachment ring 40 will not result in spindle cap 70 moving to a second, locking, position where warning surface 99 would be substantially invisible (as illustrated in FIG. 1B). On the contrary, substantial release of manual pressure on attachment ring 40 under this condition will cause attachment ring 40 to remain in a position where warning surface 99 would remain substantially visible. Similar results would obtain in the case where attachment ring 40 was used to withdraw spindle cap 70 into a first, unlocking, position either after or simultaneous with breakage of spring 78.
Thus, warning means in preferred embodiments comprise at least a warning surface portion of said attachment means having a distinctive visual appearance (see, e.g., warning line 99 in FIGS. 1A, 1B, 4, 4A and 5), said warning portion being substantially visible with said toroidal safety lock release means contacting the shaft locking means in said first (unlocking) position, and said warning portion being substantially invisible with said toroidal safety lock release means contacting the shaft locking means in said second (locking) position. The desired distinctive visual appearance of the warning portion of the attachment means may be achieved, for example, with a contrasting surface finish or texture (e.g., knurled, matte or polished or machined grooves) and/or color (e.g., a yellow stripe on black) relative to adjacent attachment means surfaces.
The invention also comprises a mating tool shaft (e.g., 50,50') for coupling with a driving shaft 60 via a tool shaft coupler 15 as described herein, the mating tool shaft comprising at least one torque transmission surface 54,54', at least one tension transmission surface 53,53', and at least one compression transmission surface 55,55'. The torque transmission surface (e.g., 54' in FIG. 3A) is fixedly coupled to the mating tool shaft (e.g., 50' in FIG. 3A) for axially slidingly mating with said at least one torque transmission surface (e.g., 64 in FIG. 3A) of the tool shaft coupler 15 to transmit torque between the mating tool shaft 50,50' and the driving shaft 60.
At least one tension transmission surface (e.g., 53' in FIG. 3A) is spaced apart from said at least one torque transmission surface (e.g., 54 in FIG. 3A) to couple reversibly with said at least one movable tension-resisting member (e.g., balls 82,82') of the tool shaft coupler 15 to couple the driving shaft 60 and the mating tool shaft (e.g., 50' in FIG. 3A). Such coupling reversibly limits, in conjunction with at least one compression transmission surface fixedly coupled to the mating tool shaft and at least one compression transmission surface of the tool shaft coupler 15 (e.g., 55' and 67 respectively in FIG. 3A), maximum axial movement of the mating tool shaft with respect to the driving shaft under an axial load alternating between tension and compression.
Preferred embodiments of a mating tool shaft (e.g., 50' in FIG. 3A) comprise at least one tension transmission surface (e.g., 53' in FIG. 3A) spaced apart from one of said at least one compression transmission surface (e.g., 55' in FIG. 3A) about 0.223 inches (e.g., illustrated by the distance X' in FIG. 3A). Note that a compression transmission surface of the present invention, whether coupled to driving shaft 60 or to a mating tool shaft, may have substantially the same shape as the portion of mating tool shaft 50' illustrated in cross-section in FIG. 3C, i.e., it may be substantially semicircular.
The present invention also comprises a method (schematically illustrated as a flow chart in FIG. 2) of reversibly coupling a driving shaft and a mating tool shaft, the method comprising (step 101) ascertaining that the driving and mating tool shafts have corresponding driving shaft and mating tool shaft torque transmission surfaces drivingly attached to the driving and mating tool shafts respectively to transmit torque between the driving and mating tool shafts; (step 103) ascertaining that the driving and mating tool shafts have corresponding driving shaft and mating tool shaft compression transmission surfaces drivingly attached to the driving and mating tool lo shafts respectively to transmit axial compressive forces between the driving and mating tool shafts; (step 105) ascertaining that the driving and mating tool shafts have corresponding driving shaft and mating tool shaft tension transmission surfaces drivingly attached to the driving and mating tool shafts respectively to transmit axial tension forces between the driving and mating tool shafts, said driving shaft tension transmission surface being spaced apart from said driving shaft torque transmission surface, and said mating tool shaft tension transmission surface being spaced apart from said mating tool shaft torque transmission surface; (step 107) reversibly unlocking a movable tension-resisting member, allowing movement of said member out of a tension-resisting position between said corresponding driving shaft and mating tool shaft tension transmission surfaces; (step 109) effectively engaging the driving shaft with the mating tool shaft so that respective corresponding torque transmission surfaces, tension transmission surfaces, and compression transmission surfaces of the driving and mating tool shafts are proximate; (step 111) reversibly moving a movable tension-resisting member into a tension-resisting position between said corresponding driving shaft and mating tool shaft tension transmission surfaces for transmitting axial tension force between said driving shaft and said mating tool shaft; (step 113) reversibly locking said movable tension-resisting member into said tension-resisting position with a shaft locking means; and (step 115) providing a visual indicator for indicating insertion of said movable tension-resisting member into said tension-resisting position.
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Apparatus and methods for coupling a driving shaft and a mating tool shaft to transmit rotational forces and axial tension and compression forces between the shafts. The coupler provides for axial tension transmission through tension transmission surfaces spaced-apart from torque and compression transmission surfaces of the mating tool shaft. Reversible shaft locking means prevent accidental disconnection of the driving shaft and mating tool shaft. A separate safety lock release attachment is preferably removed during tool shaft rotation and can automatically hold the driving shaft stopped when used to release the shaft locking means for a tool change. Malfunction (e.g., improper seating) of the shaft locking means with the attachment ring in place results in a positive visual indication of the malfunction.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of forming a CVD titanium film, which is suitable for use in a semiconductor device, and particularly to a method of depositing a titanium film on a cobalt silicide film.
2. Description of the Related Art
With micro-fabrication of semiconductor elements, contact holes are reduced in diameter and contact hole portions increase in aspect ratio. With a view toward forming a desired contact or adhesive layer (e.g., titanium nitride TiN) at a sidewall portion of the scaled-down contact hole or at its bottom by a sputtering method, the deposited thickness of adhesive layer must be increased. Since an increase in the thickness of a sputtering film having an overhung shape narrows the diameter of a contact entrance as shown in FIG. 1, the subsequent embedding of a tungsten film (W) in each contact hole by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method becomes difficult. Therefore, a CVD method capable of obtaining excellent coverage has been expected as an alternative to the sputtering method.
In order to form a titanium nitride film by the CVD method, organic or inorganic titanium tetrachloride (TiCl 4 ) such as tetrakisdimethylamino titanium (TDMAT), tetrakisdiethylamino titanium (TDEAT) or the like is used as a raw material gas. However, the organic raw material is high in cost and poor in coverage too under present circumstances. Since carbon (C) is contained in the film as an impurity, there is the demerit of increasing specific resistivity up to ten times that of the sputtering film. Therefore, titanium tetrachloride is generally used in plenty as the raw material gas. Since the deposition of titanium by the organic raw material gas is difficult, titanium tetrachloride is used even for the formation of a titanium (Ti) film.
FIG. 2 shows the dependence of the deposited thickness of titanium on silicon (Si), a silicon oxide film (SiO 2 ) and a cobalt silicide (CoSi 2 ) layer on deposition time. The present drawing indicates that the deposition of titanium on the cobalt silicide (CoSi 2 ) layer is slow as compared with deposition on the other underlying beds. This phenomenon results from the mechanism of deposition or growth of the CVD titanium film. When the underlying bed is silicon, the deposited titanium reacts with silicon to form a titanium silicide (TiSi x ) layer. The resultant titanium silicide layer is etched by a titanium tetrachloride gas.
However, the titanium deposited on each of the silicon oxide film and the cobalt silicide (CoSi 2 ) layer undergoes etching of the titanium tetrachloride gas, and the finally-deposited film-thickness of titanium is determined according to the balance between deposition and etching. The titanium on the silicon oxide film and the cobalt silicide (CoSi 2 ) layer are different in titanium deposition rate because of the difference in etching rate due to the difference in film quality of titanium. Thus, the problem is to control or restrain the etching of titanium deposited on the cobalt silicide (CoSi 2 ) layer.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention aims to cause an element that reacts with titanium to be contained in the surface of cobalt silicide (CoSi 2 ) or in the cobalt silicide (CoSi 2 ) to thereby form a titanium compound during CVD titanium deposition and realize the deposition of a CVD titanium film at a high deposition rate, which has controlled etching using a titanium tetrachloride gas.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
While the specification concludes with claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which is regarded as the invention, it is believed that the invention, the objects and features of the invention and further objects, features and advantages thereof will be better understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a diagram of a contact hole portion for describing a problem involved in a prior art;
FIG. 2 is a graph showing a deposition rate of a titanium film employed in the prior art; and
FIGS. 3A through 3G are respectively process diagrams illustrating a method of forming a titanium film on cobalt silicide, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will hereinafter be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 3 is a process diagram showing the formation of a titanium film on cobalt silicide, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
After a device isolation region 2 has been formed in a semiconductor substrate 1 , a source and a drain 3 and a gate electrode 4 are formed, followed by cleaning with a hydrofluoric acid (HF) solution to remove a native oxide film in an active region (see FIG. 3 A). Next, a cobalt film 5 is deposited by using a cobalt target, followed by deposition of a titanium nitride film 6 used as a cap layer without being exposed in the atmosphere in succession by a sputtering method (see FIG. 3 B). Subsequently, heat treatment is done in a nitrogen (N 2 ) atmosphere at a temperature of 550° C. for 30 seconds, whereby a high-resistance cobalt silicide (CoSi) layer is formed. After its heat treatment, unreacted cobalt and a titanium nitride cap layer are removed with mixed chemicals of sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ) and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ).
Next, heat treatment is carried out at a temperature of 850° C. for 30 seconds in the nitrogen atmosphere to form a low-resistance cobalt silicide (CoSi 2 ) layer 7 . Thereafter, an insulating film 8 (e.g., a silicon oxide film), which serves as a mask for implantation, is deposited, and boron (B) is distributed into cobalt silicide (CoSi 2 ) by BF 2 implantation (see FIG. 3 D). An intermediate insulating film 9 (e.g., silicon oxide film, BPSG) is deposited, and thereafter contact holes are defined therein according to layouts corresponding to patterns to be formed, by the known lithography technology and etching technology (see FIG. 3 E).
After the definition of the contact holes therein, a cobalt silicide (CoSi 2 ) surface layer is etched by sputtering etching using argon (Ar). Afterwards, CVD titanium nitride/titanium used as an adhesive layer is deposited. Upon deposition of the adhesive layer, a wafer is introduced into a pressure-reduced titanium CVD chamber, where the temperature thereof is increased up to a deposition temperature of 650° C. Next, a raw material gas (e.g., titanium tetrachloride, hydrogen (H 2 ) or the like) is introduced into the chamber to produce a CVD titanium film 10 by a plasma method. Boron and titanium on the cobalt silicide (CoSi 2 ) surface layer react with each other upon deposition of the CVD titanium film to thereby form a TiBx compound layer (see FIG. 3 F).
It is understood that since TiB and TiB 2 corresponding to TiBx compounds are respectively stable compounds as compared with −170.6KJ/mol and −324.4KJ/mol and −144.3KJ/mol and −152.1KJ/mol of TiSi and TiSi 2 equivalent to titanium silicide (TiS x ) compounds as viewed from the viewpoint of Gibbs free energy (298K at room temperature), they are easily formed during the deposition of the CVD titanium film. Accordingly, the formation of the stable titanium compounds makes it possible to control etching using the titanium tetrachloride gas.
Next, a nitride gas (e.g., ammonia, nitrogen or the like) is introduced while vacuum is being kept as it is or within the same chamber. While the nitride gas is introduced in this way, the pressure in the chamber is controlled to such pressure that the nitride gas is not excessively diffused into the previously deposited titanium film, i.e., pressure for nitriding the surface of the titanium film. Thereafter, RF is applied to perform plasma processing. Next, the wafer is transferred to another chamber while the vacuum is being kept as it is. Afterwards, the material gas (e.g., titanium tetrachloride, ammonia or the like) is introduced into the chamber to produce or deposit a titanium nitride film 11 at a deposition temperature of 680° C. After its deposition, annealing is done within the titanium nitride CVD chamber with the ammonia gas. Thereafter a CVD tungsten film 12 is deposited to bury the contact holes (see FIG. 3 G).
Depositing cobalt through the use of a target obtained by adding boron to cobalt makes it possible to easily contain boron in the cobalt silicide (CoSi 2 ). Since the boron is contained in the cobalt silicide (CoSi 2 ) layer as described above, the TiBx compound used to control the etching using the titanium tetrachloride gas can be formed upon deposition of the CVD titanium film. Further, a TiBx layer, which serves so as to reduce contact resistance between the CVD titanium nitride layer and the cobalt silicide (CoSi 2 ) layer, can be deposited at a high deposition rate.
While boron has been introduced as the impurity in the present embodiment, silicon is introduced into the cobalt silicide (CoSi 2 ) layer by an ion implantation method or through the use of the target added with silicon, thereby making it possible to achieve an improvement in deposition rate in a manner similar to boron. This is because the etching of the titanium film by the titanium tetrachloride gas is controlled owing to the formation of the TiSix compound.
According to the present invention as described above, since the etching using the titanium tetrachloride gas is controlled upon deposition of the CVD titanium film using the titanium tetrachloride gas on the cobalt silicide (CoSi 2 ) layer, it is possible to realize the deposition of the CVD titanium film having a higher deposition rate.
While the present invention has been described with reference to the illustrative embodiment, this description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the illustrative embodiment, as well as other embodiments of the invention, will be apparent to those skilled in the art on reference to this description. It is therefore contemplated that the appended claims will cover any such modifications or embodiments as fall within the true scope of the invention.
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Before deposition of a CVD titanium film on a cobalt silicide layer, an element which reacts with titanium is provided in the cobalt silicide layer in advance. Thereafter, the CVD titanium film is deposited on the cobalt silicide using a titanium tetrachloride gas.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a lid, and in particular to a glove compartment lid for motor vehicles. The lid has hinges on one long edge and is equipped with a closing device in the area of the other long edge.
It is known to design glove compartment lids for motor vehicles as single piece plastic injection moldings. But thus far the only usable closing device for such a lid is a complete lock, the manufacture and assembly of which is very expensive. It is also known to design a glove compartment lid, half of which consists of sheet metal and the other half of which consists of foamed plastic. Such a lid is heavy and its production is costly. Here again, the only usable closing device is a complete lock. A complete lock is also required in the case of another known glove compartment lid, half of which consists of plastic foam and the other half of which consists of a plastic injection molding. This latter known glove compartment lid has the additional disadvantage of an inaccurate fit which impairs its appearance.
One problem with using a complete lock is that it is expensive and thereby increases the cost of the glove compartment. In addition, complete locks must be machined by a profile turning, milling, etc. That machining is not only expensive but is also subject to error because of the close tolerances involved.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a primary object of the invention to create a lid, in particular a glove compartment lid, which can be manufactured simply and inexpensively, whose closing device consists of only a few simple components and which is easily assembled and functions reliably.
It is another object of the invention to provide such a lid comprised of two halves each designed as plastic injection moldings and each having molded-on means for closing and locking the two lid halves.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such a lid having a closing device which is an integral part of the lid halves, thereby eliminating the need for providing a complete lock.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide such a lid, wherein the closing device comprises a spring-loaded locking bar molded on one lid half and a spring-loaded pushbutton molded on the other lid half.
According to the invention, a lid for a glove compartment, or the like, is comprised of two lid halves, each of which is a plastic injection molding and each of which has a molded-on bearing seat for a closing device. The closing device is attached to the lid halves and comprises a spring-loaded locking bar and a spring-loaded pushbutton movable toward the locking bar. The bearing seat molded to the one lid half, e.g. the upper one, may comprise a nipple with diametrically opposed, longitudinal slots terminating at the free end of the nipple. The one lid half has an opening aligned with a nipple opening for the head end of the pushbutton to pass through. The outside surface of the pushbutton insertable into the free end of the nipple may have diametrically opposed molded-on cams which engage the longitudinal nipple slots. This fixes the pushbutton axially in one direction and also secures it against rotation.
The bearing seat provided in the other lid half, e.g. the lower half, is preferably comprised of two small bearing blocks which project outwardly from the plane of the lid. Each of the small bearing blocks has a respective semi-circular, concave groove in mutual alignment so as to receive two outwardly oriented bearing shaft journals attached to the locking bar. The small bearing blocks are provided with an opening for the locking bar to pass through and to support itself in the concave grooves of the blocks by means of two outwardly oriented bearing shaft journals. Two webs extend concentrically with the nipple but are longer than it and are molded to the one lid half for the purpose of retaining the bearing shaft journals from the opposite sides. The free ends of the webs have a semi-circular concave recess for the accommodation of the bearing shaft journals of the locking bar. As a result of this design, the locking bar is fixed on the one end but is also pivotally mounted on the other.
In another embodiment of the invention the pushbutton is provided with a shoulder at its free end facing the locking bar. The shoulder is in the form of an inwardly oriented step. A helical spring is supported against one end of the step or shoulder while the other end is received by a bearing pad on the other or lower lid half. It is desirable that the locking bar have a central recess with two mutually opposed cams in co-axial alignment with the bearing shaft journals to accommodate a spring, one leg of which is supported in a recess widening of the locking bar while the other spring leg engages the outside of the lower lid half. Those particular design features make possible a simple plug-in and telescoping assembly of the closing device. The final unity of the closed device is thereby assured once the lid halves are joined together.
The lid halves are preferably joined by screws. This can be facilitated by providing one lid half with tongue-shaped tabs on one of the longer sides and the other lid half with cutouts to fit the tabs. The lid halves also have mutually abutting bearing pads at each screw connection. The lid halves then need only be nested in each other, snapped and then screwed together in the centered position.
To facilitate the handling of the glove compartment lid, it is expedient to provide the lid halves with molded-in gripping recesses on their long front edge.
In its simplest embodiment, the closing device comprises merely the spring-loaded pushbutton which engages the locking bar directly so that the locking bar can be pivoted out of the locking position, countering the spring force acting upon the locking bar, as soon as the pushbutton is being pushed.
In an improved embodiment, the closing device is lockable. The pushbutton comprises a two-part design, namely a key-operated tumbler and a housing in which it is rotatably mounted. The tumbler supports, at its end facing the locking bar, a cam molded on eccentrically. The locking bar will not pivot out of its locking position unless, when the pushbutton is pushed, the tumbler cam assumes a predetermined position set by the key for this purpose. The housing in which the tumbler is mounted is preferably made of plastic and has diagonally opposed cams molded to its outside surface. Furthermore, the housing has spring action tabs on one end which engage an annular groove in the tumbler.
Thus, the invention provides a locking device which functions like a complete lock but which uses no more than the tumbler element normally found in a complete lock. As a result, the closing device of this invention, even when it is lockable, is considerably less expensive to manufacture than a complete lock. This has an obvious impact in terms of the overall cost of the glove compartment or other item using the lid permitting the efficient manufacture of a glove compartment or other item at a reduced expense but having substantially the same optimum performance as conventional lidded glove compartments or other items with closing devices.
Modified features of the invention include the following, for example. The other or lower lid half may be offset relative to the one or upper lid half by being made slightly smaller, whereby tolerances caused by possible heat expansion of the vehicle dashboard are compensated for without having to provide visible gaps for such a purpose. Furthermore, it is possible to provide the outside surface of the upper lid half and the encircling head with a grained appearance. Graining a rim is not only decorative but entails the advantage of displaying no visible gaps when the lid halves are not joined together precisely.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is an exploded view, in perspective, of a glove compartment lid according to the invention.
FIG. 2 is a side cross sectional view of the upper lid half of the glove compartment along the line II--II in FIG. 3.
FIG. 3 is a top view of a fragment of the upper lid half shown in FIG. 2.
FIG. 4 is a side cross sectional view of one embodiment of the lower lid half along the line IV--IV of FIG. 5.
FIG. 5 is a top view of a fragment of the lower lid half in FIG. 4, in the direction of the arrow V in FIG. 4.
FIG. 6 is a side cross sectional view of the complete glove compartment lid when the lid has been closed.
FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of a fragment of the glove compartment lid of FIG. 1.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
As shown in FIG. 1, the glove compartment lid comprises an upper lid half 1, a lower lid half 2, and a closing device as described in detail hereinafter. Both lid halves 1, 2 are plastic injection moldings and each has a respective integrally molded-in bearing seat 3 and 4. The upper lid half 1 has an encircling, downwardly folded rim 5, which has two spaced apart recesses 7 on its long rear edge 6. The recesses 7 are engaged by hinges 8 that are molded to the lower lid half 2. In the center area of its long front edge 9, the upper lid half 1 has two gripping recesses 10. Located between the gripping recesses 10 is a through hole 11 which continues into the bearing seat 3. The upper lid half 1 has bearing pads 12 in various places along its side facing toward the lower lid half 2 for maintaining the desired spacing and relative orientation of the lid halves.
The length and width dimensions of the lower lid half 2 are slightly smaller than those of the upper lid half 1. The lower lid half 2 is provided with an encircling, upwardly extending rim 13 that is slightly covered by rim 5. A depression 14 on the lower lid half accommodates the lower wall area of the gripping recesses 10. In the area of the hinges 8 the rim 13 is reinforced by reinforcing webs 15. The entire lower lid half 2 is reinforced by traversely extending ribs 16. Bearing pads 17, each having a through hole 18 therein are arranged so as to be exactly opposite some of the bearing pads 12 on the upper lid half.
The closing device comprises a pushbutton 19, a helical spring 20, a locking bar 21, and a torsion spring 22. The pushbutton 19 may be of one-part design, as shown offset and in dash-dotted lines in FIG. 1, or it may be of a two-part design as shown in bold lines. In the latter case the pushbutton 19 comprises a tumbler cylinder 23 rotatably accommodated in a housing 24 and operable by a key 25. The outside surface of the pushbutton 19 or of the housing 24 has molded-on, outwardly oriented cams 26, which engage the longitudinal slots 27 of the bearing seat 3. The tumbler 23 is received inside the bore through the housing 24. Springy tabs 28 for snapping into an annular groove 29 in the tumbler 23 inside the housing 24 are molded to the lower edge of the housing 24.
The locking bar 21 has a hook 30 which penetrates through a hole 31 in the area of the bearing seat 4. There is a hook engaging part 48 on the body of the glove compartment, which the hook 30 is adapted to snap over, as shown in FIG. 6, and on which the hook 30 is spring-biased. The hook 30 has two outwardly oriented bearing shaft journals 32. The shaft journals are mounted in semi-circular concave grooves 33 of the small bearing blocks 34 (shown in FIGS. 4 and 5) on the lower lid half and are also supported by webs 35, each having at its free end a semi-circularly shaped concave recess 36 on the upper lid half. The bearing seat 3 has a nipple 37 depending downwardly therefrom and the nipple contains the longitudinal slots 27. As FIG. 2 shows, the longitudinal slots 27 terminate at a distance from the underside of the upper lid half 1 and are extended by material pads 38.
Referring to FIG. 6, the locking bar 21 has a central cutout section 39 with two mutually opposite cams 40, which are in coaxial alignment with the bearing shaft journals 32 to accommodate the torsion spring 22. In assembled condition, one spring leg 41 lies in a recess extension 42 of the hook 30 while the other spring leg 43 presses against the outside of the lower lid half. The tabs 45 on the lower lid half are insertable in the cut-outs 44 in the upper lid half 1. This holds the lid halves permanently together.
The hook 30, which is pivotable about its pivot journal 32, has a projecting stop cam 50 atop it, which is placed to intercept the actuating cam 49 that is attached to the cylinder 23 and that is rotated with the housing by key 25. Rotation of the key 25 eventually swivels the cam 49 above the cam 50, i.e. the position shown in FIG. 6. Then key 25 may selectively be removed. Thereafter, depression of button 19 pushes cams 49 and 50 together and pivots hook 30 off retaining part 48, enabling opening of the lid.
FIG. 6 shows the glove compartment lid in the assembled condition and also shows how the closing device functions. For assembly of the lockable embodiment, the housing 24 is first pushed over the tumbler cylinder 23 until the springy tabs 28 snap into the annular groove 29 on the tumbler cylinder 23. Thereupon the key 25 securing the tumblers is pulled out and the complete pushbutton 19 including tumbler cylinder 23 and housing 24, is inserted in the nipple 37 until the cams 26 are located at the ends of the longitudinal slots. The torsion spring 22 is assembled to the locking bar 21 and the hook of the bar 21 is then introduced into the hole 31. Now, before the lid halves 1,2, are nested in each other, with the tabs 45 in the cutouts 44, the helical spring 20 is inserted. One end of the spring is supported against a stepwise receding shoulder 46 of housing 24 while the other end is supported by a bearing pad 47 on the lower lid half. The hook 30 of the locking bar 21 can be pivoted away from the retaining part 48 on the body of the glove compartment when, after appropriate roation of the key 25, the actuating cam 49 of the tumbler 23 strikes the stop cam 50 of the locking bar 21 due to the actuation of the pushbutton 19.
Although the present invention has been described in connection with a preferred embodiment thereof, many variations and modifications will now become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.
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A lid for a glove compartment of a vehicle, or the like, comprised of an upper and a lower injection molded lid half, which halves are secured together, a lock for the glove compartment lid, including a swiveling lock bar, which is held to the lid, and a cam carrying tumbler which is moved to position cams for swivel opening the lock bar when the tumbler is pushed in, the lid halves are shaped with various recesses, holes and shapings for being supported in relative positions and for receiving and holding the lock.
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CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not Applicable
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not Applicable
MICROFICHE APPENDIX
Not Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of ladders. More specifically, the invention comprises a modular ladder having removable steps.
2. Description of the Related Art
The incorporation of removable rungs into various structures is well known in the prior art. As one example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,247,553 to Jones (2001) discloses a removable rung (or step) designed to be applied to a steel T-post of the type commonly used for cattle fencing. It allows a user to step over a modern fence line without having to put weight on the strands of barbed wire. The Jones device is not easily removable, however. It is designed to be installed and left in place. Thus, it is ill suited for the type of application encompassed by the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,833,090 to Georgianna (1974) discloses a removable step designed to be locked into a steel support column. This invention is directed to warehouse racks, whose vertical columns already include slots for the mounting of shelves and the like. The step design in the '090 patent takes advantage of these pre-existing slots. The step is quite large and cumbersome, however. It would be difficult to store a set of such steps on the user's person, and quite cumbersome to carry them over long distances.
A similar device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,936 to Strom (1984). The Strom device also takes advantage of the pre-existing slots found in warehouse columns. Unlike the Georgianna device, though, it is formed of simple bar stock components. The '936 device should therefore be easier to fabricate. It is still quite bulky, however. In addition, it requires a support column having a large interior cavity so that the step can be “snaked” into position. While such a large cavity is often found in warehouse columns, it is rarely found elsewhere.
Accordingly, the prior art devices are limited in that they:
1. Are difficult to apply and remove;
2. Are heavy;
3. Are bulky; and
4. Require a vertical column having a large interior cavity. Require the deployment
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A ladder is composed of a vertical support structure and a set of rungs. In the present invention, the vertical support structure is formed by stacking a series of interlocking sticks. The sticks incorporate features allowing the removable installation of a set of rungs. The rungs are small and light, so that a set of such rungs may be easily carried by a user. The vertical sticks generally remain attached to the object to be climbed—such as a tree or pole. When the user wishes to climb the object, the user installs the rungs as he or she climbs. The rungs are then removed upon descent. In this manner, unauthorized climbing of the object is inhibited.
Several different embodiments of the removable rungs are disclosed. The common feature of all these embodiments is the fact that the rungs cannot come loose from the vertical stick while they are under load. The application of the invention to different types of hunting tree stands is also disclosed in detail, although the application of the invention extends far beyond hunting products.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an isometric view, showing a prior art tree stand and ladder.
FIG. 2 is an isometric view, showing a prior art climbing stick in greater detail.
FIG. 3 is an isometric view, showing the vertical support element of the proposed invention.
FIG. 4 is an isometric view, showing the vertical support element from a different angle.
FIG. 5 is a detail view, showing the features designed to engage and hold the removable rung.
FIG. 6 is an isometric view, showing the removable rung.
FIG. 7 is an isometric view, showing the installation of the removable rung.
FIG. 8 is an isometric view, showing the installation of the removable rung.
FIG. 9 is an isometric view, showing the installation of the removable rung.
FIG. 10 is an isometric view, showing the installation of the removable rung.
FIG. 11 is an elevation view, showing the removable rung locked in place.
FIG. 12 is an elevation view, showing the camming action which holds the removable rung in place.
FIG. 13 is an isometric view, showing the installation of the removable rung in the opposite side of the slotted stick.
FIG. 14 is an isometric view, showing a completed assembly with removable rungs in place.
FIG. 14B is an isometric view, showing a completed assembly with two vertical support elements stacked together.
FIG. 15 is an isometric view, showing a prior art ladder stand.
FIG. 16 is an isometric view, showing the application of the present invention to a prior art ladder stand.
FIG. 17 is an isometric view, showing the detail of the vertical column used in a ladder stand.
FIG. 18 is an isometric view, showing an alternate embodiment of the removable rung.
FIG. 19 is an isometric view, showing an alternate embodiment of the removable rung.
FIG. 19B is an isometric view, showing the alternate rung installed.
FIG. 20 is an isometric view, showing an additional locking device.
FIG. 21 is a detail view, showing the operation of the locking device.
FIG. 22 is a detail view, showing the operation of the locking device.
REFERENCE NUMERALS IN THE DRAWINGS
10
tree
12
tree stand
14
climbing stick
16
fixed rung
18
securing strap
20
standoff
22
slotted stick
24
slot
26
inclined hole
28
joining pin
30
strap lock
32
relief notch
34
joining hole
36
insertion slot
38
removable rung
40
step
42
insertion cylinder
44
key
46
camming wall
48
free wall
50
camming surface
52
ladder stand
54
slotted column
56
base
58
alternate stick
60
transverse hole
62
first alternate step
64
first alternate key
66
front face
68
right side face
70
left side face
72
rear face
74
vertical support column
76
alternate insertion slot
78
Z step
80
second alternate stick
82
lock slide
84
retaining pin
86
access cut
88
pin channel
90
lock hole
92
open channel
94
handle
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The proposed invention allows a user to climb many types of vertical objects. One particular application of the invention is in the field of hunting, where tree stands are often employed to provide the hunter an elevated and stationary position. FIG. 1 shows a prior art tree stand 12 attached to a tree 10 . As installing a tree stand requires considerable effort, hunters often wish to leave them in place. This requires a device for climbing the tree. FIG. 1 also discloses a prior art tree-climbing device. A series of climbing sticks 14 are linked together and attached to tree 10 . Each climbing stick 14 has a series of fixed rungs 16 .
FIG. 2 shows an individual climbing stick 14 in more detail. The reader should be aware that the square vertical member is hollow, so that a second climbing stick 14 can be placed on top of the one shown and linked together using the smaller square section located on top of the climbing stick 14 . Two stand offs 20 are provided to separate climbing stick 14 from the tree 10 , thereby allowing clearance for the user's boots on fixed rungs 16 . A pair of securing straps 18 are passed tightly around the tree 10 and locked in position by toggle clamps or other prior art means.
The prior art devices shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are effective in allowing access to the tree stand 12 . Unfortunately, when the user leaves the tree stand 12 unattended, other persons may use the ready access to steal the tree stand. In addition, many landowners are concerned about the safety of unsecured ladders in position on their property. If children or persons unfamiliar with tree climbing climb the unsecured ladders, they may be injured. Thus, it is desirable to create a ladder which cannot be climbed without specialized equipment.
FIG. 3 discloses one embodiment of the present invention. Slotted stick 22 is similar in its general configuration to the prior art climbing stick 14 , except that it includes no fixed rungs 16 . Two stand offs 20 are provided, along with securing straps 18 . These straps 18 are locked in place by actuating strap locks 30 .
The vertical support column 74 of slotted stick 22 is substantially modified over the prior art. Its front face opens into a series of slots 24 . It is also transected by a series of inclined holes 26 , the details of which will be described subsequently.
The top of vertical support column 74 is formed into joining pin 28 . Turning now to FIG. 4, the reader will observe that the lower portion of vertical support column 74 opens into joining hole 34 . Those skilled in the art will therefore appreciate that a series of slotted sticks 22 can be linked together by inserting the joining pin 28 on the top of one vertical support column 74 into the joining hole 34 in a second vertical support column 74 .
FIG. 5 shows the intersection of slot 24 with inclined hole 26 in greater detail. Vertical support column 74 of slotted stick 22 has a square cross section—as shown. Inclined hole 26 passes completely through the square section, from its right side all the way to its left side. Slot 24 is cut into the front surface of the square section. Thus, slot 24 and inclined hole 26 intersect as shown. The front and right surfaces of the square section also open into insertion slot 36 . Insertion slot 36 runs parallel to the center axis of inclined hole 26 . The resulting geometry allows the insertion and removal of removable rung 38 , shown in FIG. 6 .
Removable rung 38 comprises insertion cylinder 42 , step 40 , and key. Insertion cylinder 42 and step 40 are joined at an angle. Those skilled in the art will realize that these two elements could be formed by bending a single piece of round stock. It is not necessary for the invention to include a sharply defined joint between the two. The reader will observe that key 44 also includes relief notch 32 , the purpose of which will be explained shortly.
FIG. 7 shows the first step in inserting removable rung 38 into vertical support column 74 . Insertion cylinder 42 is aligned with inclined hole 26 and key 44 is aligned with insertion slot 36 . In FIG. 8, insertion cylinder 42 is placed within inclined hole 26 and key 44 is shown sliding through insertion slot 36 . In FIG. 9, key 44 has been pushed all the way through insertion slot 36 and is resting completely within slot 24 . Key 44 is stopped from sliding further to the left because it has come up against the left wall of slot 24 . At this point, the user rotates insertion cylinder 42 in the direction indicated (by grasping step 40 ). Key 44 the begins rotating down into slot 24 . Relief notch 32 is provided so that key 44 does not hit the right wall of slot 24 .
In FIG. 10, key 44 has been rotated into its final position. The side of key 44 which is facing away from the viewer in FIG. 10 is now resting against the back of slot 24 . The depth of slot 24 is set equal to the depth of the centerline of inclined hole 26 , plus one half the thickness of key 44 .
FIG. 11 shows the same assembly in an elevation view. The reader will note that insertion cylinder 42 rests within inclined hole 26 . Slot 24 is bounded on its right side by free wall 48 , and on its left side by camming wall 46 . The left facing surface of key 44 is designated as camming surface 50 . The geometry of the device tends to hold removable rung 38 in place because of the following sequence: If insertion cylinder 42 is rotated so that key 44 moves toward the viewer in FIG. 11 (the only way it can be rotated), then camming surface 50 will bear against camming wall 46 and push removable rung 38 to the right.
FIG. 12 shows the assembly after this rotation has started. The reader will observe that camming surface 50 has rotated against camming wall 46 and forced insertion cylinder 42 to slide to the right as indicated. This results in step 40 moving up and to the right, as well as rotating as shown. As a practical matter, this motion cannot occur when the user's weight is placed upon step 40 . In other words, in order for key 44 to move out of its locked position, step 40 must overcome the user's weight and actually lift the user. Stated in reverse—the user's weight upon step 40 locks removable rung 38 securely in place. However, once the user's weight is removed, then the user can grasp removable rung 38 , rotate it to the position where key 44 aligns with insertion slot 36 , and remove it.
Of course, it is of little use to have rungs on only one side of vertical support column 74 . Removable rung 38 must therefore be capable of insertion in either side of vertical support column 74 . FIG. 13 shows the insertion of removable rung 38 in the left side of vertical support column 74 . Referring briefly back to FIG. 4, the reader will observe that successive inclined holes 26 are inclined in opposite directions. FIG. 13 illustrates an inclined hole 26 configured to accept an insertion from the left. Likewise, insertion slot 36 is shown opening to the left. Removable rung 38 is absolutely identical to the one shown in FIGS. 6 through 12 —it has simply been reoriented. Those skilled in the art will realize that removable rung 38 can be installed from the left by inserting insertion cylinder 42 into inclined hole 26 (with key 44 going through insertion slot 36 ) and thereafter rotating key 44 down into slot 24 . It will then be locked in place under the same principles as described above.
FIG. 14 shows slotted stick 22 with four removable rungs 38 in place. As noted above, inclined holes 26 alternate in orientation (along with the insertion slots 36 ) to allow the rungs to alternate. FIG. 14B shows two slotted sticks 22 stacked together. The reader will observe that the alternating pattern of removable rungs 38 continues through the stack of two or more slotted sticks 22 .
In actual use, a stack of four or more slotted sticks 22 would be placed on the tree 10 or other object to be climbed. The sticks 22 are attached to the tree 10 using the securing straps 18 which are well known in the prior art. All removable rungs 38 would be removed before leaving the device unattended. A user wishing to climb the device would need to bring along a set of removable rungs 38 . The user would then progressively install removable rungs 38 as he or she ascends the ladder. When the user later descends the ladder, removable rungs 38 would be progressively removed.
A rung to rung spacing of 9 inches in typical for this type of device. Accordingly, in order to ascend a twelve foot object, the user would need to bring approximately sixteen removable rungs 38 . These rungs 38 can be made of aluminum alloy, resulting in a modest weight for a set of sixteen.
Material selection is important for slotted sticks 22 , as it must withstand significant mechanical forces. It must also withstand prolonged exposure to sunlight and temperature extremes. Many metals could be used, but since the device must often be carried into the woods on foot, weight is a factor. Accordingly, glass reinforced ABS has been found to be particularly effective.
The embodiment disclosed in FIGS. 3 through 14B is well suited for use with roughly cylindrical objects. It should be noted, however, that the invention can also be applied to other devices. FIG. 15 illustrates one such device. Ladder stand 52 is a common prior art device. Being rigid, it is affixed to tree 10 by one or two securing devices up near its top. The bottom portion is simply placed on the ground. While quite effective, it faces the same security problems as many other prior art devices. Once left unattended, anyone can climb up and remove the device. Likewise, persons may be injured while climbing the device.
FIG. 16 illustrates the application of the present invention to ladder stand 52 . Slotted column 54 is substituted for the prior art ladder. A set of removable rungs 38 are then placed in slotted column 54 . Base 56 is provided to distribute the weight of the device and prevent slotted column 54 from sinking into the ground.
FIG. 17 shows a detail view of the junction of slotted column 54 with base 56 . The reader will observe that slotted column 54 incorporates a series of slots 24 , inclined holes 26 , and insertion slots 36 . These are configured to allow the installation of removable rungs 38 on alternating sides, as shown in FIG. 16 . Thus, the application of the present invention to the ladder stand 52 allows the user to leave the ladder stand in place without any rungs 38 being present.
Observation stands using a tripodal support are also common in the field of hunting. The present invention could be applied to this type of stand by substituting slotted column 54 for one of the three support legs. As another example, a power company could use slotted column 54 to provide access to the top of a pole. Rather than leaning slotted column 54 against the pole, it would be bolted on directly. This would also allow the application of the device to non-cylindrical objects. With appropriate standoffs 20 to allow clearance for the user's foot, slotted column 54 could be bolted to a flat wall. Those skilled in the art will realize that a virtually infinite number of applications are possible.
Those skilled in the art will also realize that many types of locking mechanisms can be used to implement removable rung 38 . One alternative design is shown in FIG. 18 . First alternate step 62 is simply a straight rod having first alternate key 64 . Alternate stick 58 has slot 24 , transverse hole 60 , and alternate insertion slot 76 . First alternate step 62 is installed by placing it into transverse hole 60 (sliding first alternate key 64 through alternate insertion slot 76 ), and turning first alternate key 64 down within slot 24 .
FIG. 19 shows a second alternate embodiment. Insertion cylinder 42 and key 44 are the same as those shown in FIG. 6 . However, step 40 has been replaced by Z step 78 . FIG. 19B shows this second alternate embodiment installed in vertical support column 74 .
The previous embodiments provide security, but it is always possible that unauthorized persons may have the removable rungs and therefore be able to climb the unattended ladder. An additional security measure is therefore needed. FIG. 20 shows second alternate stick 80 . It is identical to slotted stick 22 except that it has a single open channel 92 in its front face instead of a series of slots 24 . Lock slide 82 rests within open channel 92 . It is free to slide up and down, but is retained by the fact that two retaining pins 84 are inserted through pin channels 88 in lock slide 82 . The sides of lock slide 82 open into a series of access cuts 86 . These access cuts 86 allow the user to insert removable rungs 38 when lock slide 82 is in its unlocked position.
FIG. 21 is a detail view showing lock slide 82 in its unlocked position. The reader will observe how lock slide 82 is free to move up and down by the interaction of pin channel 88 and retaining pin 84 . The reader will also observe how the alignment of access cuts 86 allows the insertion of removable rungs 38 . In FIG. 22, lock slide 82 has been pushed upward to its lock position. The solid side walls of lock slide 82 prevent the insertion of any removable rungs 38 when in this position.
Returning now to FIG. 20, the reader will observe that both second alternate stick 80 and lock slide 82 are pierced by a lock hole 90 . These two holes align when lock slide 82 is translated upward to its locked position. At that point, the user can insert a padlock or other locking device through the aligned lock holes 90 . When this is done, lock slide 82 will be secured in its locked position.
The reader will also observe that handle 94 is provided as part of lock slide 82 . When second alternate stick 80 is attached to a tree or other vertical object, handle 94 lies in a convenient position for the user to grab and manipulate lock slide 82 . While it is possible for the user to manipulate lock slide 82 without handle 94 , handle 94 does provide additional convenience.
Because the embodiment shown in FIGS. 20-22 provides additional security, it is the preferred embodiment. Having read the preceding descriptions, the reader will understand that this preferred embodiment:
1. Provides rungs which are easy to apply and remove;
2. Provides rungs which are light;
3. Provides rungs which are compact; and
4. Does not need a large interior cavity in its vertical support column.
Although the preceding description contains significant detail, it should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but rather as providing illustrations of the preferred embodiment of the invention. Thus, the scope of the invention should be fixed by the following claims, rather than by the examples given.
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A ladder incorporating a vertical support structure and a set of removable rungs. The vertical support structure is formed by stacking a series of interlocking sticks. The sticks incorporate features allowing the removable installation of the rungs. The rungs are small and light, so that a set of such rungs may be easily carried by a user. The vertical sticks generally remain attached to the object to be climbed—such as a tree or pole. When the user wishes to climb the object, the user installs the rungs as he or she climbs. The rungs are then removed upon descent. In this manner, unauthorized climbing of the object is inhibited. Locking features are also included to prevent unauthorized access by another person having a set of removable rungs.
Several different embodiments of the removable rungs are disclosed. The common feature of all these embodiments is the fact that the rungs cannot come loose from the vertical stick while they are under load. The application of the invention to different types of hunting tree stands is also disclosed in detail, although the application of the invention extends far beyond hunting products.
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REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application is claiming priority of Chinese Patent Application No. 200520070078.7, filed on Mar. 24, 2005, the content of which is herein incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] This invention relates to a chair for leisure with seat, backrest, armrest and frame folded once, in particular to a light-weight foldable chair for leisure that can be used in a variety of environments including, for example, in households, outdoors, in a courtyard, in a park, and at beach.
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] At present, the foldable chair suitable for travel and leisure on the market is configured with only supports, backrest tubes and fabric connected. When unfolded, the chair is dragged by the fabric on the seat, which bears a great force and is likely to be damaged. So, one feels uncomfortable while sitting. The existing well known seat-loop foldable chair is configured with its upper portion made of an entire circle, unable to be folded, and having a large volume. The chair seat employs an insert-type structure, having a positioning and fixing device. When the chair is to be folded, it is necessary to open the fixing device first, and it is inconvenient for folding. The chair has a large volume after being folded, and so is inconvenient for carrying.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The present invention provides a light-weight foldable chair for leisure that overcomes the above-mentioned defects. The chair has a seat, a back-rest and armrest, and quadrangle frame, convenient to be folded together, easy in use and for carrying, and having a good stability. A person feels comfortable when sitting in the chair,
[0007] The light-weight foldable chair for leisure of this invention is achieved by the following embodiments:
[0008] In one embodiment, the light-weight foldable chair for leisure of this invention comprises fabric for seat and backrest, two seating frame armrest tubes, two backrest tubes, two backrest support tubes, two seating frame support tubes, crossed support tubes, two rotatable joint members, two sliding disks, two seat disks, four foot disks; said crossed support tubes having front crossed tubes, rear crossed tubes, side crossed support tubes, and between the two seating frame support tubes are disposed the front crossed support tubes, which are hinged to each other, at the upper portions of each of the two seating frame support tubes is disposed the seat disk; the upper portion of the front crossed support tube and the seat disk are movably connected; the lower portion of the front crossed support tube is connected to the foot disk; at the upper end of the seating frame support tube is disposed the rotatable joint member via a U-shaped hinging member, and at the lower end of the seating frame support tube is disposed a sliding sleeve, which is sleeved on the side crossed support tube; between the two backrest support tubes is disposed a rear crossed tube, the upper end of which is connected to the sliding disk, and the lower end of which is movably connected to the foot disk; said sliding disk is sleeved on the backrest support tube; at the upper ends of the two backrest support tubes are disposed rotatable joint members via the U-shaped hinging member, and the lower ends of the two backrest support tubes are mounted on the foot disks; between the two backrest support tubes and the two seating frame support are disposed side crossed support tubes respectively; the side crossed support tubes are hinged to each other, wherein the upper end of one of the side crossed support tubes is movably connected to the seat disk, and the lower end thereof is movably connected to the foot disk; the two backrest tubes are connected and clipped to the rotatable joint member on the upper end of the backrest support tube via a long joint member, and the two seating frame armrest tubes are connected and clipped to the rotatable joint member on the upper end of the seating frame support tube via another long joint member; between the two seating frame armrest tubes and two backrest tubes are connected respectively via a short joint member, and the two seating frame armrest tubes and two backrest tubes are sleeved with fabric.
[0009] The light-weight foldable chair for leisure of this invention has the following features and advantages:
[0010] When using the light-weight foldable chair for leisure, one can first open the folded chair, with two hands holding the two long joint members respectively to pull outward. Thus, the sliding sleeve slides downward along the two side crossed support tubes, while the sliding disk slides downward along the backrest support tubes; the fabric will spread together with the backrest tubes and seating frame armrest tubes, and the U-shaped hinging member mounted on the upper portions of the seating frame support tubes and backrest support tubes will bring along rotation of the rotatable joint member. The chair can be used just by pulling out the backrest tubes and the seating frame armrest tubes.
[0011] To fold the chair, one just holds the two joint members to pull upward, and furl inward, thus, the sliding sleeve and sliding disk will slide upward, allowing the crossed support tubes to furl inward, while the backrest tube and seating frame armrest tube will be folded inward to an integral, easy for carrying.
[0012] The light-weight foldable chair for leisure of this invention is reasonably designed, compact in structure, elegant in appearance design, convenient in use and comfortable for sitting and resting. The chair employs a quadrangle chair support, having a good stability. The backrest tubes and the seating frame armrest tubes are assembled by two modules, easy for folding. The chair, after being folded, has a much smaller volume than a circular foldable chair, so it is convenient for packaging and carrying.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a light-weight foldable chair for leisure according to this invention;
[0014] FIG. 2 is a structural view of an example of the seat loop and chair support of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure according to this invention;
[0015] FIG. 3 is a structural view of another example of the seat loop and chair support of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure according to this invention;
[0016] FIG. 4 is a structural view of the rotatable joint member of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure according to this invention;
[0017] FIG. 5 is a structural view of the long joint member of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure according to this invention;
[0018] FIG. 6 a is a front structural view of the short joint member of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure according to this invention; and FIG. 6 b is a perspective structural view thereof;
[0019] FIG. 7 is a structural view of the foot disk of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure according to this invention;
[0020] FIG. 8 is a structural view of the sliding sleeve of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure according to this invention;
[0021] FIG. 9 is a structural view of the U-shaped hinging member of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure according to this invention;
[0022] FIG. 10 is a structural view of the sliding disk of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure according to this invention;
[0023] FIG. 11 is a structural view of the seating disk of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure according to this invention;
[0024] FIG. 12 is a structural view of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure in a folding state according to this invention;
[0025] FIGS. 13 and 14 are the partially amplified views of parts A and B in FIG. 2 respectively.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0026] Specific examples of this invention will be described in conjunction with the drawings.
[0027] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 , FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a light-weight foldable chair for leisure according to this invention; FIG. 2 is a structural view of an example of the seat circle and chair support of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure according to this invention; meanwhile, referring to FIGS. 13 and 14 , which are the partially amplified views of parts A and B in FIG. 2 respectively. The light-weight foldable chair for leisure of this invention comprises fabric for seat and backrest 11 , seating frame armrest tubes 10 , backrest tubes 12 , backrest support tubes 15 , seating frame support tubes 4 , crossed support tubes, rotatable joint members 8 , sliding disks 16 , seat disks 5 , foot disks 3 ; except for the fabric 11 for seat and backrest, four foot disks 3 and the crossed support tubes, all the above members are disposed symmetrically left and right, but the reference numbers are marked only on one member. The crossed support tubes include front crossed tubes 14 , rear crossed tubes 17 , side crossed support tubes 1 , 13 . Between the two seating frame support tubes 4 are disposed front crossed support tubes 14 , which are hinged to each other, their upper portions are connected movably to the seat disks 5 , and the lower portions are connected to the foot disks 3 . At the upper portion of each of the two seating frame support tubes 4 is disposed a seat disk 5 ; the two seating frame support tubes 4 penetrate the fitting hole 52 of the seat disk 5 ; at the upper ends of the seating frame support tubes 4 are disposed rotatable joint members 8 via a U-shaped hinging member 7 . Please refer to FIGS. 4 and 9 at the same time, the joint hole 72 passing through the U-shaped hinging member 7 via the joint member is connected to the upper end of the seating frame support tubes 4 , and the joint hole 73 of the U-shaped hinging member 7 is connected to the fixing hole 83 of the rotatable joint member 8 via another joint member. The lower end of each of the seating frame support tubes 4 is connected the sliding sleeve 2 , which is sleeved on the side crossed support tubes 1 , 13 . Between the two backrest support tubes 15 is disposed a rear crossed tube 17 , the upper end of which is connected to the sliding disk 16 , and the lower end of which is movably connected to the foot disk 3 ; said sliding disk 16 is sleeved on the backrest support tube 15 , and can slide along the backrest support tube 15 while folding or unfolding. At the upper ends of the two backrest support tubes 15 are disposed rotatable joint members 8 via the U-shaped hinging member 7 , and the lower ends of the two backrest support tubes 15 are mounted on the foot disks 3 . Between the two backrest support tubes 15 and the two seating frame supports 4 are disposed side crossed support tubes 1 , 13 respectively; the side crossed support tubes are hinged to each other, wherein the upper end of one of the side crossed support tubes is movably connected to the seat disk 5 , and the lower end thereof is movably connected to the foot disk 3 ; the upper end of the other one of the side crossed support tubes is movably connected to the sliding disk 16 , and the lower end thereof is movably connected to the foot disk 3 . The two backrest tubes 12 are and clipped to the rotatable joint member 8 on the upper end of the backrest support tube and connected thereto via a long joint member 9 . The two seating frame armrest tubes 10 are clipped to the rotatable joint member 8 on the upper end of the seating frame support tube 4 and connected thereto via another long joint member 99 . Between the two seating frame armrest tubes 10 and two backrest tubes 12 are connected respectively via a short joint member 6 , and the seating frame armrest tubes 10 and backrest tubes 12 are sleeved with fabric for seat and backrest. The seat and backrest loop formed by the two seating frame armrest tubes 10 and the two backrest tubes can be designed into any different shapes, such as a circle, an ellipse, or more than half circle.
[0028] FIG. 3 shows a structure of another example of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure according to this invention, wherein the two seating frame armrest tubes 10 are connected via a joint plate 999 , and the lower ends 101 of the two seating frame armrest tubes 10 are straight, while the structure of other portions is the same as the seat and backrest circle and the chair frame of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure of this invention as shown in FIG. 2 .
[0029] Referring to FIG. 4 , the rotatable joint member 8 of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure of this invention comprises a joint body 81 , on which is disposed a U-shaped groove 82 , the backrest tube and seating frame armrest tube being fitted therein. The rotatable joint member further comprises a joint protrusion, on which is provided a fixing hole 83 for connecting the U-shaped hinging member.
[0030] Referring to FIG. 5 , the long joint member 9 of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure of this invention comprises a joint body 91 , on which are disposed two grooves 92 at both ends of the joint body, reinforced ribs 93 and joint holes for tubes 94 . One end of the backrest tube and the seating frame armrest tube is fitted to the groove 92 , the pipe fittings 12 , 10 being movably connected to the grooves by penetrating the rivet or bolt through the tube joint hole 94 .
[0031] Referring to FIGS. 6 a , 6 b , the short joint member 6 of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure of this invention comprises a joint body 61 , on one end of which is disposed a tube fitting hole 62 , a tube joint hole 63 , on the other end of which is disposed a tube joint groove 65 , beside the joint groove 65 being disposed a joint hole 64 . The pipe fittings 12 , 10 can be disposed in the tube fitting hole 62 and tube joint groove 65 respectively, each of the above pipe fittings 12 , 10 being movably connected to the short joint pipe fittings 6 by penetrating rivet or bolt through the tubing joint holes 63 and 64 .
[0032] Referring to FIG. 7 , the foot disk 3 of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure of this invention comprises a base seat 31 , at the upper portion of which is provided a pipe fitting insert hole 32 , and two pipe fitting joint protrusions 33 connected to the outer sidewall thereof. The joint protrusions 33 can fix the crossed support tubes, and the lower ends of the backrest support tube 15 and the seating frame support tube 4 can be inserted and fixed into the pipe fittings insert hole 32 .
[0033] Referring to FIG. 8 , the sliding sleeve 2 of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure of this invention comprises a sliding sleeve body 21 , on which is provided a sliding sleeve hole 22 , on the side of the sliding sleeve body 21 is provided a pipe fittings joint protrusion 23 . As shown in FIG. 1 , the side crossed support tubes 1 , 13 are sleeved in the sliding sleeve hole 22 , and the seating frame support tube 4 is movably connected to the sliding sleeve 2 via the hole on the pipe fittings joint protrusion 23 .
[0034] Referring to FIG. 9 , the U-shaped hinging member 7 of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure of this invention comprises a joint piece 71 for the U-shaped hinging member, on which is provided pipe fitting joint holes 72 , 73 .
[0035] Referring to FIG. 10 , the sliding disk 16 of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure of this invention comprises a sliding disk body 161 , on which is provided a sliding hole 162 for sleeving on the backrest support tube 15 . On one side of the sliding hole 162 are provided two pipe fitting joint protrusions 163 , and the upper end of the crossed support tube is movably connected to the sliding disk 16 via the hole on the pipe fittings joint protrusion 163 .
[0036] Referring to FIG. 11 , the seating disk 5 of the light-weight foldable chair for leisure of this invention comprises a seating disk body 51 , on which is provided a pipe fittings fitting hole 52 , the seating frame support tube 4 being sleeved in the pipe fittings fitting hole 52 . At one side of the fitting hole 52 is provided a positioning hole 53 , and on the seating disk body 51 are provided two pipe fittings joint protrusions 54 . Their connecting function is similar to the sliding disk 16 , whereas on the wall surface of the pipe fittings fitting hole 52 is provided a fixing hole for fixing the seating frame support tube 4 .
[0037] What is described above is only the specific example of this invention, and cannot be construed as limitation to the scope of examples of this invention. All equivalent variations and modifications made in the light of this patent application for an invention and the specification shall fall within the scope as defined by the appended claims.
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This invention relates to a light-weight foldable chair for leisure with seat and backrest loop capable to be folded once, which can be used in households, outdoors, in a courtyard, in a park and at the beach.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
A method for determining synchronization code under the Standard Mobile Image Architecture (SMIA), in particular, for using iterative comparison operations to obtain the correct position of the synchronization code, so as to correctly translate the received image data.
2. Description of Related Art
Because of the rapid market growth of mobile phones or other portable devices with camera function, the Standard Mobile Image Architecture (SMIA) provides a standard for transferring image data over mobile devices, wherein the SMIA is an image process architecture specifically applicable on mobile devices, which offers better performance between SMIA-compliant sensor and connected SMIA-compliant host, and specifies elements including housing, mechanical interconnection, functionality, register set and interface.
When transferring images among mobile devices, according the aforementioned SMIA that defines eleven types of image data format, in which synchronization code includes bit codes for the start of a frame, such as SOF (frame start synchronization code); the end of a frame, such as EOF (frame end synchronization code); start bit of the line in an image pixel array, such as SOL (line start synchronization code); and end bit of the line, such as EOL (line end synchronization code). When transmitting, the transmissions of data as well as synchronization code both start from the lowest significant bit (LSB). Refer to Table 1 for each synchronization code, in which SOL, EOL, SOF, EOF and logical channel are specified.
TABLE 1
Synchronization Code
Value
Line Start Code (SOL)
FF H 00 H 00 H X0 H
(X: number of channels)
Line End Code (EOL)
FF H 00 H 00 H X1 H
Frame Start Code (SOF)
FF H 00 H 00 H X2 H
Frame End Code (EOF)
FF H 00 H 00 H X3 H
Logical Channel
FF H 00 H 00 H 0X H to FF H 00 H 00 H 7X H
FIG. 1 shows a frame diagram of the SMIA, which takes a VGA image file as an example, the data shown in the diagram (for VGA format, 480 lines from line 1 to line 480 ) is the image file data defined between frame end code (EOF) and frame start code (SOF), and a frame blanking period is defined outside the frame; meanwhile, a line blanking is also defined between line end code (EOL) and line start code (SOL).
The arrangement of data in the memory is illustrated in FIG. 2 , wherein the transmission of each byte starts from the maximum significant bit (MSB), and the least significant bit (LSB) is the last one transferred. The arrangement in the memory is shown as bits 31 - 24 , 23 - 16 , 15 - 8 and 7 - 0 ; but when transferring image data under SMIA, bit stream thereof is output from the camera module in the mobile device; and before transferring any data, the least significant bit (LSB) will be transferred first, as the bit flow shown in the figure, reversing the positions of MSB and LSB, thus starting from LSB, e.g. 24 - 31 , 16 - 23 , 8 - 15 and 0 - 7 .
As shown in FIG. 3 , in the data received by a receiver, each frame starts from a frame start code (SOF), and ends at a frame end code (EOF), in which each line therein starts from a line start code (SOL) and ends at a line end code (EOL), forming a bit stream configuration illustrated in FIG. 1 , wherein the first line start code is replaced by a frame start code, and the last line end code is substituted by a frame end code. The above-mentioned logical channels separate the interlaced data into different data flows, in which there are 0 to 7 channels in quantity.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In the aforementioned prior art, eleven image data formats all specify number of bits in a single line data. When transferring, upon data number error or even synchronization code error accidentally occurs in a bit flow, the receiving side may not able to translate image data from the bit flow, causing a series of unrecoverable errors in the following steps. In view of this, the present invention provides a decoder which offers secure operations, even when the receiving side encounters data number error or even synchronization code error.
The inventive method of determining synchronization code under SMIA is directed to the aforementioned issues, and provides a solution which, in essential, by means of iteratively using comparison operations, compares the synchronization code of each input data, until synchronization code is correctly matched, hence obtaining correct position of the data, avoiding the occurrence of translation error.
The preferred embodiment includes the following steps. The decoder starts to receive data. Data transmission starts from the LSB; after having entered into the decoder, it is reversed and sorted into the original data type. In order to perform comparison operation onto the synchronization code with LSB first, the present invention reverses it again then stores it into a register. Next, through comparison operations with different offsets, compare the data so as to find the correct synchronization code with LSB first.
The principal embodiment finds the correct synchronization code by means of at most 8 times comparison operations. It is possible to design 8 kinds of comparators; each has a synchronization code with one offset, performing at most 8 different comparison operations, in order to obtain the correct synchronization code position.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an image data diagram of prior art under SMIA;
FIG. 2 is a bit flow data conversion diagram of prior art under SMIA;
FIG. 3 is a bit flow diagram of prior art transferred under SMIA;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the inventive method for determining synchronization code under SMIA;
FIG. 5 is a diagram of an embodiment of the invention method for determining synchronization code under SMIA; and
FIG. 6 is a bit value diagram of the comparison operations used by the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Image transmissions among mobile devices are based on a SMIA, in which the image data formats defined therein have a plurality of synchronization codes, including a frame start code (SOF) specifying the frame start position, and a frame end code (EOF) specifying the frame end position, whereas the data in each line of the image being decided by a line start code (SOL) at the start position and a line end code (EOL) at the end position. However, during image transmission, it is inevitable to encounter error situations. A continuously transmitted data flow may result in an entire erroneous condition because of an error in one bit. The inventive method of determining synchronization code is, through iterative comparison operations, compare each data to find the correct position of synchronization code, then translate the image data defined by each synchronization code, avoiding the error caused by a certain bit error.
Since the transmission of image data under SMIA starts from the Least Significant Bit (LSB); i.e. the “LSB first” transmission scheme, thus upon reception at the decoder, the data will be automatically arranged in original bit flow order under SMIA, that is, data with the Maximum Significant Bit (MSB) as the start bit. In order to translate each synchronization code, the present invention compares the synchronization code with LSB first, and because that the bit flow generated by data error or synchronization code error may offset 0 to 7 bits, a synchronization code finder formed by a plurality of comparison circuits is provided so as to locate possible offsets by a plurality of comparison operations, which in the preferred embodiment is 8, including a state of 0 offset.
Due to possible occurrence of error in data number, the bit flow offset varies over time, the aforementioned synchronization code finder thus needs to search once again in terms of every possible offset of in each clock.
According to the above-mentioned data offset issues needed to be solved, the inventive method of determining synchronization code can be shown as the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 4 , which includes step S 401 , indicating the decoder starts to receive data, and, under SMIA, data transmission is required to start from the Least Significant Bit (LSB first), thus when arriving at the decoder, it will be automatically reversed in order, recovering into original data type, i.e. the data starting with Maximum Significant Bit (MSB first).
Because that the inventive method of determining synchronization code mainly performs comparison operation based on the synchronization code with LSB first, it is necessary, as step S 403 , to reverse the received data in order, facilitating the comparison operation in bit flow form with LSB first. Subsequently, as step S 405 , these bit flows are all stored into storage media like registers, and next, by means of comparison operations with different offsets, search the data for the correct synchronization code with LSB first, as step S 407 . In practical implementation, it is possible to use a plurality of comparators to execute comparison operations, and within each comparator there exists a built-in set of synchronization code values with possible offsets. Each comparator sequentially performs comparison operations, deciding whether it matches the synchronization code of the LSB in the received incoming data.
Regarding to the workflow concerning the plurality of comparison operations, if the result of the first comparison operation does not match, then perform one bit offset (step S 409 ), conducting the next comparison operation, and determining again if this matches such a offset amount; if not, repeat another bit offset and so on, until the correct synchronization code with LSB first is located, obtaining the correct synchronization code position (step S 411 ). When the correct offset is found, reverse the data into the data format with MSB first, then output it in a data type of byte.
Since the aforementioned preferred embodiment transmits data based on a byte type using 8 bits as one set, the possible offsets ranges from 0 (no offset) to 7 bits of offset, therefore the objective of the present invention is directed not only to search for the correct synchronization code with at most 8 comparison operations, but also designs 8 comparators, each has a synchronization code with one offset condition, performing 8 different comparison operation, so as to locate the correct position of synchronization code.
To implement the workflow illustrated in FIG. 4 , the present invention provides an embodiment for the invention method of determining synchronization code under SMIA, as shown in FIG. 5 .
The data receiving unit 51 receives the data signal between mobile devices under SMIA, and since the image under SMIA is transmitted in a data type of LSB first, thus, as soon as entering into the decoder, it will be converted into a data type of MSB first. While the present invention is directed to the synchronization code with LSB first for performing comparison operation, it is necessary to execute order transformation by the first data sorting unit 53 shown in the figure, generating the data type of LSB first, then temporarily stored into the storage unit 55 .
Thereafter, perform the first comparison operation on the LSB first data by the first comparison unit 501 , deciding whether the LSB first data matches the offset set in the first comparison unit; if not, then send the data to the second comparison unit 502 for performing the second comparison operation. Similarly, if not, send the data to the third comparison unit 503 for performing the third comparison operation, etc., and at most through the comparison operations from the fourth comparison operation in the fourth comparison unit 504 , the fifth comparison operation in the fifth comparison unit 505 , the sixth comparison operation in the sixth comparison unit 506 , the seventh comparison operation in the seventh comparison unit 507 and the eighth comparison operation in the eighth comparison unit 508 . Once the position of the synchronization code with LSB first is located, the subsequent operations will be skipped, indicating the correct position is found, which means the acquisition of correctly translated bit flow. Finally, convert the LSB first data into data of general type by means of the second data sorting unit 57 , i.e. the data type of MSB first.
FIG. 6 shows a bit value diagram of the comparison operations used by the present invention. Suppose the synchronization code with LSB first should be 4 bytes, such as 00000000 11111111 00000000 00000000. However, due to data error, or some error in the synchronization code specifying the image data, the received synchronization code with LSB first may generate an offset of 4 bits, which thus become 0000 00001111 11110000 00000000 0000 spanning over 5 bytes. Therefore, the present invention needs to provide comparators accommodating at least 5 byte data, or employing comparison operations with at least 5 bytes.
For example, if the received synchronization code with LSB first has an offset of 4 bits, such as ****0000 00001111 11110000 00000000 0000**** shown in data 60 . At this moment, the bit values used by each comparator or comparison operation are required to be as below, wherein * represents the portion without value:
for data 601 used in the first comparison operation:
00000000 11111111 00000000 00000000 ********
for data 602 used in the second comparison operation:
*0000000 01111111 10000000 00000000 0*******
for data 603 used in the third comparison operation:
**000000 00111111 11000000 00000000 00******
for data 604 used in the fourth comparison operation:
***00000 00011111 11100000 00000000 000*****
for data 605 used in the fifth comparison operation:
****0000 00001111 11110000 00000000 0000****
for data 606 used in the sixth comparison operation:
*****000 00000111 11111000 00000000 00000***
for data 607 used in the seventh comparison operation:
******00 00000011 11111100 00000000 000000**
for data 608 used in the eighth comparison operation:
*******0 00000001 11111110 00000000 0000000*
As can be seen from the above bit values used by each comparison operation, every situation of different offsets has been fully contemplated. In actual operation, it will first go through the first comparison operation; if it does not match the received bit value, then perform the second comparison operation which offsets one bit, and so on, until the correct result is obtained and stop the rest of operations.
In summary, the inventive method of determining synchronization code under SMIA considers the conditions of synchronization code offset generated upon the occurrence of data error during transmission, hence by using iterative comparison operation to find the correct synchronization code position, thus obtaining the correctly translated data.
The above-mentioned descriptions represent merely the preferred embodiment of the present invention, without any intention to delineate the scope of the present invention thereto. Therefore, all equivalent changes, alternations or modifications in structure made by utilizing, or based on, the disclosed specification and appended figures of the present invention are reasonably considered to fall within the scope of the present invention.
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A method for determining the synchronization code under a standard mobile imaging architecture is provided. This method is essentially to solve any possible error occurring as transferring the images among the mobile devices. If any error is occurred to the transferred bit stream, it will cause fault in the image data. Consequently, the present invention provides an approach to compare every input data with iterative comparison operation, so as to obtain the position of synchronization codes under SMIA. Therefore, the correct synchronization code will solve the possible error translation.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates to wireless radiofrequency communication, and more specifically, to methods of signal modulation for communication using multiple-antenna arrays.
ART BACKGROUND
[0002] In wireless communication, certain advantages are offered by the use of multiple antenna elements for transmission, whether with one or with more than one receiving antenna element. These advantages include the potential to mitigate fading effects, and the potential to increase data transmission rates in a propagation channel of given characteristics.
[0003] A variety of schemes have been proposed for modulating data to be transmitted from a multiple-element array. In some of these schemes, referred to generally as space-time modulation, the data are transmitted in the form of codewords distributed in space—i.e., across the antenna array—and in time. Such a codeword comprises a plurality of complex-valued amplitudes modulated onto a carrier wave.
[0004] Within a given time interval, referred to as a symbol interval, a complex amplitude (which might be zero) is transmitted from each element of the antenna array. Conversely, at each element of the array, a sequence of amplitudes is transmitted over a succession of symbol intervals. The concurrent transmission of amplitudes from the elements of the array during one symbol interval is referred to as a channel use.
[0005] A codeword of the kind described above can be represented by a matrix. The respective entries of the matrix are proportional to the complex amplitudes to be transmitted. Each column of the matrix corresponds, e.g., to a respective transmitting antenna, and each row corresponds, e.g., to a respective symbol interval.
[0006] A variety of schemes have also been proposed for recovering the transmitted data from signals received by a single receiving antenna or a multiple-element receiving antenna array. Mathematical models of the propagation channel between the transmitting and receiving antennas generally include a matrix of channel coefficients, each such coefficient relating the amplitude received at a given element of the receiving array to the amplitude transmitted from a given element of the transmitting array. In some of the known reception schemes, the channel coefficients are assumed to be known, exemplarily from measurements made using pilot signals.
[0007] When the channel coefficients are known, methods of signal recovery can be used that effectively invert the channel matrix. Both direct and indirect methods are known for effectively inverting the channel matrix. Among the indirect methods are Maximum Likelihood (ML) detectors. Given an estimate of the channel matrix and a received signal, an ML detector computes a likelihood score for each of a plurality of candidate codewords, and selects that candidate codeword that yields the highest score. Because of noise and uncertainties in the channel coefficients due to fading, received signals are generally corrupted to a greater or lesser extent. Thus, it is advantageous to use codewords for which the likelihood scores have high discriminating power, even in the presence of fading and noise.
[0008] One known method of space time modulation is V-BLAST. In V-BLAST, an initial stream of data is apportioned into separate sequences of amplitudes, each of which is independently transmitted from one of the transmitting antenna elements. In effect, the codeword can be represented by a row vector having M entries, where M is the number of transmitting antennas. The single row represents a single symbol interval. Typically, a new codeword is transmitted in each symbol interval. The independent sequence of amplitudes transmitted by each antenna can be referred to as a substream because it contains a respective subset of the data in the initial data stream.
[0009] Several schemes have been described for recovering V-BLAST signals. Some such schemes use ML detectors. According to another such scheme, the entries of the transmitted vector are recovered one-by-one, with each successive recovery utilizing the results of the previous recoveries. One example of such a scheme is described in the co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/438,900, filed Nov. 12, 1999 by B. Hassibi under the title “Method and Apparatus for Receiving Wireless Transmissions Using Multiple-Antenna Arrays,” and commonly assigned herewith.
[0010] V-BLAST is advantageous in that it can be used for communication at relatively high data rates without excessive computational complexity in the decoding of the received signals. However, the decoding schemes that offer the lowest complexity require that the number N of receiving antennas must equal or exceed the number M of transmitting antennas. Such a requirement is disadvantageous when, for example, a large installation such as a base station is transmitting to a small installation such as a hand-held mobile wireless terminal.
[0011] Another method of space time modulation is described in S. M. Alamouti, “A simple transmitter diversity scheme for wireless communications,” IEEE J. Sel. Area Comm. (October 1998) 1451-1458. In the Alamouti scheme, each codeword is distributed over two transmit antennas and two symbol intervals. Each codeword is determined by two distinct complex amplitudes, each belonging to a respective substream. In the first symbol interval, one of the amplitudes is transmitted from the first antenna, and the other amplitude is transmitted from the second antenna. In the second symbol interval, the complex amplitudes are interchanged between the two antennas, one of the complex amplitudes changes sign, and the complex conjugates of the resulting amplitudes are transmitted. Significantly, when a codeword of this kind is expressed in the form of a matrix, the matrix has orthogonal columns.
[0012] One drawback of the Alamouti scheme is that it makes the most efficient use of the theoretical information capacity of the propagation channel only when there is a single receiving antenna. The channel capacity is used less efficiently when further receiving antennas are added. Thus, gains that might otherwise be expected in data rate and fading resistance from multiple-antenna receiving arrays are not fully realized.
[0013] Extensions of the Alamouti scheme to more than two transmitting antennas and more than two symbol intervals per codeword are also known. The Alamouti scheme and its extensions are referred to generally as orthogonal designs because the matrices that represent the codewords are required to be orthogonal; that is, each column of such a matrix is orthogonal to every other column of the matrix. A further requirement of orthogonal designs is that for a matrix to represent a codeword, all columns of the matrix must have the same energy. In this regard, the “energy” of a column is the scalar product of that column with its complex conjugate.
[0014] Until now, there has been an unmet need for a space-time modulation scheme that can handle high data rates with relatively low decoding complexity and that uses the potentially available channel capacity with relatively high efficiency for any combination (M, N) of transmission and reception antennas.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0015] We have invented such a scheme. Our scheme uses space-time matrices to spread the transmission of data over two or more transmit antennas and/or over two or more symbol intervals. ( A “matrix” in this regard may consist of a single column or a single row.) Initially, blocks of data are encoded as complex amplitudes selected from a finite set of such amplitudes. (Complex values include those that are pure real and pure imaginary.) We refer to, each selected complex amplitude as a “symbol,” and we refer to the finite set as a “constellation.” If the constellation has r elements, then each symbol carries log 2 r bits of information.
[0016] The constellation is predetermined, and also a fixed, finite set of space-time matrices is predetermined. We refer to the matrices in this set as “dispersion matrices.” In the following discussion of an exemplary embodiment of the invention, we let Q represent the number of dispersion matrices in the fixed, finite set.
[0017] In transmission, Q symbols are transmitted concurrently. Each of the Q symbols to be transmitted is multiplied by a respective dispersion matrix. A composite matrix, proportional to the sum of all Q dispersion matrices multiplied by their corresponding symbols, is transmitted according to the principles of space-time modulation described above.
[0018] The elements of the dispersion matrices are advantageously selected according to a procedure that seeks to drive the rate at which data can be sent and received toward the information-theoretic channel capacity.
[0019] We have found that orthogonal designs fall significantly short of achieving the information-theoretic capacity of the channel whenever there are more than two transmitting antennas or more than one receiving antenna.
[0020] In contrast to transmission methods using orthogonal designs, our method does not constrain the columns of the transmitted, composite matrix to be orthogonal or to have equal energies.
[0021] In reception, knowledge of the dispersion matrices is used to recover the Q symbols from the received signals corresponding to the composite matrix that was transmitted.
[0022] In a broader aspect of the invention, the total number of dispersion matrices is 2Q. Half of the dispersion matrices are used to spread the real parts of the Q symbols, and the other half are used to spread the imaginary parts of the Q symbols. Alternatively, half of the dispersion matrices are used to spread the Q symbols, and the other half are used to spread the complex conjugates of the Q symbols.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0023] [0023]FIG. 1 is a conceptual drawing of a multiple-antenna wireless communication system of the prior art.
[0024] [0024]FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing the operation of linear dispersion coding according to the invention in some embodiments.
[0025] [0025]FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the application of a criterion on the maximality of mutual information for designing a linear dispersion code according to the invention in some embodiments.
[0026] [0026]FIG. 4 is a graph showing the theoretical performance of certain coding techniques in terms of bit-error rate (ber) or block-error rate (bler) as a function of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Compared in the figure are the results of theoretical modeling of a linear dispersion code (solid curves labeled “LD Code”) and an orthogonal design (broken curves labeled “OD”).
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0027] Certain general features of space-time modulation will now be described with reference to FIG. 1. Let there be M transmit antennas 10 . 1 - 10 .M, and N receive antennas 15 . 1 - 15 .M. Let the propagation channel be reasonably well modeled as a narrow-band, flat-fading channel that is effectively constant and known to the receiver for a duration whose length is at least T symbol intervals. The transmitted signal can then be written as a T×M matrix S that governs the transmission over the M antennas during the interval.
[0028] Illustrated schematically in FIG. 1 is the transmission of the first row of the signal matrix S. During the first of T symbol intervals, the complex amplitude S 11 is modulated onto a radiofrequency carrier and transmitted from antenna 10 . 1 , and each of the remaining complex amplitudes S 12 , . . . , S 1M is modulated onto the carrier and transmitted from a corresponding antenna 10 . 2 , . . . , 10 .M.
[0029] At the receiving end, all of the transmitted amplitudes are intercepted by each of the N receiving antennas 15 . 1 - 15 .N, with varying attenuations and phase delays determined by the characteristics of the propagation channel, which is described by the matrix H of channel coefficients. Thus, after demodulation to baseband, the signal from each receiving antenna resulting from each channel use is a linear combination of the amplitudes S 12 , . . . , S 1M , with complex weights determined by the propagation channel, plus additive noise. The outputs over T symbol intervals, corresponding to the response of the receiver to the transmission of matrix S, can be represented as a T×N matrix X+V, where X contains the linear combinations described above, and V contains the additive noise. Illustrated schematically in FIG. 1 is the receipt of the first row of matrix X+V.
[0030] Certain features of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIG. 2. The steps shown in FIG. 2 are merely illustrative. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that numerous alternative procedures will bring about equivalent results, and thus fall within the scope and spirit of the present invention.
[0031] A sequence 20 of data, exemplarily a binary sequence of 0's and 1's, is parsed into substreams. In the example shown, the number Q of substreams is 3 , and each block of data in a substream carries three bits of information. A block 25 of data from each substream is mapped to a symbol 30 selected from constellation 35 . The illustrative constellation shown in FIG. 2 is a set of eight uniformly spaced points on the unit circle in the complex plane. More typically, the constellation will be an r-PSK or r-QAM constellation.
[0032] In the example shown, the image of each block of data is a respective one of the symbols s 1 ,s 2 ,s 3 . Each of these symbols directly multiplies a respective dispersion matrix A 1 ,A 2 ,A 3 . In process 40 , the complex conjugate is taken of each symbol, thus generating a further symbol. Each of the resulting complex conjugates multiplies a respective dispersion matrix B 1 , B 2 , B 3 . In process 45 , which is represented in the figure as a summation element, the signal matrix S is constructed by summing the six dispersion matrices, with each weighted by its corresponding symbol.
[0033] More generally, Q symbols s 1 , . . . , s Q are selected from an appropriate constellation. The signal matrix S is constructed according to:
S = ∑ q = 1 Q ( α q A q + j β q B q ) , ( 1 )
[0034] where
s q =α q +jβ q , q= 1, . . . Q. (2)
[0035] We refer to a code of this kind as a rate R=(Q/T)log 2 r linear dispersion (LD) code. The code is completely specified by the fixed T×M complex matrices A 1 , . . . , A Q and B 1 , . . . , B Q , which we refer to as dispersion matrices. Each individual codeword is determined by the scalars {s 1 , . . . , s Q }.
[0036] Alternatively, S is expressed by:
S = ∑ q = 1 Q ( s q C q + s q * D q ) , ( 3 )
[0037] where the C q and D q are the fixed T×M dispersion matrices.
[0038] In specific implementations, one or more of the A q or B q , or one or more of the C q or D q , matrices could be zero. In fact, it is essential only that there be at least Q non-zero dispersion matrices.
[0039] As noted above, in a narrow-band, flat-fading, multi-antenna communication system with M transmit and N receive antennas, the transmitted and received signals are related by a linear relationship. We here represent that relationship by:
x = ρ M Hs + υ , ( 4 )
[0040] where the complex N-dimensional vector x denotes the vector of complex received signals during any given channel use, the complex M-dimensional vector s denotes the vector of complex transmitted signals, the complex N×M matrix H denotes the channel matrix, and the complex N-dimensional vector v denotes additive noise which, for purposes of theoretical analysis, is assumed to be spatially and temporally white; i.e., to be CN (0,1) (zero-mean, unit-variance, complex-Gaussian) distributed. For analytical purposes, the channel matrix H and transmitted vector s are assumed to have unit variance entries, implying that E tr HH*=MN and Es*s=M, where E (.)denotes the statistical expected value. Assuming that the quantities H, s, and υ are random and independent, the normalization
ρ M
[0041] in Eq. (4) will insure that ρ is the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the receiver independently of M. For analytical purposes, it is also often (although not invariably) assumed that the channel matrix H also has CN (0,1) entries.
[0042] The entries of the channel matrix are assumed to be known to the receiver but not to the transmitter. This assumption is reasonable if training or pilot signals are sent to learn the channel, which is then constant for some coherence interval. The coherence interval of the channel is preferably large compared to M.
[0043] When the channel is effectively constant for at least T channel uses we may write for each symbol interval t,
x t = ρ M Hs t + υ t , t = 1 , … , T , ( 5 )
[0044] so that defining X T =[x 1 x 2 . . . x T ], S T =[s 1 s 2 . . . s T ] and V T =[υ 1 υ 2 . . . υ T ], we obtain
X T = ρ M HS T + V T . ( 6 )
[0045] It is generally more convenient to write this equation in its transposed form
X = ρ M SH + V , ( 7 )
[0046] where we have omitted the transpose notation from H and simply redefined this matrix to have dimension M×N. The complex T×N matrix X is the received signal, the complex T×M matrix S is the transmitted signal, and the complex T×N matrix V is the additive CN (0,1) noise. In X, S, and V, time runs vertically and space runs horizontally.
[0047] We note that, in general, the number of T×M matrices S needed in a codebook can be quite large. If the rate in bits/channel use is denoted R, then the number of matrices is 2 RT . For example, with M=4 transmit and N=2 receive antennas the channel capacity at ρ=20 dB (with CN (0,1) distributed H) is more than 12 bits/channel use. Even with a relatively small block size of T=4, we need 2 48 ≈10 14 matrices at rate R=12.
[0048] LD codes can readily generate the very large constellations that are needed. Moreover, because of their structure, they also allow efficient real-time decoding.
[0049] Decoding. An important property of the LD codes is their linearity in the variables {α q ,β q }, leading to efficient decoding schemes such as those used in connection with V-BLAST. To see this, it is useful to write the block equation
X = ρ M SH + V = ρ M ∑ q = 1 Q ( α q A q + j β q B q ) H + V ( 8 )
[0050] in a more convenient form. We decompose the matrices in Eq. (8) into their real and imaginary parts to obtain
X R + j X 1 = ρ M ∑ q = 1 Q [ α q ( A R , q + j A I , q ) + j β ( B R , q + j B I , q ) ] ( H R + j H 1 ) + V R + j V I . ( 9 )
[0051] Denoting the columns of X R , X 1 , H R , H 1 , V R , and V 1 by x r,n , x I,1 , h R,n , h I,n , v R,n , and v I,n , where n=1, . . . , N, we form the single real system of equations
[ x R , 1 x I , 1 ⋮ x R , N x I , N ] = ρ M H ~ [ α 1 β 1 ⋮ α Q β Q ] + [ υ R , 1 υ I , 1 ⋮ υ R , N υ I , N ] , ( 10 )
[0052] where the equivalent 2NT×2Q real channel matrix is given by
H = [ [ A R , 1 - A I , 1 A I , 1 A R , 1 ] [ h R , 1 h I , 1 ] [ - B I , 1 - B R , 1 B R , 1 - B I , 1 ] [ h R , 1 h I , 1 ] … [ A R , Q - A I , Q A I , Q A R , Q ] [ h R , 1 h I , 1 ] [ - B I , Q - B R , Q B R , Q - B I , Q ] [ h R , 1 h I , 1 ] ⋮ ⋮ ⋰ ⋮ ⋮ [ A R , 1 - A I , 1 A I , 1 A R , 1 ] [ h R , N h I , N ] [ - B I , 1 - B R , 1 B R , 1 - B I , 1 ] [ h R , N h I , N ] … [ A R , Q - A I , Q A I , Q A R , Q ] [ h R , N h I , N ] [ - B I , Q - B R , Q B R , Q - B I , Q ] [ h R , N h I , N ] ] ( 11 )
[0053] We now introduce the following definitions:
[ x R , 1 x I , 1 ⋮ x R , N x I , N ] = Δ x ~ ; [ α 1 β 1 ⋮ α Q β Q ] = Δ s ~ ; [ υ R , 1 υ I , 1 ⋮ υ R , N υ I , N ] = Δ v . ( 12 )
[0054] We have a linear relation between the input and output vectors {tilde over (s)} and {tilde over (x)}, respectively:
x ~ = ρ M H ~ s ~ + υ , ( 13 )
[0055] where the equivalent channel {tilde over (H)} is known to the receiver because the original channel H, and the dispersion matrices {A q , B q } are all known to the receiver. (Those skilled in the art will appreciate that an equivalent treatment can be formulated in terms of the dispersion matrices {C q , D q } in place of the matrices {A q , B q }. The matrices {C q , D q } are defined by Eq. (3), above.)
[0056] The receiver simply uses Eq. (11) to find the equivalent channel. The system of equations between transmitter and receiver is not undetermined as long as
Q≦NT.
[0057] We may therefore use any decoding technique already known for use, e.g., with V-BLAST, such as successive nulling and cancellation, its efficient square-root implementation, or sphere decoding. The most efficient implementations of these schemes generally require O(Q 3 ) computations and have roughly constant complexity in the size of the signal constellation r. Sphere decoding, which is an efficient species of maximum-likelihood decoding, will in at least some cases be particularly advantageous.
[0058] Design of the dispersion matrices. In a broad sense, the mutual information between the input vector {tilde over (s)} and the output vector {tilde over (x)} is a measure of channel capacity as constrained by our definition of the “equivalent channel,” and contingent on the choice of dispersion matrices. When maximized, the mutual information expresses the maximum data rate achievable through the use of linear dispersion codes as described here, for given values of Q and T and for given numbers of transmit and receive antennas.
[0059] For purposes of the exemplary design method to be described below, we now define the mutual information between the input vector {tilde over (s)} and the output vector {tilde over (x)} as
1 2 T E log det ( I 2 NT + ρ M H ~ H ~ T ) ,
[0060] where E (.) denotes the statistical expected value, I 2NT is the identity matrix of dimension 2NT, and {tilde over (H)} T is the transpose of the matrix {tilde over (H)}.
[0061] As a general practice, we find it useful to take Q=min(M,N)T since this tends to maximize the mutual information between {tilde over (s)} and {tilde over (x)} while still having some coding effects.
[0062] We choose {A q ,B q } to maximize the mutual information between {tilde over (s)} and {tilde over (x)}. We formalize the design criterion as follows.
[0063] 1. Choose Q≦NT (typically, Q=min(M,N)T).
[0064] 2. Choose {A q , B q } that solve the optimization problem
C LD ( ρ , T , M , N ) = max A q , B q , q = 1 , … Q 1 2 T E log det ( I 2 NT + ρ M H ~ H ~ T ) ( 14 )
[0065] subject to one of the following constraints
Σ q=1 Q ( trA q *A q trB q *B q )=2 TM
[0066] [0066] tr A q * A q = tr B q * B q = TM Q , q = 1 , … Q (ii) A q * A q = B q * B q = T Q I M , q = 1 , … Q (iii)
[0067] where {tilde over (H)} is given by Eq. (11) with the entries of h R,n and h I,n having independent N(0,½) entries. (In our theoretical studies, we have assumed that the channel matrix H has independent CN(0,1) entries. However, our mutual information criterion is also readily applied for designing linear dispersion codes appropriate to channels described by other statistical distributions.)
[0068] The problem expressed by Eq. (14) can be solved subject to any of the constraints (i)-(iii). Constraint (i) is simply the power constraint of Eq. (8) that ensures E tr SS*=TM. Constraint (ii) is more restrictive and ensures that each of the transmitted signals α q and β q are transmitted with the same overall power from the M antennas during the T channel uses. Finally, constraint (iii) is the most stringent, since it forces the signals α q and β q to be dispersed with equal energy in all spatial and temporal directions.
[0069] We have empirically found that of two codes with similar mutual informations, the one satisfying the more stringent constraint performs better.
[0070] The constraints (i)-(iii) are convex in the dispersion matrices {A q ,B q }. However, the cost function
1 2 T E log det ( I 2 NT + ρ M H ~ H ~ T )
[0071] is neither concave nor convex in the variables {A q ,B q }. Therefore, it is possible that Eq. (14) has local maxima. Nevertheless, we have been able to solve Eq. (14) with relative ease using gradient-based methods and it does not appear that local minima pose a great problem.
[0072] The block length T is essentially also a design variable. Although it must be chosen shorter than the coherence time of the channel, it can be varied to help the optimization of Eq. (14). We have found that choosing M≦T≦2M often yields good performance.
[0073] It should be noted that any code designed for a given number of receive antennas is also readily used for a greater number of receive antennas.
[0074] With reference to FIG. 3, there is input at block 50 of that figure a statistical description of the propagation channel H. At block 60 , the block length T, the size M of the transmit array, and the size N of the receiving array are provided to the processor. At block 65 , the number Q is specified. At block 70 , the optimization problem is solved to determine the set of 2Q dispersion matrices that maximizes the mutual information. At block 75 the processor outputs the dispersion matrices and the equivalent channel matrix {tilde over (H)}. At block 80 , a calculated value of the mutual information is output by the processor.
EXAMPLE
[0075] We will present an orthogonal design of block length T=4 for M=3 transmit antennas, and will then compare the orthogonal design to a linear dispersion code for M=3 transmit antennas and N=1 receive antennas. The orthogonal design is written in terms of {α q } and {β q } as
S = 4 3 [ α 1 + j β 1 α 2 + j β 2 α 3 + j β 3 - α 2 + j β 2 α 1 - j β 1 0 - α 3 + j β 3 0 α 1 - i β 1 0 - α 3 + j β 3 α 2 - i β 2 ] . ( 15 )
[0076] It turns out that this orthogonal design is also an LD code because, as we have found, it is a solution to Eq. (14) for T=4 and Q=3. It achieves a mutual information of 5.13 bits/channel use at ρ=20 dB, whereas the channel capacity is 6.41 bits/channel use.
[0077] To find a better LD code, we first observe that it is advantageous for Q to obey the constraint Q≦NT, with N=1 and T=4. Therefore Q≦4, and we choose Q=4. After optimizing (14) using a gradient-based search, we find:
S = [ α 1 + α 3 + j [ β 2 + β 3 2 + β 4 ] α 2 - α 4 2 j [ β 1 2 + β 2 - β 3 2 ] 0 - α 2 + α 4 2 - j [ β 1 2 + β 2 - β 3 2 ] α 1 - j β 2 + β 3 2 - α 2 + α 4 2 + j [ β 1 2 - β 2 - β 3 2 ] 0 α 2 + α 4 2 + j [ β 1 2 - β 2 - β 3 2 ] α 1 - α 3 + j [ β 2 + β 3 2 - β 4 ] α 2 - α 4 2 + j [ β 1 2 + β 2 - β 3 2 ] - α 3 + j β 4 - α 2 + α 4 2 + j [ β 1 2 - β 2 - β 3 2 ] ] ( 16 )
[0078] This code has a mutual information of 6.25 bits/channel use at ρ=20 dB, which is most of the channel capacity. FIG. 4 compares the performance of the orthogonal design of Eq. (15) with the LD code of Eq. (16) at rate R=6. (The rate of either code is (Q/T) log 2 r; we achieve R=6 by having the orthogonal design send 256-QAM, and the LD code send 64-QAM.) The decoding in both cases is the efficient form of nulling/cancelling described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/438,900. We see from FIG. 4 that the LD code performs uniformly better. It is worth noting that the matrix S in Eq. (16) has orthogonal columns.
[0079] Mathematical Details
[0080] Normalization of the dispersion matrices. For purposes of theoretical analysis, we have assumed that the transmit signal S is normalized such that E tr SS*=TM. This induces the following normalization on the matrices {A a ,B q }:
∑ q = 1 Q ( tr A q * A q + tr B q * B q ) = 2 TM . ( 8 )
[0081] Mathematical formulas for use in solving the optimization problem. In this section, we compute the gradient of the cost function of Eq. (14). To help compute this gradient, we rewrite the cost function in Eq. (14) as
1 2 T E log det ( I 2 NT + ρ M ∑ q = 1 Q [ A ~ q ⋯ 0 ⋮ ⋰ ⋮ 0 ⋯ A ~ q ] [ H ~ 1 ⋮ H ~ N ] [ H ~ 1 ⋮ H ~ N ] T [ A ~ q ⋯ 0 ⋮ ⋰ ⋮ 0 ⋯ A ~ q ] T + ( B ~ q ← A ~ q ) ) ( 17 )
[0082] where for q=1, . . . , Q and n=1, . . . , N, we have defined
A ~ q = [ A R , q - A I , q A I , q A R , q ] , B ~ q = [ - B I , q - B R , q B R , q - B I , q ] , H ~ n = [ h R , n h I , n ] . ( 18 )
[0083] The subscript “R” denotes “real part”, and “I” denotes “imaginary part”.
[0084] Define the matrix appearing in the log det(.) of Eq. (17) as Z. That is,
Z = ( I 2 NT + ρ M ∑ q = 1 Q [ A ~ q ⋯ 0 ⋮ ⋰ ⋮ 0 ⋯ A ~ q ] [ H ~ 1 ⋮ H ~ N ] [ H ~ 1 ⋮ H ~ N ] T [ A ~ q ⋯ 0 ⋮ ⋰ ⋮ 0 ⋯ A ~ q ] T + ( B ~ q ← A ~ q ) ) .
[0085] Define:
P q = E ( Z - 1 [ H ~ 1 ⋮ H ~ N ] [ H ~ 1 T ⋯ H ~ N T ] [ A ~ 1 ⋯ 0 ⋮ ⋰ ⋮ 0 ⋯ A ~ q ] ) , ( 19 ) R q = E ( Z - 1 [ H ~ 1 ⋮ H ~ N ] [ H ~ 1 T ⋯ H ~ N T ] [ B ~ q ⋯ 0 ⋮ ⋰ ⋮ 0 ⋯ B ~ q ] ) . ( 20 )
[0086] The gradients of the cost function
f = 1 2 T E · log det Z
[0087] are given by:
[ ∂ f ( A R , q ) ∂ A R , q ] ij = 2 ρ TM ∑ n = 1 N ( P q , i + ( 2 n - 2 ) T , j + ( 2 n - 2 ) M + P q , i + ( 2 n - 1 ) T , j + ( 2 n - 1 ) M ) ( 21 ) [ ∂ f ( A I , q ) ∂ A I , q ] ij = 2 ρ TM ∑ n = 1 N ( P q , i + ( 2 n - 1 ) T , j + ( 2 n - 2 ) M - P q , i + ( 2 n - 2 ) T , j + ( 2 n - 1 ) M ) ( 22 ) [ ∂ f ( B R , q ) ∂ B R , q ] ij = 2 ρ TM ∑ n = 1 N ( R q , i + ( 2 n - 1 ) T , j + ( 2 n - 2 ) M - R q , i + ( 2 n - 2 ) T , j + ( 2 n - 1 ) M ) ( 23 ) [ ∂ f ( B I , q ) ∂ B I , q ] ij = - 2 ρ TM ∑ n = 1 N ( R q , i + ( 2 n - 2 ) T , j + ( 2 n - 2 ) M + R q , i + ( 2 n - 1 ) T , j + ( 2 n - 1 ) M ) . ( 24 )
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In a method of wireless transmission, space time matrices are used to spread the transmission of data over two or more transmit antennas and/or over two or more symbol intervals. Initially, blocks of data are encoded as symbols, each being a complex amplitude selected from a symbol constellation. A finite set of space-time matrices, referred to as “dispersion matrices,” is predetermined. In transmission, a group of symbols are transmitted concurrently. Each of the symbols to be transmitted is multiplied by a respective dispersion matrix. Thus, a composite matrix, proportional to a sum of dispersion matrices multiplied by their corresponding symbols, is modulated onto a carrier and transmitted. In reception, knowledge of the dispersion matrices is used to recover the transmitted symbols from the received signals corresponding to the composite matrix that was transmitted.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority of Provisional Application Ser. No. ______, filed on Jan. 9, 2007, which is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] This invention relates generally to the field optical communications and in particular to an optical modulator for creating a high-speed optical data signal.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Next generation Ethernet is likely to have a data rate around 100 Gb/s. One possibility to accomplish 100-Gb/s transmission is the use of a multiplex of parallel lower-speed channels. However, the parallel approach typically has a low spectral efficiency, requires temporal de-skewing among channels, and has a large footprint or consumes significant chip real-estate. Another possibility is the use of a single 100-Gb/s serial channel. With a multi-level modulation format, such as differential quadrature phase-shift keying (DQPSK), in which the data is encoded using four different phase levels, the serial approach can have a high spectral efficiency, and there is no need for de-skewing. Many existing 10-Gb/s systems use pluggable transceivers. It would be highly desirable to make a 100-Gb/s multi-level modulator that is small enough to fit in a pluggable transceiver.
[0004] DQPSK modulators demonstrated to date have been too large for a pluggable transceiver because they employ phase modulators based on GaAs or LiNbO 3 . A reported GaAs DQPSK modulator was 52 mm long, R. Griffin, R. Johnstone, R. Walker, S. Wadsworth, A. Carter, and M. Wale, “Integrated DQPSK transmitter for dispersion-tolerant and dispersion-managed DWDM transmission,” Optical Fiber Communication Conference, paper FP6, 2003, and a reported LiNbO 3 DQPSK modulator was more than 43 mm long, K. Higuma, S. Mori, T. Kawanishi, and M. Izutsu, “A bias condition monitor technique for the nested Mach-Zehnder modulator,” IEICE Electronics Express, vol. 3, pp. 238-242, 2006. These modulators use a traditional DQPSK modulator design consisting of a nested pair of Mach-Zehnder modulators.
[0005] The existing modulators are so long because of the relatively weak electro-optic effect in GaAs and LiNbO 3 . A solution is to make this design in InP, which has a much stronger electro-optic effect in the C-band by using the quantum-confined Stark effect. However, despite an increased electro-refractive effect, a phase shifter in InP with a reasonable V π is still quite long, 0.5, L. Zhang, J. Sinsky, D. Van Thourhout, N. Sauer, L. Stulz, A. Adamiecki, and S. Chandrasekhar, “Low-voltage high-speed traveling wave InGaAsP—InP phase modulator,” IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., vol. 16, pp. 1831-1833, August 2004 to 4 mm, H. N. Klein, H. Chen, D. Hoffmann, S. Staroske, A. G. Steffan, and K.-O. Velthaus, “1.55 μm Mach-Zehnder modulators on InP for optical 40/80 Gbit/s transmission networks,” Integrated Photonics Research M, paper TuA2.4, 2006, and so requires a traveling-wave structure. A traveling-wave structure in InP is highly demanding to fabricate.
[0006] Thus there is a need for a new approach to making a DQPSK modulator.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] I have developed—according to the present invention—a highly compact DQPSK modulator design. The design is so compact because it uses the electro-absorption (EA) effect rather than the electro-refraction effect, and because it requires only one interferometer.
[0008] The modulator consists of an at least three-arm interferometer with EA modulators (EAMs) in at least two of the at least three arms. This device can be made fully integrated in a semiconductor material such as InP.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0009] A more complete understanding of the present invention may be realized by reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
[0010] FIG. 1 is a schematic of a prior art DQPSK modulator;
[0011] FIG. 2 is a schematic of an embodiment of the present invention;
[0012] FIG. 3 is are schematics and photographs of an optical device according to the present invention; FIG. 3 a is a schematic of the optical modulator, stretched vertically for clarity; FIG. 3 b is a cross-section of the waveguide structure in the EAM; FIG. 3 c is a photograph of the actual modulator (the size is 1.5 mm×0.25 mm); and FIG. 3 d is a zoomed-in photograph of the left-hand star coupler;
[0013] FIG. 4 is a series of diagrams explaining how the present invention works;
[0014] FIG. 5 is a measured eye diagram of a demodulated DQPSK signal generated by our invention at 107 Gb/s;
[0015] FIG. 6 is a reflective embodiment of the present invention; and
[0016] FIG. 7 is another reflective embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0017] A prior art DQPSK modulator design is shown in FIG. 1 . It consists of two small Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) contained within a large MZI. Each small MZI constains phase modulators, 100 . This modulator is large in size because it has multiple stages and because phase modulators are long. Also, high-speed phase modulators are challenging to fabricate because of their traveling-wave nature.
[0018] Our proposal to make a compact DQPSK modulator is to instead use the electro-absorption (EA) effect in InP. An InP EA modulator (EAM) can be as short as 100 μm. Thus, up to modulation bandwidths of 40-50 GHz, the EAM can be operated as a lumped element instead of a traveling-wave structure, R. G. Walker, “High-speed III-V semiconductor intensity modulators,” IEEE J. Quant. Electron, vol. 27, pp. 654-667, March 1991, and H. Kawanishi, Y. Yamauchi, N. Mineo, Y. Shibuya, H. Murai, K. Yamada, and H. Wada, “EAM-integrated DFB laser modules with than 40 GHz bandwidth,” IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., vol. 13, pp. 954-956, September 2001, greatly simplifying design and fabrication. Using an EAM for a PSK format was first demonstrated in I. Kang, “Interferometric operation of an electroabsorption modulator for PSK modulation and OOK modulation with performance enhancements,” European Conf. Opt. Comm., paper We3.P.59, 2006 by exciting both polarizations of an EAM. In our design, two EAMs are used in a three-arm interferometer to create the DQPSK signal. Because EAMs have a steep response function of transmission vs. voltage, close to digital phase modulation can be produced, as it is in the case of the nested MZI design. Another advantage to using InP is the monolithic integration potential with a laser and an optical gain element.
[0019] The proposed DQPSK modulator is shown in FIG. 2 . It consists of two EAMs, 200 and 201 , in a three-arm interferometer. The two outer arms have a 90° phase difference, and the center arm has a 135° phase difference from both outer arms. An implemented version is shown in FIG. 3 . The required power splitting ratio of each 1×3 coupler is 37%, 26%, 37% (more precisely, the ratio is √{square root over (2)}:1:√{square root over (2)} all divided by 1+2√{square root over (2)}). If the EAMs have a finite extinction ratio, then the optimum splitting ratio is slightly different. In such a case, the phase of the center arm must be adjusted to account for EAM chirp.
[0020] FIG. 4 explains how the four phase levels of DQPSK are achieved. The four symbols produced by turning on and off the two EAMs lie on the four corners of a square in the complex plane. The center arm is responsible for placing the origin of the complex plane in the middle of the square. For example, when both EAMs are fully attenuating only the center arm transmits light, so the phase is −135° as shown in FIG. 4 a. Setting either EAM to transparency then moves the phasor up (b) or to the right (c). Setting both to transparency moves the phasor to the upper right point (d). The chirp of the EAMs causes the phasor to follow a curved trajectory between the four dots. The inherent transmission through the modulator is 1/(9+4√{square root over (2)})=−11.7 dB, which could be compensated for by integrating a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) in future designs. Note that the signal from the modulator could be considered a DQPSK or a QPSK signal, depending on how it is detected. Essentially, DQPSK is detected using a one-bit-delay interferometer, whereas QPSK is detected by interfering it with a local oscillator. For convenience, we will refer to the modulator only as a DQPSK modulator, realizing that it is a QPSK modulator, as well.
[0021] We now describe the fabrication and testing of an implementation of the present invention. The modulator 300 contains two EAMs and four static phase shifters (see FIGS. 3 a and c ). One static phase shifter is on the upper arm 302 , one on the lower arm 304 , and two on the center arm 306 . The static phase shifters can be driven with a positive or negative voltage. With a negative voltage, the shifter also attenuates. The desired 1×3 coupler power splitting ratio is achieved by using a star coupler 308 with a narrower center waveguide inlet than the inlets of the outer waveguides, as shown in FIG. 3 d. The layer stack is shown in FIG. 3 b. The EAM waveguide width is 1.8 μm (on the mask), and the length is 115 μm.
[0022] The device fabrication is as follows: on a regular 2-inch n-doped InP wafer a 2-μm thick n-doped InP layer is grown, followed by 8 quantum wells (QWs) sandwiched between 10-nm 1.3-μm-bandgap InGaAsP separate confinement layers, a 250-nm undoped InP layer, a 1.4-μm p-doped InP layer with gradually increased doping, and finally a heavily p-doped InGaAs layer. The QWs are 0.3% tensile strained with compressive strained barriers. This layer structure is shown in FIG. 3 b.
[0023] The first processing step is removing the heavily p-doped InGaAs layer over the passive waveguides, mainly for electrical isolation reasons. Then the waveguides are reactive-ion etched using silica as a mask, to a depth of 2.2 μm. Benzocyclobutene (BCB) is then spun on and cured. Ground pads 310 are etched through the BCB to the n-doped InP. Then small openings in the BCB are etched over the modulators and static phase shifters. Then the top-side metal is deposited, patterned via lift-off. Finally the wafer is thinned and back-side metal is deposited. The EAMs and passive waveguides both contain the same QWs. This greatly simplified our fabrication, but also resulted in high loss for the entire device. Future designs will have different bandgaps for the passive waveguides and the EAMs.
[0024] The modulator chip was cleaved out and soldered to a metal submount. Experiments were performed with the modulator at room temperature. The modulator was accessed optically via lensed fibers and electrically via two high-speed probes with internal 50-ohm termination and four single-needle probes. The band edge of the QWs is at ˜1540 nm. The waveguide loss at wavelengths much longer than the band edge is ˜2 dB/mm. For the following experiments we launched a CW wavelength of 1540.3 nm from an external cavity laser into the modulator.
[0025] To generate DQPSK, two high speed probes were applied to the two EAMs and were driven with two delayed and inverted copies of the 53.5-Gb/s data stream. We adjusted the static phase shifters in order to obtain the desired phases of the three arms to generate DQPSK. Unfortunately, the coupling to the center arm was significantly less than 26% (estimated to be 14%) due to larger than expected waveguide undercut, as can be seen by the narrowness of the center waveguide on the right in FIG. 3 d. Because we have only one static phase shifter on each outer arm, the best we could do was attenuate one of the outer arms and phase shift the other. This led to a higher insertion loss and a small eye opening. The fiber-to-fiber insertion loss of the modulator was ˜40 dB at 1540 nm in the DQPSK condition: ˜12 dB is due to inherent loss in the modulator design, ˜2 dB due to the center waveguide having too low of coupling and so having to attenuate an outer arm, ˜6 dB due to fiber coupling, ˜3 dB due to no anti-reflection coatings, ˜4 dB due to star-coupler excess loss, ˜3 dB due to waveguide scattering loss, and ˜10 dB due to absorption in the QWs in the passive sections. The last contribution could be eliminated in the future by using a different bandgap for the passive waveguide than the EAMs, and integrated SOAs could compensate for the other losses. The modulator output was amplified and sent through an 18.7-ps Mach-Zehnder delay interferometer in a silica planar lightwave circuit and finally to a balanced photodetector pair. The measured DQPSK eye diagram 500 is shown in FIG. 5 a 2 7 −1 PRBS.
[0026] We programmed the receiver of the bit-error rate (BER) tester with the expected pattern for DQPSK and measured the BER. With a 2 7 −1 PRBS, the best tributary exhibited a BER of ˜6×10 −4 . With a 2 15 −1 PRBS and using a pulse carver after the modulator, the best tributary exhibited a BER of 1×10 −3 . The BER is mainly limited because of inter-symbol interference and the fact that we could not achieve the desired amplitude and phase in all three arms, as mentioned earlier.
[0027] We just described one of many possible implementations of the present invention. Other possible implementations include using hybrid integration instead of monolithic integration. For example, the EAMs could be in InP, but the passive waveguides and couplers could be silicon or silica. SOAs could be integrated into the interferometer, anywhere in the center arm, but before the modulators in the outer two arms, in order to avoid nonlinear distortion in the SOAs, to provide a higher output power.
[0028] There are also reflective designs to consider. For example, one could use the reflective design of FIG. 6 , in which a mirror, 610 , has been placed in the interferometer 600 . The advantages to this design include a smaller device and a shorter EAM, which gives less capacitance and thus higher speed. An optical circulator is needed to extract the reflected, modulated signal. FIG. 7 shows a similar design for an interferometer 700 wherein a reflective surface 710 is included therein, except that a 2×3 coupler is used, instead of a 1×3 coupler. This eliminates the need for an optical circulator.
[0029] While we have discussed and described our invention using some specific examples, those skilled in the art will recognize that our teachings are not so limited. Accordingly, our invention should be only limited by the scope of the claims attached hereto.
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We present a novel design for an optical differential quadrature phase shift keying modulator comprised of two intensity modulators in a three-arm interferometer.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This Application is a Continuation-in-Part of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/681,798, filed on Oct. 8, 2003, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 10/678,857, filed on Oct. 3, 2003, entitled Flag Pole.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] This invention relates to a flag pole and more specifically, to a flag pole with rotatable flag clips and an electric lamp to illuminate the flag.
[0004] 2. Background art
[0005] The problem of properly displaying a flag is very important since flags must be illuminated at night and should be removed when in inclement weather. Another problem is that on windy days, a flag may become wrapped or “furled” around the pole. People have attempted to solve this situation by having automatic reels and timers. These solutions are often expensive and difficult for the flag owner to operate easily.
[0006] It is an aim of this present invention to present a user-friendly system that will allow a flag owner to display a flag properly under all conditions and for easy removal of the flag. Also, this invention will allow the flag to move easily around the flag pole and not get tangled.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] This invention relates to a flag pole and more specifically, to a flag pole with rotatable flag clips and an electric lamp to illuminate the flag.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] For a further understanding of this present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
[0009] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a flag pole of the present invention.
[0010] FIG. 2 is a detailed view of a connector.
[0011] FIG. 3 is another view of a connector and a portion of the flag pole.
[0012] FIG. 4 is another embodiment of the flag pole.
[0013] FIG. 5 is a still further embodiment of the flag pole.
[0014] FIG. 6 is a plurality of views depicting a preferred flag pole assembly according to the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0015] The problem of a flag wrapping around a pole in the wind is particularly acute when the pole is attached to a bracket on the side of a building, especially when it is positioned at an angle with the building wall. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the flag pole, generally indicated at 10 , that could be used with a 220 voltage power source. The flag pole 10 including a staff 12 with a longitudinal axis 14 and a light 16 on one end. An electrical power cord 18 can be attached to the staff 12 for supplying electricity to the light 16 . In this case, the electrical power cord 18 is shown contained within the staff 12 to protect it from the elements but one skilled in the art would understand that there are other ways to power the light.
[0016] FIG. 1 shows two connectors 20 a , 20 b , also referred to as “wind control flag clips,” mounted on the staff 12 . Each of the connectors includes a sleeve 26 that is free to rotate about the longitudinal axis 14 . The connectors 20 are fixed longitudinally relative to the staff, and thus do not move up and down the staff, but stay in place. The sleeves 26 are capable of being releasably attached to a flag 21 using a clip 22 which attaches to a grommet 24 on the flag 21 or other flag attaching portion of the flag. When so attached, the leading edge of the flag, i.e., the edge of the flag closest to the staff, is substantially unfettered. That is, the flag is not fixed along the leading edge except at the clips 22 . The connectors 20 , and more particularly the sleeves 26 , allow the flag to swing freely 360 ° around the longitudinal axis of the staff and thus the flag does not get wound up or furled on to the staff.
[0017] The connectors in a preferred embodiment further include a rigid connecting rod 25 that is attached at its opposite ends to each of the sleeves 26 . Connecting the sleeves in this fashion ensures that the sleeves rotate in concert about the axis 14 of the flag pole. For example, if the top of the flag is wind blown so its sleeve 26 a turns about the flag pole axis, sleeve 26 b also turns. Forcing the two sleeves 26 a , 26 b to move in concert insures that a wind blown flag does not furl or wrap about the flag pole. This allows the movement of one part of the flag, such as the top, to move another part of the flag, such as the bottom.
[0018] As a further measure to ensure that the sleeves rotate in concert about the axis 14 of the flag pole, the flag pole assembly may further include a pivotal rod connector 80 disposed on the staff intermediate the connectors 20 , as depicted in FIG. 5 . The rod connector 80 preferably includes a sleeve 86 rotatable about the flag pole, and the rod connector 80 preferably is in communication with the rigid connecting rod 25 . For example, the sleeve 86 may include an opening formed transversely therethrough (distinct from the opening in which the staff is received) in which the connector rod 25 is received. Alternatively, a clip 82 may be provided on the sleeve 86 for attachment to the connector rod 25 . The sleeve 86 rotates about the staff 12 in substantially the same manner as which the sleeves 26 a , 26 b rotate about the staff 12 , and thus the connector 80 provides additional rigidity to the connecting rod 25 to further ensure that the entire flag rotates around the staff 12 , for example, when the flag is blown by the wind. Although not necessary, the rod connector 80 preferably is fixed longitudinally on the staff 12 , for example, using clamps 88 similar to those described above with reference to FIG. 2 . Alternatively, the sleeve 86 may be formed in a circumferential indent formed in the staff as discussed above with reference to FIG. 3 . Of course, more than one rod connector 80 may be used for added stability, for example, when relatively larger flags are to be flown.
[0019] FIG. 2 shows the connector 20 as including a sleeve 26 that encircles the staff 12 and is free to rotate about the staff. Although the preferred embodiment does not include roller bearings, the sleeve could contain movement means such as roller bearings, ball bearings or other devices to enhance rotation of the sleeve. Clamps 28 a , 28 b are placed on either side of the sleeve to hold the sleeve in place on the staff 12 . Attached to the sleeve 26 is the clip 22 for attaching to the flag. The clip 22 may consist of one or more parts including a clipping portion 22 a and a holder 22 b . FIG. 2 further shows the rigid rod 25 that connects the sleeves 26 of one connector 20 to the sleeve of the other. This rod 25 preferably is attached directly to the holder 22 b as shown. However, it also can be attached directly to the sleeve portion 26 . As an alternative to the rigid rod 25 , a tubular member (not shown) slidably disposed once the flag pole shaft 12 can be attached at its ends directly to the holder 22 b or sleeve 26 of both connectors.
[0020] The connector 20 , including the sleeve 26 , one or more longitudinally fixable clamps 28 to hold the sleeve on the flag pole 10 , the rod 25 , and the clip 22 can form a flag pole assembly kit for converting a standard flag pole into a flag pole that prevents flag wrapping or furling of the flag around the pole.
[0021] FIG. 1 also shows the light 16 connected to the staff 12 with a threaded coupling 30 connected to an adjustable light socket 32 . The threaded coupling 30 fits into a one half inch compression connector 34 so that the light can sit on the staff 12 . The shaft preferably is a tube that has a 32° bend so that the light 16 will shine on the flag. The light could be a 50 watt halogen, par-20 Philips Masterline Halogen, or other light appropriate for outdoor conditions. This embodiment has a protective cage 36 to protect the flag material from burning if the flag would happen to touch the light 16 .
[0022] The light 16 is connected to a power source by the cord 18 that should be weatherproof with a weatherproof plug, cord caps, and receptacle. The tube forming the staff 12 has an opening (not shown) in the lower end. The cord extends through the lower opening and terminates in a plug that can be inserted into a conventional outdoor electrical socket. A dusk-to-dawn sensor 38 allows the flag to be lit at all times when there is not sufficient light to illuminate the flag. This is necessary in certain applications since it is required by law that a flag be lit when it is dark if it is not brought down during the evening hours.
[0023] FIG. 3 shows a connector 40 including a sleeve 42 that sits in a circumferential indent formed by the staff 12 . Clamps are not necessary in this embodiment of the connector since the edges 44 a , 44 b act as stops to hold the connector in position. Attached to the sleeve 42 is the clip 22 for attaching the flag. In this case, the sleeve can be snapped into the indent, or the staff 12 can be screwed together in two pieces forming an indent. In either case, the sleeve 42 is free to turn in the indent about the axis of the staff 12 . In the FIG. 4 embodiment, a tube 27 is slidably disposed on the flag pole and is attached at its ends to the sleeves 42 of the two connectors 22 . This tube 27 is an alternative to the rod 25 of FIGS. 1 and 2 for insuring that the sleeves 42 rotate in concert about the flag pole.
[0024] FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the flag pole that can be used with power sources that produce less than 110 volts. The flag pole 50 has a staff 52 with a longitudinal axis 54 with an optional light 56 on one end and an electrical power cord 58 attached to the staff 52 , which preferably is threaded through the interior of the staff 52 .
[0025] FIG. 4 shows two connectors 60 a , 60 b mounted to the staff 52 for rotation about the longitudinal axis 54 . The connectors 60 are fixed longitudinally relative to the staff and thus do not move up and down the staff, but stay in place. Each connector 60 a , 60 b is constructed so that it can move circumferentially around the staff 52 as described above. The connector is also capable of being releasably attached to a flag 62 that may have a grommet 64 or other flag attaching portion that can be used to attach the flag to hold the flag to the staff 52 . The connectors 60 allow the flag to swing freely 360° around the longitudinal axis of the staff 52 and thus the flag does not get wound up or furled on to the staff 52 .
[0026] The optional light 56 shown in FIG. 4 is shown with a mounting bracket 66 so that the light can be attached to the staff 52 , here preferably a tube. This staff 52 is shown without a bend and uses the angle of the bracket to ensure the lamp 56 will shine on the flag. The light could be a low voltage spot light appropriate for outdoor conditions. This embodiment may have a protective cage to protect the flag material from burning if the flag should happen to touch the light 56 . The light 56 is connected to a power source by the cord 58 that should be weatherproof with a weatherproof plug, cord caps, and receptacle, and can have a dusk-to-dawn sensor 68 that allows the flag to be lit at all times when there is not sufficient light to shine on the flag. In this embodiment the sensor 68 also embodies a low voltage transformer 69 .
[0027] While we have described the invention in connection with certain embodiments, we are aware that numerous departures may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and scope of the appended claims.
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This invention relates to a flag pole and more specifically, to a flag pole with moveable flag clips and an electric lamp to illuminate the flag.
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RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application is related to commonly-assigned, concurrently-filed U.S. Patent Application Attorney Docket No. 10017981-1 entitled “SYSTEM AND MEANS FOR THE SECURE MOUNTING OF A DEVICE BRACKET” the disclosures of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present invention relates to a deformable mounting bracket.
BACKGROUND
[0003] In designing systems many factors must be considered. One factor which must be considered in many systems is the dissipation of heat from heat-sensitive components. Although certain components may generate their own heat, great consideration is given in designing a system configured to keep as much heat as possible away from heat-sensitive components. Examples of heat-sensitive components may be found in automobile engines, aircraft engines, computer systems, (including, e.g., mainframe systems, and personal computers), telecom applications, hand-held phones, global-positioning systems and similar devices and systems. An exemplary system that would benefit from use of the present invention is a computer system. While the following paragraphs discuss computer systems, the present invention can be advantageously applied to a variety of situations in a variety of applications.
[0004] Traditionally, there are various methods for attaching devices to other devices or to other sub-assemblies of a system. One method involves the use of ordinary screws or other material fasteners. With mechanical screws, for example, the device may be provided with a threaded hole for receiving a screw. A sub-assembly, to which the device is to be coupled, may be provided with a corresponding hole that a screw fits through. Accordingly when the device and sub-assembly are properly aligned, a screw may be passed through the hole in a subassembly and threaded into the device, thereby mounting the device to that sub-assembly. Of course, similar coupling techniques may be used with other mechanical fasteners, such as brads, rivets, pins, clips, snaps, and the like.
[0005] Other artisans make use of an intermediate part between the device and subassembly to facilitate mounting. A bracket is an example of such an intermediate part. Sometimes brackets are simply sheet metal that are folded into a tray shape or other suitable configuration and mechanically attached to the device via mechanical fasteners.
[0006] For example, consider the disk-mounting brackets in common use in certain computer workstation products today. Basically, these products use the aforementioned folded metal brackets, in various configurations to correspond to the system chassis or disk drive bay configuration, for disk mounting. Some such brackets are made of a somewhat insubstantial, 1 mm thick, steel sheet that is folded into various predetermined shapes such that various devices, in particular, disk drives, may be fastened into the brackets using standard screws. Similarly, such disk-mounting brackets have been formed of plastics. Once the device, in this case a disk drive, is mounted to the bracket, the bracket itself may be mounted to the chassis using, for example, a spring snap-type of assembly or, alternatively, using screws. A disadvantage of these types of brackets is that they fail to provide appreciable thermal conduction of heat away from the device. Steel is typically a poor thermal conductor and brackets comprised of cobalt steel may suffer from an inability to adequately dissipate heat from the device; the plastics of other embodiments of such disk-mounting brackets provide even poorer thermal conductivity.
[0007] There have been brackets designed to facilitate mounting of a device into a sub-assembly and to conduct heat away from that device. These brackets take on a different shape and a different form from traditional sheet metal or plastic mounting brackets. This is due, in part, to the fact that these brackets must be constructed out of a highly thermally-conductive material such as aluminum, aluminum alloy, copper or gold. The material of construction and cost of such material may affect the construction of a bracket. Accordingly, such mounting brackets have not generally been available for widespread use, such as in the typical desktop computer system.
[0008] Although heat dissipating methods exist for use in high-end applications, these methods have not been broadly accepted because of their complexity and cost. For example, such methods typically make use of two rails that transverse opposite sides of the hard drive which rails are difficult to install. The rail system typically includes a pair of rails made out of die-cast aluminum and a piece of injection-molded plastic that attaches the two rails and helps keep all of the parts together as a sub-assembly In practice, the rails are actually rotated out of the way of the device (so that the device can be partially lowered in) and then brought back into intimate contact with the device so the device can be mounted. Accordingly, the rail method suffers from the drawback that installation is often extremely difficult. Another disadvantage is that this method requires multiple separate parts, and each of these parts require separate toolings to fabricate them, thereby greatly increasing manufacturing costs.
[0009] The problem of difficult installation in many prior art systems is due, in part, to the fact that they used a die-cast aluminum material (which is a much poorer thermal conductor than a regular aluminum alloy). Die-cast aluminum brackets also require the use of an additional intermediate piece between the bracket and the device. The intermediate piece, called a thermal interface material, is typically a very thin, i.e. 0.020 inch thick, spongy material. The purpose of this intermediate piece of spongy material is to conduct heat from the device to the device bracket if necessary. One drawback of using a thermal interface material is that the thermal interface material makes installation extremely difficult because it tends to peel away from and off of the underlying disk bracket and to gather or bunch below the disk drive as it is installed. Accordingly, the actual installation of the disk is extremely difficult.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0010] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention a mounting bracket for a device comprises a resiliently-deformable surface having a deforming element disposed therein, and a pair of attachment members disposed on opposite sides of and attached to the surface. The attachment members are adapted to interface with the device upon deformation of the deforming element.
[0011] According to another embodiment of the invention a mounting bracket for a device comprises a resiliently-deformable body including a portion comprising a flat spring, and a pair of members disposed on opposite sides of and attached to the body. The bracket receives and retains the device and the members movable under a deforming force applied to the flat spring to interface the members with the device.
[0012] Embodiments of the present invention provide a method of mounting a device in a housing, comprising forming a base portion of a bracket to include a resiliently-deformable section, inserting the device into the bracket, and applying a force to members of the bracket to cause the members to move inwardly while simultaneously deforming the base portion so as to bring said members into contact with the device.
[0013] Another embodiment of the invention provides a mounting bracket for a device comprising means for disposing members of the bracket at opposite sides of said device, means for applying a force to the members of the bracket to cause the members to move inwardly while deforming a deformable portion of a base of the bracket so as to bring the members into contact with the device without deforming other portions of the base of said bracket.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] [0014]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a conduction bracket according to the invention;
[0015] [0015]FIG. 2 is a top view of the conduction bracket of FIG. 1;
[0016] [0016]FIG. 3 is a perspective view a disk drive mounted in the conduction bracket of FIG. 1;
[0017] [0017]FIG. 4 is a side view of a disk in the conduction bracket of FIG. 1 prior to tightening of the connection screws;
[0018] [0018]FIG. 5 is a sideview of a disk in the conduction bracket of FIG. 1 after tightening of the connection screws;
[0019] [0019]FIG. 6 is a side view of a disk in the conduction bracket of FIG. 1 prior to tightening of the connection screws and having a thermal interface material disposed in a gap between the disk and conduction bracket; and
[0020] [0020]FIG. 7 is a side view of a disk in the conduction bracket of FIG. 1 after tightening of the connection screws and having a thermal interface material disposed in a gap between the disk and the conduction bracket.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0021] The present invention encompasses systems and methods for dissipating heat from heat-sensitive components and devices. According to preferred embodiments of the invention, the use of a deformable, heat conducting, bracket enables for easy installation of components and allows for dissipation of heat from heat-sensitive components.
[0022] As depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, a presently preferred embodiment of the invention comprises conduction bracket 100 . Preferably, conduction bracket 100 is made of an aluminum alloy, as are well-known in the art for providing desirable levels of thermo-conductivity, rather than cast aluminum or steel, thereby providing superior thermal conductivity performance. According to this embodiment of the invention, conduction bracket 100 may be a solitary piece of an aluminum alloy that is formed using a traditional sheet metal stamping-and-folding operation or die press.
[0023] Conduction bracket 100 may comprise two sidewalls, or members, 101 on opposite sides of a bottom, or body, portion 103 . Sidewalls 101 may be folded at approximately a 90° angle to provide for the insertion of a floppy disk drive, or disk drive 301 (shown in FIG. 3). Sidewalls 101 may serve to ensure disk drive 301 is held in the proper location and orientation in conduction bracket 100 .
[0024] Sidewalls 101 may be provided with screw holes 102 for enabling the mechanical attachment and retention of disk drive 301 to conduction bracket 100 . Of course, alternative embodiments of conduction brackets of the present invention may utilize additional or alternative structure for mounting corresponding devices. For example, brad receivers, spring clips, and/or the like may be utilized in addition to or in the alternative to the screw holes of the illustrated embodiment.
[0025] Preferably, screw holes 102 may be a through-hole for the screw itself, and preferably, also includes a countersink to accommodate a flathead screw. As shown in FIG. 3, flathead screws 302 may pass through these holes and fit into the corresponding countersinks to provide for mechanical attachment of disk drive 301 to bracket 100 . Preferably, the exact positioning of screw holes 102 or other device mounting structure is pre-determined or dictated by the positioning of standard mounting holes in hard drives or other devices to be mounted. Thus, screw holes 102 of the preferred embodiment are positioned to align with the corresponding screw-receiving holes of disk drive 301 .
[0026] The bottom portion 103 of conduction bracket 100 preferably provides a surface for disk drive 301 to reside when installed. Bottom portion 103 is preferably configured to comprise compression elements 104 . For example, the illustrated embodiment comprises a compressible lateral midline portion connecting opposing outer lateral portions of bottom portion 103 .
[0027] Compression elements 104 allow bottom portion 103 to be deformed under mechanical pressure preferably providing for an overall maximum decrease in lateral dimension of bottom portion 103 of between approximately 1 and 10 percent. A particularly advantageous configuration of compression elements 104 is a serpentine configuration where slits provide a deformable or compression area. Other suitable configurations of compression elements 104 are contemplated by the invention, such as an arcuate spring, a torsion spring, an articulated spring, bias spring, and/or the like. Preferred embodiment configurations of the present invention implement such elements as a flat spring in order to facilitate simplified manufacturing, such as the aforementioned stamping-and-folding operation. However, other configurations of compression elements may be utilized, if desired. It should be appreciated that, although 2 compression elements are shown in the illustrated embodiment, any number of such elements may be utilized according to embodiments of the present invention. Moreover, embodiments of the present invention may provide an expansion element, providing a deformable expansion area, configuration of bottom portion 103 , if desired.
[0028] In practice, disk drive 301 is lowered into disk bracket 100 (which is nominally oversized) and rests on bottom portion 103 (see FIG. 3). As screws 302 are tightened through screw holes 102 of sidewalls 101 of conduction bracket 100 into disk drive 301 itself, compression elements 104 enable bottom portion 103 of conduction bracket 100 to be deformed. Effectively, compression elements 104 act similar to a spring and enable bracket 100 to be nominally oversized but deformable such that sidewalls 101 come into intimate thermal contact with disk drive 301 when installed by bringing sidewalls 101 into contact with the sidewalls of disk drive 301 . This compression of bottom portion 103 increases the contact area available for the transfer of heat from the drive to the bracket as the angle of attachment of sidewalls to the bottom is not substantially distorted, but rather the distance between the sidewalls is reduced. Moreover, where the sides of the device to be mounted are not completely normal to the bottom portion of the bracket, the compression elements provide freedom for the bracket sidewalls to be positioned for increased area contact with the device sides.
[0029] Conduction bracket 100 may also have embossments 105 located on the inside of the sidewalls 101 at all mounting screw hole 102 locations. Embossments 105 may be formed through traditional stamping operations for sheet metal and function to provide a permanent positive stop for disk drive 301 relative to sidewalls 101 of conduction bracket 100 . When drive disk drive 301 is installed into conduction bracket 100 in its final position, embossments 105 preferably maintain a small gap, e.g., about 0.010 of an inch, between drive disk drive 301 and the metallic structure of conduction bracket sidewalls 101 themselves. The gap is of appropriate dimension to enable the use of an intermediate thermal interface material (shown in FIGS. 6 and 7) if desired. Embossments 105 may act as a positive stop to make sure that any thermal interface material which may be used is compressed to the proper distance when disk drive 301 is installed. Exemplary thermal interface materials available for use with embodiments of the present invention may include thermally-conductive elastomer sheet material such as those manufactured by Shin-Etsu MicroSI, ArcticSilver, Power Device, Chomelics, Bergquist and/or AOS Thermal Compound.
[0030] [0030]FIG. 4 shows a close-up view of disk drive 301 in its installation position within conduction bracket 100 before screws 302 are tightened, i.e., before the final installation occurs. As shown, disk drive 301 is seated in its proper location within conduction bracket 100 but backed away from sidewalls 101 leaving gap 401 . As previously described, embossments 105 help establish the final resting position of disk drive 301 with respect to sidewall 101 .
[0031] In the uncompressed position, as depicted in FIG. 4, there is an appreciable gap 401 between disk drive 301 and sidewall 101 of conduction bracket 100 . Screw 302 is shown in its starting position, meaning it has just been threaded into contact with disk drive 301 , but is still significantly out away from sidewall 101 of conduction bracket 100 . Thus, the subassembly starts out with gap 401 between disk drive 301 and conduction bracket 100 which enables disk drive 301 to be easily installed in the proper location without being impeded by conduction bracket 100 or having to pull bracket 100 away from the device. Mounting screws 302 are then further threaded into disk drive 301 and tightened to compress sidewall 101 of bracket 100 into disk drive 301 until it reaches the final position of the sub-assembly.
[0032] [0032]FIG. 5 depicts the compressed position of the conduction bracket subassembly after screws 302 are finally tightened. As depicted, disk drive 301 is now much closer to sidewall 101 of the conduction bracket 100 such that disk drive 301 is preferably flush against mounting embossments 105 . Mounting screw 302 may no longer be visible in the side view because it has threaded all the way in the device; the head of the flathead screw is now flush with the outside wall of sidewall 101 and may fully rest within a countersink. Even though disk drive 301 is now flush against embossments 105 , there may still be a small gap 501 between disk drive 301 and sidewall 101 of conduction bracket 100 . Gap 501 is preferably the proper compressed thickness that would be used if a thermal interface material were used. A thermal interference material about 0.020 of an inch thick may be applied to sidewalls 101 of conduction bracket 100 on an inside surface or to an outside surface of disk drive 301 . As screws 302 are threaded and conduction bracket 100 is compressed, a small, 0.010 inch, gap 501 between bracket 100 and sidewall 101 is created which is a sufficient compressed gap 501 for the thermal interface material.
[0033] [0033]FIG. 6 shows a close-up view of disk drive device 301 in its installation position within conduction bracket 100 before screws 302 are tightened, as shown in FIG. 4. However, FIG. 6 shows thermal interface material 601 disposed in gap 401 between disk drive 301 and sidewall 101 . It should be appreciated that gap 401 preferably enables thermal interface material 601 to be disposed as illustrated without substantial interference from disk drive 301 as disk drive 301 is installed into conduction bracket 100 . Moreover, it should be appreciated that embossments 105 preferably extend into, but not through, thermal interface material 601 in its uncompressed state. Directing attention to FIG. 7, however, it can be seen that the compressed position of the conduction bracket sub-assembly after screws 302 are finally tightened results in compression of thermal interface material 601 such that disk drive 301 is preferably flush against mounting embossments 105 . As such, embossments 105 act to prevent compression of thermal interface material 601 further than that associated with gap 501 .
[0034] It should be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described above. For example, the size of one or more of the gaps described above may be greater or less than set forth in the examples above. Additionally or alternatively, embodiments of the present invention may not include the use of the aforementioned thermal interface material. Alternatively, embodiments of the present invention may utilize a thermal interface material of a greater or lesser thickness than that of the embodiment described above. Moreover, the thermal interface material may be comprised of any material or combination of materials determined to provide attributes as described herein.
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Disclosed is a mounting bracket for a device comprising a resiliently-deformable surface, having a deforming element disposed therein, and a pair of attachment members disposed on opposite sides of and attached to the surface. The attachment members of the mounting bracket are adapted to interface with the device upon deformation of the deforming element.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates generally to a control garment and a method for providing additional control to selected portions of a garment. More particularly, the present invention relates to seamless garments provided with additional control through the use of elastomeric yarn and purpose-specific knitting techniques, and methods for providing such control.
[0003] Consumers desire an undergarment that provides control or support in specific areas of the body, such as hips and waist, and is not bulky or unsightly.
[0004] 2. Description of the Prior Art
[0005] Previously known techniques used for adding support to an undergarment include that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,736,036 to Sinigagliesi. This patent provides a seamless undergarment knitted as a single piece of tubular knitted fabric, but containing a strengthening patch.
[0006] U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,246 to Knohl provides a knitted brassiere having extra courses of elastic yarn knitted into the breast cups to shape the cups by providing fullness therein.
[0007] U.S. Pat. No. 3,906,754 to Sackman provides an undergarment having a plurality of integrally knitted panels. Each panel extends circumferentially around the garment. Certain of the courses of each panel are knitted of elastomeric yarn to impart an elastic character to the area.
[0008] A more recent technique for imparting support to selected area of garments is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,791 to Osborne. This patent provides a brassiere having a support area between the pair of breast cups in which the courses vary between simple knits, such as plain knit, and welt knit, such as miss-stitch.
[0009] U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,888 to Browder, Jr. et al. provides a seamless undergarment knit from a first yarn. A control area is formed by knitting in a second, heavier yarn on designated courses along with the first yarn. A predetermined configuration of plain jersey stitch loops and tuck loops are utilized in the control area to achieve the characteristics of a foundation garment.
[0010] U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,548 to Osborne provides a circularly knit legged panty having knit-in shaping panels. The panels are formed by modifying the knit structure in selected areas to form regions having a greater resistance, particularly coursewise resistance, to stretch than the remainder of the tubular body. The patent provides that greater resistance to stretch can be accomplished by using conventional knitting structures, such as floating in an elastic yarn or tucking a yarn in selected alternating courses.
[0011] U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,836 to Schuster et al. provides a brassiere having at least two support panels formed by tucking specific stitches for a predetermined number of courses and extending generally walewise, thus, giving greater resistance to coursewise stretch. Preferably, each support panel is described as preferably located on the outside edge of a breast cup and roughly in the form of a “C” partially encircling the breast cup.
[0012] U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,060 to Osborne provides a circularly knit body suit in which the middle torso portion is knit with a predetermined cross-stretch that is less than that of the breast supporting section of the garment.
[0013] However, a perpetual need exists for improved seamless undergarment provided with control areas shaped specifically to affect certain areas of the body, such as the hips, waist, and even under a woman's breasts. All such control areas need to be formed integrally with the garment so as to appear as an aesthetic, non-bulging feature and, thus, no different than the remainder of the integral garment.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0014] It is the object of the present invention to provide an improved seamless garment having areas of additional control that are shaped to affect specifically chosen areas of the body.
[0015] It is another object of the present invention to provide such a garment that has a control area formed by an alternating tuck stitch pattern in the undergarment.
[0016] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such a garment in which the tuck stitch pattern is a 1 by 1 (1×1) alternating tuck stitch.
[0017] It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a garment as an undergarment.
[0018] It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing the blank and the garment of the type set forth herein.
[0019] In accordance with the present invention, a circular knitting machine knits a single tubular blank including a tubular knit body. The tubular knit body contains an elastomeric yarn added along designated courses. The tension of the elastomeric yarn is constant throughout the entire garment. However, in the area of the garment where increased control is desired, a 1×1 alternating tuck stitch pattern is used. The 1×1 tuck stitch tightens the fabric and increases the modulus of the elastomeric yarn. Thus, the stitch pattern decreases the amount of stretch in the fabric.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0020] [0020]FIG. 1 is a frontal view of a brief that uses the present invention;
[0021] [0021]FIG. 2 is a rear view of the brief of FIG. 1;
[0022] [0022]FIG. 3 is a frontal view of a high waist brief that uses the present invention;
[0023] [0023]FIG. 4 is a rear view of the high waist brief of FIG. 3;
[0024] [0024]FIG. 5 is a frontal view of a half-slip that uses the present invention;
[0025] [0025]FIG. 6 is a rear view of the half-slip of FIG. 5;
[0026] [0026]FIG. 7 is a frontal view of a thigh-slimmer that uses the present invention;
[0027] [0027]FIG. 8 is a rear view of the thigh-slimmer of FIG. 7;
[0028] [0028]FIG. 9 is a bottom view of the thigh-slimmer of FIG. 7, but with the legs expanded;
[0029] [0029]FIG. 10 is a maternity brief that uses the present invention; and
[0030] [0030]FIG. 11 is a maternity brief that uses the present invention;
[0031] [0031]FIG. 12 is a brassiere that uses the present invention; and
[0032] [0032]FIG. 13 is a graphic depiction of the 1×1 alternating tuck stitch pattern.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0033] Referring to the drawings and, in particular FIGS. 1 and 2, there is illustrated a brief according to the present invention generally represented by reference numeral 10 . Brief 10 , as with all the embodiments of the present invention, is formed as a unitary, seamless knit, tubular garment blank or body 15 having a waistband 20 formed as a turned welt.
[0034] The fabric, which forms the turned welt, is knit on circular needles and dial bits in a well-known manner. Knitting machines for producing a fabric in the form of a turned welt are widely used in the industry, and their construction and mode of operation are well-known. Alternatively, waistband 20 may be an attached piece of elastic banding. As stated below, waistband or torso-band 20 is made of a combination of spandex covered with nylon and nylon. Such a high denier spandex is preferred in order to make certain that brassiere 130 stays in place on the wearer's body.
[0035] Brief 10 is preferably integrally knit to the turned welt. The tubular knit body 15 has a front portion 16 , a rear portion 17 , and side portions 18 . Additionally, the undergarment can have binding or trim that aesthetically finishes and more comfortably defines the leg openings 21 and 23 .
[0036] Preferably, the undergarment of all embodiments of the present invention, including brief 10 , have body 15 made of either nylon microfiber in the 40 to 120 denier range or 40/1's to 60/1's cotton yarn. Such yarns provide softness, comfort, and desired wicking properties. The knit construction may be any combination of conventional knit stitches.
[0037] The body 15 of brief 10 , as with all embodiments of the present invention, includes an elastomeric yarn, such as spandex. Preferably, the elastomeric yarn is knit throughout the garment at an even tension. More preferably, the tension of the elastomeric yarn is 5 to 7 grams throughout the garment. The elastomeric yarn is preferably spandex, and most preferably 70 denier spandex.
[0038] Control area 25 is an area of of the undergarment, in this example brief 10 , where increased control is desired. Increased control in control area 25 is accomplished by tightening the fabric of brief 10 by using a 1 by 1 (1×1) alternating tuck stitch pattern. Thus, the 1×1 alternating tuck stitch pattern increases the modulus of the fabric. By increasing the modulus of the fabric, the fabric stretches less and controls more. Preferably, the modulus of the fabric is increased between about 6% and about 10%, more preferably about 8%. Increasing the modulus by about 8% provides a desirable compromise between control and comfort.
[0039] Control area 25 of brief 10 is apron shaped, covering only the stomach area and the area of the hips, then gradually transitioning over the rear portion, ultimately becoming a narrow, horizontal band integral to welt 20 . The border between control area 25 and crotch portion 27 may be of any functional and aesthetically pleasing shape.
[0040] [0040]FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate a high waist brief 30 according to the present invention. High waist brief 30 is knit using the same method as that for the brief 10 . However, control area 35 of high waist brief 30 is extended over the abdomen and ends below the wearer's breasts. Thus, the entire abdominal area, and the area, preferably all, of the hips are covered. Control area 35 is relatively smaller over rear portion 37 of high waist brief 30 with a rounded transition area extending from front portion 36 of high waist brief 30 and over rear portion 37 . The border between control area 35 and crotch portion 38 may be of any functional and aesthetically pleasing shape.
[0041] [0041]FIGS. 5 and 6 show a half-slip 50 according to the present invention. Half-slip 50 is knit using the same method as that of the embodiments of FIGS. 1 through 4, but absent the leg openings. Control area 65 of half-slip 50 is shaped similarly to control area 25 of brief 10 and high waist brief 30 . On the front portion 61 of half-slip 50 , the border between control area 65 and skirt portion 62 is angled. However, the border between control area 65 and skirt portion 62 may be of any aesthetic or functional shape. It is preferable that half slip 50 has a first waistband 52 at the waist of the half-slip 50 and a second bond 54 at the lower end of the half-slip 50 . The waistband 52 is a turned welt waistband that is integrally formed with half-slip 50 . As with waistband 20 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, first waistband 52 , as well as band 54 , are preferably a combination of spandex covered with nylon and nylon, with the most preferred being about 265 to about 420 denier spandex covered with nylon and nylon.
[0042] [0042]FIGS. 7 and 8 show a thigh-slimmer according to the present invention. The thigh-slimmer 70 is knit using the same method as the undergarments of FIGS. 1 through 6. Control area 85 is shaped similarly to control area 65 in FIGS. 5 and 6. Optionally, control areas may be placed on leg portions 81 and 82 . In addition, leg portions 81 and 82 are seamlessly knit to front portion 80 . The thigh slimmer can have binding or trim that aesthetically finishes and more comfortably defines leg openings 86 and 87 In an alternative embodiment shown in FIG. 9, thigh slimmer 70 may include a seamed gusset panel 75 to improve fit and comfort. The gusset panel 75 is made of the same material as the body of thigh slimmer 70 , but preferably also includes a cotton liner 78 . The gusset panel 75 is sewn to thigh slimmer 70 so that cotton liner 78 is either wrapped about the gusset panel, or is positioned between the gusset panel and the underside of thigh slimmer 70 .
[0043] In FIG. 10, there is illustrated a body-slip according to the present invention. Body-slip 90 is knit by the method used for the undergarments of FIGS. 1 through 8. Control area 105 is apron shaped, but extends over the abdomen and ends below the wearer's breasts. The borders of control area 105 are shaped to follow the shape of the wearer. Thus, the abdominal area, and the area of the hips are covered. Front portion 106 has an upper border 103 of control area 105 that is scalloped to follow the breast line and a lower border 104 of control area 105 that is scalloped to allow less restricted movement of the wearer's legs. Control area 25 b is relatively smaller over rear portion 107 of body slip 90 with a rounded transition area extending from the front portion 106 and over the rear portion 107 . On the front portion of body slip 90 , the border between control area 105 and skirt portion 107 is angled. However, the border between control area 105 and skirt portion 107 may be of any functional or aesthetically pleasing shape.
[0044] [0044]FIG. 11 shows a maternity brief according to the present invention. Maternity brief 110 is knit using the method described in reference to brief 10 and high waist brief 11 . However, control area 125 extends over rear portion 121 and also extends onto front portion 122 covering the wearer's groin. The portion covering stomach area 123 is specifically knitted without any control areas so as to allow the portion covering the stomach to expand as needed. Thus, control area 125 controls the wearer's buttocks and hips, while simultaneously lifting the wearer's stomach area.
[0045] Referring to FIG. 12, there is provided a brassiere according to the present invention generally represented by numeral 130 with an upper torso part 141 . Brassiere 130 is produced from a seamless blank that is formed by a conventional high speed circular knitting machine. Upper torso part 141 is integrally joined to turned welt or torso-band 147 in a seamless manner.
[0046] Upper torso part 141 preferably has formed therein breast cups 142 and 143 . Upper torso part 141 may also have a first or right strap or strap portion 148 , and a second or left strap or strap portion 149 .
[0047] Turned welt or torso-band 147 is preferably an elastomeric yarn or material. More preferably, torso-band 147 is made of a combination of nylon covered spandex and nylon. Most preferably, torso-band 147 is made of a 265 to 420 denier nylon covered spandex and nylon. Such a high denier spandex is preferred in order to make certain that brassiere 130 stays in place on the wearer's body.
[0048] Upper torso part 141 is, as with the other undergarments of the present invention, preferably made of flat nylon ground yarn and a cotton and/or nylon yarn. Flat yarn is used because it has no stretch. The fabric also includes an elastomeric yarn, such as spandex. The combination of yarns forms a pattern that is in the range of 60/1's to 40/1's cotton count or about 40 to 120 denier, preferably about 80 to about 120. The flat nylon ground yarn is about 20 to about 40 denier, preferably about 20 denier.
[0049] Brassiere 130 is formed mostly with simple knit constructions, such as plain, tuck, pearl and combinations thereof. Welt knit stitches may suitably be used to provide special features at various locations. However, in the areas of brassiere 130 where increased control is desired, a 1×1 alternating tuck stitch pattern is used. Such areas are shown generally as 145 and 146 . The 1×1 alternating tuck stitch pattern tightens the fabric of brassiere 130 and, thus, increases the modulus of the fabric. By increasing the modulus of the fabric, the fabric stretches less and controls more. Preferably, the modulus of the fabric is increased between about 6% and about 10%, more preferably about 8%. Increasing the modulus by about 8% provides a desirable compromise between control and comfort.
[0050] In the example illustrated as FIG. 12, control areas 145 , 146 are narrow bands located underneath breast cups 142 , 143 and extending coursewise in the area of transition between upper torso portion 141 and torso-band 147 . In this way, control areas 145 , 146 take the place of traditional underwires. However, control areas may be located in other areas of the brassiere, such as between the cups or on the outside edge of the cups. Additionally, control areas for brassiere 130 need not be shaped as narrow bands. If the purpose of the brassiere 130 is to pull the breast together, an hourglass-shaped control area between the breast cups could be employed.
[0051] [0051]FIG. 13 is a graphic representation of the 1×1 alternating tuck stitch pattern used in the present invention.
[0052] The present invention having thus been described with particular reference to the preferred forms thereof, it will be obvious that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.
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A circular knit blank for use in the manufacture of undergarments and the garments so manufactured comprising a tubular knit body having an elastomeric yarn on selected courses, wherein said tubular body contains at least one area of control that has a stitch pattern increasing the modulus by about 8%, to provide a balance of comfort and control. The stitch pattern is preferably a 1 by 1 alternating tuck.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to apparatus for enabling access to a locked area, such as an automobile, without requiring the use of a key, and for initiating an alarm in the event access is attempted by an unauthorized person.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Mechanisms for limiting access to and operability of an automobile came into general use shortly after the general acceptance of the automobile. For example, tumbler locks operable by keys have long been used on doors, glove compartments, trunks, and ignitions. The desirability of eliminating the need for keys also has long been recognized. The Gilmore, U.S. Pat. No. 1,251,365; Chrisman et al, U.S. Pat. No. 1,298,177; Carlson, U.S. Pat. No. 1,587,757; Gibbs, U.S. Pat. No. 2,819,770; and Raju, U.S. Pat. No. 2,964,733, disclose previous proposals for keyless locking systems. None of these proposals is really practical for use in an automobile.
Later attempts to solve this problem used electrical combination locks having push buttons. See, for example, the U.S. Pat. No. 3,353,383 to Fish and to Gaumer, U.S. Pat. No. 3,544,804. Push buttons mounted externally on an automobile are large, expensive, sensitive to environmental factors, and subject to wear. Other recent patents on electrical combination locks include the U.S. Pat. No. 3,024,452; to Leonard, Hevenor, U.S. Pat. No. 3,192,448; and Hinrichs, U.S. Pat. No. 3,691,396, all of which fail to solve the limitations of hardwired logic, mechanical elements, and mechanical switches.
More recent U.S. patents, which have considerably advanced the art, are the Haygood et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,205,325, and to Ligman et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,206,491. The Haygood patent discloses a permanent preprogrammed code storage memory and a user programmable code storage memory wherein either code may be used to gain entry to the vehicle and to enable other functions, but the Haygood et al apparatus requires a pushbutton system which necessitates custom bodywork for installation. The Ligman et al patent discloses the use of piezoelectric switches applicable to vehicle locking systems but does not suggest the provision of security alarms. Piezoelectric switches are preferable to mechanical switches in that they are not subject to mechanical wear, are vandal resistant, and can be completely sealed from the environment. On the other hand piezoelectric switches are high electrical impedance devices and thus subject to the problems of electrical interference by extraneous noise signals. Conventional piezoelectric switching techniques require the use of shielded cables between the piezoelectric switches and electronic signal processing units or special signal conversion units located adjacent the piezoelectric switches.
It is not new, of course, to equip a vehicle with an alarm system. The prior art contains numerous examples of alarms which may be activated in the event a vehicle is entered or attempted to be started by an unauthorized person. Those systems, however, are believed to be limited to alarms and associated equipment which, although responsive to unauthorized entry and starting attempts, are really independent units which must be preset by an operator, independently of the vehicle's locking mechanism, so as to be conditioned for operation upon the occurrence of a predetermined event, such as tampering with the vehicle's ignition by an unauthorized person.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Described herein is a keyless lock control and security system that is particularly well adapted for use with an automobile, that is rugged, vandal and environment resistant, fits into a cylinder lock aperture, is insensitive to electrical noise without the use of shielded cables, and requires no custom bodywork for its installation. The security portion of the system is an integral part of the lock control and requires no independent presetting operations by an operator. The system includes means for actuating an alarm and/or disabling the engine starting mechanism, and includes self-contained means for minimizing false alarms.
The keyless lock control or access system uses a piezoelectric touchpad, mounted on the exterior of the area to which unauthorized access is denied. Unique circuitry is used to eliminate the need for shielded cables. The wiring harness may be passed through a tube which fits into the lock cylinder opening in an access door. In the case of a car door, no custom bodywork is required as the lock cylinder opening is a standard feature of all automobiles.
These and further constructional and operational characteristics of the invention will be more evident from the following detailed description when considered with reference to the accompanying drawings.
THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an exploded view, as viewed from the interior of an automobile, showing how the rear of a pizeoelectric touchpad assembly is mounted on the lock cylinder aperture of the door;
FIG. 2 is a view, corresponding to FIG. 1, with the touchpad assembly mounted on the automobile door;
FIG. 3 is an isometric front view of the touchpad;
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the circuitry which is controlled by the touchpad;
FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C, wheh placed side by side in alignment, disclose the circuit diagram of the keyless lock control system;
FIG. 6 is a showing how FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C should be placed side by side to form the complete circuit diagram.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The invention involves the use of a control unit, preferably a piezoelectric touchpad 10 which enables a user to tap out on the touchpad a secret code consisting of a sequence of digits, or letters if desired, in combination with electronic circuitry which is actuated by the signals emitted by the touchpad and which responds differently, depending upon whether or not the signals are in the correct sequence
In one preferred embodiment the touchpad is mounted on the door of an automobile, near the location of a power actuated door lock, and if the correct code is tapped into the touchpad, the electronic circuitry controlled by the touchpad will unlock the door, and perform other functions as well.
The touchpad 10 may be of the type disclosed in the patent to Kompanek, U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,785. The details of the touchpad are not part of the instant invention, and it need merely be pointed out that the touchpad selectively generates piezoelectric signals on plural output circuits (five in the described embodiment) depending on which of five discrete portions of the touchpad have been tapped by an operator's fingers.
In FIGS. 1 and 3 the touchpad assembly 10 is shown prior to its being mounted on a door 20 of an automoble, the key cylinder of which has been removed leaving an empty key cylinder aperture 21.
The touchpad has an outer face shown in FIG. 3 divided into five discrete, numbered areas under each of which is a piezoelectric wafer or pad as is illustrated in Ligman et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,206,491.
Different makes and models of automobiles utilize different sizes of key cylinders, and the touchpad assembly 10 is designed so that it will fit into any one of a number of different size key cylinder apertures.
The touchpad assembly 10 has a housing 11 from which projects a tubular extension 12. The extension 12 is provided with two flanges 14 which extend laterally beyond the free end of the extension.
That side of the touchpad housing 11 which seats against the door 20 is provided with an elastomeric member 15 which provides a weather seal when the housing is affixed to the door. To attach the touchpad assembly 10 to the door 20, the extension 12 is passed through the key cylinder aperture 21, and elastomeric washers 16 and metallic washers 17 are sequentially fitted over the extension 12 and retained in place by a retaining clip 18 which engages the projecting flanges 14 of extension 12. The components of the installed assembly 10 are maintained under a state of high compression by means of the elastomeric layer 15 and the elastomeric washers 16. If desired, however, the elastomeric layer 15 can be bonded to the door or can be made of a material which is relatively tackfree but which will bond to the door after a period of time during which it is maintained in a compressed state against the door.
The bore 19 of the extension 12 is fitted with one part of a connector of conventional design into which a mating connector part 30 may be plugged. Polarizing means 31 are provided to ensure that the connector 30 is not installed upside-down.
The piezoelectric touchpad may be constructed using a piezoelectric coating such as is described in the Kompanek, U.S. Pat. No. 4,056,654, while the mechanical construction may be similar to that illustrated in the Kompanek, U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,785.
In the instant embodiment the piezoelectric coating is applied to a stainless steel can which has a sealed hollow tube within which a light blub is mounted. A conventional optic lens is edgelighted by the bulb and the numbers are all second surfaced so that white letters on a black background are illuminated by the light. The numbers indicate which areas of the lens are to be touched in the operation of the apparatus.
The touchpad assembly 10 has incorporated into it a lamp 32 which automatically is turned on for a brief period of time, in response to pressing any area of the touchpad. The lamp is shown in the detailed wiring diagram of FIG. 5A. The lamp 32 enables the touchpad to be operated at night or in dark areas.
The insulated conductors of the wiring harness 34 leading from the mating connector 30 need not be shielded, despite the fact that the piezoelectric output signals from the touchpad exist at a high impedance level, such as normally would require careful shielding. The shielding is dispensed with because the touchpad assembly 10 includes an electronic interface which effectively transforms the high impedance level of the piezoelectric signal to the low impedance level appropriate for conventional logic circuitry.
The electronic interface with the piezoelectric coated switch is accomplished by an integrated circuit having a hexbuffer transistor package 33 (FIG. 5A). This circuit is unique in that it provides a simulated resistive load across the piezoelectric switches. Hitherto it has been necessary to have an actual resistive load across the circuits to prevent self-charging of the piezoelectric devices due to their high impedance.
The sensitive load is simulated by driving the hexbuffer circuit at a high frequency (compared to the speed of finger actuations on the switch). Thus, by rapidly and repeatedly driving the piezoelectric switch to ground through a remotely located low value resistor, the resistance across the piezoelectric switch appears to be lowered. The hexbuffer device is an ideal choice for achieving this because the diodes which are in the hexbuffer for its own protection act as a grounding path for the charges generated by the piezoelectric touchpad. The ideal frequency for this appears to be about 125 hertz and the grounding time to be 1 microsecond.
The use of the electronic interface allows a practical switch package to be created for mounting in the lock cylinder aperture which is present on every car. The interface circuitry 33 is described more completely in Echols et al copending application Ser. No. 529,270, filed Sept. 6, 1983, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,490,639.
The touchpad assembly 10 also may include a small loudspeaker for giving a low volume audio signal to indicate, for example, operation of the touchpad in an improper sequence. Such a small loudspeaker could also be concealed in the door or elsewhere in the automobile, since it is actuated by and from equipment which is remote from the touchpad and can operate separately from the touchpad assembly 10. In order to simplify the disclosure, such a small loudspeaker 35 is not indicated in FIG. 4 and is shown in FIG. 5A as being separate from the touchpad assembly 10. The small loudspeaker 35 is not used as a burglar alarm, to give a loud or yaucous audible warning, but is used only to give a discreet, low intensity but audible signal, so as not to embarass a legitimate user who makes an inadvertent mistake in operating the touchpad.
The interrelationships of the various components of the system are illustrated in the block diagram of FIG. 4. The touchpad 10 is connected to the interface integrated circuit 33. Signals from the interface circuit 33 are sent to the logic circuit 50. When the logic circuit 50 receives a signal which indicates that the touchpad has been touched at any number, it sends a signal to the lamp drive 52 to activate the lamp 32 in the touchpad 10 for a few seconds.
The same signal from the touchpad 10 which is used by the logic circuit 50 to activate the lamp drive 52 is also used to activate the interior illumination for 25 seconds or so, or until the ignition switch is turned on.
The interface 33 can also be used to lock the door lock by pressing simultaneously a combination of two preselected touchpad numbers, such as "5" and "9", so that the doors can be locked from the outside of the automobile. Thus, the selector circuit 53 responds to the presence of simultaneous pressure on "5" and "9" to operate the lock drive 54 directly, without the necessity of having this function programmed into the logic circuit 50.
At the same time the door lock is set to its locked position, a signal is sent from the selector circuit 53 to an alarm set 56. If a valid code thereafter is tapped into the touchpad 10, the logic circuit 50 will send a signal to a door unlock drive 58 and to an alarm reset 60.
A five digit access master code is set by the user in the manner disclosed in Ligman et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,206,491. There is no restriction on repeat numbers. This code will not erase with loss of power. Use of this master code followed by pressing a further selected number, such as a "1" allows the next five digits to be entered as a secondary code, all as is explained in the Ligman et al patent. There are over 3,100 combinations of either primary or secondary codes available. Entering the secondary code permits the system to perform all functions expect reprogramming a secondary code. The secondary code is erased with loss of power. In using the primary code, tapping a 5 digit correct code followed by a selected digit, such as "3", will momentarily energize a trunk release relay. Whenever the touchpad 10 has been operated to program a new secondary code, however, the trunk cannot be opened until a valid code has been reentered.
Tapping sixteen touchpad keys in any sequence that does not include a valid code will cause the small loudspeaker 35 to sound and the system to lock up for about 25 seconds. Such procedure may also trigger the alarm system after it has been set. The first warning of the triggering of the alarm is an audio signal on the speaker 35. This is followed by the activation of the vehicle's horn and the flashing of its lights if the alarm system has been set. Then after the lock up timing is completed the user can stop the alarm at any time by entering the proper code into the touchpad 10. The engine starter solenoid is disabled during the time the alarm is activated.
The alarm relay attached to the horn and the headlights will cycle on and off at approximately 1 HZ for a predetermined time up to four minutes. Then the alarm automatically is reset. Should an alarm indicator signal still be present, the alarm will be reactivated. The alarm set 56 is armed from the touchpad, as previously described, or by interruption of the 12-volt power for 10 seconds or longer. Once armed the alarm can only be disarmed by entering a valid code at the touchpad. Once the alarm set is armed, the alarm can be triggered by entering sixteen digits of incorrect code at the touchpad, tampering with the touchpad, energizing the starter motor, or by signals from additional sensors.
For example, if somehow the touchpad assembly 10 should be removed from the door 20, the ground which was provided to the touchpad assembly 10 at the circuit board terminal 6 of FIG. 5A also is removed at circuit board terminal No. 10, permitting terminal No. 10 to go high at +12 volts and thereby signalling "Panel Disconnect" to the "Tamper" OR gate U10 of FIG. 5B.
Referring again to FIG. 4, the alarm timing circuit 62 received signals from the alarm set 56 and the alarm reset 60. If the alarm is set and the alarm trigger receives a signal indicating removal of the touchpad 10, starting the motor, or any of the other conditions described above, the trigger 64 sends a signal to the alarm timing circuit 62. The alarm timing circuit 62 then sends a signal to the warning circuit 66. The warning curcuit 66 is a multivibrator which generates a tone that is passed to the audio-amplifier 68 and then to the speaker 35. If a correct code is not entered during the 10-second warning at the speaker 35, the alarm timing circuit 62 will send a signal to the headlight drive circuit 70 to flash the headlights, to the horn drive 72 to blow the horn, and to the starter cut-out 74 to disable the starter.
In the event sixteen digits are entered on the touchpad in an incorrect sequence, the circuit 66 will generate a tone. No correct code may be entered until the U4 lock out is completed at which time a correct code may be entered to activate the alarm reset 60 and stop flashing of the lights, blowing of the horn, and enabling the starter circuit.
The trunk drive circuit 76 releases the trunk lock when it receives two signals, the first being an enable signal from the logic circuit 50 signifying that a correct code has been tapped into the touchpad 10, and the second being the digit 3 directly from the interface 33 signifying that the user wants access to the trunk. Upon entry of a correct code the logic circuit 50 sends a signal to the illumination drive 78 which lights the interior light for 25 seconds. The touchpad light is lit with the initial push on the touchpad.
The system described above can be implemented in many different embodiments by skilled practioners. Various means can be constructed by using combinations of hardware, firmware, and software. One embodiment, by way of illustration, is shown in FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C.
At the heart of this embodiment is the unit U4, a conventional integrated circuit MPS-7167 produced by a number of manufacturers. This integrated circuit, together with its supporting circuits, fulfills the function of the logic circuit 50. It recognizes a valid primary code as established by the code matrix jumpers 80, stores the secondary code in its memory, and provides output signals to the lamp drive 52, the audio amplifier 68, the unlock drive 58, the trunk drive 76, the illumination drive 78, and the alarm reset 60. Touchpad sinking (negative going) pulses at terminals 1 through 5 are filtered and inverted by inverting amplifiers U2, to provide positive-going pulses to inputs Kl to K5 (pins 11, 12, 13, 15, and 16) of the unit U4.
The integrated circuits U1, collectively called the interface 33, are enclosed in the touchpad assembly 10, affixed to the outside of a door panel, and are powered by a pulsing bias as explained in the aforementioned copending application. The pulsing bias source 36 includes two sections of U3 which constitute a blocking oscillator, which feeds Q4 with a pulsing signal so that Q4 will momentarily ground the resistor which feeds +5 V to the touchpad interface. The devices Q3 and Q5 amplify the panel lamp signal from pin 26 of U4, so that Q3 and Q5 are collectively the lamp drive 52.
The devices Q6 and Q7 amplify the audio beep signals from pin 9 of U4 or, through U3, the alarm warning signal generated by two sections of U14. The circuits of Q6, Q7 and U13 are collectively the audio amplifier 68. The two sections of U14 are collectively the alarm signal 66. This oscillator is enabled when all three diodes at pin 11 of U14 are reversed biased. This condition occurs when the alarm is set and in the triggered warning signal time (U11, Pin 1), and the alarm has been triggered (U11, Pin 10) and the clock is in a high portion of its cycle (U12, Pin 7). This last item gives the warning tone a 1/2 second on/off cycle.
When a valid code is entered via the touchpad 10, the unlock signal from U4 pin 6 goes high for 5 seconds. This is converted into a 3/4 second pulse by the resistor and capacitor at U6 pin 5, 6 to drive the unlock relay through driver U7. This signal also resets the three alarm sections of U11. During the 5-second unlock period, the trunk circuitry (U5 pins 1, 2, 3 and U6 Pins 11, 12, 13) is enabled so that a press on the touchpad at digit 3 will energize the trunk relay Kl through driver U7. However, a slight delay is built in so that if touchpad "3" is the last digit of the code, it does not overlap and accidently drive the trunk circuitry. This delay is accomplished by the resistor and capacitor between U4 pin 6 and U3 pin 13.
Additionally, if touchpad "1" is pressed after a valid code in order to program a new secondary code, it is undesirable to have the trunk open if touchpad digit 3 is pressed as part of the new code. This is avoided by having U5 pins 4, 5, 6 and U6 pins 8, 9, 10 hold the trunk circuitry disabled from the time touchpad digit 1 is pressed until a new code is successfully programmed.
The device U5 has pins 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and the device U6 has pins 1, 2, 3 to generate the LOCK signal when touchpad 10 digits 5 and 9 are pressed simultaneously. These last devices are collectively the lock drive 54. The signal from U6 pin 3 goes not only to driver U7 pin 7 but also to U13 pins 2 and 5 to turn off the interior lamp (pin 24 of U4 goes high with pin 3 of U13, and pin 27 of U4 then outputs a signal to turn off the lamp) and arm the alarm section by setting flip-flop U11 pin 4. Initial power applications also set the alarm, and a 12 volt signal at terminal 17 (ignition switch) also turns off the interior lamp.
One section of U10 accepts any one of three signals to trigger the alarm, if set. When triggered, U11 pin 10 goes high to start the clock and counter U9 and U12 to run to first put out a warning signal then set flip-flop U11 pin 14 to energize the headlight and horn relays and turn off the warning signal. At the end of one or four minutes (selected by jumper at U12 pins 1, 14) the alarm is stopped but remains set by resetting of U11 pins 11 and 15. If a valid code is entered, the alarm is stopped as explained above.
The horn relay may be selected to cycle on/off by jumper tying U8 pin 13 to the one second clock U12 pin 6 or to sound continuously by jumping the pin 13 to +5 volts.
The following signals will trigger the alarm, if set: a courtesy lamp switch (not shown) located in the door jamb closing across terminals 6 and 7 of the circuit board (shown at the right center edge of FIG. 5C); a ground at terminal 19 or a positive voltage at terminal 18 by other alarm inputs; and positive starter switch at terminal 11. Since the illumination relay K2 closes when any touchpad is pressed, when entering a code the alarm would start its activation cycle as if a door had been opened while the alarm is set. To keep this from happening, buffer U14 pins 1, 2 alarm when U4 pin 26 is high.
The general locations of the lock drive 54, the unlock drive 58, and the trunk drive 76 are each shown in two parts in FIG. 5C because of the complexity of the schematic diagram. The alarm set 56, the alarm reset 60, the alarm timing circuit 62, and the trigger 64 are intermixed near the bottom of FIGS. 5B and 5C, and are therefore not enclosed in legended boxes.
In other embodiments the alarm can be set, the door locked, and the trunk unlocked by other combinations of codes. Specialized touch areas can be added to the touchpad 10 to execute these functions rather than using special digits.
This disclosure is representative of a presently preferred embodiment of the invention, but is intended to be illustrative rather than definitive thereof. The invention is defined in the claims.
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A keyless access control and security system especially adapted for use with an automobile and including a piezoelectric permutation touchpad unit which can be affixed, without requiring bodywork, to the outside of the vehicle's door in the key cylinder aperture. The touchpad is illuminated when touched and is therefore usable in the dark. The person seeking access must enter the correct access code combination on the touchpad to open the door and/or the trunk. The touchpad is connected to a remotely located logic circuit which controls access. The circuit provides for a signal of low intensity, indicating that a correction in the code entered into the touchpad should be made and, after a time delay, an alarm of high intensity, if no correction is made. Upon activation of the alarm, the head lights are flashed, the horn is sounded, or both. In order to enable a parking attendant, repairman, or some other authorized person to have access to the automobile without revealing the access code, the logic circuit can be programmed, by operation of the touchpad, using the proper access code and a further secondary code, arbitrarily selected, to provide access to the automobile in response to the secondary code, which later can be erased.
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BACKGROUND
[0001] 1. Field
[0002] The present invention relates to a bench cutter.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] In the conventional bench cutter shown in JP-A-2004-135501, when a thick material is cut, a cutting blade of a large diameter is used. In order to hold this cutting blade of the large diameter, a large bench cutter is conventionally used. As the conventional bench cutter, the bench circular sawing machine 501 shown in FIG. 13 is provided. The bench circular sawing machine 501 has a cutting portion 504 for pivotally supporting the cutting blade 507 on the base portion 502 . As shown in FIG. 14 , the cutting portion 504 includes: a first gear 541 to which a rotation of the motor 551 is transmitted through the belt 552 C; and a second gear 543 to which the cutting blade 507 is fixed and power is transmitted from the first gear 541 . The rotation of the motor 551 is reduced by two gears and the cutting blade 507 is rotated by a reduced speed.
[0005] Since the rotation of the motor 551 is reduced by the second gear 543 , a diameter of the second gear 543 is extended. Therefore, a size of the gear case 504 B for accommodating the gears is increased in the radial direction of the gear. Accordingly, a cutting capacity (a cutting depth) of the cutting blade 507 is deteriorated. For the above reasons, in order to cut a thick material, it is necessary to ensure a cutting capacity by extending a size of the bench cutter. When the size of the bench cutter is extended, its weight is increased. Therefore, the transporting property of transporting the bench cutter is deteriorated. When the size of the bench cutter is extended, the accommodating property of accommodating the bench cutter is deteriorated. In the bench cutter, a gear case, in which a spindle attached with a cutting blade through a flange is accommodated and gears to drive the spindle are also accommodated, is larger than the flange for fixing the cutting blade to the spindle. Therefore, a region, in which the cutting blade can cut a material, is restricted with respect to the diameter of the cutting blade. As a result, at the time of cutting a thick material, it is necessary to use a cutting blade of a large diameter. In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a small and light bench cutter capable of cutting a thick material by effectively using a cutting blade.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] In order to solve the above disadvantages, the present invention provides a bench cutter comprising: a drive portion for driving a cutting blade; a base portion for supporting a workpiece; a cutting portion, which is arranged on the base portion, pivotally supporting the cutting blade in an upper portion of the base portion and capable of making the cutting blade come close to and separate from the base portion; and a supporting portion, which is connected to the base, movably supporting the cutting portion, the cutting portion including: a transmission mechanism for transmitting power of the drive portion to the cutting blade; and a gear case, which covers the transmission mechanism, having a lower face portion opposed to an upper face of the base portion, the transmission mechanism including: a spindle for concentrically supporting the cutting blade; and a cutting blade fixing portion having a flange for fixing the cutting blade to the spindle, wherein while the cutting blade is being maintained in a state perpendicular to the upper face of the base portion, a distance between the lower face portion of the gear case and the upper face of the base portion is not less than a distance between the base portion side end face of the flange and the upper face of the base portion.
[0007] Due to the above constitution, a range from the outer circumferential position of the cutting blade to the flange position can be made to be a cutting margin in the cutting blade. Therefore, it is possible to extend the range of the cutting blade capable of being used for cutting. It is also possible to increase a cutting depth of the cutting blade. Accordingly, even a thick material can be cut with a small cutting blade incorporated into a small bench cutter.
[0008] It is preferable that the transmission mechanism includes: a first gear directly driven by the drive portion; a final gear integrally rotated together with the spindle; and an intermediate gear portion, which is respectively meshed with the first gear and the final gear, reducing a rotation of the first gear and transmitting the reduced rotation t o the final gear.
[0009] The transmission mechanism may includes: a first gear, which is arranged in the drive portion, driven through a belt or chain; a final gear rotated integrally with the spindle; and an intermediate gear portion, which is respectively meshed with the first and final gear, reducing a rotation of the first gear and transmitting the reduced rotation to the final gear.
[0010] Due to the above constitution, power can be transmitted to the final gear while a rotation of the drive portion is being sufficiently reduced. Accordingly, it becomes unnecessary to use a large final gear. Therefore, a size of the gear case in the periphery of the spindle connected to the final gear can be reduced.
[0011] It is preferable that the transmission mechanism includes a lock pin held by the gear case and engaged with the intermediate gear portion.
[0012] Due to the above constitution, the intermediate gear portion is fixed to the gear case. Accordingly, the final gear meshed with the intermediate gear portion and the spindle can be fixed. Therefore, the flange fixed to the spindle can be easily detached. Since the lock pin is engaged with the intermediate gear portion, as compared with a case in which the lock pin is engaged with the final gear, a size of the gear case in the saw blade width direction can be prevented from increasing.
[0013] It is preferable that the supporting portion including: an inclining mechanism for supporting the cutting portion with respect to the base portion so that the cutting portion can be inclined in a direction perpendicular to a side of the cutting blade, and the gear case includes: an inclined face opposed to the upper face of the base portion when the cutting blade is inclined, wherein an opening portion for operating the lock pin is formed on the inclined face. It is preferable that a lid capable of being freely opened and closed is arranged in the opening portion.
[0014] It is preferable that the intermediate gear portion includes: a second gear meshed with the first gear; and a third gear concentrically fixed to the second gear and meshed with the final gear, wherein the lock pin is engaged with the second gear.
[0015] Due to the above constitution, it is possible to have access to the lock pin easily. Since the lid is provided, it is possible to prevent an operator from touching the lock pin unexpectedly.
[0016] It is preferable that while the cutting portion is being made to come the closest to the base portion being pivotally moved)and the cutting blade is maintained in a state perpendicular to the upper face of the base portion, the first gear is located at the uppermost position and separated most from the cutting blade and the final gear is located at the lowermost position and made to come the closest to the cutting blade, the intermediate gear portion is located at an intermediate portion between the first and the final gear, and the respective rotary shafts of the first gear, the intermediate gear and the final gear are positioned on the same axis perpendicular to the upper face of the base portion.
[0017] Due to the above constitution, in the final gear, the intermediate gear and the first gear, when the first gear arranged at a position the most distant from the base portion is located in the perpendicular direction on the substantially same line, the first gear can be most separated from the base portion. In the above constitution of the final gear, the intermediate gear and the first gear, according to a distance from the cutting blade to the first gear and a distance from the base portion to the first gear, an inclination angle of the inclined face with respect to the cutting blade is prescribed. When the first gear is most separated from the base portion, an angle of the inclined face with respect to the cutting blade can be made to be an acute angle. When the angle of the inclined face is the acute angle, an inclination angle, at which the cutting portion is inclined, can be increased.
[0018] It is preferable that the drive portion includes an output shaft portion for outputting torque, the first gear is a bevel gear and attached to the output shaft portion and the intermediate gear portion includes a bevel gear meshed with the first gear.
[0019] It is preferable that the drive portion is arranged so that the output shaft portion can be positioned between the first gear and the cutting blade.
[0020] Due to the above constitution, the output shaft portion of the drive portion can be arranged in parallel with the side of the cutting blade. Therefore, a distance from the side of the cutting blade to the drive portion can be decreased. Especially, when it is composed in such a manner that the output shaft portion is positioned between the first gear and the cutting blade, the distance from the side of the cutting blade to the drive portion can be decreased. Therefore, the drive portion can be prevented from coming into contact with the base portion at the time of inclining the cutting portion. Accordingly, the inclination angle can be more increased.
[0021] It is preferable that the drive portion is arranged being horizontal, vertical or inclined with respect to the axial direction of the spindle.
[0022] In order to solve the above disadvantages, the present invention provides a bench cutter comprising: a base portion capable of supporting a workpiece; and a cutting portion for supporting a cutting blade driven by a drive portion, capable of being pivotally moved between an upper position distant from the base portion and a lower portion close to the base portion and also capable of being inclined with respect to the base portion, the cutting portion including: a power transmission mechanism for transmitting a rotation of the drive portion, to which the cutting blade is fixed by a flange, to the cutting blade; and a gear case for accommodating the power transmission mechanism, the power transmission mechanism including: a first gear driven by a drive portion; a final gear fixed to a spindle to which the cutting blade is fixed; and an intermediate gear portion, which is respectively meshed with the first and final gear and transmitting a rotation of the first gear to the final gear, wherein while the cutting portion is being positioned at a lower position, a distance between the flange and the surface of the base portion in the radial direction of the spindle is made to be the same as or not more than a distance between the gear case and the surface of the base portion.
[0023] In the above bench cutter, it is preferable that the drive portion is arranged in an upper portion of the cutting portion, the output shaft portion of the drive portion is arranged substantially in parallel with the spindle, and a rotation of the output shaft portion is transmitted to the first gear through a belt.
[0024] Due to the above constitution, power can be transmitted to the final gear under the condition that a speed of the drive portion is sufficiently reduced. Therefore, it becomes unnecessary to use a large final gear and a size of the gear case in the periphery of the spindle connected to the final gear can be decreased. Since the size of the gear case is decreased, a range from the cutting blade outer circumferential position to the flange position can be made to be a cutting margin in the cutting blade. Therefore, a range capable of being used for cutting of the cutting blade can be extended with respect to the diameter of the cutting blade and further a cutting depth can be increased. Due to the foregoing, even a small cutting blade can cut a thick material.
[0025] Accordingly, even a small bench cutter can cut the thick material.
[0026] According to the bench cutter of the present invention, it is possible to reduce a size and weight. Further, it is possible to increase a cutting depth.
[0027] According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a bench cutter including: a drive portion driving a cutting blade; a base portion supporting a workpiece; a cutting portion arranged on the base portion, pivotally supporting the cutting blade above the base portion, and configured to make the cutting blade come close to and separate from the base portion; and a supporting portion connected to the base portion and movably supporting the cutting portion, wherein the cutting portion including: a transmission mechanism for transmitting power of the drive portion to the cutting blade; and a gear case covering the transmission mechanism and having a lower face portion opposed to an upper face of the base portion, wherein the transmission mechanism including: a spindle concentrically supporting the cutting blade; and a cutting blade fixing portion having a flange for fixing the cutting blade to the spindle, wherein while the cutting blade is being maintained in a state perpendicular to the upper face of the base portion, a distance between the lower face portion of the gear case and the upper face of the base portion is not less than a distance between the base portion side end face of the flange and the upper face of the base portion.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
[0028] FIG. 1 is a side view showing a bench cutter of an embodiment of the present invention.
[0029] FIG. 2 is a front view showing a bench cutter of an embodiment of the present invention.
[0030] FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a cutting portion of a bench cutter of an embodiment of the present invention.
[0031] FIG. 4 is a schematic drawing showing an arrangement of a transmission mechanism of a bench cutter of an embodiment of the present invention.
[0032] FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a cutting portion of a bench cutter of an embodiment of the present invention which is in a tilted state.
[0033] FIG. 6 is a side view showing a cutting portion of a bench cutter of an embodiment of the present invention.
[0034] FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view showing a cutting portion of a bench cutter of an embodiment of the present invention in which the second gear is locked.
[0035] FIG. 8 is a side view showing a cutting portion of a bench cutter of an embodiment of the present invention in which a lid is closed.
[0036] FIG. 9 is a side view showing a cutting portion of a bench cutter of a first variation of an embodiment of the present invention.
[0037] FIG. 10 is a sectional view showing a cutting portion of a bench cutter of a first variation of an embodiment of the present invention.
[0038] FIG. 11 is a sectional view showing a cutting portion of a bench cutter of a second variation of an embodiment of the present invention.
[0039] FIG. 12 is a front view showing a bench cutter of a second variation of an embodiment of the present invention.
[0040] FIG. 13 is a side view of a bench cutter of a conventional example.
[0041] FIG. 14 is a sectional view showing a cutting portion of a bench cutter of a conventional example.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0042] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 8 , an embodiment of the present invention will be explained below. The bench circular sawing machine shown in FIG. 1 , which is a bench cutter as a miter saw 1 , includes a slide mechanism. The miter saw 1 also includes: a base portion 2 ; a supporting portion 3 ; a cutting portion 4 ; and a cutting blade 7 . A miter saw with a slide mechanism is described in following embodiments, but this invention may be adapted to a miter saw having no slide mechanism.
[0043] The base portion 2 includes: a base 21 for holding a lumber W which is a member to be cut; a turn table 22 pivotally held on the base 21 ; and a fence 23 provided on the base 21 . As shown in FIG. 2 , the base 21 is formed out of a pair of bases in which one is the left base 21 A and the other is the right base 21 B. A direction, in which the left base 21 A and the right base 21 B are arranged, is defined as a lateral direction. An upper portion of the face of the base 21 , on which the lumber W is put, is defined as “upper” and an opposite portion of the face of the base 21 is defined as “lower”.
[0044] As shown in FIG. 2 , the turn table 22 is arranged between the right base 21 B and the left base 21 A. As shown in FIG. 1 , the turn table 22 includes: a turn table body portion 22 A, the shape of which is formed into a substantial circular truncated cone; a protruding portion 24 protruding to one side of the turn table body 22 A; and a cutting portion supporting portion 27 for supporting the supporting portion 3 described later arranged on the other side. A direction in which the protruding portion 24 protrudes from the turn table, that is, a direction perpendicular to the lateral direction is defined as “the front” and the opposite direction is defined as “the rear”.
[0045] On the upper face 22 B of the turn table 22 , a series of groove 22 a (shown in FIG. 3 ) is formed in a range from the neighborhood of the cutting portion supporting portion 27 to the protruding portion 24 . This groove portion 22 a is located at the same position as the cross line position at which the cutting blade 7 pivotally moves and crosses the turn table 22 . This groove portion 22 a is a portion in which a tip of the cutting blade 7 is accommodated.
[0046] As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 , the protruding portion 24 includes a regulation operating portion 28 which is an operating portion for regulating at the time of regulating a rotation of the turn table 22 with respect to the base 21 . As shown in FIG. 1 , the cutting portion supporting portion 27 is arranged at a position on the opposite side to the protruding portion 24 with respect to the central axis of the turn table 22 . The cutting portion supporting portion 27 includes: a tilting shaft 27 A positioned on a prolonged line of the groove portion 22 a (shown in FIG. 3 ); and a tilting supporting portion 27 B by which the supporting portion 3 is fixed at an arbitrary inclination angle.
[0047] As shown in FIG. 1 , on the base 21 and at the upper position of the turn table 22 , the fence 23 is provided. As shown in FIG. 2 , the fence 23 includes a left fence 23 A and a right fence 23 B corresponding to the left base 21 A and the right base 21 B. Front faces of the left fence 23 A and the right fence 23 B are arranged so that the front faces can be located on the same plane. Therefore, the front faces of the left fence 23 A and the right fence 23 B prescribe a position of the lumber W (shown in FIG. 1 ).
[0048] As shown in FIG. 1 , the supporting portion 3 includes: a tilting portion 31 ; a slide supporting portion 33 ; a sliding portion 34 ; and an pivot shaft portion 35 . The tilting portion 31 is supported by the tilting shaft 27 A and capable of being fixed to the tilting supporting portion 278 by the clamp 31 A. When this clamp 31 A is loosened, the tilting portion 31 can be tilted. When this clamp 31 A is fastened, the tilting portion 31 is fixed to the tilting supporting portion 27 B. The slide supporting portion 33 is formed out of two cylindrical bodies and arranged in an upper portion of the tilting portion 31 integrally with the tilting portion 31 . The sliding portion 34 has two sliding pipes 34 A inserted into two cylinders of the slide supporting portion 33 . When the two sliding pipes 34 A slide with respect to the slide supporting portion 33 , the sliding portion 34 can be moved in the longitudinal direction. The pivot shaft portion 35 is provided in the sliding portion 34 and formed out of a pair of arms. Between the pair of arms, the pivot shaft portion 35 A is provided. The pivot shaft portion 35 A supports the cutting portion 4 so that the cutting blade 7 can be made to come close to and separate from an upper face of the turn table 22 .
[0049] The cutting portion 4 is composed in such a manner that the housing 4 A (shown in FIG. 3 ) supported by the pivot shaft portion 35 A is provided as an outer shell of the cutting portion 4 . As shown in FIG. 3 , the motor 51 and the pulley portion 52 are arranged inside the housing 4 A. The housing 4 A includes: a gear case 4 B; a cutting blade cover 4 C; and a handle which becomes a holding portion at the time of cutting.
[0050] The motor 51 is arranged so that the output shaft 51 A connected to the pulley portion 52 can be extended in parallel with the axial direction of the spindle 43 A described later. The cooling fan 51 B is mounted on the output shaft 51 A. The pulley portion 52 includes: a first pulley 52 A connected to the output shaft 51 A; a second pulley 52 C connected to the transmission mechanism 4 D described later; and a belt 52 B provided between the first pulley 52 A and the second pulley 52 C.
[0051] As shown in FIG. 3 , the gear case 4 B includes: a lower face portion 4 E opposed to the upper face portion 22 B under the condition that the cutting blade 7 comes close to the base 21 or the turn table 22 and is substantially perpendicular to the upper face 22 B of the turn table 22 ; and an inclined face 4 F which is arranged being inclined with respect to the lower face portion 4 E. Inside the gear case 4 B, the transmission mechanism 4 D is arranged. In this connection, the inclined face 4 F includes a portion of the housing 4 A. The lower face portion 4 E is composed so that a distance between the lower face portion 4 E and the upper face 22 B can be longer than a distance between the end face on the turn table 22 side of the flange 44 described later and the upper face 22 B under the condition that the cutting blade 7 is perpendicular to the upper face 22 B.
[0052] The transmission mechanism 4 D includes: a first gear 41 ; an intermediate gear 42 ; and a final gear 43 . The first gear 41 is a helical gear and connected to the second pulley 52 B and pivotally supported by the gear case 4 B. The intermediate gear 42 includes: a second gear 42 A meshed with the first gear 41 ; and a third gear 42 B which is arranged on the same shaft as that of the second gear 42 A and meshed with the final gear 43 . The intermediate gear 42 is pivotally supported by the gear case 4 B through a pair of bearings. The second gear 42 A and the third gear 42 B are respectively composed of helical gears. Tooth traces of the second gear 42 A and the third gear 42 B are directed in the opposite directions. The number of teeth of the second gear 42 A is larger than the number of teeth of the third gear 42 B. Due to the above constitution, the rotating speed of the first gear 41 is reduced and transmitted to the final gear 43 and the thrust forces of the respective gears can be canceled to each other. The final gear 43 is a helical gear and meshed with the third gear 42 B and provided with a spindle 43 A on which the cutting blade 7 is mounted. The final gear 43 is pivotally supported by the gear case 4 B through a pair of bearings.
[0053] Power is transmitted to the final gear 43 while the rotating speed is being reduced by the intermediate gear portion 42 . Therefore, it is unnecessary to use a gear, the diameter of which excessively large. Accordingly, the gear case 4 B provided in the periphery of the final gear 43 can be made small. The flange 44 , which is a cutting blade fixing portion for fixing the cutting blade 7 , and the bolts 44 C can be mounted on the spindle 43 A.
[0054] Furthermore, as mentioned above, the pulley portion 52 includes the first pulley 52 A, the second pulley 52 C, and the belt 52 B. As shown in FIG. 3 , the size (diameter) of the second pulley 52 C is configured to be larger than that of the second pulley 52 A. By having such a configuration, the rotation of the motor 51 is transmitted from the output shaft 51 A to the first gear 41 of the transmission mechanism 41 through the pulley portion 52 in a reduced manner. The sizes (diameters) of the intermediate gear 42 and the final gear 43 may be reduced in obtaining a desired speed reduction ratio, as compared with a case where the sizes (diameters) of the first pulley 52 A and the second pulley 52 B are the same. Accordingly, the intermediate gear 42 and the gear case 4 B in the periphery of the final gear 43 can be reduced in size. This is the case where the speed reduction is done in the three stages so that a capability of achieving a depth of cut can be improved. This configuration is to perform a speed reduction for one stage by setting the diameters of the pulleys different from each other. As compared with a case where the three-stage speed reduction is achieved by providing plural gears, it is possible to reduce the size of the gear case while having a simple configuration and improving the capability for achieving depth of cut at low cost.
[0055] As shown in FIG. 3 , the first gear 41 , the intermediate gear portion 42 and the final gear 43 are arranged so that these gears can be made to come most close to the upper face 228 of the turn table 22 of the base portion 2 (shown in FIG. 1 ) when the cutting portion 4 is pivoted and so that the first gear 41 can be located at the uppermost position and separated from the cutting blade 7 most distantly and so that the final gear 43 can be located at the lowermost position and made to come most close to the cutting blade 7 and so that the intermediate gear portion 42 can be located at the intermediate position between the first gear 41 and the final gear 43 under the condition that the cutting blade 7 is perpendicular to the upper face 228 . Under the condition that the cutting portion 4 is pivoted and made to come most close to the upper face 228 , as shown in FIG. 4 , the respective rotary shafts of the first gear 41 , the intermediate gear portion 42 and the final gear 43 are arranged in a line on the axis G which is perpendicular to the upper face 22 B.
[0056] In the constitution of the final gear 43 , the intermediate gear portion 42 and the first gear 41 described above, an angle of the inclination of the inclined face 4 F with respect to the cutting blade 7 to accommodate these gears is prescribed according to the distance between the cutting blade 7 and the first gear 41 and also according to the distance between the upper face 22 B and the first gear 41 . When the respective shafts of the gears are arranged on the same axis G perpendicular to the upper face 22 B as described above, the first gear 41 can be most separated from the upper face 22 B under the condition that the cutting portion 4 is pivoted downward. When the first gear 41 is arranged at a position which is most separate from the upper face 22 B, an angle of the inclined face 4 F with respect to the cutting blade 7 can be made to be an acute angle. When the angle of the inclined face 4 F is the acute angle, as shown in FIG. 5 , when the cutting portion 4 is tilted, the tilting angle θ of the cutting portion 4 can be increased.
[0057] As shown in FIG. 3 , the hole 42 a is formed on the side of the inclined face 4 F of the second gear 42 A. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 6 , the opening portion 4 a is formed on the inclined face 4 F of the gear case 4 B. In the opening portion 4 a, the lock pin 54 capable of moving toward the second gear 42 A side is arranged. It is composed in such a manner that an end portion on the second gear 42 A side of the lock pin 54 can be inserted into the hole 42 a and the lock pin 54 is pushed by a spring onto the opposite side to the second gear 42 A side. Therefore, at the time of cutting, the lock pin 54 is located at a position distant from the second gear 42 A as shown in FIG. 3 . Accordingly, there is no possibility that the second gear 42 A is locked by the lock pin 54 .
[0058] At the time of detaching the bolt 44 c fixing the cutting blade 7 , as shown in FIG. 7 , the final gear 43 and the spindle 43 A are locked when the second gear 42 A is locked. At this time, when the lock pin 54 is pushed onto the second gear 42 A side and engaged with the hole 42 a, the second gear 42 A can be suitably locked. In the opening portion 4 a which has access to the lock pin 54 , the lid 4 G is provided as shown in FIG. 8 . Therefore, unless the lid 4 G is opened and the lock pin 54 is pushed, the lock pin 54 is not moved on the second gear 42 A side. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the malfunction of the lock pin 54 .
[0059] As shown in FIG. 1 , the cutting blade cover 4 C covers an upper portion of the cutting blade 7 . As shown in FIG. 3 , the cutting blade cover 4 C is composed so that it can not protrude onto the lower side of the flange 44 when the cutting portion 4 is pivoted downward.
[0060] In the case of cutting the lumber W with the miter saw composed as described above, as shown in FIG. 3 , the cutting portion 4 is pivoted downward and cuts the lumber W with the cutting blade 7 . At this time, the thickness of the lumber W capable of being cut with the miter saw 1 is set according to a distance from the lowermost position of the cutting blade 7 to the position at which the cutting portion 4 comes into contact with an upper face of the lumber W. In the miter saw 1 described here, the position at which the cutting portion 4 comes into contact with the upper face of the lumber W is the lowermost position of the flange 44 . Due to the foregoing, a value obtained when a radius of the flange 44 is subtracted from a radius of the cutting blade 7 can be made to be a cutting depth, that is, a diameter of the portion from which the cutting blade 7 is exposed can be made to be a cutting depth.
[0061] In the conventional miter saw, before the flange comes into contact with the lumber, the gear case, the housing or the cutting blade cover comes into contact with the lumber.
[0062] Therefore, a diameter of the portion in which the cutting blade 7 is exposed can not be made to be a cutting depth. On the other hand, in the miter saw 1 of the present case, for example, a lumber, which can not be cut without using a conventional cutting blade of 8 inches, can be cut by using a cutting blade 7 of 7 inches. When the miter saw, the upper limit of the usable cutting blade diameter of which is 8 inches, is compared with the miter saw, the upper limit of the usable cutting blade diameter of which is 7 inches, the miter saw, the upper limit of the usable cutting blade diameter of which is 8 inches, is larger and heavier than the miter saw, the upper limit of the usable cutting blade diameter of which is 7 inches. Therefore, when the constitution of the present case is employed, the thick material can be cut even by using the small, light miter saw.
[0063] It should be noted that the miter saw of the present invention not limited to the above specific embodiment. Variations and improvements can be made without departing from the scope of claims of the present invention.
[0064] For example, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 , it is possible to employ a constitution in which the first gear 141 is directly mounted on the output shaft 151 A of the motor 151 . In this case, the cutting portion 104 can be inclined onto one side with respect to the base portion 121 . In another embodiment in which the first gear is directly fixed to the drive portion as shown in FIG. 11 , the first gear 241 and the second gear 242 A may be respectively formed out of helical gears and the motor 251 may be arranged so that the output shaft 151 A can be perpendicular to the axial direction of the spindle 243 A. Due to the above constitution, as shown in FIG. 12 , a protruding portion to the right of the cutting portion 204 is suppressed and an inclination angle to the right of the cutting portion 204 can be increased.
[0065] As shown in FIG. 11 , when the motor 251 is arranged so that the output shaft 251 A can be located between the first gear 241 and the cutting blade 207 , a protruding portion to the right of the cutting portion 204 shown in FIG. 12 is further suppressed. The third gear 242 B and the final gear 243 may be formed out of helical gears. In this case, a direction of the helical teeth of the third gear 242 B may be determined to be a direction in which a thrust force direction is directed to the left, that is, a direction in which the second gear 242 A is pushed to the first gear 241 .
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According to an aspect of the invention, a bench cutter like a miter saw including: a drive portion driving a cutting blade; a base portion supporting a workpiece; a cutting portion arranged on the base portion, pivotally supporting the cutting blade above the base portion, and configured to make the cutting blade come close to and separate from the base portion; and a supporting portion connected to the base portion and movably supporting the cutting portion, wherein the cutting portion including: a transmission portion for transmitting power of the drive portion to the cutting blade; and a gear case covering the transmission mechanism and having a lower face portion opposed to an upper face of the base portion, wherein the transmission portion including: a spindle concentrically supporting the cutting blade; and a cutting blade fixing portion having a flange for fixing the cutting blade to the spindle.
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This application is filed under the provisions of 37 CFR 1.60 and is a continuation of copending application Ser. No. 802,865 filed on 6/2/77, abandoned.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A wide variety of processes have been employed in the past to produce a raised embossed effect on substrates in general and fiber board ceiling panels in particular. One such prior method includes pressing a textured roll or plate onto the surface of the substrate. Another prior method includes cutting, abrading, or routing out a portion of the surface of the substrate, thus creating a pattern. Yet another prior method includes application of a pattern from a printing press employing an adhesive ink followed by building up the pattern with solid material which is attached to the inked portion. Still another prior process includes the use of a chemical ink which resists cutting action followed by abrading of the surface. In an additional prior process a template having a pattern therein is placed over the surface. Those portions of the substrate not shielded by the template are then cut or abraded away.
The above prior methods suffer from a number of disadvantages. In general, the substrate is weakened because of the portion of the substrate material removed. Another disadvantage is that cutting, routing, and abrading creates dust. The dust creates an explosion hazard and is hazardous to workers. In order to ameliorate these hazards it is necessary to install and maintain complicated and expensive dust collection systems. Furthermore, when adhesive links are employed the material attached to the ink is flammable and difficult to handle.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved process for producing a raised embossed effect which is substantially free of one or more of the disadvantages of prior processes.
Another object is to provide an improved process which does not weaken the substrate.
Yet another object is to provide an improved process which does not require cutting, routing, or abrading.
Still another object is to provide an improved process which does not require the use of adhesive inks, chemical inks, or templates.
Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to the following detailed description and drawing which is a schematic representation to no scale of an apparatus suitable for practicing the process of the present invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, there is provided an improved process for producing a raised embossed effect on a substrate comprising the steps of:
I. contacting the substrate with a pattern roll having depressions therein which are filled with a coating composition comprising:
A. a filler,
B. a binder for the filler,
C. water,
D. montmorillonite which is finely divided,
thereby transferring the coating composition to the substrate while retaining the shape of the coating composition, and then
II. removing the water from the coating composition.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
The FIGURE shows a side view of an apparatus suitable for practicing the process of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring now to the drawing, the apparatus 10 comprises a rubber pattern roll 12 rotatable about an axis 14. Adjacent to the pattern roll 12 is a doctor roll 16 having an axis 18 parallel to the axis 14. A bank 20 of coating composition is held in the nip between the pattern roll 12 and the doctor roll 16. The doctor roll 16 rotates in the direction of the arrow 22 whereas the pattern roll 12 rotates in the direction of the arrows 24, 24'. The pattern roll 12 is provided with depressions 26, 26', 26". A support roll 28 is juxtaposed to the pattern roll 12. The apparatus 10 further comprises an oven 30 provided with a thermometer 32, and a spray nozzle 34.
In operation, the pattern roll 12 is caused to rotate in the direction of the arrows 24, 24', and the doctor roll 16 is caused to rotate in the direction of the arrow 22 preferably at an equal peripheral speed. The coating composition is added to the nip between the rolls 12, 16 to create the bank 20. As the depression 26 passes the bank 20 the depression 26 becomes filled with coating composition, as is the depression 26'. The substrate 36 which is preferably the fiber board ceiling panel is passed through the nip between the pattern roll 12 and the support roll 28. The pattern roll 12 is pressed toward the support roll 28 exerting a slight pressure such that the coating composition in the depression 26' leaves the depression 26' and is deposited on the substrate 36 in the form of a raised portion 38, 38', 38". The substrate 36 then passes into the oven 30 where water is removed from the coating composition. When the substrate 36 leaves the oven 30, the raised portion 38' is only slightly reduced in size. If desired, a coating composition can be sprayed on the substrate 36 and the raised portion 38' by means of the nozzle 34.
It should be noted that the drawing is to no scale and that in an actual embodiment the pattern roll 12 has a diameter of only 19 cm. whereas the oven 30 is many times larger than the pattern roll 12. The substrate 36 can have a widely varying thickness but is commonly one-half inch thick (1.25 cm.). The substrate 36 can be any planar construction panel such as a low density or a high density fiber board, a gypsum wall board, or a siding product. The upper surface of the substrate 36 can be of any material such as paper, aluminum, steel, felt or asbestos.
A wide variety of fillers can be employed in the present invention. The preferred fillers are those which are inorganic, and are finely divided, having a particle size generally less than 200 microns and preferably less than 100 microns. Examples of suitable fillers include among others calcium carbonate, talc, silica, mica, china clay, calcined clay, and calcium metasilicate.
In the broadest aspects of the present invention, any binder can be employed that is compatible with the filler. However, the preferred binders are polymers of vinyl monomers such as vinyl acetate, vinyl chloride, methyl methacrylate, styrene, butadiene, and other vinyl monomers copolymerizable therewith. One preferred subclass of polymers are copolymers of styrene and butadiene. Another preferred class of polymers are those of methyl methacrylate either along or in combination with other vinyl monomers copolymerizable therewith. The binder is employed in an amount sufficient to bind the particles of the filler together and to adhere the filler to the substrate and is generally present in a weight ratio of filler to binder of 2:1 to 10:1. At much lower ratios, there is insufficient binder to bind the filler. Higher ratios are possible but are economically undesirable because the filler is less expensive than the binder.
Water is an essential ingredient of the coating composition and is present in an amount to provide the coating composition with the desired viscosity which is generally from 2,000 to 10,000 and preferably from 4,000 to 8,000 centipoises measured at 25° C. The ratio of filler to water is generally 1:1 to 5:1.
The coating composition can optionally contain additional ingredients such as pigments, fungicides, wetting agents, freezing point depressants, and/or defoamers. Examples of suitable pigments include, among others, titanium dioxide, red iron oxide, burnt umber, siennas, phthalocyanine green, phthalocyanine blue, and phthalocyanine red. Examples of suitable freezing point depressants include, among others, ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, propylene glycol and hexylene glycol.
Montmorillonite is an essential component of the coating composition and is present in an amount sufficient to impart the desired thixotropic properties to the coating composition. The montmorillonite generally comprises from 2 to 20 and preferably comprises from 5 to 15 grams per liter based upon the volume of the coating composition. At much lower ratios, the raised portions 38, 38' will not maintain their form when present on the substrate 36. At much higher ratios, excessive pressure between the pattern roll 12 and the support roll 28 is required in order to transfer the coating composition from the depression 26' to the substrate 36. Furthermore, deformation of the raised portion 38' occurs.
The removing of the water can be effected by any convenient means such as air drying under ambient conditions, however the removing of the water is preferably accomplished by heating. The heating is effected for a time and at a temperature necessary to remove the water from the raised portion 38 and generally from 100 to 300 preferably from 180° to 240° C. At lower temperatures, an excessively long time is required for drying, whereas at higher temperatures, some thermal degradation of the binder or the substrate may occur.
EXAMPLE 1
This example illustrates the synthesis of a coating composition useful in the present invention.
The following quantities of the following ingredients are combined as indicated.
______________________________________Item Ingredient Quantity (grams)______________________________________A Filler - calcium carbonate and 4540 silica in a weight ratio of 1:9B Polyvinylacetate latex 700C Water 1500D Montmorillonite 25E Wetting agent 15F Defoamer 10G Fungicide 5______________________________________
Items A through G are mixed under high shear.
The wetting agent is sodium hexametaphosphate. The defoamer is that available from the Drew Chemical Company under the tradename L-475. The fungicide is that available from the Dow Chemical Company under the tradename "Dowicide G".
The polyvinylacetate latex is available from the Union Carbide Company under the tradename "UCAR WC-131". This product is a homopolymer of vinyl acetate mixed with a dibutyl phthalate as a plasticizer. It is an oil-in-water emulsion at 60% solids and weighs 9.1 pounds per gallon.
The resultant composition is termed Composition A.
EXAMPLES 2 and 3
These examples illustrate the synthesis of coating compositions of the present invention employing various fillers.
The procedure of Example 1 was repeated except that the filler was replaced by an equal weight of talc, and the resultant composition termed Composition B.
The procedure of Example 1 is repeated except that the filler is replaced by an equal weight of mica, and the resultant composition termed Composition C.
EXAMPLES 4-6
These examples illustrate the synthesis of coating compositions of the present invention employing different binders.
The procedure of Example 1 is repeated except that the polyvinyl acetate latex is replaced with an equal weight of styrene-butadiene copolymer and the resultant composition termed Composition D; and then with an equal weight of a polymethylmethacrylate latex and the resultant composition termed Composition E; and finally with an equal weight of a copolymer of methylmethacrylate and vinyl acetate and the resulting composition termed Composition F.
EXAMPLE 7
This example illustrates the process of the present invention.
Referring to the FIGURE, a substrate 36 which is a one-half inch thick bagasse fiber board is passed under a portion roll 12, the bank 20 of which is sequentially filled with Compositions A through F, and then passed through an oven 30 maintained at 210° C. The resultant ceiling panels have a pleasing raised embossed effect corresponding to the depressions 26, 26', 26" on the pattern roll 12.
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A process for producing a raised embossed effect on a substrate comprising contacting the substrate with a pattern roll having depressions therein. The depressions are filled with a coating composition comprising a filler, a binder for the filler, water, and montmorillonite. The coating composition is transferred to the substrate in an embossed pattern while retaining the shape of the coating composition. Water is then removed from the coating composition.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the preparation of a new class of polymers, namely methacrylated urethane/urea copolymers containing moisture curable silicone soft segments in the polymer backbone, and compositions prepared therefrom. More specifically, this invention relates to the preparation of a copolymer derived from a partially methacrylated urethane prepolymer and an amino alkylene dialkoxysilanol terminated silicone prepolymer. These materials therefore have olefinic functionality and alkoxysilane functionality, allowing for cure by means of free radical (photo or anaerobic) mechanisms, as well as by moisture cure.
2. Description of Related Technology
It is known that diisocyanate end-capped urethane, containing both hard block and soft block segments can be prepared by proper control of the stoichiometry and steps in the process. For example, a diisocyanate end-capped hard block segment can be prepared from a diisocyanate and a rigid diol as a first stage or step, followed by a reaction of this diisocyanate end-capped prepolymer with a long chain diol to yield a diisocyanate end-capped polyurethane with soft and hard segments.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,538 to Klemarczyk discloses a method to produce acrylate end-capped polysiloxane urethane compositions in which siloxane-carbinol bonds are in the repeat unit of the polymer chain and which are capable of fast UV cure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,760,155 to Mowrer describes a novel polysiloxane urethane composition in which one of the repeat units in the polymer back bone is comprised of urethane Si bonds, i.e.
The disadvantage of this kind of repeat unit is the inherent hydrolytic instability.
The interest in polysiloxane/polyurethane compositions is further exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,443 to Akutus et al., whereby improved surfaces characteristics are alleged. Linear silicone-urethane copolymers are described as providing films of high strength and elasticity when cast from aqueous dispersions.
There is a definite need for a new process which provides polyurethane siloxane copolymers having excellent toughness and adhesive properties. It would be even more advantageous to produce an acrylated end-capped urethane-urea siloxane copolymers without the limitations of prior compositions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One aspect of the present invention relates to a new class of (meth)acrylated urethane/urea copolymer compositions having moisture curable silicone segments and photocurable acrylated end-caps. The compositions are particularly useful in a variety of applications such as in the adhesive, coating, caulking and potting areas. These compositions have found to be particularly useful in the electronic, automotive, industrial and consumer fields.
In the synthesis of acrylate end-capped polysiloxane/urethane urea copolymers of the present invention, a process in forming polysiloxane/urethane-urea units was developed to minimize the concentration of available isocynate groups which cause biuret formation. This process, whereby the acrylated polyurethane prepolymer is formed first, and the polysiloxane units are incorporated in a second step, allows for the formation of a dual cured end-capped aminoalkylene dialkoxy silicone/polyurethane material having minimum biuret formation. Moreover, since the polymer is acrylated in the first step of the process it is free of hydroxyalkyl (meth)acrylate, thereby alleviating environmental issues relating to by-products.
In one aspect of the invention there is provided a curable polymer having the structure I:
wherein A and B may be the same or different and have the structure:
(i) wherein Q is
or
a is 2 to 3; R 1 and R 10 may be the same or different and may be a substituted or unsubstituted C 1 -C 10 alkylene group; R is H or CH 3 ; and
(ii) wherein R 4 , R 6 , R 7 , R 8 , R 9 and R 11 may be the same or different and are substituted or unsubstituted hydrocarbon radicals; R 11 may also be saturated or unsaturated, for example, it may contain a vinyl group or a (meth)acrylate group; R 2 , R 3 and R 5 may be the same or different and are divalent substituted C 1 -C 40 aliphatic, cycloaliphatic or aromatic hydrocarbon radicals, or a polyol, polyester, or polyalkylidene having a weight average molecular weight from about 200 to about 5,000; n is an integer from 1-1000, desirably 1-10 and more desirably 1-5; p is an integer from 1-1200, desirably 1-200 and more desirably 1-100.
In a further aspect of the invention there is provided a curable polymer which includes the reaction product of:
a) a reactive prepolymer component having a radiation-curable group proximal to one terminus of the prepolymer and an isocyanate group proximal to the other terminus of the prepolymer; and
b) an aminoalkylenedialkoxysilyl-terminated polydiorganosiloxane.
In a still further aspect of the invention there is provided a dual curing composition which includes
a) a (meth)acrylated urethane/urea silicone copolymer which includes the structure:
wherein A and B may be the same or different and have the structure:
wherein R is H or CH 3 ; R 1 is a divalent substituted or unsubstituted C 1 -C 40 aliphatic, cycloaliphatic or aromatic hydrocarbon radical; R 2 =R 1 and may be the same or different; R 3 is a polyol, polyether, polyalkylidiene, or polyester having a weight average molecular weight from about 200 to about 5,000; n is an integer from 1-1000; p is an integer from 1-1,200; R 4 is a monovalent substituted or unsubstituted aliphatic, cycloaliphatic or aromatic hydrocarbon radical C 1 -C 40 ; R 5 is a substituted or unsubstituted divalent C 1 -C 40 aliphatic, cycloaliphatic or aromatic hydrocarbon radical; R 6 =R 4 and may be the same or different; R 7 =R 6 and may be the same or different; and
b) a cure system for said copolymer.
In still a further aspect of the invention there is provided a method of preparing a curable (meth)acrylated polyurethane/urea silicone co-polymer which includes the step of:
reacting an isocyanate prepolymer having a terminal (meth)acrylate group with an noalkylenedialkoxysilyl-terminated polydiorganosiloxane.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In discovering the present invention, it has also been determined that the formation of biuret groups within the backbone structure is also less desirable because it leads to a more rigid structure due to increased crosslinking within the polymer system. The biuret crosslinking reaction occurs when an isocyanate group reacts with intermediate urea groups as shown in the reaction below. The formation of a biuret is schematically shown below:
In contrast to conventional processes for forming polyurethane/acrylates which contain urethane linkages joining the hard and soft segments, the present invention uses a urea linkage to form these segments. This linkage is formed by the reaction of an isocyanate prepolymer with an aminoalkylene dialkoxy-terminated polydimethylsiloxane. The use of secondary amines as opposed to primary amines in this reaction is desirable because it minimizes the formation of biuret by-product. This is because the urea functionality unit formed in the isocyanate/amine reaction is capable of further reaction with available isocyanate group to form a crosslinked biuret structure. This increases the viscosity of the copolymer and limits the processability of the copolymer for further applications such as for adhesives, coatings and sealants. Thus, the present invention provides a process and composition which avoids the formation of biruets.
More particularly, the (meth)acrylated urethane/urea alkylaminoalkenedialkoxy siloxanes of the present invention include those represented by structure I:
wherein A and B may be the same or different and have the structure:
wherein Q is
or
a is 2-3; R 1 and R 10 may be the same or different and may be a substituted or unsubstituted C 1 -C 10 alkylene group; R is H or CH 3 ; R 4 , R 6 , R 7 , R 8 , R 9 and R 11 may be the same or different and are substituted or unsubstituted hydrocarbon radicals; R 11 may also be saturated or unsaturated, for example, it may be a vinyl or (meth)acrylate group; R 2 , R 3 and R 5 may be the same or different and are divalent substituted C 1 -C 40 aliphatic, cycloaliphatic or aromatic hydrocarbon radicals, or a polyol, polyester, or polyalkylidene having a weight average molecular weight from about 200 to about 5,000; n is an integer from 1-1,000, desirably 1-10 and more desirably 1-5; p is an integer from 1-1200, desirably 1-200 and more desirable 1-100.
Particularly desirable embodiments have the aforementioned structure I include those where A and B are identical and, for example, have the methacryloxy structure
wherein R is methyl, R 1 is ethylene, and Q is
as shown in structure II:
Another desirable aspect of the invention includes compounds where A and B have the methacrylamide structure
wherein R and R 1 are defined as above, R 8 is methyl, and Q is
Such a case corresponds to structure III:
In still a further desirable embodiment, substituents A and B may be a substituted alkoxy silyl radical
where a=2, R 9 is methyl, R 11 is methacryloxypropyl, R 10 is propylene and Q is
Such a case corresponds to structure IV:
wherein
R 2 and R 3 may be the same or different and are divalent cycloaliphatic or aromatic hydrocarbon radicals or are polyols, polyesters, or polyalkylidenes having weight average molecular weight from about 200 to about 5,000, most desirably 200-500; R 2 is a hard segment such as an isophorone diradial; R 3 is defined as also a hard segment, such as a propocylated bisphenol A diradial; n is an integer 1-1000, desirably 1 to 10, and more desirably 1-5; p is an integer 1-1,200, desirably 1-200 and most desirably 1-100.
The compositions of the present invention are curable by multiple mechanisms. For example, compositions containing the inventive polymers may be subjected to UV light in the presence of a photo initiator to cure or gel the material, and/or be allowed to cure by moisture under ambient conditions. Either or both of these mechanisms may be used to cure the compositions. In one desirable embodiment, as represented in structure II above, a methacrylated urethane/urea copolymer containing moisture curable silicone soft segments and urethane/urea hard segments is provided.
Polymer Synthesis
The polymers of the present invention are formed via a multiple step or staged process.
Preparation of Isocyanate-terminated Urethane Hard Segments (A-Stage Prepolymer)
An A-stage prepolymer may be prepared from a variety of diisocyanate monomers and diols, thereby producing an isocyanate end-capped prepolymer composition of various molecular weights, with soft and/or hard block segments, as determined by the reactants as shown in Equation V, below, to give the A-staged prepolymer V. Desirably, the final curable polymers of the present invention include both hard and soft segments, although the soft segment is desirably from the silicone portion to be discussed further herein.
wherein R 2 and R 3 may be the same or different and is a divalent substituted aliphatic, cycloaliphatic or aromatic hydrocarbon radical, or polyol, polyester or polyalkylidene have an average molecular weight from about 200 to 5000, preferably 1000, and n is an integer from 1-100, desirably 1-100.
Examples of diisocyanates useful to produce the A-staged prepolymer V in Equation V above, can include, among others, isophoronediisocyanate (IPDI) tetramethylxylyldiisocyanate, (MXDI) toluene diisocyanate methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDDI) 1,6-hexane diisocyanate (HDI) or a substituted or unsubstituted aliphatic, cycloaliphatic or aromatic diisocyanate. Most desirable is isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI). In the A-stage process, other diisocyanates, such as tetramethyl xylylene diisocyanate (TMXDI) and toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and diols such as propolylated hydrogenated bis-phenol-A [HBPA(PO) 2 ], and reactive diluents such as isobomyl methacrylate (IBOMA), hexane diol dimethacrylate (HDDMA), lauryl acrylate, and N,N-dimethyacrylamide (DMA), are useful. In preferred embodiments hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA), hydroxyl propylacrylate (HPA), and hydroxypropyl(meth)acrylate (HPMA) are also useful. Additional non-limiting, representative examples of useful diisocyanates also include phenyl diisocyanate, 4,4′-diphenyl diisocyanate, 4,4′-diphenylene methane diisocyanate, dianisidine diisocyanate, 1,5-naphthalene diisocyanate, 4,4′-diphenyl ether diisocyanate, p-phenylene diisocyanate, 4,4′-dicyclo-hexylmethane diisocyanate, 1,3-bis-(isocyanatomethyl) cyclohexane, cyclohexylene diisocyanate, tetrachlorophenylene diisocyanate, 2,6-diethyl-pphenylenediisocyanate, and 3,5-diethyl-4,4′-diisocyanatodiphenyl-methane.
Numerous diols and polyols can be used to form the A-staged prepolymer, such as propoxylated hydrogenated bisphenol-A (HBPA (PO) 2 ], ethoxylated hydrogenated
bisphenol A (HEO2O), 4,8-bis(hydroxymethyl)tri-cyclo[5.2.1.0 2,6 ]decane (HMTD),
or divalent substituted C 1 -C 20 aliphatic cycloaliphatic or aromatic hydrocarbon radicals, or a polyol, such as polyether diol, polyester diol or polyalkylidiene diol having a weight average molecular weight from about 200 to about 5000. By selecting appropriate diols, polyurethane prepolymer can be produced containing both hard and soft segments, for example where HBPA(PO) 2 or HMID are used to produce hard urethane segments and polyether diols are used to produce soft urethane segments. More desirably in the novel urethane A-staged prepolymer in Equation V above, the hard segment is formed from HMTD diol and a silicone soft segment introduced in a later step as described below. Additional non-limiting, representative examples of useful polyols also include 2,2-(4,4′-dihydroxydiphenyl)-butane; 3,3-(4,4′-dihydroxydiphenyl)-pentane; α,α′-(4,4′-dihydroxydiphenyl)-p-diisopropylbenzene; 1,3-cyclohexane diol; 1,4-cyclohexane diol; 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol; bicyclic and tricyclic diols such as 4,8-bis-(hydroxymethyl)-tricyclo[5.2.1.0 2.6 ]decane; 2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-1,3-cyclobutanediols, hydroquinones, resorcinol, and 2,2(4,4′-dihydroxydiphenyl)sulfone, among others, as well as halogenated derivatives of the above, such as tetrabrominated ethoxylated bisphenol-A. These ring compounds may also be substituted with either reactive groups or unreactive groups such as alkyl groups containing about 1 to 4 carbon atoms.
Preparation of the Partially (Meth)acrylate End-capped B-Stage Prepolymer
The next step in the inventive process of preparing the curable polymers of the present invention involves partially capping the A-stage prepolymer with an acrylate to form a B-stage prepolymer VI. For example, A-stage polyurethane prepolymer in Equation VI, was partially capped with a hydroxyalkylacrylate
as shown in Equation VI.
where R is H or methyl, and R 1 is a substituted or unsubstituted C 1 -C 20 alkylene group, desirably ethylene.
It should be recognized that, notwithstanding the fact that the stoichiometry and the selected reaction conditions chosen yield the B-stage prepolymer as shown, a statistical distribution of reaction product mixture is expected. That is, a minor amount of polymer containing both acrylate ends may be produced, as well as a minor amount of A-stage prepolymer which may remain unreacted.
Preparation of the (Meth)acrylate End-capped Polyurethane/Urea Copolymer (C-Stage)
To begin with, a soft silicone block for use in the C-stage of the present invention is prepared. Nonlimiting examples of useful silicone soft blocks for use as a reactant in the C-stage of the present invention are shown in the reactions in Equation XI below. In this reaction, an amine terminated dialkoxy polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is prepared by end-capping a dihydroxy PDMS (silanol) with an amine functional trialkoxysilane. As the skilled artisan would recognize, the molecular of the silanol fluid may vary widely. A particularly useful molecular weight range includes mw about 4,000 to about 12,000, but molecular weights outside these ranges are useful. In the examples below, 4 EAM and 12 EAM are acronyms for bis[(ethylaminopropyl)dimethoxy silyl]polydimethyl siloxane of 4000 and 12000 molecular weights, respectively.
Below is a non-limiting list of other useful variables for the soft silicone segment of the present invention:
Substituents
where
R 4
and
R 6
R 5
Amine Terminated Soft Silicone Segment
H
CH 3
—CH 2 CH 2 CH 2 —
bis[(aminopropyldimethoxy silyl)] polydimethyl siloxane
4 or 12 DAM
H
C 2 H 5
—CH 2 CH 2 CH 2 —
bis[(aminopropyl)diethoxy)silyl] polydimethyl
siloxane
4 or 12 DEAM
C 6 H 5
CH 3
—CH 2 CH 2 CH 2 —
bis[(phenylaminopropyl)dimethoxysilyl]
polydimethyl
siloxane 4 or 12 PAM
CH 3
CH 3
—CH 2 CH 2 CH 2 —
bis[(methylaminopropyl dimethoxysilyl)polydimethyl
siloxane 4 or 12 MAM
C 4 H 9
CH 3
—CH 2 CH 2 CH 2 —
bis[(isobutylaminopropyl)dimethoxysilyl]polydimethyl
siloxane 4 or 12 BAM
C 2 H 5
CH 3
bis[(ethylaminoisobutyl)dimethoxysilyl]polydimethyl Siloxane 4 or 12 EAM
In particularly desirable embodiments, R 4 is ethyl, methyl or butyl, and R 6 are methyl and R 7 .
The soft amine terminated segment silicone is then used in the aforementioned B-stage to produce the novel acrylated polyurethane/urea silicone block copolymer, which is capable of dual curing.
Preparation of Soft Silicone Block for Use in the C-Stage of the Present Invention
The last step (C-stage) in the synthesis of the novel (meth)acrylate end-capped polyurethane/urea copolymer containing dialkoxysilyl silicone soft segments is described by Equation VII.
The B-stage preparation of the partially (meth)acrylated polyurethane hard block prepolymer described in Equation VI above represents a departure from conventional synthesis of acrylated polyurethane material containing hard and soft segment urethane blocks.
For example, conventional acrylated polyurethane process steps have included the formation of urethane hard and soft segments as depicted below in Equations VIII-X.
In the above conventional process, Ar and Ar 1 are aromatic groups, but it is also known to use aliphatic groups as well.
As shown below in conventional processes, the acrylate capping occurs in the final stage (C-stage), where in the present invention, such capping occurs in the intermediate stage (B-stage).
Among the advantages of (meth)acrylate end-capping in B-stage as opposed to prior methods which acrylated in the C-stage, are: (1) complete consumption of the volatile acrylate end-capper occurs in the B stage, thereby eliminating undesirable trace amounts of this material in the final product, which can be an environmental concern; (2) a reduction in the concentration of isocyanate groups early on in the process (B-stage), i.e., the isocyanate/amine ratio is reduced, thereby minimizing the ability of secondary reactions to form biuret structures which cause a significant viscosity increase in the final product; (3) the use of secondary amines instead of primary amines reduces the amount of biuret formation. Thus, the inventive compositions are better able to form low viscosity resins which are desirable for final cure by one or more of mechanisms, i.e., photolytic, anaerobic and/or moisture cure.
Additives
A number of photoinitiators may be employed herein to provide the benefits and advantages of the present invention to which reference is made above. Photoinitiators enhance the rapidity of the curing process when the photocurable compositions as a whole are exposed to electromagnetic radiation. Certain metallocenes, such as “IRGACURE” 784DC, may serve a dual purpose as both metallocene and photoinitiator.
Non-limiting examples of U.V. photoinitiators that are useful in the inventive compositions include benzoins, benzophenone, dialkoxy-benzophenones, Michler's ketone (4,4′-bis(dimethylamino)benzophenone) and diethoxyacetophenone.
Examples of suitable photoinitiators for use herein include, but are not limited to, photoinitiators available commercially from Ciba Specialty Chemicals, under the “IRGACURE” and “DAROCUR” trade names, specifically “IRGACURE” 184 (1-hydroxycyclohexyl phenyl ketone), 907 (2-methyl-1-[4-(methylthio)phenyl]-2-morpholino propan-1-one), 369 (2-benzyl-2-N,N-dimethylamino-1-(4-morpholinophenyl)-1-butanone), 500 (the combination of 1-hydroxy cyclohexyl phenyl ketone and benzophenone), 651 (2,2-dimethoxy-2-phenyl acetophenone), 1700 (the combination of bis(2,6-dimethoxybenzoyl-2,4,4-trimethyl pentyl)phosphine oxide and 2-hydroxy-2-methyl-1-phenyl-propan-1-one), and 819 [bis(2,4,6-trimethyl benzoyl)phenyl phosphine oxide] and “DAROCUR” 1173 (2-hydroxy-2-methyl-1-phenyl-1-propan-1-one) and 4265 (the combination of 2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyldiphenyl-phosphine oxide and 2-hydroxy-2-methyl-1-phenyl-propan-1-one); and the visible light [blue] photoinitiators, dl-camphorquinone and “IRGACURE” 784DC. Of course, combinations of these materials may also be employed herein.
Other photoimtiators useful herein include alkyl pyruvates, such as methyl, ethyl, propyl, and butyl pyruvates, and aryl pyruvates, such as phenyl, benzyl, and appropriately substituted derivatives thereof. Photoinitiators particularly well-suited for use herein include ultraviolet photoinitiators, such as 2,2-dimethoxy-2-phenyl acetophenone (e.g., “IRGACURE” 651), and 2-hydroxy-2-methyl-1-phenyl-1-propane (e.g., “DAROCUR” 1173), bis(2,4,6-trimethyl benzoyl) phenyl phosphine oxide (e.g., “IRGACURE 819), and the ultraviolet/visible photoinitiator combination of bis(2,6-dimethoxybenzoyl-2,4,4-trimethylpentyl) phosphine oxide and 2-hydroxy-2-methyl-1-phenyl-propan-1-one (e.g., “IRGACURE” 1700), as well as the visible photoinitiator bis (η 5 -2,4-cyclopentadien-1-yl)-bis[2,6difluoro-3-(1H-pyrrol-1-yl)phenyl]titanium (e.g., “IRGACURE” 784DC).
Non-limiting examples of moisture curing catalysts useful in the inventive compositions include a metal compound such as titanium, tin or zirconium. The moisture catalysts are employed in a curingly effective amount, which generally is from about 0.5 to about 5% by weight and desirably about 0.05% to about 2.5% by weight. Tetraisopropoxy titanate or tetrabutoxy titanate are particularly desirable. U.S. Pat. No. 4,111,890 list numerous others that are useful.
A variety of additional useful components may be added to the present inventive compositions. For example, reactive and non-reactive diluents may be added. Such diluents include, without limitation, isofomyl(meth)acrylate, dimethylacrylamide, (meth)acrylic acid and vinyltrimethoxysilane. Other useful additives include plasticizers, fillers, viscosity modifiers, pigments, stabilizers, and the like.
EXAMPLES
Example 1
Preparation of Soft-Segment Silicone Polymer
The procedure for preparation of an aminoalkyl dimethoxysilyl terminated polydimethyl siloxane fluids used as a reactant in the C-stage of the present invention is described in the following example. In a two liter 4 neck round bottom flask equipped with stirrer, thermometer and gas inlet and outlet takes with valves was charged a weighed one liter amount of dihydroxy terminated polydimethyl siloxane (silanol terminated PDMS) of 4000 molecular weight. The fluid was heated to 100° C. with vacuum stripping for one hour to remove the volatile components (moisture and low boiling cyclics). The temperature was deceased to 75° C., and then aminoalkyltrialkoxy silane was added. A 20% excess silane was used for capping. The amount added was calculated as follows:
Amount of silane added=weight of silane fluid×2×molecular weight of silane×1.2 Molecular weight of silane fluid
After the silane was added, the mixture was heated at 75° C. under vacuum to removed alcohol (methanol or ethanol) formed from the condensation reaction. This causes vigorous bubbling which subsided in approximately 90 minutes. The reaction was allowed to proceed at 75° C. for three hours under vacuum to yield a clear colorless fluid.
The above experiment was repeated using identical equipment, conditions, reacts and amounts, only a 12,000 molecular weight silanol terminated PDMS was used. The results were substantially identical.
Example 2
This example describes the reaction process of the current invention which produced acrylated polyurethane/urea aminalkyl dialkoxy dimethylsiloxane copolymer compositions.
A-Stage Preparation
Ethoxylated bis-phenol-A (HE020) (0.12 moles, 35 g), isobomyl methacrylate (IBOMA) (58.28 g), methacrylic acid (1.71 g) (MA), 3,6-Di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol (BHT), (0.19 g), methyldihydroquinone, MeHQ (0.19 g) and isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) (0.22 mol., 49.22 g) were added sequentially to a 1 liter reaction flask. The mixture was warmed to 50° C. under dry air with vigorous agitation. A catalyst, dibutyltin dilaurete (0.13 g), was then added, and the mixture was stirred at 75° C. for 2 hours. This is the A-stage polyurethane block prepolymer.
B-Stage Preparation
Hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) 0.089 mole, 11.64 g and a second portion of dibutyltin dilaurate catalyst (0.21 g) were then added to the vigorously stirred mixture, and the reaction was heated at 75° C. for hours. This step is for the preparation of partially (meth)acrylated end-capped B-staged polyurethane resin. Determination of residual isocyanate concentration was made by reacting an aliquot of the B-staged product with excessive dibutylamine, followed by titration with standard hydrochloric acid solution.
C-Stage Preparation
To the B-staged product described above, methylaminopropyl dimethoxy silyl terminated PDMS (251.66 g 0.116 molar), (4000 molecular weight,) was charged to the reactor followed by a second portion of isoborny methacrylate (IBOMA) (74.87 g). The second portion of reactive diluent was added to lower the concentration of isocyanate in the mixture, thereby preventing a runaway reaction between amine and isocyanate due to possible biuret formation. This final process yielded 467.4 g of C-stage copolymer (final product).
Example 3
The acrylated urethane/urea alkylamino alkylene dialkoxy silyl siloxane copolymer formed in Example 2 was added to the catalyst IRGACURE 1700 at a 1.5 wt % level. (IRGACURE 1700 is a 25/75 blend of bis(2,6-dimethyoxybenzoyl)-2,4,4-trimethyl pentyl phosphine oxide/2-hydroxy-2-methyl-1-phenylpropane-1-one.) The material was warmed to 50-90° C. in a vacuum chamber to remove air and volatiles. This was continued until a bubble free resin was produced. The catalyzed resin was found to be particularly useful in adhesive, coating, caulking and potting applications. To evaluate the resin for mechanical properties, the catalyzed resin formulation is placed between two mylar films separated by a 6″×6″×0.75″ steel frame spacer. The mylar film-containing samples were further sandwiched by clamping between two one-quarter inch glass plates. The assembly was then exposed to a 70 mw/um 2 U.V. light for 30 seconds on each side. The cured resin sample was removed from the assembly and dogbone specimens were cut from the cured slab for bulk property determination.
The wide range of mechanical and tensile lap shear strength that can be generated with various formulations of the copolymer are illustrated in the examples which follow.
Example 4
(Meth)acrylated urethane/urea silicone block resin prepared as described in Example 2, using IPDI and HBPA(PO) 2 as the hard urethane block, HEMA as the acrylating end-capper and 12 DAM silicone soft block was used to form tensile lap shear joints between glass and other adherends or between polycarbonate and other adherends. A one half inch overlap containing 20 mil. thick adhesive layer was used according to ASTM D100. Adherends tested for adhesion including glass, steel, aluminum, polycarbonate, nylon and epoxy. Glass or polycarbonate are used as one of the adherends between these joints because they are transparent to U.V. irradiation. The joints were subjected to uv irradiation and moisture cure as set forth in Table I below. The results of tensile, modulus and elongation tests are also set forth in Table I.
TABLE 1
Mechanical Properties of Inventive (Meth)acrylated
Urethane/Urea Silicone Block Copolymer
Composition A
Moisture cure only
12 DAM; 98.5 wt %
UV-moisture
under ambient
Irgacure 1700; 1.5 wt %
dual cure
conditions
Tensile (psi): initial
1455
—
Tensile (psi): 3 days
1502
63
Tensile (psi): 1 week
1522
122
Modulus (psi) @ 50%: initial
691
—
Modulus (psi) @ 50%: 3 days
754
7
Modulus (psi) @ 50%: 1 week
783
22
Modulus (psi) @ 100%: initial
874
—
Modulus (psi) @ 100%: 3 days
928
9
Modulus (psi) @ 100%: 1 week
957
39
% Elongation: initial
210
—
% Elongation: 3 days
206
537
% Elongation: 1 week
224
250
The above data clearly shows the moisture curing capability of the resin during ambient exposure. Modulus increases were evident for both dual cure sample and moisture cure only sample. However, in the case of the dual cure sample, it is also clear that the initial UV cure contributed to the bulk of the properties.
Example 5
(Meth)acrylated urethane/urea silicone block copolymer, Composition B, was prepared as described in Example 2, but substituting a lower molecular weight soft segment 4 DEAM for 12 DAM, and cured as described Example 4 above. Mechanical properties and lap shear strengths were measured and the results are set forth in Table 2 below.
Initially UV cure lap shear showed a shear force of 252 psi with adhesive failure to glass. However when lap shear assemblies were tested 3 days after cure, the shear force was >400 psi and actually broke the ¼″ glass panels during testing. Thus, it is clear that not only does the composition exhibit good structural adhesive strength, but that the adhesive strength improved on ambient moisture cure.
Example 6
(Meth)acrylated urethane/urea silicone block copolymer, Composition C, was prepared as described in Example 2, but modified by the addition of a reactive additive 20% lauryl acrylate in the B-stage and cured as described above. Mechanical and shear properties were tested and the results are shown in Table 2. Glass to steel tensile lap sheer joints failed at 365 psi, but failure occurred by glass fracture showing that the true shear strength is greater than 365 psi.
Example 7
(Meth)acrylated urethane/urea silicone block copolymer, Composition D, was prepared as described in Example 2, but modified by the addition of a reactive additive, 20% IBOA, and cured as described above. Mechanical properties shown were tested as shown in Table 2. This modification generated mechanical properties which are superior to Compositions B and C.
Example 8
(Meth)acrylated urethane/urea silicone block copolymer, Composition E, was prepared as described in Example 2, but modified by substitution of HEA and lauryl acrylate for HEMA and IBOA. The composition was cured as described above. Mechanical and lap shear properties were tested and the results are shown in Table 2. This modification generated mechanical properties and tensile lap shear strength lower than other compositions tested but shows the range of properties than can be generated with this acrylated urethane/urea silicone block copolymer.
It appears from the tests conducted that the addition of lauryl acrylate had a softening effect when used as a diluent; whereas IBOA caused the cured composition to behave more like a rigid plastic.
TABLE 2
Mechanical Property and Tensile Lap Shear Strength Properties of
(Meth)acrylated Urethane/Urea Silicone Block Copolymers
Composition
B
C
D
E
Silicone Block
4DEA;
4DEAM;
4DEAM;
4DEAM;
Used; Silicone
50%
50%
50%
50%
Content %
End-Capper
HEMA 1
HEMA
HEMA
HEA 3
Reactive
IBOMA 2
Lauryl
IBOA 20%;
Lauryl
Diluents
27%
Acrylate
IBOMA
Acrylate
20%;
7%
27%
IBOMA 7%
Appearance
Trans-
Trans-
Trans-
Clear to
lucent
lucent
lucent
translucent
Tensile (psi): Initial
1879
1613
2210
442
Tensile (psi): 3 days
2134
1566
3810
470
Tensile (psi):
—
1529
3871
525
1 week
Modulus (psi) @
—
1040
—
276
50% initial
Modulus (psi) @
2083
1098
—
309
50%: 3 days
Modulus (psi) @
—
1210
—
337
50%: 1 week
Modulus (psi) @
—
1293
—
—
100%: initial
Modulus (psi) @
—
1333
—
—
100%: 3 days
Modulus (psi) @
—
1426
—
—
100%: 1 week
% Elongation: initial
59
129
2
87
% Elongation:
57
121
6
83
3 days
% Elongation:
—
116
3
85
1 week
Glass to steel
>400
365
>400
131
lap shear (psi)
Failure Mode
AF/steel
Broke glass
AF/glass
AF/glass
Note:
AF-Adhesive Failure
1 HEMA - hydroxyl ethyl methacrylate
2 IBOMA - isobornyl methacrylate
3 HEA - hydroxyethyl acrylate
Example 9
An acrylated urethane/urea silicone block copolymer, Composition F, was prepared as described in Example 2, but replacing 12 DAM (Example 4) with butylamino functional PDMS silicone block 4BAM. This composition was cured as described in Example 2, and its mechanical properties tested. The results are listed in Table 3. The use of 4BAM in place of 12 DAM generated a much stronger and stiffer plastic when compared to Composition A, the 12 DAM version of the silicone block.
TABLE 3
Mechanical Properties of Butyl Amino (BAM)
Functional Dimethoxysilyl PDM(S) Copolymers
Composition
A
F
Silicone block used;
12DAM; 60%
4BAM; 51%
Silicone Content %
Tensile (psi): initial
1455
2161
Tensile (psi): 3 days
1502
2189
Tensile (psi): 1 week
1522
2191
Modulus (psi) @ 50%: initial
691
1630
Modulus (psi) @ 50%: 3 days
753
1739
Modulus (psi) @ 50%: 1 week
783
1825
Modulus (psi) @ 100%: initial
874
1902
Modulus (psi) @ 100%: 3 days
928
1999
Modulus (psi) @ 100%: 1 week
957
2105
% Elongation: initial
210
120
% Elongation: 3 days
206
117
% Elongation: 1 week
224
111
Example 10
A (meth)acrylated urethane/urea silicone block copolymer, Composition G, was prepared or described in Example 9, but replacing 4BAM with 4 MAM, and decreasing the silicone content from 51% to 49% (Table 4). The cured composition resulted in essentially the same properties as Composition F in Example 9.
Example 11
A (meth)acrylated urethane/urea silicone block copolymer, Composition H, was prepared as described in Example 9, but replacing 4 BAM with 4 MAM, and increasing the silicone content from 51% to 53%. The cured composition generated a clear plastic with properties listed in Table 4. As shown in Table 4, slightly higher silicone content substantially increased the percent elongation with little loss in tensile strength.
TABLE 4
Mechanical Properties of Methyl Amino (MAM)
Functional Dimethoxysilyl PDMS Copolymers
with Various Silicone Contents
Composition
G
F
H
Silicone block used;
4MAM;
4BAM;
4MAM;
Silicone Content %
49%
51%
53%
Appearance
Clear
Clear
Clear
Tensile (psi): initial
2239
2161
1968
Tensile (psi): 3 days
2307
2189
2235
Tensile (psi): 1 week
2343
2191
2143
Modulus (psi) @ 50%: initial
1861
1630
1570
Modulus (psi) @ 50%: 3 days
1969
1739
1627
Modulus (psi) @ 50%: 1 week
2030
1825
1726
Modulus (psi) @ 100%: initial
2063
1902
1675
Modulus (psi) @ 100%: 3 days
2132
1999
1724
Modulus (psi) @ 100%: 1 week
2228
2105
1827
% Elongation: initial
120
120
145
% Elongation: 3 days
117
117
138
% Elongation: 1 week
106
111
146
Example 12
Two (meth)acrylated urethane/urea silicone block copolymers were prepared, Compositions I and J, as described in Example 11 but with 12BAM in one case, and with 12MAM in the other case, instead of 4MAM. Composition I contains the bulky isobutylamino group (12 BAM) in the silicone block, while Composition J contains the less bulky methylamino group in the silicone block. Each of the compositions contained the same silicone content (62%). The test results set forth in Table 5 suggest that there is no significant effect on properties that can be attributed to the bulkier butyl group verses the smaller methyl group.
TABLE 5
Mechanical Properties of (Meth)acrylated Urethane/
Urea Silicone Block Resins Containing Butyl Amino (BAM)
Groups And/or Methyl Amino (MAM) Groups in the Silicone Block
Composition
I
J
Silicone block used;
12BAM; 62%
12MAM; 62%
Silicone content %
Appearance
Milky
Milky
Tensile (psi): initial
1386
1290
Tensile (psi): 3 days
1344
1403
Tensile (psi): 1 week
1373
1383
Modulus (psi) @ 50%: initial
444
466
Modulus (psi) @ 50%: 3 days
429
511
Modulus (psi) @ 50%: 1 week
453
511
Modulus (psi) @ 100%: initial
574
534
Modulus (psi) @ 100%: 3 days
599
585
Modulus (psi) @ 100%: 1 week
597
595
% Elongation: initial
312
372
% Elongation: 3 days
280
381
% Elongation: 1 week
301
350
Example 13
A (meth)acrylated urethane/urea silicone block copolymer, Composition K, was prepared as described in Example 11, but 4MAM was replaced with 4BAM and HBPA(PO) 2 was replaced with HEO 20. The composition was cured as described above, and mechanical properties were measured and set forth in Table 6.
Example 14
A (meth)acrylated urethane/urea silicone block copolymer, Composition L, was prepared as described in Example 11, but with replacement of 4MAM with 9EAM and replacement of HBPA(PO) 2 and IPDI with HEO 20/TMXDE. The compositions were cured as described herein. The cured product generated a clear, pale yellow plastic with increased toughness as set forth in Table 6.
Example 15
A (meth)acrylated urethane/urea silicone block copolymer, Composition M, prepared as described in Example 11, but replacement of 4MAAM with 4EAM and HBPA(PO) 2 with HMTD and cured as described in Example 3, generated properties set forth in Table 6.
TABLE 6
Mechanical Properties of (Meth)acrylated Urethane/
Urea Silicone Block Copolymers Showing
Effects of Short Block Diols on Properties
Composition
K
L
M
N
Silicone block used;
4BAM;
4EAM;
4EAM;
4MAM;
Silicone Content %
51%
52%
52%
53%
Appearance
Clear
Clear/
Clear
Clear
pale yellow
Hard Segment
HEO 20/
HEO 20/
HMTD/
HBPA(PO) 2 /
IPDI
TMXDI
IPDI
IPDI
Tensile (psi): initial
1927
1706
2085
1968
Modulus (psi) @
1616
1183
1532
1570
50%: initial
Modulus (psi) @
1724
1227
1631
1675
100%: initial
% Elongation:
140
200
159
145
initial
Example 16
Two (meth)acrylated urethane/urea silicone block copolymers, were prepared as described in Example 15, but with replacement of the reactive diluent IBOA with N,N-dimethyarylamide (N,N-DMA), and by controlling stoichiometry in the “B” stage such that C-stage addition of 4EAM generated Composition O and P, containing 64% silicone, and 67% silicone respectively, both compositions being cured as described above. Composition Q was prepared similarly using the reactive diluent IBOMA. The mechanical properties of the cured resins are shown in Table 7. The higher silicone content resulted in higher elongation.
TABLE 7
Mechanical Properties of (Meth)acrylated Urethane/
Urea Silicone Block Copolymers Showing Effect
of N,N-DMA Reactive Diluent on Properties
Composition
O
P
Q
Reactive diluent
N,N-DMA;
N,N-DMA;
IBOMA;
11%
11%
28%
Silicone block used;
4EAM;
4EAM;
4EAM;
Silicone content %
64%
67%
50%
Tensile (psi) (initial)
1773
1196
2085
Modulus (psi) @ 50% (initial)
1130
748
1532
Modulus (psi) @ 100% (initial)
1450
990
1631
% Elongation (initial)
100
144
159
Example 17
A (meth)acrylated polyurethane/urea silicone block copolymer, Composition R, was prepared as described in Example 15, but replacing IBOMA with IBOA and HEMA with HEA. The composition was cured as described above gave mechanical properties as set forth in Table 8.
TABLE 8
Mechanical Properties of (Meth)acrylated Urethane/
Urea Silicone Block Copolymers Showing Effect
of Acrylate Diluents on Properties
Composition
M
R
Silicone block used;
4EAM; 52%
4EAM; 53%
Silicone content %
Appearance
Clear
Clear
Hard Segment
HMTD/IPDI
HMTD/IPDI
End-Capper
HEMA
HEA
28% IBOMA
26% IBOA
Tensile (psi), initial
2085
1732
Modulus (psi) @ 50%, initial
1532
1313
Modulus (psi) @ 100%, initial
1631
1383
% Elongation, initial
159
160
Example 18
A (meth)acrylated polyurethane/urea silicone block resin, Composition S, was prepared as described in Example 17, but with the addition of 10 wt % reactive additive N,N-dimethylacrylamide (N,N-DMA). When cured as described above, its toughness was improved.
TABLE 9
Mechanical Properties of Silicone Copolymers Showing
Effect of N,N-DMA as Reactive Additive on Properties
Composition
S
T
Silicone block used;
4EAM; 53%
4EAM; 48%
Silicone content %
Appearance
Clear
Clear
Hard Segment
HMTD/IPDI
HMTD/IPDI
End-Capper
HEA
HEA
Reactive Diluent
IBOA
IBOA
10% N,N-
Dimethyl-
acrylamide
Tensile (psi), initial
1732
2291
Modulus (psi) @ 50%, initial
1313
1811
Modulus (psi) @ 100%, initial
1383
—
% Elongation, initial
160
160
|
The present invention relates to the preparation of a new class of materials, namely, an acrylate terminated or end-capped urethane/urea copolymer containing silicone soft segments capable of dual cure via unsaturated groups and dialkoxyl silanol groups. This new class of material is a reaction product of a partially methacrylated end-capped urethane polymer containing hard segment blocks and an amino alkylene dialkoxy end-capped siloxane block polymer, containing soft-segments. The aminoalkylene dialkoxysilane end-capped siloxane segment of this copolymer can include siloxane diol segments of various molecular weights (e.g., 1,000 to 20,000) end-capped with various alkylaminoalkylene trimethoxy silanes. This copolymer is therefore capable of dual cure via these functional groups.
| 2
|
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to chiral scaffolds, to their preparation and also to novel chemical intermediates useful in the synthesis of such scaffolds; the scaffolds can be used for the preparation of information-rich single enantiomer compound libraries.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Drug discovery may utilise, for screening, a library in which individual compounds are single isomers. This generates 3-dimensional information that can be enhanced by applying computational methods for lead optimisation. In order to prepare single isomer libraries, the appropriate chiral scaffold precursors should be in isomerically pure form, in which relative and absolute configuration is defined across all stereogenic centres. It is equally important that, for a scaffold having a particular bond connectivity, all possible stereoisomers can be prepared. Thus a series of scaffolds of this type can be elaborated chemically into different but defined directions of 3-D space, to give isomeric compounds which may have very different properties in a chiral biological environment.
An important consideration in the development of synthetic routes towards scaffolds is that the chemistry should have the potential for scale-up. Then, in the event that the library screens generate useful lead compounds, the appropriate scaffold can be produced in sufficient quantity to support any subsequent drug discovery and development.
Pipecolic acid and 4-hydroxypipecolic acid are natural non-proteinogenic amino acids found in plants. In addition to the free amino acid, pipecolic acid is also found in complex biologically active molecules (for an example, see Nicolaou et al.; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1993, 115, 4419–4420). Derivatives of pipecolic acid are known to display anaesthetic (GB-A-1166802), NMDA agonist and antagonist (Ornstein et al.; J. Med. Chem. 1989, 32, 827–833), anticoagulant (Okamoto et al.; Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 1981, 101, 440446) and glycosidase activity (Bruce et al.; Tetrahedron 1992, 46, 10191–10200). Pipecolic acids have also been used in peptide chemistry as analogues of proline (Copeland et al.; Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 1990, 169, 310–314). In the light of the diverse activities displayed by such pipecolic acid derivatives, single enantiomer libraries using such compounds as the scaffold would be a highly desirable tool for screening.
For a recent review of the synthesis of pipecolic acids, see Couty, Amino Acids 1999, 16, 297–320. A common synthetic route to racemic 4-hydroxypipecolic acid derivatives, has been to use an acyliminium ion cyclisation on a suitably protected homoallylic amine (Hays et al.; J. Org. Chem. 1990, 56, 4084–4086). This approach has been adapted to furnish enantiomerically pure cis 4-hydroxypipecolic acid derivatives provided a chiral protecting group is used in the synthesis (Beaulieu et al.; J. Org Chem. 1997, 62, 3440–3448). However, the protecting group does not offer any asymmetric induction, and the enantiomers have to be separated by a laborious co-crystallisation with (−)-camphorsulphonic acid. A similar approach to the synthesis reports a separation by recrystallisation of a diastereoisomeric intermediate (Skiles et al.; Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 1996, 6, 963–966).
Another common theme in the synthesis of enantiomerically pure cis 4-hydroxypipecolic acid derivatives has been to fix the stereochemistry of the carboxylate group using a (L)-aspartic acid, and use this stereocentre to direct reduction of a ketone at the 4-position (Golubev et al.; Tetrahedron Lett. 1995, 36, 2037–2440; Bousquet et al.; Tetrahedron 1997, 46, 15671–15680). Two routes derived from carbohydrate starting materials have been reported, an atom inefficient synthesis starting from D-glucoheptono-1,4-lactone (Di Nardo and Varela; J. Org. Chem. 1999, 64, 6119–6125) and from D-glucosamine (Nin et al.; Tetrahedron 1993, 42, 9459–9464). All of these approaches yield only the cis-diastereoisomer. In particular, it remains a challenge to synthesise the two stereoisomers of trans-4-hydroxypipecolic acid in conveniently protected form, especially the N-Boc derivatives (i) and (ii)
The most common approach has been to synthesise the cis-diastereoisomer, followed by a tedious inversion of the 4-hydroxy group. An alternative approach has utilised a ring expansion of 4-hydroxy-L-proline (Pellicciari et al.; Med. Chem. Res. 1992, 2, 491–496) and provides access to both diastereoisomers of 4-hydroxy-L-pipecolates. However, this route is unattractive on a large scale, owing to the two chromatographic steps needed for the separation of regio- and diastereomeric mixtures, and also the requirement for the hazardous reagent ethyl diazoacetate to effect ring expansion.
Both enantiomers of 2-acetamidopent-4-enoic acid are readily available in large quantities via bioresolution of a racemic mixture, and as such are valuable chiral building blocks. Using standard literature chemical methods, it is possible to convert both enantiomers of suitably protected 2-acetamidopent-4-enoic acid into mixtures of diastereoisomers (A) and (B)
These diastereoisomeric ester mixtures (A) and (B) may be convenient intermediates for the preparation of scaffolds if their separation could be readily achieved. Although selective crystallisation can often provide a simple means to achieve scaleable separation of diastereoisomers, this technique is not applicable to mixtures (A) and (B), which are obtained as oils.
There are isolated reports in the literature that biocatalysis can be used as a means to effect separation of diastereoisomeric mixtures. For example, see Wang et al.; J. Org. Chem., 1998, 63, 4850–3; Hiroya et al.; Synthesis, 1995, 379–81; Mulzer et al.; Liebigs Ann. Chem., 1992, 1131–5.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One aspect of the present invention is based on a combination of realising the utility of a combination of complementary chiral scaffolds and of finding process chemistry that allows the preparation of such compounds on a commercial scale. For example, the present invention is based around novel process chemistry for the generation of a series of scaffolds comprising four trifunctionalised piperidines, the pipecolic acid derivatives (a)–(d)
wherein R 1 is H, alkyl, alkoxy or aryl, and R 2 is H or alkyl. Such groups typically have up to 20 C atoms. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, R 1 is benzyloxy and R 2 is methyl. For the purpose of this invention, R 2 =H is understood to include salt forms.
The presence of N-Boc and methyl ester (or similar) protecting groups in these compounds allows selective elaboration of each of the functionalities present. Elaboration methods are well known to those skilled in the art.
For such further use, e.g. for the generation of libraries in combinatorial chemistry, the four chiral scaffolds (a–d) should be provided in a format where they can each be treated in the same manner, usually by the parallel, selective introduction of a group at one functionality on the ring, followed by deprotection of another functionality and the introduction of another group, etc. For this purpose, the scaffolds may be provided, in separate containers, in a single unit, e.g. a multi-well plate. From this arrangement, it is possible to generate a library of compounds comprising single enantiomers of respective compounds where structural distinction derives from the stereochemistry of ring substituents as shown by formulae (a)–(d).
In a particular aspect, the present invention is based on the discovery of biocatalytic separations of both of the diastereoisomeric mixtures (A) and (B), thus providing access to all four diastereoisomers of the piperidines without resorting to a chemical inversion step. The process described uses chemistry that is amenable to scale-up at each step.
Another aspect of the present invention is based on the discovery that novel salts of N-tert-butoxycarbamoyl-2S-carboxy-4S-hydroxypiperidine (i) and (ii), and the opposite enantiomers thereof, allow for the enhancement of diastereoisomeric excess (de) by recrystallisation/crystallisation of partially enriched material from a suitable solvent. Thus, while the corresponding free acid is an oil, the present invention provides, via simple cracking of enriched salts, a practical and scaleable method to access N-tert-butoxycarbamoyl-2S-carboxy-4S-hydroxypiperidine (i) or the opposite enantiomer thereof. This process offers a very high degree of purity control (chemical, diastereoisomeric and enantiomeric) over the products.
The novel salts may be represented by formula (1)
or the opposite enantiomer thereof, wherein X + is a cation.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
By means of the invention, a piperidine of formula (4) in which the relative stereochemistry of C-2 and C-4 substituents is trans, may be conveniently prepared via the enzymic separation of the mixture of diastereoisomers represented by formula (5)
wherein Z is any suitable group.
The same approach is applicable to the opposite enantiomeric series. The resolution alone may not yield the piperidine (4) in sufficiently high diastereomeric purity. Thus, the corresponding N-Boc derivative (i), a conveniently protected form for further chemical elaboration, may be contaminated with the cis-diastereoisomer; the present invention provides means to separate these compounds.
An essential characteristic of novel salts (1) of the present invention is crystallinity. Suitable salts were identified by screening a range of amine bases, both achiral and chiral. Thus, in formula (1), X + represents a protonated amine, and X is typically a primary amine. Preferred primary amines are selected from the group comprising ethylamine, benzylamine and (S)-α-methylbenzylamine [(R)-α-methylbenzylamine for the opposite enantiomer]. Benzylamine is especially preferred.
The process of the present invention requires the salt (1) to be partially diastereomerically enriched prior to crystallisation/recrystallisation. Preferably, a salt of at least 60% de is used, more preferably of at least 80% de. Recrystallisation of such material leads to a significant enhancement of diastereomeric purity, typically to at least 90% de, and frequently to at least 95% de, or higher.
The identification of a solvent or a mixture of solvents suitable for recrystallisation of the salt (1) is carried out by conventional means, as would be practised routinely by a skilled practitioner. Such solvents are usually selected from C 1-4 alkanols, dialkyl ethers, and simple carboxylic esters such as ethyl acetate. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, recrystallisation of the benzylamine salt of (1) from a 2:1 mixture of tert-butyl methyl ether and methanol effects an increase in diastereomeric purity from 80% de to >98% de.
The two pairs of diastereoisomers A and B can be resolved using an enzyme in a volume efficient manner; the substrate concentration is typically 100 g/L or higher. Suitable enzymes for the biocatalytic separation may be identified by conventional screening techniques. Although such screening may identify non-functional or less preferred enzymes, the general procedure is known and, as is routinely done, can be used to identify further functional enzymes. For the mixture of diastereoisomers A, the preferred enzyme is Lipase AY30. For the mixture of diastereoisomers B, the preferred enzyme is Chirazyme L9. Although both enzymes hydrolyse the trans-diastereoisomer preferentially, their modes of differentiating between cis and trans are clearly different. If each of the enzymes is used to hydrolyse the alternative diastereoisomeric pair, differences are clearly seen. Lipase AY30 preferentially hydrolyses the trans-diastereoisomer of Pair (B) whereas Chirazyme L9 does not hydrolyse either of Pair (A). Hence it can clearly be seen that in this case the selectivity of Lipase AY is governed by the relative stereochemistry at C-2 and C-4. This is a very unusual observation in enzymic resolutions, which normally differentiate stereocentres based on the absolute configuration of the site at which reaction occurs.
In Scheme 1, R 3 is H, alkyl or aryl, e.g. of up to 20 C atoms.
The products of the resolution are (A1) and (A2) from Pair (A), as shown in Scheme 1. (A1) and (A2) are inseparable, but reaction of the mixture with phthalic anhydride forms the hemiphthalate derivative (A3) from (A2), which can be separated from (A1) by partitioning between saturated aqueous ammonium carbonate and toluene (step (i)). (A3) is recovered from the aqueous phase by acidification to pH 1 and extraction into toluene and refluxing in 2M HCl (step (ii)) leaves the free amino acid (A4). The N-Boc derivative A4 can be subjected to the diastereoisomeric enrichment described above. In step (iii), (A1) is deformylated using standard conditions, typically potassium carbonate in methanol, to (A5), which, if R 1 is benzyloxy and R 2 is methyl, is a crystalline solid. Recrystallisation of this allows a control over the purity as well as a method to enhance the diastereomeric excess of this compound such that a single diastereoisomer compound can be obtained. Compounds (A5) and (A4) are easily converted to chiral scaffolds (a) and (b) respectively by conventional protecting group manipulations.
In a similar manner, products from the resolution of Pair (B) are the corresponding enantiomeric compounds (B1) and (B2) which can be elaborated using the same chemistry to scaffolds (c) and (d).
Overall, the process of the present invention provides a scaleable and operationally simple means of obtaining any one of the four chiral scaffolds (a)–(d) and congeners thereof.
The following Examples illustrate the invention. With regard to Example 4, see also Esch, et al; Tetrahedron 1991, 47, 4063–4076.
EXAMPLE 1
Synthesis of N-tert-butoxycarbamoyl-2R-carboxy-4R-hydroxypiperidine
To a solution of 2R-carboxy-4R-hydroxypiperidine (80% de, 140 g, 0.97 mol) in H 2 O (1 L) and THF (500 mL), Et 3 N (135 mL, 0.97 mol) was added dropwise. Di-tert-butyl dicarbonate (317 g, 1.46 mol) in THF (500 mL) was added in a steady stream. As the pH started to drop, a further portion of Et 3 N (135 mL, 0.97 mol) was added and the solution stirred at room temperature for 16 h. The THF was removed in vacuo and the resultant cloudy solution acidifed to pH 4 with 6M HCl and then to pH 3 with 1 M HCl. EtOAc was added and the mixture stirred for 2 min. The layers were separated, and the aqueous extracted with EtOAc (3×1 L). The combined organic extracts were washed with brine (1 L), dried (MgSO 4 ) and concentrated in vacuo to give N-tert-butoxycarbamoyl-2R-carboxy-4R-hydroxypiperidine as a viscous yellow oil (182 g, 76%). This material was used directly in the crystallisation described in Example 3.
Preparation of N-tert-butoxycarbamoyl-2S-carboxy-4S-hydroxypiperidine from 2S-carboxy-4S-hydroxypiperidine was carried out using the same method.
EXAMPLE 2
Crystallisation Screen: Amine Salts of N-tert-butoxycarbamoyl-2S-carboxy-4S-hydroxypiperidine
Eight amines salts of N-tert-butoxycarbamoyl-2S-carboxy-4S-hydroxypiperidine were made using the following method: to a solution of 500 mg of 19% de N-tert-butoxycarbamoyl-2S-carboxy-4S-hydroxypiperidine in EtOAc (5 ml) at room temperature, a 1.1 molar equivalent of the amine was added. The solution was stirred at room temperature for 1 hr, then cooled in the fridge. Any crystals were harvested by filtration. The amines screened were ethylamine, octylamine, diisopropylamine, cyclohexylamine, dicyclohexylamine, benzylamine, R-α-methylbenzylamine and S-α-methylbenzylamine. The following amines gave crystalline salts: ethylamine, benzylamine and R-α-methylbenzylamine. The salts were recrystallised, and de values were determined by GC.
Ethylammonium salt: recrystallised from MeOH/EtOAc, de 70% Benzylamine salt: recrystallised from MTBE, de 94% R-α-methylbenzylammonium salt: recrystallised from MeOH/MTBE, de 98%
EXAMPLE 3
Preparation and Recrystallisation of N-tert-butoxycarbamoyl-2R-carboxy-4R-hydroxypiperidine, Benzylamine Salt
N-tert-butoxycarbamoyl-2R-carboxy-4R-hydroxypiperidine (80% de, 182 g, 0.74 mol) was dissolved in EtOAc and the solution cooled on ice. Benzylamine (81.2 mL, 0.74 mol) was added dropwise and stirring maintained for 2 h. After overnight refrigeration, the solid was collected by filtration and dried. This solid (154 g) was recrystallised from MeOH (150 mL) and MTBE (300 mL). Filtration yielded N-tert-butoxycarbamoyl-2R-carboxy-4R-hydroxypiperidine, benzylamine salt of de >98% as a white solid (104 g, 40%).
1 H NMR (400 MHz, CD 3 OD) 7.40 (5H, m) 4.67 (0.4 H, minor rotamer, m) 4.59 (0.6H, d, J 5.5, major rotamer) 4.10 (2H, s) 3.94 (1H, br d, J 13.0) 3.59 (1H, m) 3.17 (1H, m) 2.48 (1H, m) 1.80 (1H, m) 1.43 (10H, m) 1.25 (1H, m).
Preparation and recrystallisation of N-tert-butoxycarbamoyl-2S-carboxy-4S-hydroxypiperidine, benzylamine salt was carried out using the same method.
EXAMPLE 4
Preparation of N-benzyloxycarbamoyl-2S-carbomethoxy-4R,S-formyloxypiperidine(methyl(N-benzyloxycarbamoyl)-4-formyloxypipecolate)
Paraformaldehyde (144.0 g, 4.8 mol) was dissolved in hot formic acid (6.5L) and the resultant solution cooled to 25° C. Methyl (2S-benzyloxycarbamoyl)-pent-4-enoate (904.3 g, 3.4 mol) was added and the solution stirred for 72 hrs, at which time GC analysis showed no starting material remained. Excess solvent was removed in vacuo, and the residual oil dried by azeotroping with toluene (4×750 mL) and passed through a silica plug, eluting with EtOAc. Evaporation of the solvent in vacuo left N-benzyloxycarbamoyl-2S-carbomethoxy-4R,S-formyloxypiperidine as a yellow oil (1056.3 g, 96%), of diastereomeric ratio 1:1.
GC gave: retention time 26.9 min (trans diastereoisomer) 27.6 min (cis diastereoisomer)
Synthesis of N-benzyloxycarbamoyl-2R-carbomethoxy-4R,S-formyloxypiperidine was carried out from methyl (2R-benzyloxycarbamoyl)-pent-4-enoate using the same method and resulted in an equivalent set of products.
EXAMPLE 5
Enzymic Hydrolysis Screen of N-benzyloxycarbamoyl-2S-carbomethoxy-4R,S-formyloxypiperidine (Mixture A)
Eight enzymes were screened to evaluate their potential for hydrolysing either the R- or S-formate ester. The enzymes used were Chirazyme L1, Chirazyme L2, Chirazyme L9, Lipase PS, Lipase AY30, Lipase A6, Porcine Pancreatic Lipase and Rhizopus javanicus Lipase. In each case, 150 mg of substrate was placed in a scintillation vial with 1.5 mL of 50 mM potassium phosphate buffer pH 7.0, 1.5 mL MTBE and 10 mg of enzyme. The reactions were continuously agitated at 25° C. in a water bath/shaker. After 24 hr, tlc analysis showed Chirazyme L1 and Lipase AY30 selectively hydrolysed the substrate. GC analysis of these two reactions indicated that Lipase AY30 was the more selective enzyme, preferentially hydrolysing the trans-diastereoisomer, and that Chirazyme L1 showed an opposite selectivity, towards cis-diastereoisomer.
A similar screen was carried out on the substrate N-benzyloxycarbamoyl-2R-carbomethoxy-4R,S-formyloxypiperidine (mixture B) using the same eight enzymes. In this case, Lipase AY30 and Chirazyme L9 were the only enzymes to selectively hydrolyse the substrate. Both demonstrated the same selectivity, preferentially hydrolysing the trans-diastereoisomer, with Chirazyme L9 the more selective.
EXAMPLE 6
Enzymic Resolution of N-benzyloxycarbamoyl-2S-carbomethoxy-4R,S-formyloxypiperidine
A 10 L jacketed reaction vessel equipped with an overhead stirrer was charged with N-benzyloxycarbamoyl-2S-carbomethoxy-4R,S-formyloxypiperidine (1056.3 g), MTBE (3.6 L) and 50 mM potassium phosphate buffer pH 7.0 (4.5 L). Stirring was started to achieve an emulsion, the pH adjusted back to 7.0 with 5M NaOH and the temperature set to 20° C. Lipase AY30 (300 g) was added and stirring continued at 20° C. At all times in the reaction, the pH was kept constant at pH 7.0 by the addition of 5M NaOH. After 4 days at 20° C., the reaction was stopped by filtration through Celite 521. The two layers in the filtrate were separated, and the organic layer reserved. The Celite was slurried with acetone (500 mL) and filtered. This filtrate was concentrated in vacuo until only aqueous material remained, when it was extracted with MTBE (2×500 mL). The organic layers were combined, dried (MgSO 4 ) and concentrated in vacuo to yield a viscous, cloudy yellow oil (903 g) that was a mixture of the residual starting material, N-benzyloxycarbamoyl-2S-carbomethoxy-4R-formyloxypiperidine, of 83% de, and product, N-benzyloxycarbamoyl-2S-carbomethoxy-4S-hydroxypiperidine, of 90% de in an approximate 1:1 ratio. This oil was used immediately in the next step.
EXAMPLE 7
Separation of the Mixture of Compounds Obtained from the Enzymic Resolution
The mixture obtained in Example 6 (900 g) and DMAP (17.9 g, 0.14 mol) was dissolved in CH 2 Cl 2 (6 L) at 20° C. Et 3 N (450 mL, 3.22 mol) was added using a pressure equalising dropping funnel over a 10 minute period. Solid phthalic anhydride (239 g, 1.61 mol) was added batch-wise and stirring continued for 18 hr. The reaction mixture was washed with 1 M HCl (3.5 L), and the organic layer concentrated in vacuo. The residue was redissolved in toluene (4 L) and extracted with saturated (NH 4 ) 2 CO 3 (3 L). This aqueous layer was washed with toluene (1 L), and the combined organic extracts dried (MgSO 4 ) and concentrated in vacuo to yield N-benzyloxycarbamoyl-2S-carbomethoxy-4R-formyloxypiperidine (545 g, 81% d.e., 52% yield overall from Example 3). The aqueous layer was acidified to pH 1 with conc. HCl and extracted with toluene (2 L). The layers were separated, and the aqueous extracted once more with toluene (1 L). These two organic layers were combined, dried (MgSO 4 ) and concentrated in vacuo to yield N-benzyloxycarbamoyl-2S-carbomethoxy-4S-hydroxypiperidine, 4-hemiphthalate derivative (553 g, 38% yield overall from Example 6). Both products were used directly in the next steps.
Using the same methods as outlined in Examples 6 and 7, N-benzyloxycarbamoyl-2R-carbomethoxy-4R,S-formyloxypiperidine was separated into N-benzyloxycarbamoyl-2R-carbomethoxy-4S-formyloxypiperidine and N-benzyloxycarbamoyl-2R-carbomethoxy-4R-hydroxypiperidine, 4-hemiphthalate derivative, the only difference being the use of Chirazyme L9 in place of Lipase AY30 in the enzymic resolution.
EXAMPLE 8
Preparation of N-benzyloxycarbamoyl-2S-carbomethoxy-4R-hydroxypiperidine
81% de N-Benzyloxycarbamoyl-2S-carbomethoxy-4R-formyloxypiperidine (545 g, 1.70 mol) was dissolved in MeOH (1.5 L) and K 2 CO 3 (23.5 g, 0.17 mol) added. The mixture was stirred for 2 hr at room temperature, by which time the reaction was complete. MTBE (5 L) was added and the solution washed with H 2 O (3 L). The organic phase was dried and concentrated in vacuo. The residue was dissolved in hot EtOAc (600 mL), cooled and crystallisation induced by the addition of heptane (75 mL). The crystals obtained were filtered and recrystallised from EtOAc (850 mL) to yield N-benzyloxycarbamoyl-2S-carbomethoxy-4R-hydroxypiperidine (145.4 g, >99% d.e.). A further crop of identical quality crystals (58.2 g, >99% d.e.) were obtained from the liquors (overall yield 41%).
1 H NMR (400 MHz, d 6 -DMSO) 7.37 (5H, m) 5.08, 2H, m) 4.64 (2H, m) 3.90 (1H, br s) 3.70 (1H, dt, J 8.5, 3.5) 3.59 (3H, br s) 3.47–3.27 (1H, br m) 2.19 (1H, m) 1.82 (1H, dd, J 13.5, 6.5) 1.54 (2H, m). GC (material derived to acetate) gave retention times 28.2 (minor diastereoisomer), 29.0 (major diastereoisomer) in a ratio 1:220.
Synthesis of N-benzyloxycarbamoyl-2R-carbomethoxy-4S-hydroxypiperidine was carried using the same method and resulted in an equivalent product. An X-ray structure was used to confirm the stereochemistry of this compound.
EXAMPLE 9
Preparation of 2S-carboxy-4S-hydroxypiperidine
N-benzyloxycarbamoyl-2S-carbomethoxy-4S-hydroxypiperidine 4-hemiphthalate (365 g, 0.82 mol) was mixed with 2M HCl (1.5 L) and heated to reflux for 5 days. The mixture was cooled and extracted with EtOAc (3×1 L). The aqueous layer was concentrated in vacuo to leave a cloudy paste (170 g). This was redissolved in H 2 O (500 mL) and the solution neutralised using Amberlite IRA-93. The resin was filtered and washed with H 2 O (1.5 L). The filtrate was concentrated in vacuo and dried by azeotroping with toluene (2×500 mL) to leave a cream solid (94.5 g, 79%, 88% de).
1 H NMR (400 MHz, D 2 O) major diastereoisomer 4.21 (1H, m) 3.90 (1H, dd, J 11.5, 3.5) 3.28 (2H, m) 2.20 (1H, m) 1.97–1.84 (3H, m). Minor diastereoisomer 3.95 (1H, m) 3.63.(1H, dd, J 13.0, 3.0) 3.47 (1H, ddd, J 13.0, 4.5, 2.5)3.02 (1H, dt, J 13.5, 3.5)2.47 (1H, m) 2.10 (1H, m), 1.58 (2H, m).
Synthesis of 2R-carboxy-4R-hydroxypiperidine was carried using the same method and resulted in an equivalent product.
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A crystalline salt according to formula (1): or the opposite enantiomer thereof, wherein X + is a cation. Such salts are useful in preparing chiral scaffolds, in particular of formulae (a)–(d)
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TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to internal combustion engines and more particularly to an engine with air-assisted direct cylinder fuel injection.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is known in the art relating to spark-ignited internal combustion engines to provide for the direct injection of fuel into the combustion chambers, normally through the cylinder head of the engine. Air-assisted direct injection fuel systems have been developed for such engines which utilize a combination of solenoid-actuated fuel injectors which inject pressurized fuel into associated air injectors. The air injectors mix pressurized air with the fuel and inject the mixture of air and fuel directly into the engine combustion chambers. The air injectors are mounted in the engine cylinder head and the fuel injectors are mounted at the outer ends of the air injectors. Separate air and fuel rails are provided which respectively supply air to the air injectors and fuel to the fuel injectors. The arrangement is easily modified for application to various engine configurations but involves a large number of components to be mounted along the top of the cylinder head and having external fittings and connections.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an improved arrangement for an air-assisted fuel injection system mounted on an engine. The engine includes an internal air passage acting as an air manifold and preferably disposed in an engine cylinder head or other component defining a portion of an associated combustion chamber. Modified air injectors are provided which fit into stepped boars in the cylinder head and include seals at opposite ends of a central portion of the bore which defines annular air pockets. The air pockets are intersected by the internal air passage or manifold running longitudinally along the length of the cylinder head. The air passage or manifold is provided with pressurized air from an external source which is fed to the air pockets and enters each of the air injectors.
These and other features and advantages of the invention will be more fully understood from the following description of certain specific embodiments of the invention taken together with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a transverse cross-sectional view of an engine cylinder head assembly showing mounting of the air injector and internal air supply in the engine cylinder head;
FIG. 2 is a pictorial view of a fuel injection assembly for installation in an engine with the location of the cylinder head internal air passage indicated but without the cylinder head structure being shown; and
FIG. 3 is a pictorial cross-sectional view of an alternative cylinder head assembly including air-assisted injection components in accordance with the invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring first to FIG. 1 of the drawings in detail, numeral 10 generally indicates an engine cylinder head assembly for use in an engine according to the invention. Assembly 10 includes a cylinder head 12 having a lower wall with a recess 14 defining a portion of a combustion chamber of an associated engine. The cylinder head includes an injector mounting opening 16 . Opening 16 is formed as a stepped bore including an enlarged inlet portion 18 , a smaller central portion 20 and a still smaller outlet portion 22 , opening to the combustion chamber recess 14 . The central portion 20 of the opening 16 defines an air pocket, one side of which is intersected by an air passage 24 that extends longitudinally through the cylinder head, connecting with other combustion chambers not shown defined by the cylinder head. The cylinder head also contains a coolant passage 26 extending adjacent to the air pockets in the central portions 20 of the openings 16 .
An air injector 28 is mounted in the injector mounting opening 16 and is stepped with three diameters corresponding to the mounting opening diameters. An upper seal 30 is mounted in an upper portion of the air injector engaging the inlet portion 18 of opening 16 . A lower seal 32 is mounted near the lower end of the central portion 20 of the injector 28 , engaging the wall of the central portion 20 or air pocket of the mounting opening 16 . The seals 30 , 32 close off the upper and lower ends of the air pocket 20 to prevent the escape of air supplied to the air pocket through the intersecting air passage 24 .
In operation, pressurized air is continuously fed to the air injector from the passage 24 and pocket 20 . The fuel injector when actuated delivers fuel to the air injector to mix with the air. The air injector is then actuated to deliver the pressurized air-fuel mixture to the combustion chamber of the associated engine where it is ignited and burned to produce power.
The arrangement so far described reduces the external plumbing and fittings commonly utilized with air-assisted fuel injection systems by providing the internal air passage, intersecting air pockets in associated injector mounting openings which directly feed air to the air injectors mounted in the cylinder head. Placement of the air pockets 20 and passage 24 adjacent to coolant passages 26 in the cylinder head also has the advantage of helping to maintain the pressurized air at a controlled temperature. This reduces the possibility of water vapor condensing out of the air in liquid form and adversely affecting fuel mixture preparation. It also prevents freezing or icing, which can affect functioning of the injectors.
Referring now to FIG. 2 of the drawings, a fuel system assembly 34 is shown as mounted within a cylinder head 12 , not shown. Assembly 34 includes four air injectors 28 as mounted in a cylinder head 12 , not shown, and connected to the air passage 24 within the cylinder head through which pressurized air is supplied to the cylinder head air pockets 20 , not shown. The air injectors extend to lower ends which are connected with associated combustion chambers 14 , not shown, of the associated cylinder head. The air injectors further include attachment flanges 36 , secured by fasteners 38 to the cylinder head, and electrical connectors 40 for connection with a controller for controlling the opening and closing action of the air injectors. Each of the air injectors 28 is fed by a fuel injector 42 which mounts on the upper end of the air injector. The fuel injectors 42 are connected with a fuel rail 44 , extending above the cylinder head and connecting with upper ends of the individual fuel injectors. Electrical connectors 46 are provided, one for each of the fuel injectors, for providing external actuation of the fuel injectors as required. The fuel rail includes a fuel pressure regulator 48 at one end with associated fuel supply and return lines 50 , 52 .
FIG. 3 shows a portion of a modified engine cylinder head assembly with a fuel system including features of the present invention. Cylinder head assembly 54 includes a fuel pressure regulator 56 actuated by air pressure supplied to an internal passage 58 that extends longitudinally within the cylinder head 60 to connect with air pockets 62 in which air injectors 64 are mounted. Injectors 64 extend downward into associated combustion chambers 66 defined in part below the cylinder head. Electric igniters 68 are mounted in the cylinder head and have lower tips adjacent the outlet ends of the air injectors for igniting the air-fuel mixture injected into the combustion chamber. A coolant passage 70 in the cylinder head lies adjacent to the air passage 58 , air pockets 62 and the air injectors 64 to help maintain the air at an elevated constant temperature and prevent condensation of moisture in the air. Fuel injectors 72 are mounted to the upper ends of the air injectors 64 and operated to provide fuel for mixing with the pressurized air in the manner previously described.
While the invention has been described by reference to certain preferred embodiments, it should be understood that numerous changes could be made within the spirit and scope of the inventive concepts described. Accordingly, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the disclosed embodiments, but that it have the full scope permitted by the language of the following claims.
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An engine includes air-assisted fuel injection including fuel injectors supplying fuel through cylinder head-mounted air injectors. An internal air passage in the cylinder head connects with internal air pockets receiving the injectors and supplying them with air. Seals on the air injectors prevent air leakage from the air pockets. The air temperature in the head is affected by an adjacent coolant passage.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/832,074, filed Aug. 21, 2015, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/040,182, filed Aug. 21, 2014. U.S. application Ser. No. 14/832,074 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/292,881, filed May 31, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,140,005, issued Sep. 22, 2015, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/830,257, filed Jun. 3, 2013. Each of the above patent applications is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety to provide continuity of disclosure.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present invention relates generally to a corner bead for cementitious fireproofing of structural steel members and, more particularly, to a device that is self-aligning in installation and allows the accurate gauging of the thickness of the fireproofing material along three surfaces.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] In the art of a corner bead for fireproofing structural steel, prior approaches conventionally include a v-bend corner bead having adjustable legs (flanges). This type of corner bead is mostly used in the plastering and stucco trades. The previously utilized corner bead is constructed of wires welded into a lattice that is v-shaped in section as shown in FIG. 1 .
[0004] In installation, the longitudinal base wires of the v-shaped corner bead are attached with a tie wire either onto a metal lath or onto a wire mesh, and further attached to the steel member to be fireproofed as shown in FIG. 2 . At best, this allows for distribution of the fireproofing material along two surfaces after a complex negotiation of the correct height of the two flanges; to wit, to establish the correct fireproofing thickness, one must establish the correct height of the vertex by shrinking or expanding the distance between the legs (flanges) of the corner bead defined by the vertex. Using this technique, the alignment of the corner bead with the adjacent surface is difficult and great skill is required to install the corner bead for fireproofing structural steel.
[0005] The prior art includes many problems, including the difficulty of properly adjusting the traditional corner bead to the adjacent surface, the uneven application of fireproofing material, and the lack of a dam for the wet cement material. Despite these well-known and long-existing problems, and a readily apparent market for a solution, the prior art does not disclose or suggest a viable, cost-effective solution to the aforementioned problems of the prior art.
[0006] Accordingly, a need exists for an improved corner bead to avoid inaccuracy in gauging the thickness of the fireproofing material and to allow easy installation along three surfaces. An improved self-aligning double wire corner bead is inexpensive to manufacture and easy to install.
SUMMARY
[0007] The present invention provides a self-aligning, double wire corner bead that allows to make, in an accurate and quick manner, corners of a fireproofing material around structural steel members, said fireproofing material having uniform thickness around the structural steel member. This is accomplished by bending a single strip of welded wire fabric of pre-determined width along a plurality of longitudinally extending lines (axes) to provide a profile of a metal sheet having a plurality of dihedral angles, two wings of the desired width, a single wire membrane and a double wire membrane, said double wire membrane comprising a first leg and a second leg as substantially shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 .
[0008] The angle at which each wing meets the single wire membrane and a second leg of the double wire membrane of the device, respectively, determines the thickness of the fireproofing material distributed around the structural steel member along three surfaces. Further, said thickness may be modified by changing the width of each respective wing. The uniformity in thickness of the fireproofing material distributed around three surfaces of the structural steel member is achieved by bending the first wing and the second wing at approximately the same angle in relation to the single wire membrane and the second leg of the double wire membrane, respectively. The uniformity in thickness of the fireproofing material distributed around all surfaces of the structural steel member in a contour type application is achieved by using the same width of the single metal strip bent to create an identical single metal sheet profile for all corners of the structural steel member.
[0009] It is further an object of the present invention to provide an improved corner bead for fireproofing structural steel without the need of adjusting the legs.
[0010] Another object of the present invention is to provide novel means of installing the corner bead by easier attachment to the structural steel.
[0011] Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved technique for application of accurate thickness of fireproofing material along three surfaces under any construction condition for making said fireproofing of structural steel members.
[0012] A further object of the present invention is to provide a dam to form a roughened surface on the first application of fireproofing material until it hardens along three surfaces.
[0013] While satisfying these and other related objectives, the present invention provides an improved, self-aligning, double wire corner bead for fireproofing structural steel which is very competitive from a mere economic standpoint. The corner bead of the present invention consists of a single strip of welded wire fabric cut to a desired width for the fireproofing thickness and bent along a plurality of longitudinal axes to form a set of wings, a single wire membrane, and a double wire membrane, said double wire membrane having a first leg and a second leg, said first leg seamlessly becoming said second leg through a process of bending of said double wire membrane such that said first leg is substantially parallel to said second leg, and wherein said single wire membrane and said double wire membrane are attached by the attachment means to the lath distributed around the structural steel member.
[0014] In accordance with the present invention, the corner bead includes a single elongated strip of welded wire fabric of pre-determined width, said single strip of welded wire fabric comprising a set of flexible mesh strips as shown in FIG. 3 .
[0015] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the improved double wire corner bead allows each element of the bent wire mesh of the corner bead to perform different functions that are essential for the successful completion of the fireproofing process along three surfaces.
[0016] The single wire membrane and the double wire membrane provide a flat portion of a grid (mesh) through which pneumatic or screw type fasteners attach the mesh to the structural steel at the appropriate location. In addition, the double-wire membrane provides additional support for two wings positioned at the opposite corners of the steel structure member, hence facilitating one piece of wire mesh to cover two corners and three surfaces of the structure. This easy application establishes automatic alignment of the corner bead along three surfaces, eliminates the cumbersome process of shrinking or expanding the distance between the legs of the traditional bead, as well as provides only one strip of metal of the desired width to allow fireproofing of two corners of the steel structure member along three surfaces at the same time in a contour-method application of the fireproofing material.
[0017] The width of the set of wings and/or the angle at which the first and the second wing meet the single wire membrane and the second leg of the double wire membrane, respectively, determines the thickness of the fireproofing material distributed along three surfaces by providing a rigid screed edge along a nose. Therefore, the correct amount of fireproofing material is distributed adjacent to the corner bead creating a leveled application throughout the surface.
[0018] The width of the set of wings also provides a dam to form a roughened surface on the first application of the fireproofing material until the fireproofing material hardens. This forming action allows successive application of the cement material to the adjacent surface.
[0019] In another aspect, the present invention includes a method of manufacturing an improved self-aligning, double wire corner bead for fireproofing structural steel comprising a single strip of welded wire fabric cut to the desired width for the fireproofing thickness and bent along a plurality of longitudinally extending lines (axes) to form a profile of a metal sheet, a first longitudinal line to define a first wing and a single wire membrane extending laterally therefrom at a first angle of approximately greater than 90 degrees but less than approximately 180 degrees relative to each other and wherein said single wire membrane is secured to a structural steel member and said first wing is configured to establish a desired thickness of the fireproofing material along two surfaces by providing a rigid screed edge along the nose, a second longitudinal line to define said single wire membrane and a first leg of a double wire membrane extending from said single wire membrane in a continuous manner and at a second angle of approximately 90 degrees relative to each other, a third longitudinal line to define said first leg of said double wire membrane and a second leg of said double wire membrane such that said first leg is positioned substantially parallel to said second leg (the second leg substantially overlaps the first leg), and wherein said double wire membrane is secured to said structural steel member, and a fourth longitudinal line to define a second wing and said second leg of said double wire membrane, said second leg extending downwardly from said second wing at a third angle of approximately greater than 90 degrees but less than approximately 180 degrees relative to each other, and wherein said third angle is substantially equal to said first angle.
[0020] In a further aspect, the present invention includes a method of finishing a set of corners for cementitious fireproofing in a contour application of a set of structural steel members, the method comprising the steps of: selecting a corner bead comprising a single strip of welded wire fabric cut to the appropriate width for the fireproofing thickness and bent along a plurality of longitudinally extending lines, to provide a profile having a plurality of dihedral angles, wherein a first longitudinal line to define a first wing and a single wire membrane extending laterally therefrom at a first angle of approximately greater than 90 degrees but less than approximately 180 degrees relative to each other and wherein, said single wire membrane is secured to a structural steel member and a first wing is configured to establish a desired thickness of the fireproofing material along two surfaces by providing a rigid screed edge along the nose, a second longitudinal line to define said single wire membrane and a first leg of a double wire membrane extending from said single wire membrane in a continuous manner and at a second angle of approximately 90 degrees relative to each other, a third longitudinal line to define said first leg of said double wire membrane and a second leg of said double wire membrane such that said second leg is extending from said first leg of said double wire membrane in a continuous manner in such a way that said first leg is positioned substantially parallel to the second leg (the second leg substantially overlaps the first leg), and wherein said double wire membrane is secured to said structural steel member, and a fourth longitudinal line to define a second wing and said second leg of said double wire membrane, said second leg extending downwardly from said second wing at a third angle of approximately greater than 90 degrees but less than approximately 180 degrees relative to each other, and wherein said third angle is substantially equal to said first angle.
[0021] A dihedral angle (also called a face angle) is the internal angle at which two adjacent faces of each section member of the double wire corner bead is delimited by the two inner faces, e.g., angle α 1 formed between adjacent faces of the first wing and the single wire membrane, angle α 2 formed between adjacent faces of the second wing and the second leg of the double wire membrane and angle β formed between adjacent faces of the single wire membrane and the first leg of the double wire membrane. The fourth angle created along the third longitudinal line between the first and the second leg of the double wire membrane is substantially zero (0) degrees so that the first leg and the second leg substantially overlap each other, and are approximately parallel, with respect to each other.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0022] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a small section of a corner bead according to the prior art.
[0023] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional schematic view of a fireproofing structure utilizing a prior art corner bead installed according to a contour method.
[0024] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an exemplary small section of the corner bead of the present invention bent along a longitudinal axis and manufactured according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0025] FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional schematic view of the self-aligning, double wire corner bead of the present invention.
[0026] FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional schematic view of a fireproofing structure utilizing a self-aligning, double wire corner bead of the present invention according to the contour method.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0027] Referring to FIG. 3 , corner bead 10 includes a plurality of longitudinal ribs 16 arranged substantially parallel with respect to a plurality of longitudinal axes, including longitudinal axis A and to each other, and a plurality of transverse ribs 18 distributed between and extending substantially perpendicular to the plurality of longitudinal axes and the plurality of longitudinal ribs 16 . A set of void areas 20 is defined by the plurality of longitudinal ribs 16 and the plurality of transverse ribs 18 , such that each void area 20 is bounded by at least two longitudinal ribs 16 and at least two transverse ribs 18 . A section of corner bead 10 includes a single strip of welded wire fabric cut to a predetermined length L and a predetermined width W. The predetermined length L and the predetermined width W correspond to a predetermined fireproofing thickness.
[0028] In a preferred embodiment, corner bead 10 is made of a suitable metal, such as 16 gauge wire. Other suitable materials known in the art may be employed, including suitable plastics. In a preferred embodiment, corner bead 10 is a double welded wire fabric.
[0029] In a preferred embodiment, corner bead 10 has a set of bends integrally formed in corner bead 10 along the plurality of longitudinal axes. Any number of bends may be employed. Longitudinal axis A defines first wing 12 and single wire membrane 11 . First wing 12 and single wire membrane 11 form angle α 1 of approximately greater than 90 degrees, but less than approximately 180 degrees as further illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 . A set of edges of first wing 12 defines a substrate to which nose 14 is attached. Nose 14 , first wing 12 , and second wing 12 ′ (shown in FIG. 5 ) provide a rigid edge having a dam-like function, as will be further described below.
[0030] In a preferred embodiment, nose 14 is made of a suitable plastic, such as polyvinyl chloride. Other suitable materials known in the art may be employed.
[0031] Referring to FIG. 4 , corner bead 10 is bent along a plurality of longitudinal lines 41 , 42 , 43 , and 44 , to provide a substantially continuous profile having a plurality of dihedral angles. Longitudinal line 44 defines first wing 12 and single wire membrane 11 extending laterally therefrom at angle α 1 . Angle α 1 is approximately greater than 90 degrees, but less than approximately 180 degrees. Each of noses 14 is attached to first wing 12 and second wing 12 ′. Longitudinal line 42 defines single wire membrane 11 and leg 31 of double wire membrane 30 extending from single wire membrane 11 in a continuous manner. Single wire membrane 11 and leg 31 are separated by angle β. Angle β is approximately 90 degrees. Longitudinal line 43 defines leg 31 of double wire membrane 30 and leg 31 ′ of double wire membrane 30 . Leg 31 ′ is positioned substantially parallel to leg 31 . Leg 31 ′ substantially overlaps leg 31 . Longitudinal line 41 defines second wing 12 ′ and leg 31 ′ of double wire membrane 30 . Leg 31 ′ extends away from second wing 12 ′ at angle α 2 . Angle α 2 is approximately greater than 90 degrees, but less than approximately 180 degrees.
[0032] In use, the improved, self-aligning, double wire corner bead 10 of the present disclosure is utilized in a contour-like manner, surrounding a structural steel member with fireproofing material. Referring to FIG. 5 , single wire membrane 11 is secured to structural steel member 24 . First wing 12 is configured to establish a desired thickness of fireproofing material 22 along two surfaces of the structural steel member by providing a rigid screed edge to which nose 14 is attached. Double wire membrane 30 is secured to structural steel member 24 , as will be further described below. Fireproofing material 22 surrounds the dimensions of the structural steel member 24 in a contour-like manner, tracing structural steel member 24 in all dimensions. The single strip of corner bead 10 allows uniform distribution of fireproofing material 22 along three surfaces, surfaces S 1 , S 2 , and S 3 .
[0033] Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5 , the width of the wings 12 and 12 ′ determines distances D 1 , D 2 , and D 3 , and defines generally planar surfaces S 1 , S 2 , and S 3 forming a set of corners of fireproofing material 22 distributed around structural steel member 24 . Similarly, any of distances D 1 , D 2 , and D 3 are optionally altered by changing angles α 1 and α 2 . Angles α 1 and α 2 are substantially equal and measure approximately greater than 90 degrees, but less than 180 degrees. Angle β measures approximately 90 degrees. For example, the smaller (less obtuse) angle α 1 is between first wing 12 and the single wire membrane 11 the longer distance D 1 is between lath 26 and surface S 1 , and the shorter distance D 3 is between lath 26 and surface S 2 . Similarly, the less obtuse angle α 2 is between second wing 12 ′ and leg 31 ′ of double wire membrane 30 , the longer distance D 2 is and the shorter distance D 1 is making distributed fireproofing material 22 thicker along surface S 3 in relation to a thinner strip of fireproofing material 22 along surface S 1 .
[0034] In a preferred embodiment, the determination of angles α 1 and α 2 should be such that a uniform thickness of fireproofing material 22 along surface S 1 is achieved.
[0035] In one embodiment, lath 26 is distributed around structural steel member 24 . Single wire membrane 11 is attached through lath 26 into structural steel member 24 by pneumatic fastener 28 at a single fastening position on single wire membrane 11 . Other joining or attaching means known in the art, such as welded pins or screws, may be employed.
[0036] In another embodiment, each of single wire membrane 11 and double wire membrane 30 is attached to structural steel member 24 by pneumatic fastener 28 at a single fastening position on double wire membrane 30 .
[0037] In another embodiment, leg 31 and leg 31 ′ of double wire membrane 30 are attached through lath 26 into structural steel member 24 by pneumatic fastener 28 at a single fastening position on double wire membrane 30 . Other joining or attaching means known in the art, such as welded pins or screws, may be employed. According to one embodiment of the present invention, lath 26 is optionally distributed along the entire perimeter of structural steel member 24 to be fireproofed (not shown). In another embodiment, lath 26 is distributed along a portion of the perimeter of structural steel member 24 .
[0038] In other embodiments, any number of fastening positions and locations may be employed.
[0039] The width of first wing 12 and second wing 12 ′ along with nose 14 attached to the outer edges of both wings serves as a dam during the process of fireproofing. Fireproofing material 22 is then sprayed onto lath 26 and screened off using the location of nose 14 to determine the finished thickness of fireproofing material 22 .
[0040] Referring to FIG. 5 , in a shop application, i.e., fireproofing material 22 is applied to structural steel member 24 in a pre-fabrication facility, the cementitious composition is sprayed or poured one layer at a time on a surface of lath 26 positioned horizontally. Structural steel member 24 is then rotated 90 degrees and the adjacent surfaces are positioned horizontally to allow easy application of fireproofing material 22 . With this process in place, each successive spraying is performed which allows hardening of fireproofing material 22 before the next rotation of structural steel member 24 . As can be seen, the dam-like functionality of corner bead 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention is critical as it provides an appropriate keying surface to bond the subsequent layers of fireproofing material 22 . Each structural steel member 24 is turned to uniformly apply the cementitious material to all surfaces.
[0041] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any type of member may be employed.
[0042] In a field application on a job site, structural steel members 24 are erected into a structure prior to fireproofing, and all surfaces of structural steel member 24 may be sprayed or troweled onto the surface of lath 26 at the same time (not shown).
[0043] It will be appreciated that the invention is not restricted to the particular embodiment that has been described, and that variations may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims, as interpreted in accordance with principles of prevailing law, including the doctrine of equivalents or any other principle that enlarges the enforceable scope of a claim beyond its literal scope. Unless the context indicates otherwise, a reference in a claim to the number of instances of an element, be it a reference to one instance or greater than one instance, requires at least the stated number of instances of the element, but is not intended to exclude from the scope of the claim a structure or method having more instances of that element than stated. The word “comprise” or a derivative thereof, when used in a claim, is used in a nonexclusive sense that is not intended to exclude the presence of other elements or steps in acclaimed structure or method.
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A self-aligning, double wire corner bead for fireproofing structural steel along a plurality of surfaces, the corner bead having a single strip of welded wire fabric cut to a predetermined width for the fireproofing thickness and bent along a plurality of longitudinally extending lines, to provide a profile having a plurality of dihedral angles is disclosed. A nose is installed along two edges. A method of finishing the corners for fireproofing of structural steel member using an improved corner bead includes the step of attaching the corner bead through a lath to the structural steel member utilizing fasteners. The mesh of the corner bead provides a dam to form a roughened surface on the first application of fireproofing material until it hardens.
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BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a new and distinct variety of apple tree which was selected from a population of seedlings resulting from a planned cross between the varieties Lady Williams (unpatented chance seedling discovered in Western Australia) and Golden Delicious (unpatented chance seedling discovered in the State of West Virginia). The crosses were made in 1973 by John Cripps, Senior Research Officer, Western Australia Department of Agriculture at the Manjiump Horticultural Research Centre in Western Australia.
The new seedling variety first fruited in 1979 and was subsequently selected for propagation and further testing. Second and third generation trees have now borne fruit. It since has been recognized and selected as a new and improved apple variety which is distinctive from its parents as well as from all other apple varieties. The variety produces large asymmetrical, uniquely flavored apples with a partial pink-red blush on a yellow-green background which mature in early May in Western Australia. Its distinctive features include:
1. A strong upright growth form and habit similar to that exhibited by its parent Lady Williams.
2. Low winter chilling requirements.
3. The ability to flower and fruit precociously and set fruit on one-year old upright growth.
4. Fruit having high tolerance to sunburn and a medium to thin skin which doesn't crack.
5. Fruit having a smooth fine flesh texture which resists browning after being cut and exposed to air.
6. Fruit having high soluble sugars.
7. Fruit having an ability to retain long retail shelf life.
8. Fruit having a long cold storage life of up to six months allowing marketing flexibility.
Preliminary cold storage tests on apples harvested from three-year old trees grown at the Manjiump Research Centre indicate that this variety does not develop a bitter pit and is highly tolerant to cold storage.
The variety has inherited the sunburn resistance, low chilling requirements and the strong upright growth habit exhibited by one of its parents (Lady Williams) and the excellent fruit quality (high sugar, crisp juicy flesh, thin skin and aromatic flavor) of both of its parent varieties.
The new seedling variety has been reproduced asexually by budding and grafting. All subsequent asexually produced generations have been true to form in both their growth and fruiting characteristics and show that the foregoing characteristics come true and are established and transmitted through succeeding propagations and generations.
The following Drawings and Detailed Description of the Invention are taken from twenty (20) progeny trees in their third leaf year at the Manjiump Horticultural Research Centre during the summer of 1988.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows the new variety apple tree bearing fruit.
FIG. 2 is a close-up of one branch of the new variety bearing fruit.
FIG. 3 shows the foliage of the new variety.
FIG. 4 shows the flowers of the new variety in bud stage.
FIG. 5 shows the flowers of the new variety as the buds break.
FIG. 6 is a close-up of the side of fruit grown on the new variety.
FIG. 7 is a close-up of the top of fruit shown on the new variety.
The following is a detailed description of the new apple variety with color terminology in accordance with the Munsell Color Cascade Chart except where general color terms of ordinary dictionary significance are used.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Parentage: A cross of "Golden Delicious" and "Lady Williams" apple varieties.
Locality where grown and observed: Manjiump Horticultural Research Centre, Western Australia.
Dates of first and last pickings: About May 1 and May 10, respectively.
Tree: Medium to large with dense foliage. Upright habit, unpruned height to width ratio approximately 1.5 to 1.0 after 3 years.
Vigor.--Very vigorous, young trees average about 1.9 meters of new growth during the growing season in the nursery row following bud placement.
Trunk.--Medium stocky, smooth.
Branches.--Thick, smooth, upright.
Branching habit.--Much branched with average branching angles (inside measurement) of 45°-50° if allowed to grow naturally.
Pruning and training requirements.--Dependent upon the dwarfing ability fo the rootstock used. Adaptable to several styles, but best suited to "central leader" or "slender spindle" type training.
Thinning requirements.--Not subject to the annual bearing habits of some apple cultivars. Use of common chemical thinning methods for non-annual bearing varieties should be employed.
Color.--Green-brown (22-14).
Shape of tipbud.--Rounded.
Lenticels.--Numerous, medium large.
Leaves: Large, wide, long, oval, convex, pointed, medium thick, smooth.
Length.--108 mm (from 4th to 6th fully expanded).
Width.--67 mm (from 4th to 6th fully expanded).
Color.--Green (20-12), medium glossy on upper surface, green (20-10) with weak pubescence on lower surface.
Margin.--Finely serrate, crenate.
Petiole.--Long, medium slender, pubescent. Color -- Light green (21-10).
Stipule.--Small.
Central leaf vein.--Color -- light green (19-6) with pink tinge towrad basal end.
Flowers: Late, large.
Dates of first and full bloom.--About October 10 and November 10, respectively. The subject variety has a prolonged flowering season. Consequently there is no distinct flowering phase which can be classified as early, mid or late. It continues to flower moderately with a progression of flowering buds which open through a four to six week (October/November) flowering season. Since this cultivar has not been grown in the USA, no blooming or harvest dates are available for local conditions.
Size.--Medium to large.
Color.--Red (closed) then pink (open).
Dormant fruit bud shape.--Conical.
Position of margin of petals.--Free to touching.
Fruit:
Maturity when described.--Eating ripe.
Size.--Large, uniform. Length -- about 78.3 mm Breadth -- about 82.1 mm Mean fruit weight -- about 195 grams.
Production.--Fifth year trees at Manjiump Horticultural Centre bore 4 bushels per tree per year with average crop size of 88-100 count.
Coloration.--Fruit has a striking pink blush (absent of striping) covering 30-80% of the apple surface. The pink blush coloration develops gradually in the late season and overlies a yellow-green background. Coloration continues to increase before the harvest season and even as fruits are harvested if the fruits are exposed to sunlight. Coloration is fuller for apples exposed to full sunlight than fruit hanging in shaded areas.
Form.--Asymmetrical, ellipsoid prominent ribbed surface. Medium distal crowns, rounded at base, sides slightly unbroken, unequal.
Axis.--Nonvertical.
Cavity.--Acute, deep, medium width, symmetrical, greenish, with very slight unbroken russet.
Basin.--Medium crown, ribbed, wide, open, medium depth. Markings -- None.
Sepals.--Medium, touching.
Stem.--Medium length, medium thickness, not lipped. Length -- 20-25 mm. Breadth -- 5-6 mm.
Calyx.--Closed, V-shaped, medium width and medium depth. Calyx lobes -- Reflexed and divergent. Pubescence -- None.
Skin.--Bumpy, greasy. Bloom -- absent. Craking tendency -- absent. Thickness -- medium. Ground color -- yellow-green (23-8). Percentage of red overcolor -- 50% to 60%. Overcolor of skin -- red (39-12). Russet -- none. Lenticels -- medium, numerous, roundish.
Flesh.--Juicy, firm. Color -- Creme. Texture -- Firm. Flavor -- Sub acid to sweet. Aroma -- Distinct, complex and highly aromatic. Quality -- Best.
Core.--Median. Bundle area -- Medium small, symmetrical. Halves of area -- Equal. Bundles -- Inconspicuous. Core lines -- Meeting, heart-shaped. Calyx tube -- Funnel-form, Pubescence, none. Stem or funnel -- Medium long. Depth of tube to shoulder -- About 5 mm. Entire depth -- About 12 mm. Styles -- Some present, united at base. Stamens -- Median, in one whorl. Carpels -- Closed, axile, symmetrical, smooth, cordate form, emarginate at outer edge near tip. Browning of the flesh (one hour after being cut, with stainless steel knife) -- Weak. Firmness of the flesh (measurement with penetrometer) -- Firm. Pressure and percent sugar (average of 10 fruit) -- Pressure at harvest, 8.1 kg/cm 3 . % sugar at harvest, 13.6%. Pressure 3-mo cool store, 6.8 kg/cm 3 . % sugar 3-mo cool store, 13.4%.
Other Characteristics:
Seeds.--One or two per cell, not tufted, acute at point, 8-9 mm long, 5 mm wide, obtuse, dark brown (31-15). Winter chill requirements -- Estimated winter chilling requirements are less than 400 hours below 7° C. Potentially adaptable to temperature, mediterranean and partially subtropical climate zones. Soluble sugars mg/g dry wt -- 698 (29). Soluble sugars mg/g fresh wt -- 111 (7). Soluable solids g/100 ml -- 13.9 (0.9). Drymatter % -- 15.9 (0.8).
______________________________________Pollination:______________________________________Pollinator Lady William% Set 1988 ≈ 55% 1989 ≈ 0% 1990 ≈ 50%Pollinator Hi Early% Set 1988 ≈ 70% 1989 ≈ 50% 1990 ≈ 55%Pollinator Granny Smith% Set 1988 ≈ 55% 1989 ≈ 10% 1990 ≈ N/APollinator Golden Delicious% Set 1988 ≈ 50% 1989 ≈ 0% 1990 ≈ 30%Pollinator Gala% Set 1988 ≈ 55% 1989 ≈ 35% 1990 ≈ 60%Pollinator Sundowner% Set 1988 ≈ 25% 1989 ≈ 10% 1990 ≈ 70%______________________________________
Use: Dessert, market.
Keeping quality: Good (up to six months in coldroom storage and 10-12 months in C.A. storage) Retail shelf life of approximately four weeks at temperatures of 15-18 degrees C.
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A new variety of apple tree selected from a seedling population of a planned cross, characterized by the taste, flavor and aroma of its high dessert quality sunburn-resistant fruits which have good cold storage and retail shelf life.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This continuation patent application claims priority to the regular letters patent application Ser. No. 11/401,817, which was filed on Apr. 11, 2006, which claims priority to the provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/669,989, which was filed on Apr. 11, 2005.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to provide decorative printing on a surface of polymeric gel materials. The printing methods can be pad printing, or screen-printing and heat transfer printing. The polymeric gel material is also capable of releasing a fragrance. The gel air freshener can be hang on the rear mirror inside the vehicles and also can stick any smooth surface such as window glass, ceramic tile, polished plastic and metals.
[0003] The polymeric gel air freshener of this invention contains thermoplastic rubber copolymers, hydrocarbon oil, and functional additives. The thermoplastic rubbers preferably derived from triblock styrenic rubber copolymer such as hydrogenated poly-isoprene/butadiene (SEEPS) polymer. The hydrocarbon oil is mineral oil.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0004] A variety of hydrocarbon gel products are on the market. There are used mostly for toys, novelty, gifts, window cling, and decorative ornaments. The customers are particularly attractive by the hydrocarbon gel products due to its features of soft, clear, stretchable, and removable. However, the hydrocarbon gel product does not allow easily for any additional visuals, be it by print. Much of this may be related to the nature of the gel product in surface structure containing mineral oil. It would be quite desirable to provide a way of printed detail graphic into hydrocarbon gel product, without reducing the amount of surface area that contributes to traction of these gel products by addition of an ink printed surface areas. Additionally, the careful selection of the composition of gel products has related the good adhesion between ink film and surface of the gel products.
[0005] U.S. Pat. No. 4,369,284 describes a transparent gel prepared from triblock copolymers and oils useful as molded products. The triblock copolymers used therein receive specific styrene end blocks to ethylene and butylene center blocks. The end block to center block ratio is given as being between 31:69 to 40:60.
[0006] U.S. Pat. No. 5,618,882 discloses the gel composition comprises styrene-(ethylene/propylene) styrene (SEPS) block copolymer having Mw of at least 180,000 and polystyrene content of 25-45 weight percent. The SEPS gel also tends to have higher tack than known SEBS gel.
[0007] U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,765 describes the controlled release polymer gel air care products, such as an air freshener, and the like. The air care product employs a hydrocarbon gel that contains block copolymer blends, the copolymers being preferably derived from styrene-rubber block units. The triblock, however, is made from Kraton G1650 copolymer comprises a styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene structure.
[0008] U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,639 discloses a novel crystal gels and articles are formed from one or more of linear SEBS or radial (SEB) n triblock copolymers having a selected crystalline midblock segment and high levels of a plasticizer.
[0009] U.S. Pat. No. 6,309,715 discloses a fragrant article that delivers fragrance over a period of time by an article comprising a polymer matrix, a fragrance and a decorative object.
[0010] U.S. Pat. No. 6,500,218 discloses a novel transparent stiff gel candles comprising a hydrocarbon oil, one or more hydrogenated triblock copolymer of thermoplastic rubber. The used triblock copolymer is Septon 4033, are available as a hydrogenated poly isoprene/butadiene (SEEPS) polymer.
[0011] The current methods for applying images to thermoplastic rubber gel products include hand painting and spry. Since the composition of thermoplastic rubber gel contain a lot of mineral oil, which is up to 80%, ink film is very difficult to stay on the surface of the gel products. The present invention has developed the flexible printing ink and decorative printing image can be accomplished by using pad printing ink, or screen printing ink then heat release transfer printing. The top coat is necessary to protect the applied image.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0012] The present invention is to provide hydrocarbon gel air freshener, the surface of said air freshener possessing adhesive properties. By providing a positive adhesive, the gel air freshener itself will adhere to surfaces. It is object of this invention to provide a gelled hydrocarbon composition, suitable for use as an air freshener, comprising hydrocarbon oil gelled a blend of triblock styrenic rubber copolymer, and fragrance oil.
[0013] Another object of the invention is to provide stiff, flexible, bendable and removable gel air freshener through careful selection of different molecular weight of the thermoplastic rubber copolymer and different viscosity of mineral oils. A further object of this invention is to print ink image onto the surface of the gel by pad printing, screen printing and then heat transfer methods. Both gel air freshener and printing ink can further comprise luminescent pigment, fluorescent pigment, or thermochromic pigment.
[0014] The invention further provides methods of making articles manufacture that the gel air freshener includes ornament beads and a string or elastic string through a loop to suspend the air freshener. The ornamental beads can be a variety of shapes, each having a through-hole for stringing on the tie string. The materials selected for the ornament bead can be any polymers, which can be optionally impregnated with fragrance.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0015] The present invention is directed a decorative printing on a polymeric gel air freshener. The polymeric gel air freshener of this invention contains thermoplastic rubber copolymers, hydrocarbon oil, and functional additives. The gel air freshener includes a string or elastic string through a loop to suspend the air freshener. The printing methods include pad printing, or screen printing and heat transfer printing. The method of decorative printing is depending the size of the gel air freshener. The screen printing and then heat transfer method can be applied to the large printing area and pad printing is good for small or curve area. The invention comprises composition of polymeric gel air freshener, printing ink composition, and methods of printing.
Composition of Polymeric Gel Air Freshener
[0016] The products of this invention are useful for the air freshener and it is employed in the home (e.g. in room, closets, garages, storages, and cabinets), office, and vehicles. The gel air freshener of compositions comprises hydrocarbon oil, one or more triblock, radial block and/or multiblock copolymer and fragrances. The shape of gel air freshener can be mould in any shapes. Under this invention, varying the amount, ratio and types of polystyrene-rubber-polystyrene triblock copolymer controls the gel consistency of the air freshener. During the summer, the temperature inside the vehicle is around 60 to 65° C. To prevent the cracking of polymeric gel from the loop at high temperature inside the vehicles, the strength of gel air freshener must have higher softening temperature. The polymeric gel can retain its gel-like features over time; it is flexible, stretchable, and removable. In satisfaction of the foregoing advantages, the invention may accordingly be described as high softening gel air freshener comprising a styrene-rubber block polymer and no more than 300 parts by weight of hydrocarbon oil per 100 parts by weight of block copolymer. According to the present invention, gels are made of styrene rubber copolymer having weight average molecular weight Mw of at least 90,000, preferably at least 200,000, more preferably at least 300,000, and polystyrene content of 25 to 45 weight percent, preferably 28 to 40 weight percent, more preferably 30 to 35 weight percent. In general, the higher copolymer amount the stiffer the gel. Additionally, the higher amount of triblock, radial block and/or multiblock copolymer in polymer blend, the stiffer the blend gels. The gels under the present invention are generally transparent.
[0017] The composition of present polymeric gel air freshener blends a mixture of polymers in combination with hydrocarbon oil. The hydrocarbon oil used is desirably a natural or synthetic hydrocarbon oil of carbon chain length from 10 to 50. The oil may, for example, be paraffinic oil, naphthenic oil or a natural mineral oil. The hydrocarbon oil can, for example, be natural or synthetic cosmetic grade hydrocarbon oil. Preferred the hydrocarbon oils are selected from paraffinic oil, naphthenic oil or natural oils, more preferably white oil.
[0018] Commercially available thermoplastic rubber type copolymers, which are especially useful in forming the gel composition of the present invention, are sold under the trademark Septon and manufactured by Septon Company of America. They are available as a hydrogenated poly-isoprene/butadiene (SEEPS) polymer. The grade of the polymer is designated as Septon 4030, 4033, 4044, 4055, and 4077. Each molecule of SEEPS polymer consists of block segments of styrene monomer units and hydrogenated conjugated diene monomer units. The polystyrene block acts as a cross linking point at a temperature below the glass transition temperature of polystyrene. The rubber block acts as an origin of rubber-like properties; hydrogenation thereof provides excellent heat resistance and weather ability.
[0019] Suitable fragrances are generally known in the art. A wide variety of scents may be incorporated into the gel body including not only the conventional scents such as vanilla, citronella, burberry, floral, pine and the like, but also terpenes and essential oils. The combined or compounded fragrance should have a flash point of greater than 80° C., preferably at or above 95° C. The fragrance normally comprises a carrier solvent, such as diethylphthalate, carbitol, dipropyleneglycol, or dipropylglycol. Preferably 0.1 to 30 weight percent. Low molecular weight polyalphaolefin was added to keep rigidity of the gel air freshener after the addition of fragrances. The most unique characteristics of this highly branched alphaolefin polymers is the ability to bind oil, increase the hardness, very flexible and provide excellent lubricity properties. Commercially available polyalphaolefin polymers, which are especially useful in retaining the rigidity of gel composition of the present invention, are sold under the trademark VYBAR and manufactured by Baker Hughes Inc.
[0020] It is also advantageous to incorporate luminescent, fluorescent, pearlescent particles, glitters, metallic pigments, and optical brightener additives to gel air freshener, to add a degree of fun and extended function to the products. These types of additives can be applied to the thermoplastic tuber gel in accordance with manufacturer's guidelines. If desired, thermochromic pigments may be added to the gel air freshener. These pigments change color at predetermined temperatures. Alternatively the change may be from colored to colorless. Such thermochromic pigments are known per se and are commercially available from Matsui Inc. or The Pilot Ink Company of Japan. Any dye used should be oil soluble. Examples of suitable dyes are Blue 2B, Green GSB, Orange 3G, Red 2G, and Yellow 3G, sold under the name of Sandoplast by Clariant.
[0021] Other useful additives are light absorber to improve shelf stability of air freshener color when exposed to visible or ultraviolet light. The preferred light absorber is 2-)2-hydroxy-5-tert-cotylphenyl) benzotriazole, sold under the name Cyasorb UV-5411 light absorber by Cytec. With respect to antioxidants, the preferred product is bis(3,5-di-t-butyl-4-hydroxyhydrocinnamate), sold under the name of the Iragnox 1010 by Ciba Specialty chemicals. The additive amount is about from 0.05 to 0.1 weight percent.
[0022] A composition of formulation in accordance with the invention may be prepared by dispensing or injecting TPR gel into a shaped mould. The gel was allowed to set inside the mould at room temperature; and no further handling of the product is necessary. Preferably the air freshener is formed into an aesthetically eye catching shape.
[0023] The further improved device of the invention would allow an even more viable and flexible method of achieving a wide range of printed design. The addition of images could be potentially extremely beneficial to the marketing of the gel air freshener, as endorsed ‘in-car’ personal products are especially successful in today's current climate.
Composition of Printing Inks
[0024] The present invention of printing ink applied on the surface of polymeric gel, includes resins, mineral oil, solvents, pigments or dyes, and additives. The process involves optionally preparing the basecoat treatment on the substrate of polymeric gel, printing multi-color image on the treated substrate of polymeric gel. The printing methods include pad printing, or screen printing or, heat transfer printing. A clear topcoat can be applied either by pad printing or spray method.
Resins
[0025] The printing ink is composed of one or more resins. In most case the resins are obtained in the form of granulates or powders. The resins must be dissolved in a suitable solvent or solvents mixture. As a main component of the invention, the resins are responsible for the formation of the finished ink film and the carrier for the coloring material used in the ink formulation. The selection and combination of the resins determine the utilization of the ink's area and the resulting properties; such as adhesion to various substrates, grades of gloss, and resistance. Under the present invention, varying the amount and types of polymers affects the features of pad printing ink. For example, preferably using triblock, radical block and/or multiblock copolymers, and optionally a diblock copolymer. The printing ink, which has desirable rheological properties, will produce a durable and stretchable ink film. The polymers used comprise at least one copolymer selected from the radical block and/or multiblock copolymers. This invention contains at least two thermodynamically incompatible segments, one hard and one soft. In general, in a triblock polymer, the ratio of the segments is one hard, one soft, and one hard or an A-B-A copolymer. The multiblock and radical block copolymer can contain any combination of hard and soft segments. In the optional diblock copolymer, the blocks are sequential with respect to hard and soft segments.
[0026] Commercially available thermoplastic rubber type polymers are especially useful in forming the compositions of the present invention. Both Kraton Chemical Company and Septon Company of America sell commonly used polymers”. The most common structure is the linear ABA block type; styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) and styrene-isoprene-styrene (SIS) which is the Kraton D rubber series. Kraton G is another type of polymer. The copolymer comprises a styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene (S-EB-S) structure. The Kraton G series is preferred in the practice of the invention. The optionally blended diblock polymers include the AB type such as styrene-ethylene-propylene (S-EP) and styrene-ethylene-butylene (S-EB), styrene-butadiene (SB) and styrene-isoprene (SI). Septon resins are available in either diblock (A-B) or the more common triblock) A-B-A) types. These include a hydrogenated poly-isoprene (S-EP, S-EP-S), a hydrogenated poly-isoprene/butadiene (S-EEP-S) polymer or a hydrogenated poly-butadiene (SEBS) polymer. Depending on the hardness of the substrate of the thermoplastic rubber compositions of ink, employing various combinations of triblock and radical block is necessary.
[0027] The printing ink preferably includes resins from about 1 to 12% by weight, more preferably from about 5 to 10% by weight, and still preferably from about 6 to 8% by weight.
Mineral Oil
[0028] Mineral oils are highly refined, colorless, and odorless petroleum oil. A preferred mineral oil to mix with thermoplastic rubber of the invention is the so-called “white” mineral oil. This type of mineral oil is generally recognized as safe for contact with human skin and has a boiling point of at least 300° C. Mineral oil may be characterized in terms of its density and viscosity, where light mineral oil is relatively less viscous than heavy mineral oil.
[0029] Light mineral oils are preferred for use in the invention. Mineral oils are available commercially in both USP and NF grades. Examples of commercially available suitable mineral oils include Sonneborn® and Carnation® white oils from Witco, Isopar® K and Isopar® H from ExxonMobil, and Drakeol®, Draketex®, Parol® white mineral oils from Penreco Company. The amount of mineral oil in the printing ink should range from about 10 to 30% by weight based on the total weight of pad printing ink components, preferably from about 15 to 25% by weight.
Solvents
[0030] Solvents differ in their evaporation speeds and strengths. The amount of solvent in a printing ink is a major factor for its drying rate, printing speed and adhesion to the substrate. Solvents can be divided into thinners and retarders. Retarders are necessary when printing speed is slow and when drying ink system is extremely fast. Functioning as diluents in the corresponding ink system, thinners are a mixture of solvents. Mixing ink with thinners in the correct ratio to achieve the desired viscosity is extremely important. The viscosity of the final mixture will determine the effectiveness of the ink transfer. The type and amount of solvents will depend on the resins and pigment used in the ink system. In some cases, the substrates also play a role in determining which solvent should be used. The physical evaporation process of the solvents ink induces the drying of ink on substrate. At the same time the substrate of thermoplastic rubber compound is partially dissolved, the slight dissolution of the printing surface results in a direct bond between the ink and the substrate. In the present invention, top coat uses aromatic solvents to increase the adhesion between the ink film and the substrate of thermoplastic rubber and very low evaporation rate of glycol ether acetate are used to reduce the volatile of aromatic solvents. The solvents uses in this invention can be arranged in the following chemical group: aromatic hydrocarbon, ester, glycol ether acetate and ketone. For aromatic solvents, toluene, xylenes, aromatic 100, and aromatic 150 are preferred. From the ester group, isopropyl acetate and amyl acetate are preferred. In the glycol ether acetate group, propylene glycol methyl ether acetate, ethylene glycol monoethyl ether acetate and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate are preferred. Lastly, cyclohexanone, diacetone alcohol, and isophorone are preferred from the Ketone group.
[0031] Preferred are compositions employing the combination of aromatic hydrocarbon, glycol ether acetate and ketone. The pad printing ink preferably includes solvents from about 30 to 80% by weight, more preferably from about 45 to 70% by weight.
Colorants
[0032] Colorants provide the color tone of the ink and determine its hiding power. Colorants, either organic pigments or inorganic pigments, give color to a substrate by altering its reflective characteristics. There are hundreds of different types of pigment produced. Some are formed by nature in mineral or vegetable forms, but most are synthetic materials. When ink is applied to a substrate, colorants either remain on the surface or have a tendency to fill voids in irregular surfaces. The present invention contains a coloring agent that produces a desired color appearance. For this invention, organic pigments are preferred. The pigments may be those pigments suitable for use in printing ink; such type of pigment will be well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Example of such pigments include, but are not limited to, pigment yellow 83 (C.I. 21108), pigment orange 34 (C.I. 21115), pigment red 48:3 (C.I. 15865:3), pigment violet 23 (C.I. 51319), pigment blue 15:2 (C.I. 74160), pigment green 7 (C.I. 74260). Pigment white 6 (C.I. 77891) and pigment 7 (C.I. 77266). In this invention, pigment makes up 10 to 30% by weight, preferably in an amount of about 15 to about 25% by weight.
Additives
[0033] The additives are substances normally used in small quantities. Their function is to adjust the ink properties, such as flow, viscosity, or characteristic of the surface. Adhesion modifiers, matting powder, anti-foam agent, wetting agent, antioxidant, antistatic agents, and flow control agents are a few examples. However, solvents have the most profound effect on printing performance.
Method of Printing
[0034] Normally in the method of pad printing, it lays down a very thin ink film ranging from 4 to 6 micron thick while the screen printing have much thicker ink on the substrate. The topcoat forms a stretch film sealing the printed image and preventing it from scratch. The compositions of topcoat are resins, mineral oil, additives and solvents. The selection of polymers in the clear coating is the same as those in pad printing ink. The content of resins in the clear coating ranges from approximately 5 to 30% by weight, more preferably from about 10 to 25% by weight, and ideally from about 15 to 20% by weight. It is necessary to use the retarder solvents for topcoat. Preferred are compositions employing the combination of aromatic solvents. The top coat should include solvent from about 35 to about 90% by weight, more preferably from about 50 to about 80% by weight, and ideally from about 60 to about 70% by weight. The solvent is used to make the irregular surface by dissolving the substrate of thermoplastic rubber. The mineral oil will be functioned as a retarder to prevent the either shrank or dissolution of the substrate due to the depth etching on the surface. The mineral oil is present in amounts ranging from about 5 to about 30% by weight, more preferably from about 10 to about 20% by weight.
Example 1
[0035] The multicolor pad-printing machine is used to print an image onto the polymeric gel, which contain up to 80% mineral oil. After having the image printing, the gel products containing fragrance are functioned as air freshener. Without fragrance added, the polymeric gel will become as a decorative ornament. The shapes of the gel can be smoothing convex such as ball, solid 3-D design features, and flat sheets. For example, in the three-color pad printing of a logo onto the surface of either ball products or flat sheets, the printing process is repeated four times, with three different colors of ink and one clear topcoat. The topcoat is applied by the pad printing method. Alternatively, the clear top coating can be applied by spray method. The method of the top coating should be selected based on the shape of the final products.
Example 2
[0036] The multicolor screen-printing machine is used to print an image onto the plastic release film. After having the image printing film, the automatic heat transfer machine is used to transfer the printing image to the gel products. The shapes of the gel products can be smoothing convex such as ball, and flat sheets. For example, in the three-color screen printing of a logo onto the surface of flat sheets, the printing process is repeated three times, with three different colors of ink and one clear topcoat. The topcoat is applied by the spray method. The method of the top coating should be selected based on the shape of the final products.
Example 3
[0037] Without the addition of fragrance, the printed gel products can be used as a removable window cling, or portable mobile phone holding aid and an anti-slip mat, universal in use with many other applications outside its primary intended use of helping to hold objects down and also when a sudden change motion may occur. It may also be used as a drink coaster
[0038] The invention has been described herein with the reference to certain preferred embodiments. It is understood that obvious variants thereon will become apparent to those skilled in the art. The invention is not to be considered as limited thereto.
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The present invention relates to provide decorative printing on a surface of polymeric gel materials. The printing methods can be pad printing, or screen-printing and heat transfer printing. The polymeric gel material is also capable of releasing a fragrance. The gel air freshener can be hang on the rear mirror inside the vehicles and also can stick any smooth surface such as window glass, ceramic tile, polished plastic and metals.
The polymeric gel air freshener of this invention contains thermoplastic rubber copolymers, hydrocarbon oil, fragrances and functional additives. The invention further provides methods of making articles manufacture that the gel air freshener includes ornament beads and a string or elastic string through a loop to suspend the air freshener. The ornamental beads can be a variety of shapes, each having through-holes for stringing on the tie string. The materials selected for the ornament bead can be any polymers, which can be optionally impregnated with fragrance.
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PRIOR APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 202,602, filed June 6, 1988 for BONE PIN now U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,603 issued Aug. 22, 1989 and is assigned to the Assignee of the present invention.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a bone pin which is used to secure small bone fragments together and which is made from a polymeric material, preferably a polymer which is absorbable in an animal body. The bone pin of the present invention has a cutting or drilling device secured to one end of the polymeric portion of the pin so that the pin may be directly inserted into a bone or a bone fragment.
Bone pins are generally made from a medical grade metal which can be placed in an animal body for extended periods of time without adverse effect. The metal bone pins are normally removed from the body after the bone has healed. The metal bone pins, particularly a bone pining device called a Kirschner wire, may have a sharpened end which can be used as a drill point to drill the pin through the bone.
The use of plastic such as polyethylene as a bone pin have been suggested. Bone pins made from polymeric materials which are absorbable in the body has also been suggested. These bone pins can be made from polyglycolide or polylactide polymers or copolymers or glycolide and lactide or from poly-dioxanone or other absorbable polymers. A bone pin made from poly-dioxanone as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,988 has been commercially available for some time.
The poly-dioxanone bone pin is employed by drilling a hole through a bone fragment and into a solid bone or between or through two adjacent fragments of bone which are to be held together. After a hole of the proper diameter is drilled through the bone, the drill is removed and the poly-dioxanone pin is inserted through the hole and the portion of the pin extending beyond the bone surface is removed by cutting with a scalpel or other instrument.
The problem with this procedure is that when the initial hole is drilled through the bone the bone fragments are aligned, after the drill is removed in order to insert the pin, the fragments may become misaligned which causes difficulty in properly inserting the pin.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
The present invention provides a polymeric bone pin with a drill point attached to the polymeric pin. The present invention is particularly useful in procedures where a pin will extend completely from one surface of a bone to the opposite surface. The bone pin of the present invention includes a polymeric portion and a drill portion which are joined together end to end so they may be inserted into the bones as a unit in one step and can be positioned using a hollow drill. The drill point of the pin is first drilled into one side, through and out the other side of the bones to be joined together. The drill point will extend beyond or completely through the distal surface of the bone. The pin is then pushed through the bones and the polymeric portions of the pin and the drill point which extend beyond the bone surface are removed.
This procedure using the bone pin of the present invention, completely eliminates the problem of misaligning bone fragments since the pin immediately follows the drill point through the bone.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In present application FIG. 1 shows two bone fragments being secured together by the pin being pushed through the fragments.
FIG. 2 shows the bone pin with the drill point attached.
FIG. 3 shows the polymeric portion of the pin fixed in a bone.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 shows the use of the bone pin of the present invention. The pin is used to secure together portions of the bone 10. Pin 11 comprises a polymeric portion 12 with a drill portion 13 attached. The drill portion has a drill point 14 and is attached to the polymeric portion by swaging, with adhesive or by other methods.
The preferred nonabsorbent polymer used for the polymeric portion of the pin is polyethylene and the preferred absorbent polymer is the poly-dioxanone disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,988.
The polymeric portion of the pin is tapered with a taper of from 0.005 to 0.05 millimeters per millimeter of length. The pin 11 generally would have a length between about 100 and 200 millimeters. The polymeric portion of the pin would have a length of approximately 50 to 100 millimeters and the cutting portion of the device would have a length of approximately 50 to 100 millimeters. The cutting device is affixed to that end of the polymeric portion of the pin with the smallest diameter. The polymeric portion of the device can be affixed to the cutting portion by swaging or with a connecting pin by cementing the two pieces together with epoxy or other suitable cement or a combination of these procedures. The cutting portion can be a piece of Kirschner wire with a hole drilled in the back of the wire to receive the absorbable portion of the device. The drilling Point 14 of the cutting portion of the device is capable of drilling through bone when used with a hollow surgical drill. In using the hollow surgical drill, the cutting portion of the pin is held by the drill chuck and the polymeric portion of the pin extends into the body of the drill to the rear of the chuck. As shown in the drawing, the absorbable portion of the device has a taper of approximately 0.005 millimeter per millimeter of length to 0.05 millimeters per millimeter of length. The taper being the difference in diameter per mil of length. It should be noted that the cutting portion of the device may have a diameter which is greater than or less than the maximum diameter of the polymeric portion. Even if the drill diameter is larger than the maximum diameter of the polymeric portion, the polymeric portion can still fit tightly into the hole made by the drill as they go into the bone as a unit, because the bone is somewhat elastic and tends to compress out of the way as the drill enters and then expands and partially closes the drilled hole as the drill passes by. The type of drill that is used does not remove a large amount of bone. Because the drill is preferably unfluted, the action of the drill on the bone, at least after it penetrates the relatively hard exterior surface of the bone, is somewhat like a spinning nail which bores through relatively elastic material. The taper of the pin allows the pin to be gradually forced into the hole that has been drilled through the bone. The pin diameter will eventually be as large or larger than the hole in the bone and can be force fit into the bone to secure the pin in the bone. The elasticity of the bone facilitates entry of the pin into the bone and holding the pin in place after entry. After the pin is in place the portions of the pin extending beyond the bone as shown in FIG. 3 can be cut off with a scalpel or other suitable cutting device so that the pin is flush with the bone.
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A bone pin made with a tapered polymeric portion and a cutting device secured to the smaller end of the polymeric portion. The pin can be inserted through a bone or bone fragment and the cutting device removed.
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RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/195,969 filed on Apr. 11, 2000 and entitled “ Method for Accessing Fracture Surfaces of Fibers Failed in Optical Connectors”.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Our invention generally relates to fiber optics and specifically to methods and systems for accessing fractured fibers in fiber optic connectors, more specifically fiber optic connector ferrules.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Ubiquitous deployment of fiber optic technology has increased the bandwidth and reliability of modem communication networks well beyond prior limits for copper and other competing technologies. A single fiber optic cable when installed in a network replaces thousands of copper lines. In fact, optical fibers are not considered to be bandwidth-limited. Despite the tremendous improvement in performance over the technology it replaced and continues to replace, fiber optic technology does present some problems.
[0004] Of particular import to the present invention is the problem of determining the root cause of mechanical failures in a fiber optic connector. Mechanical integrity of optical fibers is an essential element of assuring long-term reliable performance of fiber optic telecommunications networks. Loss of this mechanical integrity leads eventually to transmission failures in fiber optic network components such as cables, connectors and devices that make up the modern broadband telecommunications networks. When fiber mechanical failures occur, one needs to find the cause of such mechanical failures and determine the conditions under which these failures occur. Primary means of investigating fiber mechanical failures involves detailed examination of fiber fracture surfaces to find telltale signs of fracture events with clues to the mechanical forces involved, the geometry within which these forces might act on the fibers, and the magnitude of these forces. This detailed examination is known as fractography or break source analysis of fiber fracture surfaces.
[0005] In connectorized optical fibers, fiber breaks that take place within the connector body are not readily accessible for fractography. In fact, fiber fractures in connectors have often gone without any definitive fractography examination. As the bandwidth and capacity of modern telecommunications networks increase at an accelerating pace, it has become critically important to investigate even occasional fiber breaks in connectors due to its potentially high negative impact on both service providers' business and subscribers' communications needs.
[0006] In particular, and with reference to FIG. 1, a connector 100 generically consists of a metal base 110 and a ferrule 120 . The ferrule 120 includes a central cylindrical opening or capillary 122 (typically having a 126-μm diameter). The capillary 122 is filled with an adhesive resin or epoxy fill 123 and a stripped and cleaned fiber 124 (typically having a 125-μm diameter) is inserted into the capillary 122 . The adhesive resin 123 also fills the entry cone 128 and rear opening 130 of the connector along with the coated (unstripped) portion of the fiber 132 as is shown in FIG. 1. The adhesive is, then, cured, and, the fiber/ferrule tip 134 is polished to give a radiused surface. A connector assembly is then formed when two ferrule-fiber assemblies are mated and brought into physical contact on their polished surfaces. The adhesive in the capillary 122 (about 0.5-μm thickness between the ferrule and the fiber) serves to fix the fiber with respect to the ferrule and maintain the physical contact. Therefore, dimensional and mechanical stability of the ferrule-fiber assembly is critically important for satisfactory long-term performance and reliability of fiber optic PC connectors.
[0007] The prior art is devoid of methods and systems for extracting the bare and coated fiber from the connector without compromising the evidence that is critical to root cause analysis. Accordingly, the prior art does not allow for fractographic examination of fiber breaks if those breaks take place in the connector, in particular in the ferrule capillary. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus that enables fractographic examination of broken fibers to determine the root cause of fiber mechanical failures in connectors and devices.
SUMMARY
[0008] Our invention is a method and apparatus for extracting a fiber from a connector. In accordance with our invention, methods are presented to remove the metallic housing, adhesive bead/block near the ferrule entry cone and the annular adhesive film within the ferrule. Further, in accordance with our method, the fiber is extracted from the connector thereby allowing fratographic examination by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).
[0009] Specifically, the process begins with removal of the metallic housing of the ferrule fiber assembly by a first acid-etching process wherein the acid bath is a mixture of hydrochloric acid and nitric acid. With the metallic housing removed, the ferrule-fiber assembly is then immersed in a bath of sulfuric acid, i.e., a second etching, is done to remove or loosen the adhesive resin in the ferrule capillary and back opening. After each acid-etching step, the ferrule-fiber assembly is rinsed with distilled water. Finally, localized heating is applied to the ferrule while a tensile load is applied to the fiber. The fiber is then extracted from the ferrule as a result of the localized heating and load application. If application of the tensile load and localized heating initially fails to extract the fiber, then the ferrule may be re-immersed in the solution of the second acid etching. The localized heating and application of the tensile load may then be repeated. Of course, localized heating under the force of the tensile load and the immersion into the sulfuric acid may be alternately repeated until extraction is successful.
[0010] Our invention advantageously allows for non-destructive extraction of the fiber from the ferrule so that further examination can be done of the fiber to determine the root cause of failures that occur as a result fractures of the fiber in the ferrule capillary.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] [0011]FIG. 1 depicts a generic connector;
[0012] [0012]FIG. 2 is a flow chart of our inventive method for extracting a fiber from a ferrule; and
[0013] [0013]FIG. 3 depicts our inventive apparatus for extracting a fiber from a connector.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0014] Turning now to FIG. 2, there is depicted a flow chart describing the methods steps of our invention.
[0015] Our method begins by removing the metallic housing of fiber connector by acid etching, step 210 . The metallic base or housing ( 110 in FIG. 1) is typically made of stainless steel. Therefore, we immerse the ferrule fiber assembly in a mixture of hydrochloric acid (HCl) and nitric acid (HNO 3 ). The mixture can consist of ratios of 1:1 to ⅓:⅔. That is, the mixture can include any combination in the range from one part concentrated (30% to 40%) HCl to one part concentrated (68% to 70%) HNO 3 to one-third part concentrated HCl to two third part concentrated HNO 3 . Of course the ratio of HCl to HNO 3 and the concentration of each substance within the mixture determines the acidity of the mixture which in turn determines the speed with which acidic etching takes place. This acid etching process may take place at room temperature, 22° C. to 25° C., at elevated temperatures, 50° C. to 100° C., or any temperature within the 22 ° C. to 100 ° C. range. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the ratio of the mixture, the respective concentrations of HCl and HNO 3 , and the temperature at which this process takes place in effect determines the rate at which the etching takes place. In order to maintain some quality control over the acid etching process, we have generally performed the process at room temperature. At room temperature, we have found this step or stage to occur within a matter of minutes.
[0016] Once the metallic housing is etched away as previously described, the adhesive resin in the capillary 122 , entry cone 128 , and rear opening 130 (see FIG. 1) is then removed by a second acid etching, step 230 . At step or stage 230 , the fiber-ferrule assembly is then immersed in fuming or concentrated sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ). We have used sulfuric acid having concentration levels of 96%-99%. We have also found that adding relatively small amounts, 1%-5% concentration levels, of nitric acid (HNO 3 ) can increase the potency of the sulfuric acid. This step can be carried out at room temperature or an elevated temperature 50° C. to 200° C. We have found that at room temperature step or stage 230 can take several tens of minutes. Accordingly, we have performed this step 230 at an elevated temperature of 200° C. and obtained complete adhesive bead (in the capillary) and block (in the rear opening) removal in a matter of seconds.
[0017] At the final step or stage of our method, the bare fiber 124 (see FIG. 1) is extracted from the ferrule 120 (see FIG. 1), step 250 , by localized heating of the ferrule while keeping the fiber under a tensile load. This step requires preparatory work to determine the thermal degradation profile of the adhesive used in the ferrule-fiber assembly. The preparatory work requires a determination of the temperature at which the adhesive degrades. Thermal analysis of cured adhesive samples by Differential Scanning Calorimetry and Thermogravimetric Analysis are known methods for determining the degradation temperature of an adhesive. Differential Scanning Calorimetry provides thermal transition temperatures such as the glass transition temperature for the adhesive while Thermogravimetric Analysis enable one to determine the temperature and time of adhesive degradation. In some instances, the preparatory work may simply involve looking up the degradation time and temperature profile of the adhesive in a manual.
[0018] Once the degradation time and temperature of the adhesive is known, the ferrule-fiber assembly is placed in a fiber extraction unit. Our fiber extraction unit is shown in FIG. 3 and its structure is fully discussed below. The important functional features with regard to to extraction are a means for providing localized heating and a fiber tension means for extracting the fiber from the ferrule. Localized heating is preferable so as to minimize exposure of the fiber to high temperatures that can run from 300° C. to 600° C. depending on the type of adhesive resin in the capillary. The fiber tension means or element maintains a tensile load of a few hundred milligrams on the fiber as the ferrule is heated until the fiber is extracted. Here, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that there is a trade off between the force of the load and the temperature at which heating takes place. That is, if too great a tensile load is placed on the ferrule before the time and temperature for adhesive degradation is reached, the evidence that is sought may be destroyed. In addition, if application of the tensile load and localized heating initially fails to extract the fiber, then the ferrule may then be re-immersed in the sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ) solution used in step 230 . The localized heating and application of the tensile load would then be repeated. Of course, localized heating under the force of the tensile load and the immersion into the sulfuric acid may be alternately repeated until extraction is successful. Conceptually, the idea here is to heat the adhesive resin to the point where it releases the fiber and if release does not happen under a normal tensile load then re-immersion in the sulfuric acid enhances the chance that on the next pull the fiber will be extracted.
[0019] We will now turn to FIG. 3 and describe the apparatus 300 we invented and built to perform step or stage 250 described above. As FIG. 3 shows apparatus 300 has a heating block 310 into which an opening 315 is constructed. The heating block 310 can be made of copper. The opening 315 is constructed so as to receive only the ferrule 120 to minimize exposure of the fiber to the high temperature that occurs during heating. An electric coil 320 which is powered by a voltage source 321 is wound around the heating block 310 . The wound heating coil provides localized heating to heating block and in turn to the adhesive in the ferrule. Fiber tension is applied to the coated portion of the fiber 132 as is illustrated by force F until the fiber is extracted. Those of ordinary skill will note that there are numerous ways in which to apply force F.
[0020] A fiber extracted in accordance with our invention is then available for further analysis using a Scanning Electron Microscope or other known means for identifying fiber break source.
[0021] The above description has been presented only to illustrate and describe the invention. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to any precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The applications described were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention on various applications and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
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Method and apparatus for extracting a fiber from connector. In accordance with our method the extraction does not compromise any failure evidence located within the ferrule of the fiber connector. The method comprises the steps of metallic etching, followed by adhesive etching, and a final step of heating and applying a load to the ferrule and/or fiber.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an extendible and tractable linear stabilizer which is readily attached to and detached from the frame of a work vehicle. Usually such stabilizers operate in pairs, and when the stabilizers are extended more down pressure can be exerted on a ground engaging implement carried by the vehicle and the stabilizers act as a brake holding the work vehicle in position during operation of the implement.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,630,317 Jacobsson shows two hydraulically operated stabilizers on a three-wheel fork truck which stabilizers are automatically actuated when the load carriage of the vehicle is raised.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,458 Shumaker shows a stabilizer for a vehicle which consists of a pair of telescopic members with one member being mounted on the vehicle and the other member having a ground engaging foot supported on the free end thereof for rotation in a horizontal plane. The stabilizer incorporates latch means between the telescopic member and the foot for holding the foot in a plurality of rotated positions with respect to the telescopic member, whereby the angular position of maximum stability for the vehicle can be varied.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,082,197 Stedman shows an articulated vehicle having rear and front frames pivotally connected together and a pair of steering cylinders pivotally connected between the rear and front frames for pivoting them relative to each other. A telescopic boom is pivotally mounted on the rear frame and has a work implement, such as a fork, attached to the end of the boom. A pair of lift cylinders are pivotally connected to opposite sides of the front frame and to a ground engaging plate or plates. The lift cylinders are extended to engage the plate or plates with the ground to lift the rear frame relative to the front frame while simultaneously maintaining the front frame in contact with the ground. Upon alternate extension and retraction of the steering cylinders, the rear frame pivots (slues) relative to the front frame to place the work implement into an infinite number of work positions.
Swedish patent No. 7700902-5 shows a vehicle having two pivotally mounted wheels adjacent one end of the vehicle which are operated to be raised and lowered by a pair of hydraulic cylinders. The two hydraulic cylinders are operated jointly by a hydraulic valve having raise and lower positions and an intermediate neutral position. When the valve is in neutral a hydraulic connection between the head ends of the two cylinders and another hydraulic connection between the rod ends of the two cylinders permit hydraulic fluid to circulate between the two cylinders to allow the pivotally mounted wheels to adjust to different heights to accommodate the wheels and vehicle to uneven terrain.
In addition to the foregoing patented prior art there is unpatented prior art which is discussed in detail hereinafter.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In the present invention a structure and method provide for readily attaching a linear stabilizer attachment to a vehicle and readily detaching it again. The attachment is secured to the vehicle frame by a latch mechanism adjacent one end of the attachment and another connection at the other end of the attachment. The stabilizer attachment is telescopic and is extended and retracted by an internal hydraulic cylinder; hydraulic hoses from such cylinder are connected to hydraulic hoses on the vehicle.
When two of these stabilizers are used together the stabilizer cylinders are connected together hydraulically so when the stabilizer control valve is actuated both stabilizers extend and retract together. Because of the hydraulic connections the stabilizers automatically compensate for uneven terrain on tilt of the work vehicle, so that both of the stabilizers remain in contact with the ground when extended.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 is a profile view of a vehicle embodying this invention,
FIG. 2 is a view of the same vehicle with the near stabilizer extended,
FIG. 3 shows a rear view of the same vehicle which employs two of the stabilizer attachments according to the present invention, one on each side,
FIG. 4 shows a partial perspective view of the upper end of a stabilizer,
FIG. 5 shows an exploded view of a prior art construction,
FIG. 6 shows how the prior art construction is assembled on a vehicle,
FIG. 7 is a view of the stabilizer of the present invention,
FIG. 8 is a partial view of the stabilizer of this invention,
FIG. 9 is another view of the same stabilizer,
FIG. 10 is a fragmentary diagram illustrating the lower connection of a stabilizer with the frame of a vehicle, and
FIG. 11 shows the hydraulic circuit for two of the stabilizers.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
FIG. 1 of the drawing shows a detachable stabilizer 10 according to the present invention for a vehicle 11. It is connected to the upright or stanchion portion 14 of the vehicle frame 15. FIG. 2 of the drawing is the same as FIG. 1 except that the near stabilizer 10 is extended. FIG. 3 is a rear view of the same vehicle 11 showing two stabilizers adjacent opposite sides respectively, both of which have been extended. FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view of the upper end of stabilizer 10.
In FIGS. 5 and 6 a prior art stabilizer is indicated by the numeral 22 and the vehicle is indicated by the numeral 20 in FIG. 6; both views are perspective views from the right rear as compared to the left side perspective views of FIGS. 1 and 2.
Included in FIG. 5 is a stanchion member 24 which is a part of the frame of the vehicle 20, and a plate 26 which is secured between channel member 28 and stanchion member 24 by means of bolts 32 and nuts 33 and a plurality of holes 29, 30 and 31. The tube formed by members 26,28 is the outer structure of the stabilizer and it contains within it an inner telescopically movable member 34. Member 34 has at the bottom a ground engaging flange 36 and a cleat 38 secured to the flange 36. The stabilizer 22 is operated by means of an internal hydraulic cylinder 40 which extends between a cross-pin 41 at the top of housing 28 and a pin 42 at the bottom which extends through the inner slide member 34.
FIG. 7 of the drawing shows a stabilizer attachment 10 according to the present invention. It is on the right side of the vehicle and thus is the mirror image of the one appearing in FIG. 1 of the drawing. It includes an outer tubular member 52 of generally square cross-section, and an inner telescopic tubular member 54. Base 56 with cleat 58 thereon is secured to the lower extremity of member 54. A hydraulic cylinder 60 inside the stabilizer structure is connected between a pin 62 near the top of outer member 52 and inner member 54 at the bottom where the connecting pin is indicated by the numeral 64. The stabilizer can be retracted or extended as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 by the operation of hydraulic cylinder 60; it is supplied with pressurized hydraulic fluid for double acting operation through hoses 66 and 68.
In order to install a stabilizer 10 on the vehicle 11 the connection mechanism indicated generally by the numeral 70 at the top of the stabilizer is utilized. As shown in FIG. 9 the mechanism 70 has an extended unlatched position wherein the outer tube 52 is lowered with respect to a hanger 72 by turning nut 74 downwardly to the position indicated in FIG. 9. The stud bolt 76 is connected to hanger 72. Bracket 78, which rests on nut 74, is secured to outer tube 52. To install this stabilizer on the machine the hanger 72, as it appears in FIG. 9, is hung over a boss 73 which projects outwardly from the frame 15 of the vehicle. Then, the nut 74 is turned to raise the flange 78 which is connected to outer tube 52 to the raised position as shown in FIG. 8 wherein the stabilizer is firmly secured to the vehicle. This is because hanger 72 is restrained from movement by being between flange 73a on boss 73 and a bracket 75 at the top end of outer tube 52. When outer tube 52 moves upwardly a bracket 84 at the bottom of the tube 52 of the stabilizer moves upwardly into a latching relationship with a member 85 extending downwardly from the frame 15 of the machine; this secures the bottom of the stabilizer firmly in place. FIG. 10 shows the member 85 extending downwardly from frame 15 and bracket 84 extending inwardly from tube 52.
When the boss 73, the bracket 85 and hydraulic hoses 67 and 69 are in place on vehicle 11, only three steps are required to install the stabilizer 10 of this invention on the vehicle. The first is to hang the stabilizer 10 on the boss 73. The second is to operate nut 74 to secure the upper connection, which also secures the bottom connection. The third step is to attach two hydraulic hoses 66 and 68 which are parts of the stabilizer to the hoses 67 and 69 on the vehicle. Removing the stabilizer requires the same three steps carried out in reverse order.
When two of these stabilizers are used together they may be connected hydraulically as shown in FIG. 11 to not only enhance the down pressure exerted on an implement at the other end of the vehicle and the braking effort but in addition to compensate for uneven terrain. In FIG. 11 the two stabilizer cylinders 60 are connected so that a hydraulic conduit 91 joins the head ends of the cylinders and a hydraulic conduit 93 joins the rod ends of the cylinders. Conduit 66 is connected between conduit 91 and a two-way control valve 95. Conduit 68 is connected between conduit 93 and control valve 95. When valve the 95 is operated to pressurize conduit 91 and thus the head ends of the two cylinders, while pressure is released from conduit 93, the two stabilizers will be extended until they reach the end of their travel or the control valve is returned to neutral. This procedure discharges hydraulic fluid from the rod ends of the two cylinders through conduits 93 and 68. The control valve 95 can be operated in the opposite sense to pressurize conduits 68 and 93 while relieving the pressure in conduits 91 and 66, thus causing the stabilizer cylinders to retract.
As shown diagrammatically in FIG. 11 the pistons of the two cylinders are indicated at 97L and 97R. If the stabilizers are on uneven ground the hydraulic circuit provides for fluid to flow from the head end of one of the cylinders to the head end of the other through conduit 91, with similar flow in the other direction through conduit 93 from one of the rod ends to the other rod end. The result of the ground being uneven may be the positioning of the pistons 97L and 97R in the position indicated by the dashed lines in FIG. 11. Other dashed lines show the manner in which the bases 56L and 56R of the stabilizers move in unison with the pistons, 56L moving downwardly and 56R moving upwardly an equal amount. There is a flow of hydraulic fluid in the loop which comprises conduits 91 and 93 and the chambers of the cylinders 60 which causes the stabilizer of this invention to adjust to uneven terrain.
While we have described and illustrated herein a preferred embodiment of our invention which is also the best mode contemplated for using it, it will be appreciated that modifications and alterations may be made. Accordingly, it should be understood that we intend to cover by the appended claims all such modifications which fall within the true spirit and scope of our invention. "Hydraulic cylinder" or "cylinder" alone as used herein means a double acting linear hydraulic motor comprising an outer barrel portion with both ends closed and an internal piston forming variable volume chambers between the piston and the respective ends of the barrel portion; the piston is mounted on a rod which projects through the closure at one end of the barrel portion. While reference is made herein to hydraulic hoses it will be appreciated that other equivalent hydraulic conduits can be utilized in the present invention.
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A stabilizer attachment for a work vehicle. The attachment is linear in operation and when it is attached adjacent one end of a vehicle and is then extended it raises the adjacent wheel off the ground. Another stabilizer attachment on the other side of the vehicle when operated raises the corresponding wheel on the other side off the ground. With the two wheels off the ground more down pressure is exerted on a ground engaging implement and the stabilizers act as a brake securing the work vehicle in position during operation of the implement.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a 5-[(2R)-[2-[2-[2-(2,2,2-trifluoroethoxy) phenoxy]ethyl]amino]propyl]-2-methoxybenzenesulfonamide, its pharmaceutical acceptable salts and a method for preparing the same; it also provides a pharmaceutical composition containing the compound and use thereof in the preparation of an anti-prostatauxe medicament.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Prostatic hyperplasia is a common disease in the elderly, its main clinical symptom is dysuria. At present, adrenal α1 receptor antagonists are usually used to alleviate the symptom, such as prazosin (U.S. Pat. No. 3,511,836), terazosin (U.S. Pat. No. 4,026,894), doxazosin (U.S. Pat. No. 4,188,390), alfuzosin (U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,007), Tamsulosin (U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,063) and so on, these drugs selectively inhibit adrenal α1 receptor and the contraction of smooth muscle of urethral, then urine is well excreted, but these drugs are associated with side effects, such as orthostatic hypotension, so they should be used carefully to patients.
[0003] Therefore, in order to treat dysuria, it is desirable to find a compound which would selectively inhibit the contraction of smooth muscle of urethral and weakly affect the contraction on blood vessel. The compound of the present invention has a higher selectivity in inhibiting the contraction of smooth muscle of urethral and can be used in the treatment for dysuria, moreover the incidence of orthostatic hypotension is lower.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0004] The object of the present invention is to provide a new compound as an adrenal α1 receptor antagonist.
[0005] Another object of the present invention is to provide a preparation process of a new compound having formula (I).
[0006] The present invention also provides a pharmaceutical composition containing a therapeutically effective dose of a compound having formula (I).
[0007] Further, the present invention also aims to provide the use of a compound having formula (I) and a composition containing it in the preparation of an anti-prostatauxe medicament.
[0008] In order to complete this invention, the present invention relates to the following technical solutions:
[0009] According to this invention, it specially relates to a pharmaceutical acceptable salt of a compound having formula (I).
[0000]
[0010] The present invention also relates to a preparation process of the compound having formula (I), which comprises the steps of:
[0011] reacting the compound of formula (II) with the compound of formula (III) to give the compound as described in this invention.
[0000]
[0012] The present invention also involves a pharmaceutical composition characterized in containing a therapeutically effective dose of the compound as active ingredient and the pharmaceutical acceptable carriers.
[0013] The compound of this invention can be used in the preparation of an anti-prostatauxe medicament.
[0014] It can be seen that the present invention relates to a compound having formula (I) or its pharmaceutical acceptable salt. It also relates to a pharmaceutical composition of the compound, which has excellent activity of anti-prostatic hypertrophy.
[0000]
[0015] It has been reported that some adrenal α1 receptor antagonists have a good inhibitory effect on the contraction of smooth muscle of urethral and are used in the treatment for prostatic hyperplasia. The present inventors found that the compound having formula (I) has stronger pharmacological effects and better selectivity compared with the reported drugs, so they completed the present invention.
[0016] A compound having formula (I) can be prepared by reacting a compound of formula (II) with a compound of formula (III).
[0000]
[0017] Typically, a pharmaceutical composition of the invention can be prepared by a method known in the art. In order to have this object, if necessary, active ingredients can be combined with one or more solid or liquid pharmaceutical excipients and/or adjuvants, then further made into suitable used form or dosage form as a human medicine.
[0018] A pharmaceutical composition of the invention can be administered in the form of unit-dose, and the routes of administration may be intestinal or parenteral, such as oral, muscle, hypodermic, nasal cavity, oral mucosa, skin, peritoneum, or rectum and so on.
[0019] A composition of the present invention can be administered by injection. Said Injection includes intravenous injection, intramuscular injection, subcutaneous injection, intra-dermal injection, acupuncture points injection and so on.
[0020] Dosage form of administration can be liquid and solid dosage forms. Liquid forms can be a true solution, colloid, particulate, emulsion, suspension. Other dosage forms are tablets, capsules, drop pills, aerosols, pills, powders, solutions, suspensions, emulsions, particulates, suppositories, freeze-dried powders and so on.
[0021] A pharmaceutical composition of the present invention can be made into general preparations, or delayed-release preparations, controlled-release preparations, targeting preparations and various particulate preparations.
[0022] In order to prepare unit-dose into tablets, the various carriers known in the art can be used widely. Some examples of carriers include, for example diluents and absorbents, such as starch, dextrin, calcium sulfate, lactose, mannitol, sucrose, sodium chloride, glucose, urea, calcium carbonate, kaolin, microcrystalline cellulose, aluminum silicate, etc.; wetting agents and binders, such as water, glycerol, polyethylene glycol, ethanol, propanol, starch, dextrin, syrup, honey, glucose solution, mucilago acaciae, gelatine solution, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, gum lac, methyl cellulose, potassium phosphate, polyvinylpyrrolidone, etc.; disintegrants, such as dry starch, alginate, agar powder, brown algae starch, sodium bicarbonate and citric acid, calcium carbonate, polyoxyethylene sorbitol fatty acid ester, sodium dodecyl sulfate, methyl cellulose, ethyl cellulose, etc.; disintegration inhibitors, such as sucrose, tristearic acid glyceride, cocoa butter, hydrogenated oil etc.; absorption enhancers, such as the quaternary ammonium salt, sodium dodecyl sulfate etc.; lubricants, such as talcum powder, silica, corn starch, stearate, boric acid, liquid paraffin, polyethylene glycol, etc. Said tablets can also be further prepared into coated tablets, such as sugar coated tablets, film coated tablets, enteric coated tablets, or double-layer tablets and multi-layer tablets.
[0023] In order to prepare administration unit into pills, the various carriers known in the art can be used widely. Some examples of carriers include, for example diluents and absorbents, such as glucose, lactose, starch, cocoa butter, hydrogenated vegetable oil, polyvinylpyrrolidone, kaolin, talc, etc.; binders, such as arabic gum, bassora gum, gelatin, ethanol, honey, liquid sugar, rice paste or panada, etc.; disintegrants, such as agar powder, dry starch, alginate, sodium dodecyl sulfate, methyl cellulose, ethyl cellulose etc.
[0024] In order to prepare administration unit into suppositories, the various carriers known in the art can be used widely. Some examples of carriers include, such as polyethylene glycol, lecithin, cocoa butter, higher alcohols, esters of higher alcohols, gelatin, semi-synthetic glyceride, etc.
[0025] In order to prepare administration unit into capsules, the active ingredient is mixed with the above various carriers, and then the mixture are placed in hard gelatin capsules or soft capsules. The active ingredient can also be prepared into encapsulated formulation, be suspended in aqueous medium to form suspension, be put into a hard capsule or be prepared into injection for use.
[0026] For example, the composition of the present invention is prepared into injection, such as solutions, suspensions, emulsions, freeze-dried powders, which may be aqueous or non-aqueous, and contain one or more pharmaceutical acceptable carriers, diluents, binders, lubricants, preservatives, surfactants or dispersants. For example the diluents may be selected from the group consisting of water, ethanol, polyethylene glycol, 1,3-propanediol, ethoxylated isooctadecanol, peroxidized isooctadecanol, polyoxyethylene sorbitol fatty acid esters etc. In addition, in order to prepare isotonic injection, a suitable amount of sodium chloride, glucose or glycerol can be added into the injection, moreover, regular cosolvents, buffers, pH adjusting agents can also be added. These excipients are generally used in this art.
[0027] Furthermore, if necessary, coloring agents, preservatives, perfumes, correctives, sweeteners or other materials may be added into the pharmaceutical preparations.
[0028] The pharmaceutical composition of the invention can be used in the treatment for prostatic hyperplasia.
[0029] The administered dosage of the invention compound or its pharmaceutical composition depends on many factors, such as the nature and severity of the diseases needed to prevent or treat, sex, age, weight, temperament and individual response of the patients or animals, routes of administration, times of administration, so the therapeutic dose of the present invention has a large-scale changes. Generally speaking, the used dosage of pharmaceutical components of the present invention is known to a person skilled in the art. According to the actual effective dosage contained in the final preparation of compounds or their combination of the present invention, it can be appropriately adjusted to achieve the requirement of its therapeutic effective dose. For the patients with the weight about 75 kg, the dose administrated per day may be in the range of 0.5 μg/kg body weight to 40 μg/kg body weight, preferably in the range of 2 μg/kg body weight to 10 μg/kg body weight. The above dose may be administered in the form of single dose or multidoses, such as two, three or four doses, which depends on the dosage regimen of the doctor on the basis of clinical experience.
[0030] The compound having formula (I) prepared by the invention has a strong inhibitory effect and good selectivity on the contraction of smooth muscle of urethra.
EXAMPLES
[0031] The following examples are provided to illustrate the present invention in detail; however, these should not be considered as limiting the scope of this invention.
Example 1
Preparation of 5-[(2R)-[2-[2-[2-(2,2,2-trifluoroethoxy)phenoxy]ethyl]amino]propyl]-2-methoxybenzenesulfonamide (a compound of formula I) and its hydrochlorate
[0032] A solution of (R)-(+5-(2-aminopropyl)-2-methoxybenzenesulfonamide (to be prepared according to the method of the European Patent EP 257787) (24.4 g, 0.1 mol), 2-(2,2,2-trifluoroethoxy-1)phenyl-2-ether bromide (to be prepared according to the method of U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,603) (15 g, 0.05 mol) and isopropanol 300 ml were refluxed for 16 hour, cooled to 30° C. (centigrade) and filtered. The filtrate was dried under reduced pressure, ethyl acetate 300 ml and water 100 ml were added, then the mixture was shaken. The ethyl acetate layer was separated, the water layer was extracted with ethyl acetate 100 ml, then the combined ethyl acetate layer was washed with 100 ml water, dried and evaporated under reduced pressure to give the compound having formula (I) 16 g, yield 69% (the hydrochlorate of the compound having formula (I)).
[0033] The resulting compound (16 g) was dissolved in 150 ml absolute ethyl alcohol, then HCl-ethanol was dropwise added to pH2. The mixture was stirred for 0.5 hour, filtered, washed with ethanol and dried to give a white solid 16 g, yield of 93% (the hydrochlorate of the compound having formula (I)).
[0034] 1 HNMR (d 6 -DMSO) δ 1.17 (3H, d), 2.73 (1H, d. d), 3.31 (111, d. d), 3.44 (2H, m), 3.52 (1H, m), 3.90 (3H, s), 4.37 (2H, t), 4.72 (2H, q), 7.00˜7.19 (5H, m), 7.46 (1H, d. d), 7.64 (1H, d), 9.35 (2H, br.s)
Example 2
Preparation of Tablets of Compound I
[0035]
[0000]
Compound 1
0.1 g
Starch
100 g
Starch slurry (8%)
Proper amount
Magnesium stearate
0.4 g
[0036] The resulting compound of Example 1 was mixed uniformly with starch, 8% starch slurry was added to prepare soft materials, then the soft materials were granulated with 14 mesh nylon sieve, dried at 70-80° C., magnesium stearate was added, granulated with 10-12 mesh wire sieve, mixed, pressed into tablet with 12 mm punch die.
Example 3
Preparation of Particles of Compound 1
[0037]
[0000]
Compound 1
0.1 g
Soluble starch
80 g
Powdered sugar
20 g
Flavors
Proper amount
[0038] The compound 1 was dissolved in the water, and starch (80 g), powdered sugar (20 g), flavors (proper amount) were added, mixed uniformly, then granulated with 14-16 mesh sieve, dried at a temperature below 60° C., and packed.
Example 4
Preparation of Capsules of Compound 1
[0039]
[0000]
Compound 1
0.1 g
Microcrystalline cellulose
40 g
Lactose
60 g
Hydroxymethyl starch sodium
4 g
Starch slurry
Proper amount
Magnesium stearate
1 g
Silica gel powder
1 g
[0040] Compound 1, microcrystalline cellulose, lactose and hydroxymethyl starch sodium were sieved respectively and mixed uniformly, then proper starch slurry was added to prepare soft materials, then the soft materials were granulated with 20 mesh sieve, the wet particles were dried at a temperature below 50° C., then the dried particles were granulated with 20 mesh sieve, then mixed uniformly with magnesium stearate and silica gel powder, and filled into capsules.
Example 5
Preparation of Oral Solutions of Compound 1
[0041]
[0000]
Compound 1
0.1
g
Saccharin
0.5
g
Flavors
0.1
g
Water for injection
1000
ml
[0042] Compound 1, saccharin and flavors were dissolved respectively in water for injection and mixed, then diluted to 1000 ml, and subpackaged to obtain oral solutions of compound 1.
Example 6
Preparation of Injectable Powders of compound 1
[0043]
[0000]
Compound 1
0.1 g
Dextran
40 g
[0044] Compound 1 was dissolved with proper amount of water for injection, dextran (40 g) was also dissolved with proper amount of water for injection, and then the two solutions were mixed, diluted with water for injection to 2000 ml, filtered with 0.221 am millipore filter. Under aseptic conditions, the filtrate were subpackaged in 10 ml Xilin bottles (vial), packed into disk, and freeze-dried in freeze-dried box, then carried out form the box, and rolled covers.
Test Example 1
[0045] The antagonism and antagonistic selectivity of α1 receptor of different isolated smooth muscle specimens treated with the compound having formula (I).
[0046] Methods: a 24-hour fasting rat was hit on the head to induce coma, and quickly dissected the abdominal cavity, its urethra, aorta and vas deferens were respectively taken out and recorded the contraction curve with instruments, then the different concentrations and volumes of norepinephrine were added to get noradrenalin's accumulation curve, rinsed immediately to return to baseline, then different concentrations of test drugs were added. Noradrenaline was added repeatedly after 5˜8 minute to obtain average contractile response curve of noradrenalin under different concentrations of antagonist, the contraction pD 2 of noradrenaline on the urethra, aorta, vas deferens under different concentrations of samples for test was calculated, the pA 2 value for antagonism of contraction caused by the samples against norepinephrine was obtain by regressing with the concentration of test samples and pD 2 .
[0047] Results: pA 2 value for the contraction of the different organizations inhibition of smooth muscle specimens induced by the hydrochlorate of compound I and tamsulosin hydrochloride against norepinephrine is shown in Table 1. The intensity ratio of contraction inhibitive effect of urethra and aorta, urethra and vas deferens smooth muscle, caused by the sample against noradrenaline is disclosed in table 2, which is calculated by pA 2 value.
[0000]
TABLE 1
pA 2 value for the contraction of the different organizations
of smooth muscle specimens induced by the hydrochlorate of compound
I and tamsulosin hydrochloride inhibiting norepinephrine
pA 2 value for the contraction caused by
inhibiting norepinephrine
Sample
urethra
aorta
vas deferens
Tamsulosin
9.22
8.63
10.12
hydrochloride
the hydrochlorate of
11.00
8.21
10.08
compound I
[0000]
TABLE 2
The intensity ratio of the contraction of the different organizations
of smooth muscle specimens induced by the hydrochlorate of compound
I and tamsulosin hydrochloride inhibiting norepinephrine
the intensity ratio of the contraction caused by
inhibiting norepinephrine
Sample
urethra/aorta
urethra/vas deferens
Tamsulosin
3.83
0.123
hydrochloride
the hydrochlorate of
607.31
8.120
compound I
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5-[(2R)-[2-[2-[2-(2,2,2-trifluoroethoxy)phenoxy]ethyl]amino]propyl]-2-methoxybenzenesulfonamide, a pharmaceutical composition containing the compound, and the synthesis method thereof. The compound has strong antagonism toward α1-adrenceptor and has high selectivity toward smooth muscle of urethra.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] Embodiments of the present invention relate to weapons that apply force to incapacitate a target, for example, non-lethal force.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Today's military and police encounter situations where application of both lethal and non-lethal force is desirable. For example, in many of today's “hot-spots” around the world, military units perform crowd control duties involving a crowd that is initially relatively peaceful but then degenerates into a violent and dangerous mob. In such situations, a soldier may need a way to subdue violent elements in the crowd using non-lethal force while retaining a means for applying lethal force in order to further protect himself if the crowd becomes violent and dangerous. In these situations, soldiers typically hold one weapon at a time, the weapon of choice being some sort of lethal force weapon such as a rifle. When confronted with a situation where non-lethal force may be more appropriate, the soldier may not have a non-lethal weapon ready.
[0003] Consequently, there is a need to provide non-lethal force weapons simultaneously with lethal force weapons and integrate operation for ready access by a policeman or soldier.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] A weapon, according to various aspects of the present invention, includes a receiver, a trigger, and a cartridge store. The receiver receives a cartridge. The cartridge applies a deterrent force to the target. The trigger activates the cartridge. The cartridge store stores a plurality of provided cartridges. The cartridge store, then the trigger, and then the receiver are arranged in sequence proceeding linearly away from a user of the weapon.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0005] Embodiments of the present invention will now be further described with reference to the drawing, wherein like designations denote like elements, and:
[0006] FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a multi-weapon system according to various aspects of the present invention;
[0007] FIG. 2A is a functional block diagram of a cartridge 13 in one implementation for use with the weapon system of FIG. 1 ;
[0008] FIG. 2B is a functional block diagram of a cartridge 13 in another implementation for use with the weapon system of FIG. 1 ;
[0009] FIG. 3 is a side view of an electric discharge weapon according to an implementation of FIG. 1 ;
[0010] FIG. 4 is a side view of a multi-function weapon system according to an implementation of FIG. 1 ;
[0011] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a forward portion of the weapon of FIG. 3 , a portion of the rear of the weapon cut away to show in cross section a cartridge retained in the cartridge store;
[0012] FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a portion of the weapon system of FIG. 4 , a portion of the track cut away to show in cross section the assembly of the weapon system of FIG. 4 ;
[0013] FIG. 7 is a cross section view A-A of the weapon system of FIG. 4 where the sight 416 is omitted and the cartridge 132 a is not cross sectioned;
[0014] FIG. 8 is a cross section view of a central portion of the weapon system of FIG. 4 generally below sight 416 ;
[0015] FIG. 9 is a front view of the weapon system of FIG. 4 , a front portion of the weapon of FIG. 3 cut away to show in cross section the assembly of the weapon system of FIG. 4 ;
[0016] FIG. 10 is an enlarged portion F of the view of FIG. 9 ; and
[0017] FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a portion of the weapon system of FIG. 4 , a portion of track 144 generally below sight 416 cut away.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0018] A multi-function weapon delivers force for offensive or defensive purposes. Force is delivered in multiple ways at the discretion of the operator. Force in each way may be lethal or non-lethal. In a first example, a conventional multi-function weapon may include a rifle with an attached chemical discharge device. Operation of the rifle (e.g., loading and firing) is largely independent of operation of the chemical discharge device that has its own mechanisms for loading and firing, though aiming of each may be in common. In a second example, a multi-function weapon may have multiple independent firing mechanisms. For example, a rifle may have an electric discharge weapon attached to it for common aiming. The rifle and electric discharge weapon may each have an independent means for loading and firing.
[0019] According to various aspects of the present invention, a conventional weapon or a conventional multi-function weapon may be used as a multi-function weapon system by attaching an electric discharge weapon to the conventional weapon or conventional multi-function weapon.
[0020] An electric discharge weapon delivers an electric charge to a target. Delivery may be via a probe propelled toward the target by the weapon. The probe may include conductive filaments that extend from the weapon to the probe at the target, for example, to supply the electric charge. In another implementation, the probe may include a power supply (e.g., comprising a battery) and the conductive filaments may be omitted. Generally, a portion of the electric discharge weapon is reusable for subsequent targets. The portions consumed for one target may be packaged as a round of ammunition (e.g., of the type described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/______ filed and incorporated by reference); or may be packaged in a replaceable cartridge removably affixed to the reusable portion of the weapon. It is desirable to carry with the electric discharge weapon a supply of the consumable portions (e.g., rounds or cartridges).
[0021] For example, multi-function weapon system 10 of FIG. 1 includes conventional weapon 11 , electric discharge weapon 12 , and cartridge 13 . Electric discharge weapon 12 includes attachment apparatus 14 , trigger 15 , power supply 16 (that may include battery 17 ), cartridge store 18 , light source 19 , and memory 20 . Each weapon 11 and 12 is typically operated by the same human operator from time to time against targets (e.g., humans, domestic animals, game, wild animals).
[0022] Any conventional weapon may be used. For example, weapon 11 in various implementations of system 10 may include a weapon providing offensive or defensive force of any magnitude against humans and/or animals (e.g., a firearm, a chemical discharge source, a nozzle for a high pressure stream of water, launchers for projectiles, nets or restraints, and acoustic devices).
[0023] An attachment apparatus joins conventional weapon 11 and electric discharge weapon 12 for operation as a mechanical unit. Joining may be rigid, flexible, or adjustable among a set of rigid positions. For example, attachment apparatus 14 may include any conventional materials, structures, and techniques adapted to the shape and structural features of weapons 11 and 12 . Weapon 11 may include conventional mounting structures for attaching accessories to weapon 11 . Attachment structure 14 in various implementations includes structures that mate, nest, abut, engage, adhere, fasten, and/or cooperate for attachment with such mounting structures as discussed above. Weapon 11 and/or weapon 12 may include fasteners to which attachment apparatus cooperates. For example, weapon 11 and/or 12 may include a threaded orifice; and, attachment apparatus may include a threaded fastener compatible with the threaded orifice for joining as discussed above.
[0024] A trigger, power supply, memory, and light source cooperate to control and facilitate operation of cartridge 13 . For example, in one implementation, trigger 15 , power supply 16 , battery 17 , light source 19 , and memory 20 use structures and methods of operation of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,132 by Cover issued Feb. 14, 1981, U.S. Pat. No. 6,636,412 by Smith issued Oct. 21, 2003, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/447,447 by Nerheim filed May 29, 2003, all incorporated herein by reference.
[0025] Trigger 15 may include a primary mechanism for activating power supply 16 so as to activate (e.g., fire) cartridge 13 ; and, a secondary mechanism. The secondary mechanism may operate as a conventional safety to block unintended operation of the primary mechanism. Further, the secondary mechanism may control whether or not light source 19 is activated. In one implementation, the secondary mechanism has three positions: safety off with light source disabled, safety off with light source enabled, and safety on. Primary and secondary mechanisms may comprise mechanical apparatus and/or electrical switches.
[0026] A cartridge store keeps unused cartridges convenient for use. Keeping may include enclosing (e.g., cartridges that have no suitable means for mechanical retention) and/or mechanically restraining (e.g., holding in a fixed position relative to other cartridges, weapon 12 and/or weapon 11 ). For example, store 18 may be integral to the structure of weapon 12 , may hold only unused cartridges (e.g., to avoid mistaking ready cartridges from spent cartridges) of a type suitable for use with weapon 12 for a particular mission, and protects each stored cartridge from damage or activation. These features are implemented in suitable structures of store 18 that are compatible with conventional cartridges and involve conventional materials and mechanical techniques. In another implementation, according to various aspects of the present invention, store 18 includes a shape to serve as a suitable hand grip for proper use of weapon 11 and/or weapon 12 . By locating a hand on store 18 and a hand on trigger 15 , unintended use of a trigger of weapon 11 may be avoided.
[0027] A cartridge provides consumable supplies for operation of an electric discharge weapon. For example, cartridge 13 may include functions of cartridge 21 of FIG. 2A or cartridge 26 of FIG. 2B . Cartridge 21 includes conventional probes and propulsion system to propel the probes. Cartridge 21 receives electrical power from power supply 16 for activating propulsion system 22 and enabling probes 23 to deliver an electric charge in a circuit that includes the target. Cartridge 26 further includes a miniature power supply 28 that may include an energy storage device (e.g. battery 29 or a capacitor). Cartridge 26 may be of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,654,867 by Murray issued Aug. 5, 1997 incorporated herein by reference. Propulsion systems 22 and 27 may include electrically primed explosive or pressurized gas. In one implementation, propulsion systems 22 and 27 are of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,078,117 by Cover issued Jan. 7, 1992 incorporated herein by reference.
[0028] Cartridge 13 may be operatively coupled to weapon 12 in any conventional manner. For example, in one implementation, cartridge 21 is fastened to weapon 12 using a quick connect fastener and receives electrical energy via a butt contact interface. In another implementation, a cartridge similar to cartridge 26 is used wherein coupling from power supply 16 to cartridge 26 is omitted. Such a cartridge is loaded into a chamber of weapon 12 in a manner similar to a round of conventional ammunition and activated by a conventional percussion pin.
[0029] An electric discharge weapon of the type described above may be implemented with a substantially linear arrangement of components. For example, a weapon may include a linear arrangement in an order proceeding toward the operator that includes a cartridge loaded for use, an activator to activate the loaded cartridge, and a cartridge store. In another implementation, the weapon may include a linear arrangement in an order proceeding toward the operator that includes a cartridge loaded for use, a cartridge store, and an activator to activate the loaded cartridge. The operation of replacing a spent cartridge with a cartridge from the cartridge store may be manual, manually initiated, or fully automatic (e.g., initiated a time after firing while a trigger is held in an active position).
[0030] An electric discharge weapon may apply non-lethal force such as that applied by a weapon of the type marketed by Taser International, Inc. Electric discharge weapons deliver an electrical charge to a human or animal target to stun and/or immobilize the target with little risk of serious injury. An exemplary electric discharge weapon according to various aspects of the present invention may include a mount, an activator, and a cartridge store.
[0031] The mount may be adapted for coupling to a firearm. The mount may have a bayonet mount slot for receiving a bayonet mount of the firearm. The mount may also include an attachment fastener that extends into the bayonet mount slot for holding the bayonet mount of the firearm in the bayonet mount slot. The bayonet mount slot may further include a groove for receiving a protrusion of the bayonet mount. The mount may also have a rail slot adapted for slidably receiving a rail of the firearm. The rail slot may include a longitudinal groove adapted for receiving a flange of the rail of the firearm inserted into the rail slot. In use, the rail of a firearm may be inserted into the rail slot of the mount of the electric discharge weapon while the bayonet mount of the firearm may be inserted into a bayonet mount slot of the mount.
[0032] The activator may include a receiver that accepts a cartridge to be activated. A cartridge installed in the receiver is said to be loaded. The activator may have a finger hole and an actuator extending into the finger hole. The activator may also have a light source. In one embodiment, the light source may comprise a coherent light source.
[0033] The cartridge store may have one or more compartments for receiving a cartridge. Each compartment of the cartridge store may have a notch for receiving a portion of a latch of a cartridge. The compartment of the cartridge store may also have a resiliently compressible wall.
[0034] After mounting the electric discharge weapon onto a firearm and loading a cartridge into the receiver of the electric discharge weapon, the firearm may be held to aim the electric discharge weapon at a target. The electric discharge weapon may be activated to propel a projectile from the activator of the electric discharge weapon towards the target so that an electric charge may be delivered in a circuit that includes the target.
[0035] According to various aspects of the present invention, an electric discharge weapon 100 of FIGS. 3 through 11 , includes activator 102 , mount 104 and cartridge store 106 . Activator 102 is located toward the front or distal end of electric discharge weapon 100 . Cartridge store 106 is located toward the rear or proximal end of electric discharge weapon 100 . And, mount 104 is located above both activator 102 and cartridge store 106 .
[0036] Activator 102 includes a body or main housing 108 having a forward-located socket herein called a receiver 110 for receiving a cartridge 112 . Cartridge 112 a may have one or more resiliently depressible latches 114 a for engaging receiver 110 to releasably hold cartridge 112 a in receiver 110 . In such embodiment, a latch 114 a may be provided on each lateral side of cartridge 112 a to enhance quick and easy releasing of latches 114 a with a user's forefinger and thumb.
[0037] Activator 102 may also include a rearward located trigger region 116 that has a finger hole 118 for receiving a user's finger therein and a primary actuator (e.g., a trigger) 120 extending into at least a portion of finger hole 118 so that primary actuator 120 may be actuated by the user's finger that extends into finger hole 118 . Primary actuator 120 may be utilized to actuate various elements of activator 102 . Trigger region 116 may also include a handgrip area 122 for gripping by a user's hand with the user's finger is extended into finger hole 118 . Trigger region 116 may also include a secondary actuator 124 . Primary and secondary actuators 120 and 124 implement functions of trigger 15 discussed above. Secondary actuator 124 may include a slide switch, slid between locked and unlocked positions. Secondary actuator 124 may be coupled to primary actuator 120 so that when secondary actuator 124 is in the locked position, primary actuator 120 cannot be actuated and, conversely, when secondary actuator 124 is in the unlocked position, primary actuator 120 can be actuated.
[0038] Activator 102 may further include an illumination compartment 126 that houses one or more light sources. Illumination compartment 126 may be located beneath body 108 of activator 102 and include a transparent or translucent window 128 for light emission toward the target.
[0039] A light source included in illumination compartment 126 may comprise a coherent light source such as, for example, a laser, for forwardly projecting a beam of coherent light toward a target. The coherent light source may be in alignment with cartridge 112 a so that light from the coherent light source can be used to pinpoint (i.e., illuminate) an intended target. The light source may be aligned in a path generally parallel to the expected flight path of at least one of the probes (such as e.g., a top probe) so that the beam of light emitted from the light source may be used to approximate an intended target for the associated probe.
[0040] In addition to, or instead of, the coherent light source, illumination compartment 126 may include another light source, for example, one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs), for providing illuminating to a more generalized area in front of electric discharge weapon 100 . The LEDs may preferably comprise a type of LED known as a super bright illumination LED.
[0041] Cartridge store 106 may have a plurality of compartments 132 a , 132 b that may be formed by a plurality of cutouts in cartridge store 106 . Each compartment 132 a , 132 b is adapted for receiving a cartridge (e.g., cartridges 112 b , 112 c ). Compartments 132 a , 132 b may have open bottoms to permit removal of a stored cartridge by a user grasping a cartridge and pulling on the cartridge in a downwards motion away from cartridge store 105 . Conversely, the open bottoms permit a user to insert a cartridge into a compartment by positioning the cartridge below the compartment and then inserting the cartridge into the compartment using an upwards motion.
[0042] One or more latches (e.g., latches 114 b , 114 c ) of a cartridge inserted into a compartment 132 a , 132 b may engage cartridge store 106 to releasably hold the cartridge in the compartment. Cutouts into the cartridge store may be shaped so that the opening into each compartment has an exposed area 134 a , 134 b that exposes the latch to permit a user to access the latch (e.g., depress the latch with the user's fingers) to disengage the latch from cartridge store 106 and thereby permit removal of the cartridge from the compartment.
[0043] The contour of the cutout may be shaped to form a generally semicircular exposed area 134 a , 134 b . Where a cartridge has a pair of latches located on lateral sides of the cartridge, the compartment may have a corresponding pair of exposed areas on opposite sides of the cartridge store to expose both latches of a cartridge inserted into the compartment.
[0044] Cartridge store 106 may further include a plurality of generally ring-shaped ridges 136 , 138 , 140 for providing gripping surfaces for a user's hand when grasping the cartridge store. A ridge may be provided at both ends of cartridge store 106 (e.g., ridges 136 , 140 ) and between each adjacent pair of compartments 132 a , 132 b (e.g., ridge 138 ).
[0045] Mount 104 is adapted for mounting to the underside of a weapon and may comprise forward and rearward regions 142 , 144 . Forward region 142 may have an upper face that lies in a plane located above a plane in which an upper face of rearward region 144 lies. The upper faces of forward and rearward regions 142 , 144 may also be substantially parallel with each other.
[0046] Forward region 142 may also have an attachment fastener 146 that extends into a rear area of forward region 142 . Attachment fastener 146 may comprise a threaded fastener (e.g., a screw or threaded bolt) that is threadably extended through a corresponding threaded bore 148 in forward region 142 (see FIG. 5 ). Attachment fastener 146 may also include a finger-engaging turning portion 150 that has a diameter larger than the rest of threaded fastener to aid easier rotation of the attachment fastener by a user's fingers. An outer circumference of finger-engaging turning portion 150 may be frictionally enhanced (e.g., by including ridges or grooves in the circumference) to enhance a user's grip when turning attachment fastener 146 .
[0047] Projectiles may comprise a pair of probes. Each probe may have a pointed tip for penetration of clothing or skin of a target. Tips may be barbed to help hold the tip after penetration. Each probe may be electrically conductive and may be coupled to the activator by a flexible conductive filament. Probes may be positioned in a vertical alignment in cartridge 112 a so that one probe is located above the other probe (i.e. so that there is a top probe and a bottom probe) when electric discharge weapon 100 is positioned in a typical upright position (as shown in FIG. 3 ). Prior to discharge, probes and filaments may be contained in a compartment or cavity inside cartridge 112 a that is covered by a removable cover. The cover may comprise a pair of blast doors that are blown away from the compartment by the discharge of probes out of cartridge 112 a . The cavity may also contain a plurality of tracking tags having indicia of identification (e.g. a unique serial number) to identify the associated cartridge 112 a . In use, as a result of probes being discharged from cartridge 112 a , tracking tags are also expelled from cartridge 112 a to permit subsequent identification of discharged cartridge 112 a and general location where cartridge 112 a was discharged based on the tracking tags and the location where the expelled tracking tags 182 land.
[0048] An electric discharge weapon 100 may be mounted to a conventional weapon 400 as in FIGS. 4-12 . Firearm 400 may comprise a rifle, for example, an M16-type rifle (e.g., a model M16A1). Firearm 400 may include stock 402 ; firing assembly 404 with hand grip 406 , trigger 408 , and ammunition cartridge 410 ; and barrel 412 with hand guard 414 , sight 416 , and bayonet mount 418 located beneath sight 416 . Hand guard 414 of barrel 412 may include an underside rail 418 (also known as a picatinny rail) to which various attachments may be mounted (e.g., such as a 40 mm model M203 grenade launcher).
[0049] Mount 104 of electric discharge weapon 100 may be mounted to hand guard 414 and bayonet mount 418 of firearm 400 to couple electric discharge weapon 100 to the underside of barrel 412 of firearm 400 . As shown in FIG. 4 , when coupled to firearm 400 , electric discharge weapon 100 may be in a generally parallel alignment with barrel 412 , with activator 102 positioned towards the muzzle of barrel 412 , and with finger hole 118 located beneath sight 416 .
[0050] In general, rearward region 144 of mount 104 may include a rail slot 184 for receiving rail 420 of hand guard 414 ; and, forward region 142 of mount 104 may include a bayonet mount slot 186 for receiving bayonet mount 418 of firearm 400 . Attachment faster 146 may be positioned to hold bayonet mount 418 in bayonet mount slot 186 between the front end of mount 104 and attachment fastener 146 .
[0051] With particular reference to FIGS. 5-7 , rail slot 184 provides an opening into the upper face of rearward region 144 of mount 104 for receiving rail 420 . Rail slot 184 may extend in a longitudinal direction along rearward region 144 . Rail slot may have an open rear end at the rearward end of mount 104 . Rail slot 184 has a front end that terminates at a stop 188 at the rear end of bayonet mount slot 186 (which is positioned above the bottom face of rail slot 184 ). Rail slot 184 may include a generally parallel pair of opposing lateral grooves 190 , 192 extending between the rear and front ends of rail slot 184 that are adapted for receiving corresponding side flanges 422 , 424 of rail 420 of weapon 400 (see FIGS. 5-7 ). Lateral grooves 190 , 192 help hold rail 420 in rail slot 184 . As shown in FIGS. 5-7 , lateral grooves 190 , 192 may have a generally V-shaped cross section that corresponds to the shape of side flanges 422 , 424 .
[0052] With particular reference to FIGS. 5 and 9 - 12 , bayonet mount slot 186 has an open rear end that starts at stop 188 formed at the front end of rail slot 184 . As illustrated in FIG. 5 , the rear end and adjacent rear portion of bayonet mount slot 186 may be located on the upper face of rearward region 144 of the mount while the forward portion of bayonet mount slot 186 extends into forward region 142 of mount 104 and provides an opening into the upper face of forward region 142 . Forward region 142 may form a pair of lateral shoulders 194 , 196 in the forward portion of bayonet mount slot 186 which define corresponding lower grooves in the bayonet mount slot. When inserted into bore 148 through forward region 142 , attachment fastener 146 may extend across bayonet mount slot 186 .
[0053] Electric discharge weapon 100 may be mounted to weapon 400 by positioning mount 104 below barrel 412 of weapon 400 so that the front end of rail 420 is positioned just behind the open rear end of rail slot 184 and side flanges 422 , 424 of rail 420 are aligned with lateral grooves 190 , 192 of rail slot 184 . Electric discharge weapon 100 may then be moved in a rearward direction toward firing assembly 404 of weapon 400 to insert rail 420 into the open rear end of rail slot 184 and to insert side flanges 422 , 424 into lateral grooves 190 , 192 . Electric discharge weapon 100 may be moved further in the rearward direction to slide rail 420 of weapon 400 forward through rail slot 184 until the front end of rail 420 abuts stop 188 at the front end of rail slot 184 (See FIG. 8 ). When rail 420 is fully inserted into rail slot 184 , lateral grooves 190 , 192 help to reduce up and down movement of rail 420 in rail slot 184 and thereby help hold rail 420 securely in place inside rail slot 184 .
[0054] As rail 420 slides forward toward stop 188 , bayonet mount 418 of weapon 400 may enter the open rear end of bayonet mount slot 186 . It should be noted that by this point, attachment fastener 146 should be removed from mount 104 to permit further insertion of bayonet mount 418 into bayonet mount slot 186 . As electric discharge weapon 100 is moved further rearward, bayonet mount 418 may slide further forward into bayonet mount slot 186 so that side protrusions 426 , 428 on bayonet mount 418 may be inserted into the lower grooves (formed by lateral shoulders 194 , 196 ) of bayonet mount slot 186 (see FIGS. 10-11 ). When the front of bayonet mount 418 abuts the front end of bayonet mount slot 186 (e.g., when the front end of rail 420 in rail slot 184 abuts stop 188 ), attachment fastener 146 may be inserted into bore 148 in forward region 142 of mount 104 so that attachment fastener 146 abuts rear face of bayonet mount 418 thereby interposing bayonet mount 418 between attachment fastener 146 and the front end of bayonet mount slot 186 (see FIGS. 9 and 12 ). In this configuration, the front end of bayonet slot 186 , lateral shoulders 194 , 196 and attachment fastener 146 help hold bayonet mount 418 in bayonet mount slot 186 to prevent movement of bayonet mount 418 inside bayonet mount slot 186 during use.
[0055] As shown in FIG. 9 , an implementation of bayonet mount slot 186 may include a front step 210 along the bottom of bayonet mount slot 186 . Front step 210 may serve as a front stop for abutting a lower protrusion 430 of bayonet mount 418 when fully inserted into bayonet mount slot 186 .
[0056] With particular reference to FIGS. 5 and 7 , a means for holding a cartridge (e.g., cartridge 112 b ) inserted into a compartment (e.g., compartment 132 a ) of cartridge store 106 is illustrated. Each compartment 132 a may have an opposing pair of side notches 198 , 200 for receiving corresponding locking tabs 202 , 204 of the latches (e.g., latches 114 b , 114 d ) of a cartridge 112 b . When inserting a cartridge 112 b into a compartment 132 a , latches 114 b , 114 d may be deflected in such a manner that permits insertion of locking tabs 202 , 204 into side notches 198 , 200 . To remove cartridge 112 b from compartment 132 a , latches 114 b , 114 d may be depressed to cause deflection of locking tabs 202 , 204 in an inward direction and out of side notches 198 , 200 thereby permitting cartridge 112 b to be pulled out of compartment 132 a in a downward direction through the open bottom of compartment 132 a .
[0057] Each compartment may have resiliently compressible side walls 206 , 208 (e.g., side walls made of a resiliently compressible material such as a foamed plastic or rubber) which are compressed by a cartridge 112 b inserted into compartment 132 a . Such resiliently compressible side walls 206 , 208 further help to hold cartridge 112 b securely in place in compartment 132 a and may help reduce rattling by inhibiting movement of cartridge 112 b when stored in compartment 132 a.
[0058] After electric discharge weapon 100 has been mounted to firearm 400 , electric discharge weapon 100 may be used as follows. A user holding firearm 400 inserts a finger into finger hole 118 so that the user can actuate primary actuator 120 . If a secondary actuator 122 is included on electric discharge weapon 100 , the user may also move secondary actuator 122 into the unlocked position so that primary actuator 120 may be actuated. Moving secondary actuator 122 to the unlocked position may also enable emission of light by light source 156 . The user may then aim electric discharge weapon 100 at a target using sight 416 of firearm 400 with the assistance of light (e.g., laser and/or general illumination) provided by light source 156 toward the target. After the user has aimed electric discharge weapon 100 at the intended target, the user may then discharge the projectiles (e.g., probes) from cartridge 112 a by actuating primary actuator 120 (e.g., pulling trigger 120 ). Projectiles are propelled toward the target and penetrate the clothing or skin of the target to complete a circuit and deliver charge into the target.
[0059] Electric discharge weapon 100 may be operated independently (e.g., without being attached to another weapon).
[0060] The foregoing description discusses preferred embodiments of the present invention which may be changed or modified without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined in the claims. While for the sake of clarity of description, several specific embodiments of the invention have been described, the scope of the invention is intended to be measured by the claims as set forth below.
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A weapon, according to various aspects of the present invention, includes a receiver, a trigger, and a cartridge store. The receiver receives a cartridge. The cartridge applies a deterrent force to the target. The trigger activates the cartridge. The cartridge store stores a plurality of provided cartridges. The cartridge store, then the trigger, and then the receiver are arranged in sequence proceeding linearly away from a user of the weapon.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for the preparation of phenyl pyruvic acid or, more particularly, to a method for the synthetic preparation of phenyl pyruvic acid by the reaction of benzyl chloride and carbon monoxide in the presence of a basic compound of an alkaline earth metal and a cobalt carbonyl compound as the catalyst.
As is known, phenyl pyruvic acid is an organic compound useful as a starting material for the synthesis of various kinds of compounds including phenyl alanine, which is a useful compound as an intermediate for the synthesis of, fcr example, an artificial sweetening agent, and others.
Among various synthetic routes for the preparation of phenyl pyruvic acid, the industrially most promising method is the reaction of benzyl chloride and carbon monoxide. It is proposed, for example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-18587 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,352 that the reaction of benzyl chloride and carbon monoxide is catalyzed by a metal carbonyl compound or, preferably, a cobalt carbonyl as the catalyst and the reaction is performed in a binary solvent mixture of water and alcohol in the presence of a basic compound of an alkaline earth metal.
In the conventional methods for the preparation of phenyl pyruvic acid including the above mentioned proposal in the Japanese patent, the desired compound can readily be obtained by the treatment of the precipitates in the form of an alkali or alkaline earth metal salt of the acid, which is precipitated in the reaction mixture after completion of the reaction and recovered by filtration or other suitable means for solid-liquid separation, with an acid. A difficult problem, however, is encountered in these prior art methods in connection with the mutual separation and recovery of the phenyl acetic acid formed as a by-product in a considerable amount in the form of an alkali or alkaline earth metal salt and the cobalt carbonyl catalyst since both of the by-product and the catalyst are dissolved in the filtrate after recovery of the phenyl pyruvate. Moreover, the cobalt constituent, if separated from the filtrate solution, cannot be used as such for the catalytic purpose in the next run of the reaction without a very elaborate and troublesome procedure for the regeneration of the cobalt carbonyl catalyst.
To explain the regeneration procedure of the cobalt catalyst from the filtrate of the reaction mixture, the solvents, i.e. water and alcohol, are first removed from the solution by evaporation and the residue is treated with an inorganic acid to isolate the by-product phenyl acetic acid. The salt of cobalt with the inorganic acid is then converted into cobalt hydroxide by the treatment, for example, with an alkali hydroxide followed by the carbonylation reaction of the hydroxide with water gas into the cobalt carbonyl compound under a high pressure and at a high temperature. Thus, it is eagerly desired to reduce the costs for the cobalt catalyst.
Another problem in the above mentioned method as proposed in the Japanese patent is that the reaction must be performed under a pressurized condition of 5 to 200 bars or, preferably, at least 40 bars of the pressure in order to obtain an industrially practicable yield of the product. At least, the yield of the desired compound is quite low when the reaction is undertaken under normal pressure. Needless to say, a great advantage would be obtained if the reaction can be performed under normal pressure to give a satisfactorily high yield of the product.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a novel and improved method for the synthetic preparation of phenyl pyruvic acid in which the costs for the regeneration of the cobalt carbonyl catalyst can greatly be saved in the reaction of benzyl chloride and carbon monoxide catalyzed by a cobalt carbonyl compound along with easy recovery of the phenyl acetic acid produced as a by-product.
Another object of the invention is to provide a possibility of performing the reaction of benzyl chloride and carbon monoxide for the preparation of phenyl pyruvic acid under a pressure as low as possible or, desirably, under normal pressure so as to reduce the overall cost for the preparation of phenyl pyruvic acid.
Thus, the invention provides an improvement which comprises, in the method for the preparation of phenyl pyruvic acid by the reaction of benzyl chloride and carbon monoxide in the presence of a cobalt carbonyl compound as a catalyst and a basic compound of an alkaline earth metal, performing the reaction in a binary solvent system composed of water and an organic solvent, which is capable of dissolving the catalyst and not freely miscible with water at room temperature, as the reaction medium.
The above mentioned organic solvent is preferably a ketone solvent such as methyl isobutyl ketone and acetophenone. When these ketone solvents are used in combination with water in the reaction medium, the desired reaction can proceed with a sufficient velocity even under very mild conditions of, for example, normal pressure. Furthermore, the liquid phase after separation of the phenyl pyruvate by filtration is separated into two phases of aqueous and organic layers while the cobalt carbonyl catalyst is contained in the organic layer as dissolved therein, the phenyl acetic acid being dissolved in the aqueous phase in the form of a salt, and can be re-used as such in the next run of the reaction so that the expensive procedure of the catalyst regeneration in the prior art methods can be entirely omitted.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
As is understood from the above given summarizing description, the most characteristic feature of the inventive method consists in the use of a binary solvent system as the reaction medium which is composed of water and an organic solvent not freely miscible with water at room temperature. The organic solvents satisfying this definition are exemplified by aromatic hydrocarbons, e.g. benzene and toluene, aliphatic and aromatic ethers, e.g. diethyl ether, diisopropyl ether and diphenyl ether, and aliphatic and aromatic ketones, e.g. methyl isobutyl ketone, acetophenone, diisopropyl ketone, methyl isopropyl ketone, dibutyl ketone, diisobutyl ketone and cyclopentanone, of which the ketones are preferred with methyl isobutyl ketone and acetophenone as the most preferable species.
In preparing the reaction mixture, benzyl chloride as the starting reactant is used usually in an amount in the range from 1 to 50% by weight based on the amount of the above mentioned organic solvent, though not particularly limitative thereto. The binary solvent system is formed of the organic solvent and water, usually, in an amount in the range from 10 to 200% by weight based on the amount of the organic solvent.
The basic compound of an alkaline earth metal contained in the reaction mixture according to the invention is selected from the group consisting of hydroxides, oxides and carbonates of alkaline earth metals, of which hydroxides are preferred with calcium hydroxide as the most preferable species.
The amount of the basic compound of an alkaline earth metal in the reaction mixture should be at least equimolar to the benzyl chloride as the reactant. Preferably, the amount thereof should be in the range from 1.1 to 5.0 moles or, preferably, from 1.1 to 2.5 moles per mole of the benzyl chloride.
Exemplary of the catalyst to effectively promote the reaction in the inventive method are cobalt carbonyl compounds, of which dicobalt octacarbonyl is particularly preferred. The cobalt carbonyl catalyst should be added to the reaction mixture in an amount in the range from 0.01 to 1 mole or, preferably, from 0.05 to 0.33 mole per mole of the benzyl chloride.
The purity of carbon monoxide as the reactant to react with benzyl chloride is not particularly limitative and, if desired, water gas can be used quite satisfactorily. The pressure of the carbon monoxide gas in the reaction should be in the range from normal pressure to 200 kg/cm 2 or, preferably, from normal pressure to 100 kg/cm 2 . The reaction temperature should be in the range from 20° to 150° C. or, preferably, from 40° to 100° C.
The reaction is performed by blowing carbon monoxide gas into the reaction mixture, when the reaction is performed under normal pressure, or by pressurizing the reaction vessel, e.g. autoclave, containing the reaction mixture with carbon monoxide gas, when the reaction is performed under a superatmospheric pressure, and continued usually until no more volume of the carbon monoxide gas can be absorbed by the reaction mixture. The reaction mixture after completion of the reaction contains phenyl pyruvic acid as the desired product in the form of an alkaline earth metal salt, phenyl acetic acid as the principal by-product also in the form of a salt and the cobalt carbonyl catalyst and is processed in the following manner.
Thus, the reaction mixture is first filtered to separate the liquid portion from the solid precipitates mainly of the alkaline earth metal salt of phenyl pyruvic acid formed by the reaction. The liquid portion is then subjected to phase separation into an aqueous solution containing the alkaline earth metal salt of phenyl acetic acid dissolved therein and an organic solution containing the cobalt carbonyl catalyst dissolved therein.
The cake of the precipitates collected by filtration is then dispersed in and acidified with an aqueous solution of an inorganic acid such as a diluted hydrochloric acid so as to isolate the phenyl pyruvic acid which is then extracted from the aqueous mixture with an organic solvent such as diethyl ether and the like. The desired product of phenyl pyruvic acid is obtained by removing the organic solvent from the extract.
The aqueous solution obtained by phase separation of the liquid portion of the reaction mixture is similarly acidified by adding an inorganic acid, e.g. hydrochloric acid, to isolate the free acid which is then extracted from the aqueous solution with an organic solvent, e.g. diethyl ether. Removal of the organic solvent from the extract by evaporation gives phenyl acetic acid as a by-product.
The organic solution obtained by phase separation from the above mentioned aqueous solution can be recycled and reused as such as the catalyst-containing organic feed in the next run of the reaction. As is understood from the above given description, great advantages are obtained by the method of the invention that not only the desired product of phenyl pyruvic acid can be prepared in a high yield but also the by-product of phenyl acetic acid can easily be separated from the cobalt carbonyl catalyst which can be reused as such in the next run by omitting the troublesome and expensive step of catalyst regeneration necessarily undertaken in the prior art method to provide a possibility of economically producing phenyl pyruvic acid in an industrial scale.
Following are the examples and comparative examples to illustrate the inventive method in more detail but not to limit the scope of the invention in any way.
EXAMPLE 1
A reaction mixture was prepared in a stainless steel-made autoclave of 300 ml capacity by introducing 75 ml of methyl isobutyl ketone, 75 ml of water, 18.6% (0.251 mole) of calcium hydroxide, 15.4 g (0.122 mole) of benzyl chloride and 1.2 g (0.0035 mole) of dicobalt octacarbonyl. After flushing the autoclave with carbon monoxide, the reaction mixture under agitation in the autoclave was heated and pressurized with carbon monoxide up to a temperature of 70° C. and a pressure of 50 kg/cm 2 to start the reaction which was continued for 6 hours maintaining the above mentioned temperature and pressure. Carbon monoxide could no longer be absorbed by the reaction mixture at the end of the reaction time.
After completion of the reaction, the reaction mixture was discharged out of the autoclave and filtered under pressurization by utilizing the pressure of the carbon monoxide to be separated into a cake of precipitates and the liquid portion which was further subjected to phase separation into an aqueous and an organic solution. The cake of precipitates collected by filtration was transferred into a flask of 500 ml capacity into which 270 ml of a 10% aqueous hydrochloric acid and 150 ml of diethyl ether were added and agitated until the precipitates were completely dissolved. The liquid mixture was subjected to phase separation into the ether solution and the aqueous solution, which latter solution was further treated twice each with 100 ml of diethyl ether in a similar manner. These ether extracts were combined altogether followed by drying over sodium sulfate and then distilled to evaporate the solvent leaving 16.0 g of phenyl pyruvic acid as the desired product. The yield was 80.2% of the theoretical value based on the amount of benzyl chloride.
The aqueous solution obtained by the phase separation of the filtrate from the filtration of the reaction mixture was acidified by adding 70 ml of a 10% aqueous hydrochloric acid and extracted three times each with 100 ml of diethyl ether. The ether extracts were combined altogether followed by drying over sodium sulfate and then distilled to evaporate the solvent leaving 2.3 g of phenyl acetic acid alone. The yield of phenyl acetic acid was 14.1% of the theoretical value based on the amount of benzyl chloride.
The organic solution obtained by the phase separation from the above used aqueous solution contained the cobalt carbonyl catalyst and a small amount of benzyl alcohol dissolved therein.
EXAMPLE 2
The experimental procedure was substantially the same as in Example 1 excepting that methyl isobutyl ketone was replaced with the same volume of acetophenone. The yields of phenyl pyruvic acid and phenyl acetic acid were 72.5% and 12.4%, respectively, of the respective theoretical values based on the amount of benzyl chloride.
EXAMPLE 3
The experimental procedure was substantially the same as in Example 1 except that the reaction was performed under a pressure of 10 kg/cm 2 of carbon monoxide instead of 50 kg/cm 2 . The yields of phenyl pyruvic acid and phenyl acetic acid were 73.5% and 15.0%, respectively, of the respective theoretical values based on the amount of benzyl chloride.
EXAMPLE 4
A reaction mixture was prepared in a glass-made autoclave of 500 ml capacity by introducing 100 ml of methyl isobutyl ketone, 50 ml of water, 9.3 g (0.126 mole) of calcium hydroxide, 7.7 g (0.061 mole) of benzyl chloride and 1.2 g (0.0035 mole) of dicobalt octacarbonyl. After flushing the autoclave with carbon monoxide gas, the reaction mixture under agitation was heated and pressurized with carbon monoxide up to a temperature of 55° C. and a pressure of 2 kg/cm 2 to start the reaction which was continued for 10 hours maintaining the above mentioned temperature and pressure. Carbon monoxide could no longer be absorbed by the reaction mixture at the end of the reaction time.
The reaction mixture after completion of the reaction was processed in substantially the same manner as in Example 1 to give yields of 72.1% and 17.9% of the theoretical values for phenyl pyruvic acid and phenyl acetic acid, respectively, based on the amount of benzyl chloride.
EXAMPLE 5
The experimental procedure was substantially the same as in Example 4 except that methyl isobutyl ketone was replaced with the same volume of acetophenone. The yields of phenyl pyruvic acid and phenyl acetic acid were 75.0% and 15.5%, respectively, of the respective theoretical values based on the amount of benzyl chloride.
EXAMPLE 6
The experimental procedure was substantially the same as in Example 4 except that the reaction was performed under normal pressure without pressurization by blowing carbon monoxide gas into the reaction mixture at 50° C. instead of 55° C. and the reaction was continued for 20 hours. The yields of phenyl pyruvic acid and phenyl acetic acid were 71.0% and 22.2%, respectively, of the respective theoretical values based on the amount of benzyl chloride.
EXAMPLE 7
The experimental procedure was substantially the same as in Example 6 except that methyl isobutyl ketone was replaced with the same volume of acetophenone. The yields of phenyl pyruvic acid and phenyl acetic acid were 71.2% and 21.7%, respectively, of the respective theoretical values based on the amount of benzyl chloride.
EXAMPLE 8
Into a stainless steel-made autoclave of 135 ml capacity were introduced 25 ml of water, 6.2 g of calcium hydroxide, 5.1 g of benzyl chloride and 25 ml of the organic solution of methyl isobutyl ketone containing the cobalt carbonyl catalyst and recovered in Example 3 to form a reaction mixture. The reaction and subsequent processing of the reaction mixture were performed in substantially the same manner as in Example 1. The yields of phenyl pyruvic acid and phenyl acetic acid were 73.0% and 15.2%, respectively, of the respective theoretical values based on the amount of benzyl chloride.
EXAMPLE 9
Into a stainless steel-made autoclave of 135 ml capacity were introduced 25 ml of water, 6.2 g of calcium hydroxide, 5.1 g of benzyl chloride and 25 ml of the organic solution of acetophenone containing the cobalt carbonyl catalyst and recovered in Example 2 to form a reaction mixture. The reaction and subsequent processing of the reaction mixture were performed in substantially the same manner as in Example 3. The yields of phenyl pyruvic acid and phenyl acetic acid were 74.2% and 14.0%, respectively, of the respective theoretical values based on the amount of benzyl chloride.
EXAMPLE 10
Into a stainless steel-made autoclave of 135 ml capacity were introduced 25 ml of water, 4.7 g of calcium hydroxide, 3.8 g of benzyl chloride and 50 ml of the organic solution of acetophenone containing the cobalt carbonyl catalyst and recovered in Example 6 to form a reaction mixture. The reaction and subsequent processing of the reaction mixture were performed in substantially the same manner as in Example 6. The yields of phenyl pyruvic acid and phenyl acetic acid were 71.5% and 22.0%, respectively, of the respective theoretical values based on the amount of benzyl chloride.
EXAMPLE 11
Into a stainless steel-made autoclave of 135 ml capacity were introduced 25 ml of water, 4.7 g of calcium hydroxide, 3.8 g of benzyl chloride and 50 ml of the organic solution of acetophenone containing the cobalt carbonyl catalyst and recovered in Example 7 to form a reaction mixture. The reaction and subsequent processing of the reaction mixture were performed in substantially the same manner as in Example 7. The yields of phenyl pyruvic acid and phenyl acetic acid were 72.0% and 21.2%, respectively, of the respective theoretical values based on the amount of benzyl chloride.
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The invention provides an improvement in the method for the preparation of phenyl pyruvic acid by the reaction of benzyl chloride and carbon monoxide in a liquid reaction medium in the presence of a cobalt carbonyl as the catalyst. In the inventive method, the reaction is performed in the presence of calcium hydroxide and the reaction medium is a binary system composed of water and an organic solvent capable of dissolving the catalyst and not freely miscible with water. The reaction can proceed even under normal pressure and the desired product can be readily recovered in the form of precipitates of the calcium salt while the catalyst dissolved in the organic phase after completion of the reaction can be recycled and re-used as such in the next run so that the costs for the catalyst regeneration in the prior art can be entirely saved.
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This is a division, of application Ser. No. 144,987, filed Apr. 30, 1982 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,352,600.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This application is related to my co-pending application, Ser. No. 144,991 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,397.
This invention relates to the field of roof tension bolts used in underground mines, and was developed to circumvent a disadvantage which is widely experienced in the application of mechanically anchored roof bolts in underground mining.
It is noted that roof bolting is used as the primary means of roof support in underground mines using the room and pillar mining method, which comprises 90% of U.S. coal mined underground. Typically, four to six foot deep holes are drilled vertically in the overlying rock strata. These holes are normally 1 to 13/8 inch in diameter and spaced on a four foot square grid. Steel rock bolts, or roof bolts, are inserted in these holes and either grouted in the hole for essentially their full length or provided with an expanding anchor at the upper end. A roof plate and bolt head are provided at the lower end.
In the latter case, the bolt is normally tensioned to one half of the yield strength of the bolt, as provided in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 30, Part 75.200. The tensioned connection thus formed between the rock which houses the anchor and the roof surface at the other end of the bolt renders the roof structure much more competent and self supporting. The disadvantage in practice is that the tension in the roof bolt, which is established at the time of installation, gradually decays with time. The rate of bolt tension decay is frequently highly variable from bolt to bolt, so that a population of bolts initially installed with perfectly uniform tension frequently displays a tension variability characterized by a standard deviation of 20% of the mean instantaneous bolt tension within a very few hours after installation. For example, a population of bolts which are all installed with a tension of 7000 lbs. may within one hour after installation include bolts on which the tension has decayed to 3000 lbs., as well as bolts which still retain 6500 lbs. tension and a variety of intermediate tension values. The example cited is typical and the associated bolt tension variability which thus grows with time, materially detracts from the quality of the roof support and hence from safety in the mine. To data to method or means has been available or known to deal with the basic problem just described.
This invention is accordingly directed to a novel method and novel means for reducing the time dependent variability in roof bolt tension.
A principal object of the invention is to provide a practical and convenient method and means of decreasing time dependent variability of bolt tension in a population of roof bolts, where the gradual loss of bolt tension is unavoidable in itself. An additional object of the invention is to achieve a substantial reduction in bolt tension variability with time in a population of roof bolts, using a modification and augmentation of the equipment means already in use to drill the roof bolt hole and tension the roof bolt.
A further object of the invention is to create a method for monitoring the behavior of the roof in a particular section of a mine by monitoring deviations from established bolt tension decay rates, since such deviations are indicative of movements of the mine roof.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A method for decreasing variability in tension on underground mine roof bolts according to the invention, includes the step of determining the tension decay characteristic and tightening the bolt to a final tension shortly after installation of the roof bolt as determined by the foregoing tension at longer intervals following installation the method also allows determination of magnitude and location of bed separations in roof rock strata.
The apparatus for implementing the method described above includes means for coordinating and controlling in concert the following means: means for sensing roof bolt head torque; means for maintaining the roof bolt head torque--roof bolt tension relationship; means for determining roof bolt tension decay rate; means for determining desired final roof bolt tension as determined from previously measured roof bolt tension decay rate to obtain convergence in time of bolt tension values in a population of roof bolts.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a graphical representation of the relationship between bolt tension and time, showing various typical bolt tension decay rates;
FIG. 2, a vertical cross section of a typical rock bolt installation in an underground mine roof;
FIG. 3, a detailed view of one of the teeth of an anchor leaf shown in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4, a graphical representation of the effect of delaying installation of a roof bolt by a discrete amount of time;
FIG. 5, a graphical representation of the effect of bed separations in mine roof strata on roof bolt tension superimposed on a normal bolt tension decay pattern;
FIG. 6, a graphical representation showing a typical relationship between roof bolt head torque after an initial standard torque has been set on a roof bolt, and the subsequent final installation torque necessary on the roof bolt to obtain convergence of roof bolt tensions two hours later;
FIG. 7, a graphical representation showing the relationship between roof bolt head torque and time during an installation procedure;
FIG. 8, a detailed view of the device for generating pneumatic signals for implementation of a roof bolt installation; and
FIG. 9, a pneumatic flow diagram showing means to cause the pneumatic signals generated by the device shown in FIG. 8 to actuate roof bolt installation machinery to obtain roof bolt tension convergence.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The anchor at the upper end of a typical mechanical roof bolt consists of a tapered steel plug 1, as shown in FIG. 2, and a set of two or four tapered steel leaves 2. Plug 1 is provided with a threaded aperture 3 into which the threaded end of a bolt 4 is inserted. Leaves 2 may be provided with a bail 5, which serves the dual purpose of holding leaves 2 together prior to installation and also of providing the impetus of pushing plug 1 down into leaves 2 during the initial phase of the installation process. Leaves 2 are normally provided with a number of teeth 6 which bite into the rock surface 7 of a bolt cavity. One of these teeth is shown in detail in FIG. 3. The teeth serve the purpose of increasing the effective coefficient of friction between rock surface 7 and anchor leaves 2, as well as providing a safety margin in holding capacity during times when contact between rock surface 7 and anchor leaves 2 might be briefly interrupted. The latter interruption may for example particularly occur when explosive blasting is conducted in the vicinity of the rock bolt installation.
FIG. 3 shows that as a tooth 6 is forced into the rock, failed rock mass has to be displaced to make room for the tooth. The rapid tooth movement into the rock which is forced by the bolt tensioning process during bolt installation, comes to rest at a point where the stress on the rock surface contacting the anchor tooth is equal to or even higher than the unconfined compressive strength of the rock. When material, including rock, is stressed to a value equal to or greater than its compressive strength, relatively rapid creep ensues. The actual rate of creep is dependent on the nature of the material as well as on the magnitude of the stress. Since, in the case of a roof bolt, the absolute value of the stress at the anchor tooth/rock interface at the time of installation is only dependent on the compressive strength of the rock immediately surrounding the anchor, the rate of initial creep is therefore dependent on the nature of the rock.
As teeth 6 creep further into the rock, anchor leaves 2 open more widely and allow tapered plug 1 to move down slightly, thus relieving some of the tension stored in bolt 4. The creeping movement of the anchor teeth into the rock is thus the single most important cause of tension loss in the roof bolt. The exact rate at which tension in the roof bolt is lost is seen to be a function of properties of the rock immediately surrounding the anchor, the geometry of the anchor, and length of the roof bolt. In actual practice, tension loss progresses at a rate which decays exponentially with time, because as the roof bolt loses tension, the available load per anchor tooth decreases, thus decreasing the stress on the rock/anchor tooth contact surface. The contact surface also increases in area as the anchor tooth creeps into the rock, further reducing the contact surface stress. These combined factors are seen to reduce the creep rate and hence the rate at which bolt tension is lost, thus producing the exponential decay in tension loss as already described.
If the logarithm of bolt tension is plotted against the logarithm of time, a straight line is obtained, shown as A in FIG. 1. A close approximation to actual practice is obtained if the installation is assumed to take place at the time indicated by 10 -4 hours (which is equal to 0.36 second) on the time scale in FIG. 1. The slope of the straight line as described is then a function primarily of the three factors noted above. Of these three factors, the length of the roof bolt and the anchor geometry are normally held constant in a particular roof support plan. The remaining third factor, the nature of the rock immediately surrounding the anchor, is variable from bolt to bolt and cannot be controlled. The variability of this third factor, then, typically causes a bolt tension decay pattern within a population of roof bolts which is distributed in the area defined between lines B and C in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the variability in bolt tension in a population of roof bolts increases with time.
The discovery that tension decay always proceeds along a straight line on a logarithmic scale, such as shown in FIG. 1, (subject to additional factors to be discussed later), can be advantageously combined with a second discovery. Since the slope of the tension decay curve as defined in FIG. 1 is fixed by the nature of the rock surrounding the anchor, for a particular roof bolt in a particular location, changing the initially installed tension does not change the slope of the tension decay curve; i.e. a change in initial tension shifts the tension decay curve in parallel fashion. Combining discoveries, a procedure has been developed to shift initial bolt tension in reliance on the slope of the tension decay curve.
If curve B in FIG. 1 is shifted by installing the corresponding roof bolt at an appropriately lower initial tension, curve E is produced. If curve C in FIG. 1 is shifted by installing the corresponding roof bolt at an appropriately higher tension, curve D is produced. A procedure can be adopted to dramatically decrease the time dependent variability in bolt tension among a population of roof bolts, especially over the time range of the greatest interest in underground mining; i.e., from one hour to one month after installation. The initial bolt tension is adjusted according to the tension decay rate exhibited by each bolt. A typical change in error band, i.e., the tension range encompassing a particular population of roof bolts achieved by this procedure, is indicated in FIG. 1 by the shaded areas. The variability in bolt tension among a population of bolts is greater during the first few minutes after installation using this procedure. This initial increase in variability is of little practical significance, however, especially in view of the fact that it typically may take up to two hours to install a set of about twenty roof bolts. It should be noted that the time difference in installation of individual bolts does not materially change the benefits.
FIG. 4 illustrates the relative insignificance of installation time lags from one bolt to the next. In FIG. 4, the bolt tension decay curve of a particular bolt is depicted as indicated by the label F. The bolt tension decay curve for the same bolt is shown on the same scale and with the same initial bolt tension, but installed two hours later, as indicated by the label G. The two curves still converge.
The actual point of nominal convergence, indicated by X in FIG. 1, may be made to occur at any chosen point in time as follows:
Let F o be the initial installation tension desired on a roof bolt characterized by an average tension decay curve (A in FIG. 1). Let P be the adjustment factor (e.g. 0.80, 1.20, etc.) to be multiplied by F o , to compute the desired installation tension on roof bolts characterized by tension decay curves different from A. Let T c be the desired time at which nominal convergence occurs, as indicated by X in FIG. 1. Let F c be the nominal tension remaining on all bolts at time T c . The tension decay curves shown in FIG. 1 are expressed as: T=K 1 F -K .sbsp.2, where T is time subsequent to installation of the bolt under consideration, F is the bolt tension at time T, and K 1 and K 2 are constants so that K 2 determines the slope of the decay curve and is dependent on the characteristics of the rock immediately surrounding the anchor. Using the adjustment factor, the general equation describing the initial conditions at installation becomes:
T.sub.o =K.sub.1 (PF.sub.o).sup.-K.sbsp.2
where T o is the installation time. And since at convergence time T c :
T.sub.c =K.sub.1 F.sub.c.sup.-K.sbsp.2 ##EQU1## which now defines the necessary initial tension adjustment factor P, in terms of convergence conditions F.sub.c and T.sub.c and tension decay rate exponent K.sub.2, which is dependent on the rock immediately surrounding a particular anchor.
It has been observed that roof bolts sometimes reverse the trend of tension decay, and at some time after installation actually experience an increase in tension. Such increase in tension is due to the opening of bed separations and occasionally due to swelling of the rock strata in the zone spanned by the length of the roof bolt experiencing the tension increase. Both opening of bed separations and swelling of rock are always undesirable and will be reduced by application of the present method to reduce bolt tension variability.
The method described to reduce bolt tension variability may be extended very advantageously to determine to a high degree of precision the amount of bed separation occurring. Consider a particular roof bolt for which a particular tension decay rate was established at the time of its installation (applicable methods for accomplishing such establishment of tension decay rate will be described below). Let said tension decay rate be defined by:
T=K.sub.1 F.sup.-K.sbsp.2,
so that: ##EQU2## which now defines the time rate of change of bolt tension and hence creep rate of the rock as a function of bolt tension. Now since: ##EQU3## where Q is the cross sectional area of the shank of the roof bolt, L is the length of the roof bolt and E is the modulus of elasticity of the material of construction of the roof bolt, the total apparent change in length of the bolt due to creep of the rock surrounding the anchor from the time of bolt installation to time T is equal to: ##EQU4## and the true change in length of the bolt from the time of bolt installation to time T is equal to: The amount of bed separation which has taken place between time T o and T, then, is
S.sub.B =(ΔL).sbsb.CR-(ΔL).sbsb.TR
The integral in the expression for (ΔL) CR may be evaluated if a few measurements of bolt tension have been made after the installation of the bolt, so that the shape of the bolt tension decay curve change has been established. This change is shown in FIG. 5, where curve H is the underlying tension decay characteristic established at the time of installation of the bolt and the curve I is obtained from actual measurement, the difference between H and I being due to opening of bed separations. If bolt tension increases as characterized by curve I are found on all bolts over a wide area in the mine, the tension increases are likely to be due to swelling of the rock due to moisture and the percent swell may be defined by: ##EQU5##
The underlying tension decay characteristic (H in FIG. 5) may be determined by measuring the compressive strength of the rock surrounding the bolt anchor during the process of installation as shown in my co-pending patent application, and deriving the creep characteristic of said rock by inference from said compressive strength measurement. The tension decay characteristic may also be measured directly by measurement of bolt tension remaining after a brief interval has elapsed following initial installation of the roof bolt. Scrutiny of FIG. 1 discloses that a very brief interval (p.e. 0.003 hour or 11 seconds) suffices to determine described tension decay characteristic with good accuracy because of the initial rapidity with which the bolt tension decays.
The method discovered thus comprises the following important steps to be performed as part of the installation process of each roof bolt:
1. Determine tension decay characteristic.
2. Tighten bolt to final tension, the exact value of the final tension being dependent on the value of the tension decay characteristic found in Step 1.
By performing the third step of checking bolt tension at suitable longer intervals after bolt installation time, numerical values may be derived for magnitude and location of bed separations taking place in the roof strata.
It is clear that numerous equivalent means can be designed to implement the method just described. A preferred embodiment of such means is set forth below in connection with FIGS. 6-9. The parameter of tension in the roof bolt is determined by inference from torque applied to the head of the roof bolt, since such torque is much more easily measurable and controllable using conventional equipment or modifications of conventional equipment than the bolt tension itself. To make such a substitution of bolt head torque for bolt tension practical for the purposes of this application, it is necessary that the relationship between bolt tension and bolt torque be dependable. A sufficiently dependable relationship in this respect can be created, if the following two conditions are observed:
1. the roof bolt threads are lubricated prior to roof bolt installation.
2. the thrust exerted on the roof bolt head during the roof bolt tensioning process is controlled and particularly maintained at a suitably low value, for example, by using the method described in my co-pending application.
The machine used to install and tighten the roof bolts must be equipped with means to accurately determine the torque applied to the roof bolt head. Means for accomplishing such torque measurement and control are available from prior art in this field, using electric, hydraulic or pneumatic techniques. Detailed means for obtaining a pneumatic signal proportional to torque output has been described in my co-pending patent application.
The process of decreasing time dependent variability in roof bolt tension can be made to proceed in two different ways:
1. A pneumatic signal can be generated, of which the pressure is a function of compressive strength of the rock immediately surrounding the rock bolt anchor. This signal may be entered into a function-generating pneumatic circuit, which results in a pneumatic output signal of a pressure proportional in magnitude to the desired final installation torque of the roof bolt.
2. The slope of the roof bolt tension (or torque) decay curve may be determined directly by measurement of tension (torque) remaining in the roof bolt a short period (p.e. 11 seconds) after attainment of a fixed initial tension (torque) in the roof bolt.
The determination of the necessary final installation torque based on the results of a rock compressive strength measurement is applicable in cases where the lithology encountered in the mine roof is always of the same type (e.g. sandstone), so that differences in compressive strength may serve to represent with reasonable accuracy the particular characteristics of the particular rock at a particular anchor site, including the creep characteristics. However, determination of necessary final installation torque based on the results of a direct bolt tension decay measurement has more general application, since it is independent from an assumption of relationship between compressive strength and creep rate. For this reason the latter means is described below in detail.
Let each roof bolt be tightened to an initial torque τ i . Then let a brief measured period elapse (say 11 seconds). Then check the torque remaining on the roof bolt head in terms of τ i . Using the factor P as defined previously for a particular convergence time T c and a particular torque check time lapse T B (11 seconds in the example just given), the desired final installation torque τ o may be calculated for each value of check torque at time T B . Such calculated sets of torque values may be plotted to depict the general relationship. A typical curve obtained by such procedure is depicted in FIG. 6 by the solid curve. The torque value to which all roof bolts installed under the conditions represented by FIG. 6 will converge two hours after installation time is approximately 1.1 τ i .
FIG. 7 is included to further clarify the sequence of events, and shows how roof bolt head torque builds up during the installation sequence from T s (time at which torque begins to build) to T o (time at which bolt installation is completed). Typically (T o -T s ) is on the order of 15 seconds. The sequence illustrated takes place completely automatically. Torque output to the roof bolt head is sensed in the form of a reaction force using means available from prior art. Torque is allowed to build to τ i , as the machine tensions the roof bolt by rotating the roof bolt head.
When the torque sensor means indicates a value of τ i , rotation of the roof bolt head is stopped and the roof bolt torque begins to drop in exponential fashion. At the same time a pneumatic timer, available from the prior art, such as Model No. R-331, manufactured by Clippard Instrument Laboratory, Inc. of Cincinnati, Ohio, is started. Anchorage quality may be determined while torque is building to τ i , using the method and means disclosed in my previously mentioned co-pending patent application.
The pneumatic timer, started at time T i , times out at T B , initiating a torque check on the roof bolt head. The torque check is accomplished by injecting a small, measured amount of hydraulic oil into the hydraulic motor which drives the bolt head rotation drive. Such exact volume of hydraulic oil may be obtained by discharging the oil contained in a small hydraulic cylinder. Forcing such an exactly measured quantity of oil through the hydraulic motor, causes an exact amount of rotation of the hydraulic motor, in turn causing an exact amount of roof bolt head rotation. The intent is to produce a discernible rotation at the bolt head, yet not so much as to produce a measurable increase in roof bolt tension. 3° of rotation of the roof bolt head has been used as a design basis.
The roof bolt head torque value obtained in the torque checking procedure just described is entered as input into a function-generating circuit which produces an output related to the described input by a function similar to that shown in FIG. 6. The machine subsequently initiates roof bolt head rotation, causing the roof bolt tension (and torque) to increase. When the roof bolt head torque has reached a value of τ o , shown in FIG. 6, as defined by the output from the function-generating circuit just described, the machine turns off and the roof bolt installation is completed.
The particular implementation of the invention just described requires the following capability means operating in concert: means to drive the roof bolt head in rotation; means to sense roof bolt head torque; means to maintain roof bolt head torque - roof bolt tension relationship; means to stop roof bolt head rotation when torque τ i is reached; means to time a standard period (T B -T i ); means to check roof bolt head torque τ B remaining at time T B ; means to generate a signal related to roof bolt head torque τ B ; means to restart the roof bolt head rotation after completion of the measurement of τ B ; and means to stop the roof bolt head rotation when the roof bolt head torque has attained a value of τ o as determined from the value of τ B .
It is clear that one of the central aspects of the means is the capability to generate a function as defined by the graph shown in FIG. 6. Several different means can be devised to accomplish generation of such a function, including electric means and pneumatic means. In keeping with a preference for pneumatic means, a preferred arrangement utilizing pneumatic means is described to obtain the desired function generation. The arrangement generates a linear approximation, indicated by the dashed curve in FIG. 6, of the desired nonlinear relationship indicated by the solid curve in FIG. 6. The horizontal portions of the dashed curve impose practical limits on the system and define the normal operating range.
FIG. 8 shows a device used to generate the necessary pneumatic signals. A force proportional to torque applied to the roof bolt head is obtained by means available from prior art. The force is applied to the roller means 11 in FIG. 8 in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 8. Thus, the force proportional to the roof bolt head torque is permitted to act on a beam 12 in perpendicular fashion through roller means 11. Beam 12 is equipped at one end with an eye member 13 which in turn is rotatably pinned to a clevis member 14 with a pin member 15. Clevis member 14 is solidly fastened to machine frame 16. It is seen that clevis member 14 and eye member 13 together with pin member 15 allow beam 12 to be hinged back and forth coplanar with the direction of the arrow in FIG. 8. The end of beam 12 opposite to the end which terminates in eye 13 has a cross beam 17 fastened thereto. Cross beam 17 runs in a direction also coplanar with the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 8. Each end of cross beam 17 has a roller 18 fastened thereto. The rollers 18 confine the described hinging motion of beam 12 about pin member 15 to the direction coplanar with the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 8, because rollers 18 roll against upper and lower tracks (not shown) appropriate for described confining purpose.
Further positioned in combination with beam 12 are plunger operated air pressure regulators 19 and 20 and air cylinder 21. The plunger operated air pressure regulators are similar to Model No. 10-R, manufactured by Fairchild Corp. of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The arrangement is such that application of the reaction force proportional to torque output to the roof bolt head at roller 11 results in clockwise movement of beam 12 as shown in FIG. 8, causing a proportional depression of the plunger of air regulator 20, in turn causing a proportional increase in air pressure output (not shown) from air regulator 20. When the plunger of air regulator 20 is depressed, the plunger of air regulator 19 is completely extended and air pressure output from air regulator 19 is zero. By applying air pressure to air cylinder 21, beam 12 is induced to move in the anti-clockwise direction as shown in FIG. 8, and the effect of reaction force application by roller 11 is proportionately decreased. Moment arms about pin 15, applicable to air regulators 19, 20, and cylinder 21 are shown in FIG. 8 as c, a, and b, respectively. The moment arm about pin 15 applicable to roller 11 is also indicated by "a" in FIG. 8.
The arrangement as described can be used to adjust the pressure ranges of the air pressure regulators used. This is an important feature, since in typical operation the usable pressure range of the air regulators is limited to 10-100 psi. An example will help illustrate how the combination shown in FIG. 8 can be used to good advantage. Assume the reaction force at roller 11 directly represents torque output to the roof bolt head (i.e. 1 lb at roller 11 represents 1 lb-ft of torque output). During the first phase of the installation cycle, when initial roof bolt torque is built (p.e. 130 lb-ft), air cylinder 21 has no pressure and the full reaction force available at roller 11 is exerted on the plunger of air pressure regulator 20. Under the conditions cited, 130 lb-ft of torque at the roof bolt head results in an output of 83 psi from regulator 20, and 0 from regulator 19. During the second phase of the installation cycle, that of checking decay of torque at the roof bolt head after a brief time lapse, air pressure is applied to the cylinder 21.
By appropriate sizing of components, range compression and expansion may be accomplished. If, for example, c/a=0.32, a/b=0.80, the bore size of cylinder 21 is 1.5" and 60 psi air pressure is applied to cylinder 21, a reaction force of 90 lbs at roller 11 results in an air pressure output of 80 psi from regulator 19. A reaction force of 120 lbs at roller 11 results in an air pressure output of 20 psi from regulator 19. In between the values just listed, force applied at roller 11 and air pressure output from regulator 19 are linearly related. The reason for the inverted relationship is clear: a lower force at roller 11 during this phase of the process implies a faster roof bolt torque decay rate and therefore requires a higher final installation torque. The output from regulator 19 is trapped at this stage to serve as reference for the final phase of the installation cycle. Details of this trapping of the signal are provided below.
If desired, varying relationships between force at roller 11 and output from regulator 19 may be obtained by varying the ratio c/a as well as the air pressure in cylinder 21. A convenient means of varying the ratio c/a is obtained by executing clevis member 14 in such a way that it may be screwed closer to or farther from frame 16. This can be easily accomplished with a single locking screw adjustment. Since regulators 19, 20 and force application roller 11 are fastened to frame 16, the adjustment described has the effect of changing the ratio of c/a. During the third and final phase of the installation cycle, that of increasing roof bolt torque to the desired final value, air pressure on the cylinder 21 is changed. For the construction and conditions described, applying a pressure of 49 psi to the cylinder results in an output from regulator 20 of 20 psi for a reaction force at roller 11 of 150 lbs and an output from regulator 20 of 80 psi for a reaction force at roller 11 of 350 lbs. Thus, the combination described is capable of providing a final installation torque on the roof bolt according to the relationship defined by the dotted line in FIG. 6.
The diagram shown in FIG. 9 indicates how the air pressures generated by air pressure regulators 19, 20 are used to control the installation process as desired. Prior to the bolt installation cycle, hydraulic pump 22 simply recirculates hydraulic fluid through valve 23 back to the hydraulic tank 24. Rotation motor 25 is short circuited through needle valve 26 and does not run. When cycle start valve 27 is pushed, pressurized air is admitted from source 28 to pilot 29 of double piloted valve 30. Since valve 30 is not spring loaded, it remains in the position dictated by pilot 29 until pilot 31 is pressurized, even if pressure is removed from pilot 29. Valve 30 then exhausts any pressurized pilots which have remained trapped from the previous bolt installation cycle. Pressurized air from valve 27 is similarly applied to pilot 32 of valve 33, causing it to shift accordingly. Again, valve 33 is not spring loaded, so that it remains in the position dictated by pilot 32 until an opposite pilot is pressurized. Valve 33 then allows air pressure to be applied from source 28 to pilot 34 of valve 23, thus shifting valve 23 and applying hydraulic pressure to rotation motor 25, causing the motor to begin rotating the roof bolt head. This increases roof bolt tension and roof bolt head torque.
The arrangement described in the diagram of FIG. 8 causes air pressure regulator 20 to gradually deliver an increased pressure to trip cells 35 and 36, this pressure being proportional to roof bolt head torque as discussed previously in the description of the diagram shown in FIG. 8. Trip cells 35 and 36 are available commercially, as exemplified by Model 1044 manufactured by Northeast Fluidics, Inc., a division of Clippard Instrument Laboratory, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio. These trip cells each contain a diaphragm to one side of which a set, but adjustable, reference pressure is applied. The pressure output of air pressure regulator 20 is applied to the other side of the diaphragms. When the pressure output of air pressure regulator 20 reaches a value equal to or higher than the reference pressure set on one of the trip cells, an air signal output appears at the output port of the same trip cell. Trip cell 36 has full line pressure (p.e. 100 psi) applied as reference through open valves 33 and 39. Trip cell 35 has a lower reference pressure applied by pressure regulator 37.
As roof bolt head torque begins to build up, the pressure output of pressure regulator 20 first reaches the value set on trip cell 35, which then furnishes an output signal and pressurizes pilot 31 of valve 30. Valve 30 shifts and applies pressure through pulse valve 40 to pilot 41 of valve 33. Valve 33 shifts, exhausting pilot 34 of valve 23, which in turn stops the rotation motor 25. Because of needle valve 26, motor 25 is unlocked and roof bolt head torque is permitted to decay at the rate determined by the rock surrounding the roof bolt anchor. Because of the presence of pulse valve 40, pilot 41 is again exhausted immediately after valve 33 has shifted. Valve 30 also supplies pressure to pilot 42 of timing valve 43 through restriction 44. Because of restriction 44, pressure build up in pilot 42 is slow and shifting of valve 43 is delayed.
Finally, valve 30 also supplies pressure to pilot 66 of valve 67, causing valve 67 to shift and pressurize cylinder 21, the output of regulator 20 therefore drops to zero. The pressure now set on cylinder 21 is determined by air pressure regulator 68. When pressure in pilot 42 is sufficient to shift valve 43, valve 43 supplies pressure to pilot 44 of valve 39, thus connecting the output of regulator 19, as reference to trip cell 36. At the same time, valve 43 supplies air to pilot 45 of valve 47 through restriction 46. Restriction 46 causes another time delay before valve 47 shifts. Finally, valve 43 also pressurizes pilot 48 of valve 49. When valve 49 shifts, hydraulic pressure is applied to side 50 of piston 51 in hydraulic cylinder 52. The piston travels upward in FIG. 9, forcing hydraulic fluid through motor 25 and causing motor 25 to rotate.
The speed of rotation depends on the ratio of restrictions 26 and 53. The amount of rotation depends on the volume of cylinder 52 as well as on the ratio of restrictions 26 and 53. Parameters 26, 52 and 53 are adjusted to obtain a rotation speed of 5 to 10 RPM and a roof bolt head rotation angle of 2° to 4° before the stroke of cylinder 52 is used up. When the stroke of cylinder 52 is used up, motor 25 stops again. Meanwhile, regulator 19 furnishes a pressure reference level to trip cell 36 related to roof bolt head torque measured during the 2° to 4° rotation just mentioned, by the function shown in the diagram of FIG. 6; p.e. reference pressure is 80 psi for a roof bolt head torque of 90 lb-ft, and reference pressure is 20 psi for a roof bolt head torque of 120 lb-ft. Restriction 46 is adjusted so that valve 47 shifts just as cylinder 52 completes its stroke. When valve 47 shifts, pressure is applied to pilot 54 or valve 38, closing valve 38 and trapping reference pressure to trip cell 36.
A small volume chamber 55 is provided to decrease sensitivity to small air leaks. Gauge 56 is provided to permit visual read-out of an analog of the bolt tension decay rate. Valve 47 also supplies air to pilot 57 of valve 58. When valve 58 then shifts, the pressure in cylinder 21 is changed to the value set on pressure regulator 59. Finally valve 47 supplies air through restriction 60 to pilot 61 of valve 62. Restriction 60 provides a small time delay before valve 62 shifts, during which time the pressure change in cylinder 21 is permitted to stabilize. When valve 62 shifts, pressure is briefly applied to pilot 63 of valve 33, through pulse valve 64. Valve 33 shifts again, energizing pilot 34 of valve 23 and turning the rotation motor on again. Torque is again built higher on the roof bolt head, causing an increase in pressure output from regulator 20, which is applied to the trip cells. When said pressure output from regulator 20 equals the trapped reference pressure on trip cell 36, an output is produced to pressurize pilot 65 of valve 33, turning valve 23 and hence motor 25 off again. Final desired torque has been reached on the roof bolt head and the circuit remains in the state just described until reset by pressing valve 27 for the next bolt cycle.
Controls necessary to use motor 25 to drill the roof bolt hole have not been shown. Such controls are obvious using known principles. Similarly, controls disclosed in my co-pending patent application concerning determination of anchorage quality can be readily added to the circuit shown in FIG. 9 to provide the combined capability of measuring anchorage quality and bolt tension decay rate, as well as decreasing time dependent bolt tension variability through appropriate installation bolt tension control.
It is apparent that the various devices described above and especially the devices embodying means to adjust installed roof bolt tension in such a manner as to decrease long term roof bolt tension variability due to differing rates of tension decay, can be executed in such a fashion that they can readily be inserted in series with an existing roof bolt tightening means, as well as made an integral part of said roof bolt tightening means. Also, the invention as described can be combined with various devices, such as means to automatically record the tension decay rate of each bolt installed, thus extending the utility of the invention.
While I have shown and described several embodiments in accordance with the present invention, it is obvious that the same is not limited thereto, but is susceptible to numerous changes and modifications as known to those skilled in the art, and I therefore do not wish to be limited to the details shown and described herein but intend to cover all such changes and modifications as are encompassed by the scope of the appended claims.
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A method for controlling parametric variations in processes where one variable is subject to an exponential change with time. One application is particulary advantageous in underground mine roof bolting using mechanical anchors where a device utilizing the method can be employed to install mine roof bolts at varying initial tensions in such a manner that the bolt tensions found among a population of roof bolts converge to one tension value within one or two hours after installation due to individual differences in tension decay rate. Since roof bolt tension decay bears an exponential relationship to time, variability in bolt tension which develops after mentioned convergence has taken place is small for a long period of time, in marked contrast to a conventional installaton which is characterized by bolt tension variability which grows rapidly into a far wider range immediately after installation. An extension of said mine roof bolting application further allows an exact assessment of mine roof movements using the roof bolts themselves. A device embodying the invention in mine roof bolting as described, senses the roof bolt tension decay rate during the installation process and automatically tensions the roof bolt to a value appropriate to achieve tension convergence as described.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to floor tiles, and is directed in particular to a flexible interlocking floor tile made from rubber, vinyl, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), plastic or the like. More particularly, the invention relates to interlocking floor tiles which can be easily manufactured and installed without the need of a professional installer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various types of commercial flooring are known in the art. Such places which utilize commercial flooring are usually high traffic areas and include office buildings, hospitals, recreation centers, etc. These high traffic areas require durable yet inexpensive flooring with aesthetic appeal as well. Traditional wood flooring is expensive and difficult to maintain and is not ideal for commercial use. Hard laminate flooring is an alternative to wood flooring but is also expensive. Carpet is not usually desired in high traffic areas since it will wear very quickly, is difficult to clean and must be replaced often, and may impede the travel of vehicles thereacross. Even if the above types of flooring are chosen for commercial use, they require significant time and effort to properly install. If a new building is being constructed, construction may be delayed based on the time it takes for installation of any of the above flooring. Furthermore, removing and replacing any of the above floor types is also expensive and time consuming, which may cause delays in actual operation of the business inside the building. Some such removal and replacement is at times done at night or on weekends so as not to obstruct traffic where such activities are being done.
Based on the above shortcomings of the various flooring mentioned, cheaper yet durable flooring made from rubber, vinyl and the like has been used for commercial settings. Such flooring usually comprises individual molded tiles, panels, boards etc. which interlock together and are placed over a subfloor. Various types of interlocking mechanisms are known in the art. For example, Johnsonite Inc. of Chagrin Falls, Ohio has manufactured an interlock tile under the name UNDERLOCK®. The UNDERLOCK® tile features an interlocking mechanism in the form of a dovetail connection on the underside of the tile which fit together like a puzzle without the need for an adhesive either between the respective tiles, or between the tiles and the floor or subfloor. These UNDERLOCK® tiles are easy to install and uninstall and can be done without a professional installer.
One drawback with most molded products is the presence of flashing that is left behind on the product after the molding process. Flashing is excess material in a thin layer exceeding normal part geometry of the product. The flashing extends from a molded product, and must usually be removed. Flashing is typically caused by leakage of the molding material between the two surfaces of a die or mold that actually leaks out of the mold. With respect to interlocking flooring assemblies, flashing must be removed in order to ensure a precise interlocking fit between the tiles. Any excessive flashing which is not removed from the interlocking tiles may compromise the integrity of the mating of the tiles, which could lead to uneven flooring, curling and peaking etc., and also may add difficulty to the installation of such tiles. The flashing is typically removed by the installer during the installation process. The installer uses a utility knife or other tool to cut away and remove the excessive flashing. Since removal of the flashing is another time consuming step for the installer, a quick and easy method for such removal is desired. Flash removal is particularly time consuming for tiles having intersecting edges, since the installer cannot simple move the utility knife along a straight line, but rather would have to change the direction of movement often. Since flash removal must be done for each tile, the amount of installation time is greatly increased. If the excess flashing is removed by the manufacturer before installation, additional time and expense is still required for this tedious process.
Additionally, some tiles feature a studded partial backing to keep the tiles raised above the subfloor while providing air space between the studs. Such studs allow less contact with the subfloor in the event contaminants and liquids are present. However, the studs extend only over the dovetail configuration or interlocking mechanism and do not cover the entire bottom of this type of tile. The dovetail configuration is often an important feature of this type of tile.
U.S. Publication No. 2005/0183370 to Cripps discloses a floor tile with interlocking edge elements that enable juxtaposed tiles to be assembled by a vertical snap or press-in assembly method to secure tiles together. A first and second pair of contiguous lateral extension walls of the tile are arranged to meet at a square corner of approximately ninety degrees and lie at opposite edges of the tile from the first two lateral extension walls. The second lateral extension walls meet at a common corner that is diagonally opposite from another corner. The floor tile has two channels as a result of first and second lateral extension walls which form part of the interlocking mechanism. The sidewalls forming the channels include an undercut as part of the interlocking mechanism. The tile does not include a downwardly extending member at the corner of the tile for additional support at the corner of tile. The floor tile is made from a unitary material rather than a dual construction made of two materials.
U.S. Publication No. 2007/0011980 to Stegner et al. discloses a unitary interlocking floor tile with interlocks located on adjacent sides of the tile having a gap located at a mid point of the interlocks along each side of the tile, creating a discontinuous interlocking structure on the sides of the tile. The interlocking structure does not fully extend to the corner of the tile. Stegner et al. does not teach a continuous interlocking structure on adjacent sides of a tile extending to the corner of the tile. The discontinuous interlocking structure of Stegner et al. leads to multiple joints when interconnecting the tiles, which can result in a loose fit amongst the tiles, creating both functional and aesthetic problems. If the discontinuous interlocking structure is not a completely straight line between the gap, realignment problems can occur when fitting multiple tiles together, especially if the tiles are staggered and not side by side. The discontinuous locking structure also results in an excessive amount of time required to remove the flashing from the interlocking structure as well as requiring additional time for the installer to remove such flashing, since the direction for the utility knife to move must be interrupted on different sides of the tile. This is due to the gap located at a mid-point of the interlocks along each side of the tile, wherefore the installer cannot remove the flashing in a single motion using a utility knife.
U.S. Publication No. 2003/0093964 to Bushey et al. discloses a floor grid system including a number of interconnectable tiles made from a single unitary material. The tiles are interconnected with one another through the use of locking assemblies extending between the tiles. The locking assembly uses half dove tails as the interlocking configuration. The upper face of the tile includes two locking elements on two adjacent sides of the upper face of the tile. The bottom face of the tile includes two locking elements on the opposite adjacent sides of the bottom face of the tile. Each locking element includes a base projecting outwardly from the tile and an upwardly extending vertical member having an inner surface spaced from a corresponding side of the tile so as to define a wall receiving channel therebetween. The locking elements on adjacent sides of the tile extend beyond the corner of the tile, with a vertical protrusion located that the intersection of the locking elements. Bushey et al. does not include a downwardly extending member at the corner of the tile. Furthermore, the locking elements have numerous edges in difficult directions causing a large amount of time for flash removal.
Accordingly, there is a need for a tile with an interlocking mechanism which is partly spaced from the floor or subfloor and possible contaminants on the floor or subfloor when installed. Such a tile should be easy to manufacture and allow for some misalignment of seams of the tile to allow for different layout designs and for multiple size tiles to be fitted together, which does not detract from the aesthetics of the tiles when laid or from their functionality. There is also a need for a tile which reduces the amount of flashing to be removed, and which is easier to install and re-install than existing tiles, saving installation time. Desirably, such a tile would allow for a continuous connection along all of the sides of the tile and include adequate support at the corner of the tile. The latter feature would prevent bending or buckling of the corners of overlapping tile portions, as when a high heel shoe is pressed thereon. The desired tile would have a single interlocking structure or groove to keep the entire tile joint tight with other tile joints, instead of interrupted interlocking structure which could lead to functional and aesthetic flaws in the entire floor. The single continuous interlocking structure would allow for a one-step easy removal of any excess material or flashing from the tile after the molding process. The tile would desirably include a continuous uniform distribution of shallow studs on the entire bottom of the tile to allow for the wicking of moisture and prevention of exposure of the interlocking mechanism to contaminants from the subfloor. Most desirably, such a unit maintains a strong, structurally sound mounting of the tile on the floor which allows for easy installation. Time saving is particularly important in multiple room facilities where flooring needs to be installed quickly and cost efficiently such as for apartment buildings, hospitals, hotels and the like, where new building construction and renovations are common. Thus, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a tile with the above characteristics.
Many floor tiles are made entirely of relatively expensive vinyl or artificial rubber. This can be expensive, particularly for commercial buildings with extensive floor space to be covered with the tile. It would be advantageous to employ less expensive recycled vinyl, artificial rubber or the like on part of the underside of the tile where it is not visible after it is laid, yet serves its intended purpose and has all of the necessary structural features.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a flooring solution to the above-described problems of producing and installing interlocking floor tiles. Applications of the interlocking floor tile according to the present invention may include covering access floors, temporary office quarters, workout areas, subfloors with high moisture content or even trade show floors—areas where performance and flexibility are equally important. The interlocking floor tiles are designed to fit together without the locking structure underneath the respective tiles being readily observable, and if observed being nevertheless aesthetic. Damaged tiles can be easily removed according to the preferred embodiment of the invention as discussed below, even in the middle of the floor and replaced, without any special tools required; removal and replacement are accomplished as discussed below, by simply pulling up the damaged tile and replacing it.
It is an object of the present invention is to provide an interlocking floor tile that can be easily installed and re-installed without necessarily requiring a skilled installer.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an interlocking floor tile which could be installed using a hand seam roller to locking the respective tiles together.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an interlocking floor tile having a continuous connection along all of the sides to keep the entire joint tight between the tiles.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a tile with adequate support at the corner of an installed set of tiles.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an interlocking floor tile with an interlocking mechanism which is not completely and directly exposed to the subfloor and any contaminants thereon.
It is a further object of the present invention is to provide an interlocking floor tile which does not require an adhesive for installation either between the respective tiles or between the tiles and the floor or subfloor.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an interlocking floor tile which is portable and can be used for both temporary and permanent installations.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an interlocking floor tile which can be placed directly over uncured concrete slabs.
A still additional object is to provide an improved interlocking floor tile system that can be installed on subfloors with high moisture content.
A further object of the present invention is to reduce significant installation time and the associated expense with flooring installation techniques making it easier to lay the inventive tiles as compared to laying existing tiles, and by reducing flashing that must be removed and the overall time required for installation.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an interlocking floor tile which can be easily removed due to damage or other problems and replaced without any special tools.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an interlocking floor tile having a dual construction and comprises in part non-observable recycled artificial rubber or other material having a lower cost than the visible portion of the tile.
Still another object of the present invention is to reduce the weight of the tile without reducing the functions of the tile or the area of coverage of each tile, by incorporating shallow studs on the bottom of the entire tile, which would additionally make the improved tile easier to install, remove and \transport.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an interlocking floor tile which is slip resistant.
It is yet still another object of the invention to provide an improved interlocking floor tile which can be easily maintained.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an interlocking floor tile which is fire resistant and has a Class 1 Flame Rating.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an interlocking floor tile that can accommodate various size tiles to create unique and aesthetic patterns.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an improved interlocking floor tile having the advantages noted above which can be laid in a traditional corner-to-corner pattern or offset to create a staggered look.
It is a general object of the invention to provide an improved tile which is effective in its production, installation and use, and which can be manufactured efficiently and economically.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will emerge from reading the detailed description hereinbelow of nonlimiting embodiments of the invention, and examining the attached drawings wherein:
FIG. 1A is a top perspective view of the interlocking floor tile according to the present invention.
FIG. 1B is a top perspective view of the tile of FIG. 1 shown from another angle of the tile.
FIGS. 2A-2C are enlarged partial top perspective views of several corners of the tile of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 3A is a partial side view of a corner of one of the sides of the tile of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 3B is a partial side view of a corner of another of the sides of the tile of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 4A is a bottom perspective view of the tile of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 4B is bottom perspective view of the tile of FIG. 1 shown from another side of the tile.
FIGS. 5A-5D are enlarged partial bottom perspective views of several corners of the tile of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 6A is another enlarged partial bottom perspective view of another corner of the tile of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 6B is a partial side view of a corner of still another side of the tile of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 7A is a top partial perspective view of two adjacent tiles before assembly.
FIG. 7B is a top partial perspective view of two adjacent tiles after assembly.
FIG. 7C is a top partial perspective view of three adjacent tiles before assembly.
FIG. 8A is a bottom partial perspective view of three adjacent tiles before assembly.
FIG. 8B is a bottom partial perspective view of three adjacent tiles after assembly.
FIG. 9 is a top perspective view of multiple staggered tiles after assembly.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The preferred embodiment of the present invention relates to an improved floor tile with an interlocking mechanism which is easy to be laid with a quality installation. The installed inventive floor tile is not completely and directly exposed to the subfloor and any contaminants thereof. The interlocking floor tile can be formed of any suitable flexible material, such as plastic, vinyl or rubber (including artificial rubber), among others. As recited herein, a flexible tile is defined as a tile which is made from plastic, vinyl, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or rubber. The tiles are not limited to a specific size but can be designed in any size to accommodate the size of the subfloor or floor and the space to be covered. The tile is preferably composed of an attractive exposed material when installed, with low cost but effective inexpensive material which is not exposed when the tile is installed. The inventive tile can be placed on a floor or subfloor, slid relative to adjacent tiles to the desired position, and pressed together with the adjacent tile to interlock them together. Preferably no adhesive is required to install tiles according to the invention.
Turning now to FIGS. 1A , 1 B and 4 A, 4 B, illustrated is an example interlocking floor tile 10 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. Each tile 10 is preferably made of dual construction, meaning each tile 10 includes a top portion 12 made from one material and a bottom portion 14 except for its edge portions, made from another material. Both layers have rubber components. More than two different materials could be also be used. In a preferred embodiment, flexible interlocking floor tile 10 is composed of 73% recycled rubber and 27% new rubber. Top portion 12 includes a large top layer 112 which is a finish layer for aesthetics and performance, and can be made from any number of materials known in the art capable of being flexible and resilient to absorb shock and returned if momentarily bent or indented, to its original shape. For example, top layer 112 could be made from rubber, which has a greater elastic effect. Top layer 112 may include a number of different components for performance, such as SBR rubber and clay. SBR (styrene-butadiene-rubber) is a synthetic rubber copolymer consisting of styrene and butadiene. Top layer 112 may also include pigments and/or a design for aesthetic purposes. As discussed below, the harder material of top layer 112 is also used for the edge of top portion 12 and part of the edge of bottom portion 14 . According to a preferred embodiment, bottom portion 14 is 7.5 mm in height and top portion 12 is 2.0 mm in height.
Bottom portion 14 includes large base layer 100 of less expensive, preferably softer material such as recycled rubber discussed below. Large base layer 100 extends to a very edge 102 of tile 10 on two sides, only up to a pair of channels discussed below at edges 104 and 106 of large base layer 100 , and to an edge 108 shown as a line, all depicted in FIGS. 4A , 4 B. Base layer 100 provides padding and absorbs some of the shock from loads on tile 10 . Base layer 100 can be made from a cheaper material than top layer 112 . For example, base layer 100 can be made from industrial rubber scrap or recycled rubber including recycled SBR rubber. New SBR rubber, natural rubber and vulcanized recycled rubber dust may also be used.
Top portion 12 and bottom portion 14 are combined together to form a dual construction tile by vulcanization, which is well known in the art. Top portion 12 comprises a sheet of rubber as defined above while bottom portion 14 includes a sheet of recycled rubber as previously mentioned. The respective sheets are stacked on top of each other and put into a mold in a press, i.e. top portion 12 is stacked on top of bottom portion 14 . The two sheets are then bonded by the vulcanization process without the use of a bonding agent. It is possible that during the vulcanization process that the two different sheets of different material may overflow into either top portion 12 or bottom portion 14 .
Each tile 10 can have any desired polygonal shape, but is preferably generally rectangular in shape for ease of interlockability. For tiles having any polygonal shape, a side portion of a first tile will have a specific shape while a side portion of another tile adjacent the side portion the first tile will have a corresponding mating shape. It is also possible for a single tile to have a side portion having a specific shape while a side portion opposite of the first side portion of the tile has a corresponding mating shape. For example, if the tile is in the shape of a crescent moon, a side portion of this tile will have a convex shape, while the shape of a side portion of another crescent moon-shaped tile adjacent the side portion of the first tile will be concave. Thus, the respective side portions have corresponding mating shapes.
As shown in FIGS. 1A , 1 B, top layer 112 includes outwardly-facing top planar sidewalls 15 on each of two adjacent side portions 11 a , 11 b of tile 10 . A bottom interlocking element set 16 is included in top portion 12 , is separated from top layer 112 and is located adjacent outwardly-facing top planar sidewall 15 on each of two adjacent side portions 11 a , 11 b of tile 10 . Referring to FIGS. 2A-3C , bottom interlocking element set 16 includes a bottom base 18 and a bottom upwardly extending male locking projection 20 . Bottom base 18 extends outwardly from outwardly-facing top planar sidewall 15 near bottom portion 14 of tile 10 . Bottom upwardly extending male locking projection 20 has an inwardly-facing bottom planar wall 22 spaced from outwardly-facing top planar sidewall 15 of corresponding side portions 11 a , 11 b of tile 10 so as to define a bottom channel 24 therebetween. Bottom interlocking element sets 16 are made from a dual construction, i.e. they are composed of both material from top portion 12 and of material from bottom portion 14 .
Respective bottom interlocking element sets 16 on respective adjacent side portions 11 a , 11 b are connected by a bottom base element 25 at a corner 27 of tile 10 . A bottom base element 25 is an extension of bottom base 18 but is devoid of any male locking portion projecting therefrom. Bottom base element 25 provides support for a corner post of an adjacent interlocking floor tile 10 when joined together as further explained below.
When viewed from the bottom, shown in FIGS. 4A , 4 B, base layer 100 includes outwardly-facing bottom planar sidewalls 17 on each of the other two adjacent side portions 1 ic, 11 d opposite from side portions 11 a , 11 b on top portion 12 of tile 10 . Each adjacent side portion 11 c , 11 d includes a top interlocking element set 26 . Referring to FIGS. 5A-6B , top interlocking element set 26 includes a top base 28 and a top male downwardly extending (when bottom portion 14 is facing downwardly) locking projection 30 . Top base 28 projects outwardly from each outwardly-facing bottom planar sidewall 17 of respective side portions 11 e , 11 d near the top of tile 10 and top downwardly-extending male locking projection 30 extends downwardly from top base 28 . Top downwardly-extending male locking projection 30 has an inner wall 32 ( FIG. 5A ) spaced from sidewall 17 of a corresponding side 11 c , 11 d of tile 10 so as to define a top channel 34 therebetween.
As shown in FIGS. 5C-5D , respective top interlocking element set 26 on respective adjacent side portions 11 c , 11 d are connected by a top base element 35 at an upper corner 37 of tile 10 , top base element 35 being an extension of top base 28 . Top base element 35 is substantially the same thickness as top base 28 (i.e., top base element 35 is level with top base 228 ) and includes a support post 38 . Support post 38 depends downwardly from top base element 35 towards the subfloor when tile 10 is installed. Support post 38 provides support in conjunction with bottom base element 25 upon which it is seated near the corner of an adjacent tile 10 when joined together as shown from the bottom of multiple tiles 10 being joined together in FIG. 8A . FIG. 8B shows multiple tiles 10 joined together from FIG. 8A , but support post 38 is hidden from view. Bottom base element 25 on top portion 12 does not have any male projections in order to allow clearance for top male locking element set 26 to pass therethrough when multiple tiles 10 are joined together. When multiple tiles 10 are joined and respective top locking element set 26 and respective bottom locking element set 16 are connected, a void would be created if support post 38 did not exist. Such a void would create tripping hazard since top base element 35 would not be supported at its upper corner 37 when tile 10 is installed, and would be depressed or deformed by a stiletto, cleat, ice skate or other shoe with a pointed structure on the bottom of the shoe. However, support post 38 fills the void and fully supports the corner of tile 10 . It is advantageous that support post 38 projects downwardly from top base element 35 rather than being located on bottom base element 25 and projecting upwardly. When depressed by a shoe (or part of a shoe such as a stiletto heel etc.), support post 38 effectively prevents any movement of upper corner 37 (such as sliding or shearing) with bottom base element 25 of another tile 10 . However, if support post 38 was located on bottom base element 25 , there is believed to be a greater likelihood that upper corner 37 could slide or shear on support post 38 since support post 38 is not connected to upper corner 37 when depressed by shoe (or part of a shoe such as a stiletto heel etc.). This could cause tripping and possible injury to the person walking (or running) on tile 10 .
In a preferred embodiment, the male locking projections 20 and 30 on the corresponding interlocking element sets 16 and 26 , respectively, have a generally square-shaped cross-section as shown in FIGS. 3A , 3 B and 6 B, for reasons hereinafter described. However, the cross-section can include some type of dove-shaped designs as well.
Considering FIGS. 2A-2C and 3 A- 3 B, the upper edges of each tile 10 are slightly curved or canted as shown at numeral 29 . Since when installed the respective tiles 10 may not be in the same plane at their upper surface, one would not want any tile to jut upwardly even if it not be so high as to cause possible tripping when walking thereacross, so as to spoil the smooth appearance. Therefore, curves or cants 29 may be visible, but are not unsightly, which would add aesthetic appeal to the floor as shown in FIGS. 7A-7C . The appearance might be particularly noticeable early or late in the day when sunlight strikes the floor at a very small angle, but would not be visually unpleasant to observe.
Since the present invention is manufactured from molding methods well known in the art, flashing is likely to remain on certain areas of tile 10 as previously discussed. Flashing occurs during the molding process, where rubber or other material oozes along the edges of the mold which leaves excess material (i.e. flashing) after the tile cures. Flashing normally occurs at various edges of tile 10 , including the respective interlocking element sets 16 and 26 . This excess flashing must usually be removed in order for tiles 10 to be able to lock together. A utility knife or other suitable tool is used to trim the excess flashing. Since the interlocking element sets 16 and 26 run the full length of tile 10 without interruption, excess flashing is easily removed with a utility knife using one continuous motion. There are no curves or sharp corner edges (i.e. puzzle pieces) that need to be traced and subsequently trimmed with the utility knife. This greatly reduces installation time.
There are additional advantages of the present invention based on the continuous connection along all sides of tile 10 since there is no interruption in respective interlocking element sets 16 and 26 . Tiles could be locked together with a commonly used hand seam roller. This allows the connection or joint where two tiles 10 meet to remain tight, which will provide a better appearance and prevent dirt and other debris and even possibly moisture from entering the joint. This could be done with a commonly used hand seam roller. Another advantage of the continuous connection or joint is the prevention of realignment problems with tiles 10 . As previously mentioned with respect to the prior art, individual locking tabs or a discontinuous locking connection will result in possible realignment problems. Finally, since the interlocking element sets 16 and 26 run the full length of tile 10 without interruption, the tiles 10 can be staggered to form any type of pattern or design (i.e. tiles 10 do not need to be corner to corner). For example, FIG. 9 shows a number of tiles in a staggered pattern.
In order to maintain a tight joint as discussed above, the interlocking element sets 16 and 26 have a generally square-shaped cross-section as shown in FIGS. 3A , 3 B and 6 B. Respective male locking projections 20 and 30 are press fit into respective bottom and top channels 24 and 34 , respectively, easily done with a hand seam roller. Since tile 10 is flexible, there is some elasticity when male locking projections 20 and 30 are fit into top and bottom channels 24 and 34 . However, an initial force must be overcome to begin the press fit of tiles 10 together. In order to help overcome this initial force, interlocking element sets 16 and 26 include rounded and/or chamfered edges and corners in order to provide a small space or relief to overcome the initial force. Top downwardly-extending male locking projection 30 includes rounded corners 40 as shown in FIG. 5A . Top locking element set 26 in bottom portion 14 additionally has a chamfered edge 42 which runs along an inside edge 44 of top male locking projection 30 as shown in FIGS. 5A-5D and 6 A, 6 B. Support post 38 also includes rounded edges 46 . Rounded corners 40 , chamfered edge 42 and rounded edges 46 provide a small space or relief when top downwardly-extending male locking projection 30 is initially press fit into respective bottom channels 24 . This space or relief is especially necessary in case any excess flashing remains on interlocking element sets 16 and 26 . For example, if a small piece of flashing remains on bottom upwardly-extending male locking projection 20 , chamfered edge 42 of top male locking projection 30 will provide space or relief for the flashing and will allow top downwardly-extending male locking projection 30 to be fit into bottom channel 24 . Even if no excess flashing exists, chamfered edge 42 will allow top upwardly-extending male locking projection 30 to enter into bottom channel 24 and overcome the initial force of fitting and locking tiles 10 together.
In order to interlock tiles 10 together, a pair of tiles 10 are positioned adjacent each other as shown in FIG. 7A , but may also be staggered as mentioned above and shown in FIG. 9 . Top male locking projection 30 of top interlocking element set 16 is inserted into bottom channel 24 of adjacent tile 10 . Rounded corners 40 , chamfered edge 42 and rounded edges 46 provide a small space or relief when top downwardly-extending male locking projection 30 is initially press fit into respective bottom channels 24 . Bottom upwardly-extending male locking projection 20 is then inserted into top channel 34 of top interlocking element set 26 . The square cross-section configuration of male locking projections 20 and 30 maintain the connection between adjacent tiles 10 and prevent lateral movement of tiles 10 when placed on top of a subfloor as shown in FIG. 7B . Since tile 10 is flexible, respective interlocking element sets 16 and 26 can slightly deform when engaged with one another to secure tiles together and provide a tight joint. FIG. 7C shows multiple tiles 10 being joined together.
Bottom portion 14 includes a continuous grid of shallow flat round studs 50 that flow uninterrupted into adjacent tiles 10 when installed as shown in FIG. 8B . Studs 50 may provide moisture flow when uncured concrete (or moist subflooring) is still drying, and more cushioning effect for tile 10 when a load is imposed thereon such as when tiles 10 are walked upon, vehicles are transported across, cleaning and repair equipment are disposed thereon or the like. The use of studs 50 provide less contact with the subfloor. If the subfloor has old adhesive or contaminants, it will be easier to pull up, if needed. Thus, studs 50 are easier to disengage from a floor or subfloor, facilitating installation and removal of particular tiles 10 .
In addition to being made at least partially from recycled material the interlocking floor tile of the present invention also includes other beneficial characteristics. For example, the interlocking floor tile is fire resistant and has a Class 1 Flame Rating.
Tiles according to the present invention can be easily maintained by using a damp mop or microfiber pad along with a minimal amount of water and cleaning solution. This maintenance technique avoids water migrating to the subfloor through the hidden locking mechanism.
Although the invention has been described with regard to certain preferred example embodiments, it is to be understood that the present disclosure has been made by way of example only, and the improvements, changes and modifications in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Such improvements, changes and modifications within the skill of the art are intended to be covered by the scope of the present disclosure.
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A flexible interlocking floor tile having a dual construction with an interlocking mechanism allows for easy installation of multiple tiles. The dual construction can include recycled material and new material. The tile also includes an adequate support at the corner of the tile when assembling multiple tiles. The tile has a single interlocking structure or groove to keep the entire tile joint tight with other tile joints, instead of interrupted interlocking structure which can lead to functional and aesthetic flaws in the entire floor. The single continuous interlocking structure allows for a one-step easy removal of any excess material or flashing from the tile after the molding process.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to voltmeters, particularly voltmeters for batteries.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Batteries are routinely stored prior to and during use. Frequently they are discarded after storage while still having useful electrical power.
Battery testers for indicating battery capacity are known. Such devices are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,737,020; 4,702,564; 4,702,563; 4,835,475; 4,835,476, etc. Such testers have also been incorporated into battery packaging. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,475.
These testers generally include a conductive layer in thermal contact with a temperature sensitive color indicator layer. When the ends of the conductive layer are contacted to battery terminals, electrical current flows, creating heat in the conductive layer. The heat causes a change in the indicator layer.
The usefulness of the above devices is extremely limited. They are also inconvenient to use. The tester must be carried as a separate item. This is aggravated in the case of testers incorporated into a package since the entire package must be carried separately.
In addition, current tester designs do not allow ease of operation on all cells. In most cases the tester is larger than the battery for which the tester is designed. This makes it difficult to maintain the terminals of the testers in contact with the batteries and achieve reproducible results because such testers are generally flexible.
Also the prior art battery testers cannot be used when the conductive circuits of the testers are in contact with battery housings. We have determined that the housings act as a heat sink diverting heat generated by the conductive layer away from the tester color indicating layer.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a voltmeter comprising:
A) a dielectric layer;
B) a conductive layer above or below one of the surfaces of the dielectric layer; and
C) a temperature sensitive color indicator layer in thermal contact with the conductive layer,
characterized in that the conductive layer has i) thermal insulating means under one of its surfaces and ii) sufficient heat generating capacity to affect a change in the temperature sensitive color indicator layer.
The present invention also provides a label comprising an integral voltmeter having:
A) a dielectric layer;
B) a conductive layer above or below the dielectric layer; and
C) a temperature sensitive color indicator layer in thermal contact with the conductive layer,
characterized in that 1) the conductive layer has i) thermal insulating means under one of its surfaces and ii) sufficient heat generating capacity to affect a change in the temperature sensitive color indicator layer and 2) the voltmeter includes means for forming an electrical switch with electrically conductive surfaces of a battery housing.
The present invention also provides a battery having a label comprising:
A) a dielectric layer;
B) a conductive layer above the dielectric layer;
C) a graphics layer for measuring color change proximate to a temperature sensitive color indicator layer; and
D) a temperature sensitive color indicator layer in thermal contact with the conductive layer,
characterized in that 1) the conductive layer has i) thermal insulating means under one of its surfaces and ii) sufficient heat generating capacity to affect a change in the temperature sensitive color indicator layer and 2) the voltmeter includes means for forming an electrical switch with electrically conductive surfaces of the battery housing.
The voltmeter of the present invention obviates the disadvantages of the prior art in that the voltmeter can always be carried along with the battery. The difficulty of engaging the terminals of the voltmeter to the terminals of the battery are eliminated by the unique switching means provided by this invention. Thus reproducible measurements are easily attained.
Moreover the voltmeter of the present invention overcomes the heat sink problem encountered by prior art battery testers by providing thermal insulating means between the conductive layer and the battery housing and providing a conductive layer that generates sufficient heat to affect a change in the color indicator layer.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the various layers of a voltmeter of the invention together with and exploded view of an assembly used to attached the voltmeter to a battery.
FIG. 2 is a schematic drawing of the combined voltmeter and assembly of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a schematic drawing of the combined assembly of FIG. 2 attached to a battery.
FIGS. 4 and 5 both show electrical membrane switches to be used when the voltmeter is attached to a battery.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The various elements, embodiments and features of the voltmeter, labels and batteries described hereinbefore will be better understood by reference to FIGS. 1 through 5 and the related descriptions.
An embodiment of the voltmeter of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1. The voltmeter 1, in an exploded view shows standoffs 11 for creating a temperature insulating air pocket 12 underneath dielectric layer 13. The standoffs can be plastic strips, embossed or printed dielectric inks. The standoff can also be formed by embossing crimps into the dielectric layer. Instead of an air pocket the thermal insulating means can be provided by inserting thermal insulating materials such as paper, plastic or cloth under the dielectric layer area 12. The dielectric layer can be formed from any electrically insulating material.
Essential to this invention is the thermal insulating means for the conductive layer provided in this embodiment by an air pocket. This air pocket insulates the conductive layer from the battery can when the voltmeter is combined with a battery, either alone or as part of a battery label.
Above layer 13 is conductive layer 14 having terminal ends 15 and 16. The conductive layer can be self supporting or it can be coated on a support such as the dielectric layer or another layer included in the voltmeter.
The conductive layer is deposited on dielectric layer 13 by printing, coating, painting or other conventional techniques. This conductive material may be silver, nickel, iron, copper, carbon, lead, etc., and mixtures thereof and is preferably dispersed in some type of binder material to form a conductive ink. Silver is the preferred conductor; typical thicknesses are 0.0002-0.001 inch (0.00508-0.0254 mm). A suitable silver based conductive ink is Zymet SLP4070 made by Zymet, Inc., Hanover, N.J.
The conductive layer is designed to have an increasing cross sectional area in a longitudinal direction from one end to the other, thus creating a gradient of heat generation along the length of the layer which is dependent on the voltage and current output and thus strength of the battery. The battery current which flows through the conductive layer during testing is directly proportional to the voltage because the resistance of the conductive layer is fixed. A resistance of about 1 to 2.5 ohms works for standard 1.5 volt alkaline batteries. For this fixed resistance the indicating scale can be calibrated to display the corresponding state of charge or service life remaining in the battery. The dimensions and resulting resistance of the conductive layer can be adjusted for any battery voltage or current. It is clear from Ohm's law the voltmeter can be calibrated for volts, current, remaining service life or state of charge.
Above conductive layer 14 is label layer 17. Label layer 17 may comprise one or more layers depending upon the particular label design. In some embodiments label layer 17 is not included since dielectric layer 13 may serve also as a label layer. This embodiment of the invention shows the voltmeter optionally integrated into a battery label. In some embodiments where the voltmeter is included in a window of a label, the label layer 17 will be omitted from the voltmeter of FIG. 1.
Residing on label layer 17, or optionally, directly on the conductive layer is a calibrated graphic scale 18 for measuring voltage or current. The graphics layer provides background and/or a calibrated scale for indicating changes in the color indicator layer 19 according to the voltage or current status of a battery. It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the graphics layer can be omitted in those case where the color change in the temperature sensitive color indicator layer is visually observable.
Above or alongside the graphic scale is a temperature sensitive color indicator layer 19. The temperature sensitive color indicator layer is color reversible in response to a temperature change and thereby detects the changes in temperature of the voltmeter conductive layer. Useful color reversible temperature sensitive materials are well known in this art. They include microencapsulated cholesteric liquid crystal and reversible thermochromic materials. Both types of materials can be modified to achieve the optimum color change in a desired temperature range. They can be coated by standard printing, coating or painting techniques. Coating thicknesses of 0.001-0.002 inch are useful. Examples of suitable materials are chiral nematic liquid crystals, and thermochromic ink and thermochromic tapes. The color indicator layer changes from color to colorless; colorless to a color; or one color to a second color.
The voltmeter 1 is then assembled with assembly 2 of FIG. 1 for use in combination with a battery. Assembly 2, also shown in exploded view, comprises an adhesive layer 21, an electrically insulating layer 22, an electrically conducting layer 23 and tabs 21a, 22a and 23a. The assembled voltmeter 1 of FIG. 1 is assembled with the assembly 2 by resting the terminal end 16 of conductive layer 14 on conducting tab 23a. The combined assemblies 1 and 2 are then adhered to the surface of a battery. The combined assemblies 1 and 2 of FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 2. The combination shows the voltmeter 1 and the assembly 2. The conductive layer 14, is shown by broken lines in contact with the conductive layer of assembly 2 with the conductive layer 23 extending to form the longest part of tab 23a. FIG. 3 shows schematically the combined assemblies of FIGS. 1 and 2 in combination with a battery housing 4.
The current flow through the conductive layer which results in the above heat generation and color change is initiated by connecting the terminals of the battery to the terminals in the voltmeter conductive layer through an incorporated switch mechanism.
Electrical switching means for completing an electrical circuit between battery electrodes and the conductive layer of the voltmeter include, but are not limited to the following switching means embodiments.
1) A reversible pressure sensitive membrane switch built into the battery label layers to contact the positive terminal of the battery (battery can). This switch is constructed by introducing a "hole" in the dielectric layer of the voltmeter directly under one end of the conductive layer, as described hereinafter in connection with the figures, thus isolating the contact from the battery can. Activation of the voltmeter occurs when pressure is applied on the flexible upper layer of the label layer above the end of conductive layer above the hole in the dielectric layer. The pressure causes the conductive layer to make electrical contact with the battery can through the dielectric layer. Rigidity and springback in the label layer causes the connection to be broken when pressure is discontinued. The connection to the negative terminal of the battery, which completes the circuit, is fixed to the conductive layer of the voltmeter in a manner described herinafter in connection with the figures, with a conductive foil adhesive strip that is electrically insulated from the battery can. This strip can be either a separate piece under the label or incorporated into the non-visible side of the label construction. A small tab of this foil strip is connected permanently to the negative terminal cap of the battery during the label application process to complete the connection.
2) An external "tab" switch which protrudes beyond the end of the battery past either one of the terminals. The tab switch is not permanently connected to one terminal of the battery. Instead, the tab is contacted with the terminal only when it is desired to activate the voltmeter. The other battery terminal is connected, permanently to the other end of the voltmeter conductive layer.
3) An external switch as in 2) except that the tab is contacted to the negative battery terminal through an external conductor such as a coin, wire, etc.
4) The above described membrane switch mechanism can also be incorporated into both ends of the conductive layer thus making a double membrane switch operation necessary for activation of the tester. This has the advantage of being less susceptible to accidental activation of the voltmeter during handling or battery storage in a device which could result in a draining of useful battery life. The negative terminal connection would remain as described above.
In all of the above switch variations the resulting battery voltage or capacity is read from the appropriate indicating scale while the switch is activated. Release of the switch causes the circuit to open and the temperature sensitive color indicator layer to return to its prior state. This can be repeated until there is insufficient battery strength or capacity to cause a color change.
The above switch mechanisms can be achieved by adhering the voltmeter to a battery directly or by integrating the voltmeter into a label and then applying the label-voltmeter assembly directly to the can.
In one embodiment a membrane switch, referred to above, is formed by placing the conductive terminal end 15 in registration with the hole 20 in layer 13. The voltmeter 1, of FIG. 1 is then assembled with the layers in the order indicated above.
In the membrane switch embodiment under discussion the conductive layer of the tab 23a is adhered permanently to the bottom negative electrode of the battery.
The operation of the membrane switch is explained by reference to FIGS. 1 and 4. The numbering of elements in FIG. 1 is carried over into FIG. 4 for similar elements. The hole 20 in layer 13 in FIGS. 1 and 4 is in registration with one of the terminal ends 15 of the conductive layer 13.
In FIG. 4, the conductive layer terminal end 15 is shown in registration with the hole 20 in layer 13 on stand-offs 11. When pressure is applied to the label layer 17 directly above hole 20 the conductive layer terminal 15 is brought into contact with the electrically conductive surface of the battery 4. Since the tab 23a of 2 of FIG. 1 is already in electrical contact with the negative terminal of the battery, the electrical circuit is closed, electrical current from the battery flows through conductive layer 14 creating heat that causes a change in the color indicator layer.
In another switch embodiment two separate membrane switches are used. In this embodiment both switches must be engaged at the same time to form a complete electrical circuit between the conductive layer of the voltmeter and the battery. Both terminal ends 15 and 16 of conductive layer 14 in voltmeter 1 in FIG. 1 are each in registration with separate holes in the dielectric layer 13. Neither terminal end, 15 or 16 is in permanent electrical contact with the battery. This second membrane switch is made clear by reference to FIG. 5. The terminal 16 in registration with a second hole 20 in the layer 13. This second hole is directly above the electrically conductive layer 23 of assembly 2 of FIG. 1. Tab 23a is in permanent electrical contact with the negative electrode of the battery. Pressure is applied to the label layer 17 directly above hole 20 to bring the conductive terminal end 16 into electrical contact with conductive layer 23. With both conductive layer terminals 15 and 16, in contact with the positive and negative terminals of the battery the voltmeter is activated.
The label of this invention comprising a voltmeter is composed of a one or more layers usually bearing graphic information about the battery. Such layers can include a standard heat shrinkable label material and may be of single or multiple layer design.
For the single layer label, the desired graphics are printed on a designated side of the material using standard lithographic, flexographic, gravure or screen processes and ink materials. An additional final coating such as varnish may be applied for protection of the printed graphics.
In the multiple layer label, the desired graphics are printed on the label using the aforementioned techniques after which the substrate is laminated to another layer of the same or different material to form the multiple layer effect. Many of the multiple layer designs also include a metallized foil layer for graphics enhancement. An example of such a design would be PVC Triplex ZE from Zweckform GmbH, Holzkirchen, FRG.
Both the single layer and multiple layer designs can be employed on the battery by the pressure sensitive or tube technique. In the pressure sensitive technique, an adhesive coating is added to the reverse of the label which adheres and aligns the label to the battery until the final shrink fit at elevated temperature is completed. For the tube technique, the ends of the label are sealed to itself to create an open ended "tube" which is placed over the battery in position for the final shrink fit. Labeling methods for batteries are well known in the art.
The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention.
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The present invention discloses a battery voltmeter comprising:
A) a dielectric layer;
B) a conductive layer above or below one of the surfaces of the dielectric layer; and
C) a temperature sensitive color indicator layer in thermal contact with the conductive layer,
characterized in that the conductive layer has i) thermal insulating means under one of its surfaces and ii) sufficient heat generating capacity to affect a change in the temperature sensitive color indicator layer. The voltmeter can be intergrated into a label and attached directly to a battery.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In construction surveying in connection with the preliminary preparations for the actual construction of highways, railroads, bridges, buildings, and the like, it is conventional to employ laths and stakes for locating and indicating lines, grades, and distance. The laths are usually 4'×3/8"×1" or 11/2", and the stakes, 18"×3/4"×11/2", and each member having a pointed end to facilitate driving the member into the ground. While the use of these laths and stakes presents no problems during relatively warm weather when the ground is soft, considerable difficulties have been encountered during cold weather when the ground is frozen since it is most difficult, if not impossible, to drive the pointed end of the lath or stake into the frozen ground.
After considerable research and experimentation, the base of the present invention has been devised for accommodating the lath and stake, and is constructed and arranged to support the lath and stake on frozen ground. The base of the present invention comprises, essentially, a member having apertures formed therethrough for accommodating and supporting the lath and/or stake in a vertical position. A bore is also provided in the base for receiving a ground penetrating spike, whereby the base and associated lath and stake may be supported on frozen ground. It is contemplated that the base may be molded from plastic having removable portions initially covering one end of each of the apertures. In use, the covers are selectively removed for accommodating either the lath or stake, or both. In the event that only the lath is used, the cover on the stake receiving aperture remains in place and can be used as a surface upon which the line and distance readings can be recorded, which heretofore have been noted on the top surface of the stake.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the lath-stake base of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the base;
FIG. 3 is a view taken along line 3--3 of FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the base accommodating a lath driven into soft ground; and
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the base supporting both a lath and a stake in frozen ground.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1, 3 and 5, the lath-stake base of the present invention comprises a molded plastic block 1 having rectangular apertures 2, 3 and 4 formed therethrough. The rectangular apertures 2 and 3 are adapted to receive a lath 5 and the rectangular aperture 4 is adpated to receive a stake 6. A bore 7 is also formed in the base member for receiving a spike 8 whereby the base may be secured to hard or frozen ground.
In molding the base member, the top surface is formed with a thin layer of plastic to provide covers 2a, 3a and 4a for the lath and stake accommodating apertures 2, 3, 4, respectively. A score line 9 is formed around the perimeter of these apertures so that the covers can be easily punched out or otherwise removed from their respective apertures.
In use, assuming that the particular construction survey is taking place when the ground is soft, and the use of only the lath 5 is required, as shown in FIG. 4, the cover 3a is removed and the stake 5 is inserted through the ground. In this arrangement, the covers 2a and 4a would remain in place and can be used as a writing surface upon which the line and distance readings can be recorded.
If the survey is taking place when the ground is hard or frozen, the spike 8 is inserted into the bore 7 and driven into the ground, the lath 5 and/or stake 6, having flush-cut ends, can then be inserted into the apertures 3 and 4 after the covers 3a and 4a have been removed. By this construction and arrangement, the flush-cut ends of the lath and stake engage the top surface of the ground and are supported in a vertical position by the base 1 which is secured to the ground by the spike 8, thereby precluding the necessity of driving the ends of the lath and stake into the ground.
By providing two lath apertures 2 and 3 oriented 90° from each other, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that instead of inserting a lath 5 in aperture 3, a lath can be inserted into aperture 2 to permit the use of a different surface axis of the stake 6.
From the above description, it will be seen that the lath stake base of the present invention provides a two-fold function; namely, when used on soft ground, the lath can be driven through the base into the ground and the top surface of the base can be used to record the line and distance readings which heretofore were recorded on the top surface of the stake, and when used on hard or frozen ground, the base provides a support for holding the lath and/or stake in a vertical position, while only the spike 8 penetrates the ground.
It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention or scope of the subjoined claims.
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A base member having apertures formed therethrough for accommodating a lath and a stake employed for locating lines, grades and distance in construction survey, the base member also having a bore for accommodating a spike for securing the base to hard or frozen ground.
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BACKGROUND
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a hot and cool water delivery system, more particularly to a water saving, energy conserving system that is sufficiently flexible in design, to be conveniently installed in a variety of residential or commercial structures, be they new construction, add-on construction, or presently existing buildings.
2. Description of the Problem Area
In a conventional plumbing system, which includes a water heating tank, it is a well known fact that, after every use hot water is retained in the line between the hot water supply and the outlet and it cools. Later this cooled water is wasted down the drain, waiting for hot water to arrive at the outlet; water and the energy to heat that water are wasted. In order to solve the singular problem of water waste, hot water recirculating systems are suggested, but unfortunately, no energy is saved.
Hot water recirculation systems require additional piping to complete a loop from the furthest hot water outlet, returning to the hot water supply. In structures where hot water use areas are located in different directions from the hot water supply location, return loops from each use area are required. Return pipe loops contribute to the loss of additional heat, because of the increased volume of water cooling and the increased cooling surface of the added lengths of pipe; even insulated pipes relinquish their heat. Sensors react to water cooling in the lines, triggering frequent pump operation. Public Utilities rate recirculating pump systems as net energy consumers and during the cooler months of the year, energy consumption and costs can rise appreciably.
In existing structures, installing unexposed replumbing lines becomes prohibitively expensive and messy and for most home owners, requires the hiring of one or more building trades professionals and the filing of an application for a building permit. The cost and time delays involved in the approval by the permitting agency adds to the expense and inconvenience.
When closely considered, the type of recirculating system designed to insure instant hot water at any point along a hot water service conduit conserves water, but it is not energy efficient. Regularly re-circulating cooling water back to the water heating unit results in a wasteful condition. The water transported between the furthest use point and the water heating unit, although lower in temperature than that of the hot water being delivered still contains a considerable amount of heat. Thus, the amount of heated water subjected to cooling in the line is approximately double that of the same structure without recirculation. The price paid for the conservation of water would be prohibitively high, especially for the 33.5 million households that the U.S. Census Bureau reports utilize electric water heating.
The advantages of any system that conserves water or energy seem obvious. Yet because of economic reasons and because of the many and varied differences between structures, any singularly designed system will have only limited application. Available space, the location, and size of available space, along with the location of hot water use areas and the proximity of the water heating unit to these use areas are all determining factors. Differing climatic conditions, especially extreme cool, can also influence a system's configuration, as does the status of the structure; be it under construction, add-on construction or an existing building. The need for an easily adaptable system, capable of being configured to meet one, more or all of the variable influencing limitations, indicates that a flexible, multi-faceted system, capable of saving water, energy or both and having the broadest application potential, would be the most complete solution.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART
Vataru, et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,461 Jul. 10, 1979
Vataru shows a water saving system. This system fails to address the problem of lost energy due to hot water cooling in the plumbing lines between hot water usage cycles. He does not address the energy loss problem of hot water left to cool in the lines. No indication is given that the system has the built in design or flexibility to accept the addition of any type of compatible unit, sub-assembly or segment, which would expand the system to include an energy saving capability.
Lujan U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,325 Aug. 19, 1986
Lujan, shows a hot water recirculation system. In existing structures this system requires the installation of a return line to recirculate cooled hot water to the water heater. He does not address the energy loss problem of hot water left to cool in the lines. No indication is given that the system has the built in design or flexibility to accept the addition of any type of compatible unit, sub-assembly or segment, which would expand the system to include an energy saving capability.
Powers & Powers U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,614 Oct. 6, 1987
Powers shows a water conservation system. This system requires an installation below each sink taking up most of the storage space beneath the sink. It does not address the problem of energy loss due to hot water cooling in the lines. No indication is given that the system has the built in design or flexibility to accept the addition of any type of compatible unit, sub-assembly or segment, which would expand the system to include an energy saving capability.
Frazekas U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,472, Jun. 14, 1988
Frazekas shows a hot water recirculation system. He does not address the energy loss problem of hot water left to cool in the lines. No indication is given that the system has the built in design or flexibility to accept the addition of any type of compatible unit, sub-assembly or segment, which would expand the system to include an energy saving capability.
Barrett, et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,986 Oct. 3, 1989
Barrett shows a system for dispensing liquid at a desired temperature. This system is primarily one for moderating temperature and controlling flow at system outlets. In existing structures this system requires the installation of a return line to recirculate cooled hot water to the water. He does not address the energy loss problem of hot water left to cool in the lines. No indication is given that the system has the built in design or flexibility to accept the addition of any type of compatible unit, sub-assembly or segment, which would expand the system to include an energy saving capability.
Laing, et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,142 Apr. 17, 1990
Laing shows a hot water recirculation system. In existing structures this system requires the retrofitting of the existing plumbing system with additional piping to form a hot water return loop to the hot water reservoir. He does not address the energy loss problem of hot water left to cool in the lines. No indication is given that the system has the built in design or flexibility to accept the addition of any type of compatible unit, sub-assembly or segment, which would expand the system to include an energy saving capability.
Haws--U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,551 Jun. 5, 1990
Haws shows a hot water recovery system with a water heater apparatus having a closed cylindrical cylinder within the heater tank.
This system cannot be utilized effectively with a conventional water heater. He does not address the energy loss problem of hot water left to cool in the lines. No indication is given that the system has the built in design or flexibility to accept the addition of any type of compatible unit, sub-assembly or segment, which would expand the system to include an energy saving capability.
Peterson U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,551 Jun. 26, 1990
Peterson shows a system for controlling the recirculation of a hot water distribution system. In existing structures this system requires the installation of a return line to recirculate cooled hot water to the water heater. He does not address the energy loss problem of hot water left to cool in the lines. No indication is given that the system has the built in design or flexibility to accept the addition of any type of compatible unit, sub-assembly or segment, which would expand the system to include an energy saving capability.
Imhoff U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,572 Apr. 23, 1991
Imhoff shows a water conservation system installed inside a standard bathroom vanity. This system requires a pump unit at the hot water outlets and the need for an electrical outlet at each use point. He does not address the energy loss problem of hot water left to cool in the lines. No indication is given that the system has the built in design or flexibility to accept the addition of any type of compatible unit, sub-assembly or segment, which would expand the system to include an energy saving capability.
Lund U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,524 Aug. 27, 1991
Lund shows a demand recovery hot water system. This system does not address the problem of lost energy due to hot water cooling in the plumbing lines, between hot water usage cycles.
In existing structures this system requires the retrofitting of the existing plumbing system with additional piping to form a hot water return loop to the hot water reservoir. No indication is given that the system has the built in design or flexibility to accept the addition of any type of compatible unit, sub-assembly or segment, which would expand the system to include an energy saving capability.
Hass U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,062, September 1991
Hass shows a water conservation system. He does not address the energy loss problem of hot water left to cool in the lines. No indication is given that the system has the built in design or flexibility to accept the addition of any type of compatible unit, sub-assembly or segment, which would expand the system to include an energy saving capability.
Britt U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,846 Apr. 21, 1992
Britt shows a water saving system. This system is designed to prevent water waste but it does not address the problem of lost energy due to hot water cooling in the plumbing lines, between hot water usage cycles. No indication is given that the system has the built in design or flexibility to accept the addition of any type of compatible unit, sub-assembly or segment, which would expand the system to include an energy saving capability.
Massaro, et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,318, Apr. 27, 1993
Massaro shows a water saving system. This system requires installation of a manifold unit beneath the sink, taking up a large amount of space. Once usage is completed the problem still exists of heated water cooling in the lines. No indication is given that the system has the built in design or flexibility to accept the addition of any type of compatible unit, sub-assembly or segment, which would expand the system to include an energy saving capability.
Walsh--U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,443--Nov. 16, 1993
Walsh shows a water saving recirculating system which, in an existing structure would require additional electrical wiring between the pump, the electronic control, the switches, the thermal switches and the solenoid valves; an expensive alteration which in most jurisdictions is a task that must be performed by a licensed electrician and requires a building permit. He does not address the energy loss problem of hot water left to cool in the lines. No indication is given that the system has the built in design or flexibility to accept the addition of any type of compatible unit, sub-assembly or segment, which would expand the system to include an energy saving capability.
Houlihan, U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,712, Oct. 4, 1994
Houlihan shows a hot water recovery system, requiring vent-relief devices at each use point and is not easily adaptable to varying conditions or user's conservation goals.
Lund U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,168, Feb. 14, 1995
Lund shows a temperature controlled water saving, hot water recirculation system. He does not address the energy loss problem of hot water left to cool in the lines. No indication is given that the system has the built in design or flexibility to accept the addition of any type of compatible unit, sub-assembly or segment, which would expand the system to include an energy saving capability.
Bowman U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,740, Sep. 26, 1995
Continuation in part of U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,859. Bowman shows a water conservation system. He does not address the energy loss problem of hot water left to cool in the lines. No indication is given that the system has the built in design or flexibility to accept the addition of any type of compatible unit, sub-assembly or segment, which would expand the system to include an energy saving capability.
Price U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,579, April 1996
Price shows a thermal sensitive recirculation water conservation system. He does not address the energy loss problem of hot water left to cool in the lines. No indication is given that the system has the built in design or flexibility to accept the addition of any type of compatible unit, sub-assembly or segment, which would expand the system to include an energy saving capability.
Storch--U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,462--Oct. 15, 1996
Storch shows a water saving delivery system. In an existing structure, it requires wiring to be run from the shower stalls back to the pump, in the area of the water heater and routing and attaching new pipes within the structure walls. This retrofitting becomes an expensive alteration which, in most jurisdictions, are tasks that must be performed by a licensed electrician and plumber and require a building permit. He does not address the energy loss problem of hot water left to cool in the lines. No indication is given that the system has the built in design or flexibility to accept the addition of any type of compatible unit, sub-assembly or segment, which would expand the system to include an energy saving capability.
OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES
Accordingly, one object of the invention is to provide an improved, water and energy saving hot water system, adaptable to the varying limitations of a wide range of structures.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved, water and energy saving hot water system, adaptable to the conservation goals and economic considerations of the user.
Another object is to provide a system which delivers hot water on demand without having to waste water down the drain, waiting for hot water to arrive at the hot water outlet.
Another object is to provide a system that utilizes all the delivered hot water from the hot water supply, eliminating the heat loss of water left cooling in the plumbing lines, after each use.
Another object is to provide a water saving system that can be used with any type of water heating apparatus, including solar.
Another object is to provide an energy saving system that can be used with any type of water heating apparatus, including solar.
Another object of the invention is to provide an energy and water savings system that may be configured for and installed in a new construction structure with a minimum and inexpensive alteration to a standard plumbing plan.
Another object is to provide a system for existing structures which utilizes only the original plumbing lines, eliminating the need for expensive retrofitting of the plumbing system of an existing structure.
Another object is to provide a water and energy saving system that can be installed and operated in an existing structure without alteration of or addition to the electrical wiring.
Another object of the invention is to provide an energy saving segment and/or water saving segment that may be configured for and installed in an add on structure to an existing structure, which already has an operational system installed.
Another advantage is that where budgets are limited or energy saving is the only intended conservation goal, an alternative to installing a complete system is that the energy saver segment of the system can be installed to operate independently, at a lower cost to the consumer.
Another advantage is that where budgets are limited or only water saving is the intended conservation goal, an alternative to installing a complete system is that one of the water saver segments can be installed to operate independently, at a lower cost to the consumer.
Another advantage of the system is that at some later point in time, for economic reasons or because of a desire to extend the conservation capability of the system, one segment can be easily and conveniently added to the opposite, previously installed segment, to form a complete system.
Another advantage of the system's adaptability and flexibility is that a complete system can be installed in one of several segmented configurations, where space is limited, the layout of the structure dictates, and/or as consumers' preferences vary.
Another advantage is that the system may be configured as a must-operate device, which will shut off delivery of hot water to a specific use point after a fixed period of time, to avoid wasteful, unnecessary running of hot water, e.g. military barracks, college dormitories, etc.
Another advantage is that the user can shorten the use-time of any programmed cycle when a shortened use period is desired, by means of an over-ride command capability.
Another advantage is that the user can lengthen the use-time of any programmed cycle when a lengthened use period is desired, by means of an over-ride command capability.
Another advantage is that an agreed upon use-time can be programmed into the controller adjusted for an agreed amount of time for each specific use point, avoiding the added water and energy waste, of too long showers; voluntarily limiting the total time of the hot water use cycle, contributes to additional water and energy savings.
Another advantage of the system is that the heating load of the hot water supply is reduced increasing its service life.
Another advantage is that the complete system is light weight and is easily transportable.
Another advantage is that property lessees could install a system in a rented property and be able to easily disconnect the system for equally easy re-installation at a new location, allowing lessees to benefit from water and energy bill savings, in a property owned by others.
Another object is, where applicable, to provide a basic, single mode water saver segment that can be expanded to a three-mode advanced water saver segment, when there is adequate space in which to locate a holding tank.
Another advantage is that the practice of sacrificing interior space of a dwelling to locate a hot water supply, in order to shorten hot water service lines can be changed. In the system no hot water is left to cool in the lines so the hot water supply could be located in the basement, garage, or in an outside enclosure (in warm climates); increasing interior living space, without increasing water heating costs.
Another advantage is that only basic hand tools are required and the average homeowner could install a system in a few hours.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.
SUMMARY
According to the present invention there is provided a water and energy conservation system which solves the problem of water waste and energy loss, in a manner unknown heretofore.
The universal water and energy conservation system is a multi-faceted, programmable, electronically and electromechanically controlled water and energy conservation system. The system is easily segmented and adaptable to the limitations of varying structures, and each user's economic and conservation goals. The energy saver segment and one of several water saver segments are combined into an effective system, suited to different conditions and useable with any pressurized water supply. The invention may be configured for installation in existing, new construction or add-on structures.
The herein described universal water and energy conservation system satisfies the key element of universality of design and flexibility in application. Each configuration is designed to accomplish energy and/or water saving tasks within certain physical limitations of the structures into which they are installed and to meet the priorities and preferences of the end user.
When the installation of a complete system is not immediately possible, the user may start with either an energy saver segment or one of the water saver segments as a cornerstone. One segment or the other may be initially configured to operate independently, to fulfill at least one conservation goal, under virtually any set of conditions. Later as economic conditions permit or as added conservation is desired the un-installed segment can be conveniently added, to complete the system. The wide range of adaptable configurations would enable property lessees, as well as property owners, to benefit from the advantages of water and energy conservation. The system is light weight, transportable and is not difficult to install or move to another location.
The universal water and energy conservation system offers an on demand, broadly adaptable solution to the problem of the unnecessary, large scale waste of energy and potable water. The system is in operation only when hot water is needed. It eliminates energy loss of water cooling in the lines and stops completely the waste of potable water down the drain, while waiting for hot water to arrive at the outlet.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a flow diagram for a water distribution system primarily, for a new construction building, embodying the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flow diagram for a hot water distribution system, primarily for an existing building, embodying an alternate embodiment of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The universal water & energy conservation system is configured as a single unit, which may be wall mounted or free standing. Its most energy efficient location would be in close proximity to the structure's hot water supply. However, it can be located at a more convenient space in the structure without altering its operation or manufacture.
As shown in FIG. 1, the described embodiment, is most suitable to be incorporated into new construction. The system may be remotely activated by signal generating devices electrically wired into the structure, by any one of several types of radio control apparatus, by an AC line modulated signal device and by a combination of these control devices.
The water saver segment of the system is designed to service each area in the structure, where a hot water outlet is to be used, utilizing separate branched hot water service conduits to each service area, each in fluid communication with separate return conduits. The flow path of each return conduit is opened or closed, by a remotely actuated valve. This permits the cool water standing in the hot water distribution conduits, which would normally be permitted to be wasted down the drain waiting for hot water to arrive at a use point, to be re-directed back through return conduits to the flow control unit and then to the hot water supply.
The energy saver segment of the system is designed so that in the final stage of the hot water use cycle the system's flow control unit may be actuated by either a remote control signal transmitted by the hot water user or by a programmed time delay signal. The energy saver segment has its valves configured so that the cool water supply is re-directed to the hot water supply line, while cool water supply pressure to the hot water supply is temporarily interrupted. This pressurized cool water forces hot water, in the hot water distribution conduits, between the hot water supply and the use point, towards the open hot water outlet. In this mode all the hot water having been delivered from the hot water supply is consumed and fresh cool water remains in the hot water distribution conduit. This eliminates the energy loss from hot water, which in a standard plumbing system would be trapped between the outlet and the hot water supply and left to cool in the line.
Turning now to FIG. 1
In the static condition flow control components of water saver segment 10B and energy saver segment 10A are in the de-energized state. Flow control unit 10 is in the ready state, capable of receiving and acting upon electronically transmitted commands. Power control 21 directs power to selected circuits of flow controller 22. Flow controller 22 directs power to specific components of water saver segment 10B and energy saver segment 10A. In the static state the pressurized cool water supply line 12 furnishes the cool water supply through manual shut off valve 14, through main cool water supply conduit 16 to inlet 43 of flow control unit 10. The flow path continues via conduits 45, 90 and 92, to the inlet side of normally open-to-flow, remotely actuated valve 94. The output side of valve 94 is in fluid communication with the inlet side of hot water supply 31, via check valve 96, and conduit 99 to flow control unit outlet 98 and cool water inlet conduit 30. This causes hot water supply 31 to be subject to system supply pressure. Cool water supply to the structure's cool water service conduits is via main cool water supply conduit 16, continuing through conduit 51. The flow is branched from conduit 51 at service conduit 7 to service area A and at service conduit 8, to service area B. Any additional cool water service areas would be branched from conduit 51.
The hot water output of hot water supply 31 furnishes hot water, under system pressure to the structure. Hot water flow is via hot water supply outlet conduit 32 and conduit 40. Each service conduit to separate use points in the structure is branched off from conduit 40. Service conduit 42 branches off to service area A, furnishing hot water to sink 3 through shut-off valve 44 and to shower/bath unit 50, via conduit 46, and manual control valve 48. Service conduit 52 branches from conduit 40 to furnish hot water to sink 4 via shut-off valve 54 and to shower/bath outlet 60 via conduit 56 and manual control valve 58. Opening any outlet will permit the use of pressurized hot water. Any additional hot water service to other areas would be branched from conduit 40.
Return conduit 41 from service area A is in fluid communication with hot water service conduit 40 and flow control unit inlet 47 and water saver segment 10B and thence to the inlet side of normally closed-to-flow, remotely actuated valve 61. The outlet of valve 61 is in fluid communication through conduits 63 and 65, with the inlet of pump 66, de-energized in the static state.
Return conduit 53 from service area B is in fluid communication with hot water service conduit 52, flow control unit inlet 55 and water saver segment 10B and thence to the inlet side of normally closed-to-flow, remotely actuated valve 62. The outlet side of valve 62 is in fluid communication through conduits 64 and 65, with the inlet side of pump 66, de-energized in the static state.
The output side of pump 66 is coupled to check valve 68 thru conduit 67; conduit 69 completes a flow path to a tee-fitting in conduit 99, and thence through flow control unit outlet 98 and cool water inlet conduit 30 to hot water supply 31.
Remote control unit 11 is moisture proof radio signal remote in radio communication with flow control unit 10.
Remote control unit 9 is in electrical continuity with flow control unit 10.
Manual shutoff valve 5 controls cool water to area A and manual shutoff valve 4 controls cool water to area B.
Operation FIG. 1:
Conserving Water: When hot water is desired, remote control unit 9 is activated to select the use point to which the hot water is to be furnished. Power control 21 furnishes the power to flow controller 22, which activates water saver segment 10B. Assuming service area A as the selected use point the following timed sequence of water saver segment 10B occurs. Normally closed-to-flow, remotely activated valve 61 is energized to the open to flow position and pump 66 is activated. For a pre-selected period of time, dictated by the distance from hot water supply 31 to service area A, pump 66 will circulate hot water from hot water supply 31 to the use point, as it draws the standing cool water back to hot water supply 31, along a continuous conduit path as follows: Using conduit 41 as a starting point in a closed loop, cool water standing in conduit 41 is drawn by pump 66, through inlet 47 of the flow control unit 10, to the input side of the open-to-flow, remotely actuated valve 61. Flow from the output side of valve 61 is through conduits 63 and 65 to the input of pump 66. Flow from the output side of energized pump 66 is via conduit 67, check valve 68 conduits 69 and 99, to the outlet 98 of flow control unit 10. Flow, under pump pressure continues via cool water inlet conduit 30 to hot water supply 31. Pump pressure forces hot water to be transported out of hot water supply 31, via the hot water outlet conduit 32. The flow is then through conduit 40 and hot water service conduit 42 through manual shut off valve 44 to the junction with return conduit 41. This completes a closed loop conduit path between the hot water supply 31 and service area A. At the preprogramed time, at which hot water arrives at service area A, the flow controller 22 causes pump 66 to de-energize, and remotely actuated valve 61 to de-energize to the normally closed-to-flow position.
Normal Use Cycle
Hot water is now available for immediate use. The use time period can be controlled by the user, or automatically controlled by a programmable, time-certain period, programmed into the flow controller 22.
When use time control by the user is desired, then radio control unit 11 is employed as an over-ride control, at the use point. Whether preprogrammed or controlled by the user, the operational function is the same. The adjustable preprogrammed signal or a signal from radio control unit 11, at some point in the latter stage of the use cycle, causes the following events to occur:
Energy Conservation Cycle
The energy saver segment 10A is activated by flow controller 22 and the following events occur. Normally open-to-flow remotely actuated valve 94 is energized to the close-to-flow position and normally closed-to-flow, remotely actuated valve 93 is energized to the open-to-flow position. This event causes cool water supply pressure to be interrupted to water supply 31. Cool water supply pressure, through the open-to-flow condition of valve 93 is now in fluid communication with hot water supply outlet conduit 32. Pressurized cool water flow is through conduit 91 and now open-to-flow remotely actuated valve 93, through check valve 95 flow control unit outlet 19 and conduit 97. Cool water supply pressure forces hot water in conduits 40 and 42, to flow towards the open hot water outlet.
Depending upon the distance to the use point, the hot water user has a specified time to complete the use cycle. As the user senses the water cooling, the outlet is closed. Shortly thereafter energy saver segment 10A valves are automatically de-energized to their static condition.
Hot water normally left standing in the lines to cool, now has been fully utilized and replaced by cool water, so that no energy is wasted, due to hot water cooling in the line. Where desirable, an adjustable audible warning device may be employed to signal the user, that the hot water cycle will be shortly completed and the hot water will be completely used up in a specified amount of time.
Service area B functions identical to service area A, except the hot water service conduit is conduit 52 and the return conduit is 51. The return flow path is completed to hot water supply 31 through flow control unit inlet 55 and remotely actuated valve 62 in fluid communication with pump 66. The flow follows the same, single conduit path out of the flow control unit 10 at outlet 98 to cool water inlet conduit 30 of hot water supply 31. The adjustable time of the cycle is determined by the distance from hot water supply 31 to service area B. Check valves 95, 96, 68 are to limit back flow, protecting system components. Remote control 9 is hard wired at one or more locations in the structure.
Turning now to FIG. 2
There is shown an alternative embodiment of the present invention, primarily configured for installation in an existing structure. The flow control components of water saver segment 10A and energy saver segment 10B are in the de-energized state. Flow control unit 10 is in the ready state, capable of receiving and acting upon electronically transmitted commands. Power control 21 directs power to selected circuits of the flow controller 22. Flow controller 22 directs power to specific components of water saver segment 10B and energy saver segment 10A. In the static state the pressurized cool water supply line 12 furnishes the cool water supply through manual shut off valve 14, through main cool water supply conduit 16 to inlet 43 of flow control unit 10. The flow path continues via conduits 45, 90 and 92, to the inlet side of normally open-to-flow, remotely actuated valve 94.
The output side of valve 94 is in fluid communication with the input side of hot water supply 31, via check valve 96, conduit 99 and flow control unit outlet 98 and cool water inlet conduit 30, causing hot water supply 31 to be subject to system supply pressure. Cool water supply to the structure's cool water service conduits is via main cool water supply conduit 16, continuing through conduit 51. The flow is branched from conduit 51 at service conduit 7 to service Area A and at service conduit 8, to service Area B. Any additional cool water service areas would be branched from conduit 51.
The hot water output of hot water supply 31 supplies hot water, under system pressure to the structure. Hot water flow is via hot water supply conduit 32 and conduit 40. Each service line to separate use points in the structure is branched off from conduit 40. Hot water service conduit 42 branches off to furnish hot water to sink 3 through shut-off valve 44 and to shower/bath outlet 50, via conduit 46, and manual control valve 48. Hot water service conduit 52 branches from conduit 40 to furnish hot water to sink 4 via shut-off valve 54 and to shower/bath outlet 60 via conduit 56 and manual control valve 58. Opening any hot water outlet will permit the use of pressurized hot water.
Manual crossover valve 27, when in the open-to-flow condition, completes a flow path from hot water service conduit 42 thru hot water crossover conduit 28 to cool water service conduit 7 via cool water crossover conduit 26. A flow path continues via conduit 51, flow control unit inlet 43 and conduits 45 and 81, to the inlet of normally closed-to-flow, remotely actuated valve 82. The outlet side of valve 82 is in fluid communication with the inlet of pump 66. The outlet of pump 66 is in fluid communication with the junction of conduit 99, via check valve 68 and conduit 69. A flow path is competed to the cool water inlet of hot water supply 31 via flow control unit outlet 98 and cool water inlet conduit 30.
Radio control unit 11 is moisture proof radio signal remote, in radio communication with flow control unit 10.
Remote control unit 9 is in electrical continuity with the flow control unit 10.
Manual shutoff valve 5 controls cool water to area A and manual shutoff valve 4 controls cool water to area B.
Operation FIG. 2
Conserving Water: Assuming hot water is desired at service area A, a manual crossover control valve 27 is turned to the open position completing a crossover flow path from hot water service crossover conduit 28 at hot water service manual shut off valve 44 to cool water service crossover conduit 26 at cool water service shut off valve 5. A conduit path is now available from hot water service conduit 42 to cool water service conduit 7, completing a conduit path from hot water supply 31 to service area A at sink 3, and returning back to hot water supply 31. To activate the system remote control unit 9 is operated to send a command to the system. Power control unit 21 furnishes the power to flow controller 22, and the following timed sequence occurs, within water saver segment 10B:
Pump 66 is activated and normally closed-to-flow remotely activated valve 82 is energized to the open-to-flow position and a flow path is established. Using hot water service conduit 42 as a starting point along a closed loop flow path, water in hot water service conduit 42, in fluid communication with conduit 7 through manual crossover control valve 27, now permits the pumping action of pump 66 to create pressure, causing flow via conduits 7 and 52 to inlet 43 of flow control unit 10. Flow continues through conduits 45 and 81 to the inlet of normally closed-to-flow, remotely actuated valve 82, now energized to the open-to-flow condition. The outlet of valve 82 is coupled to the inlet of pump 66 via conduit 65. The output of pump 66 is via conduit 67 and flow is completed through check valve 68, and conduit 69 to flow control unit outlet 98. The pumping action of pump 66, operating within a closed loop causes the circulation of hot water from the hot water outlet conduit 32 of hot water supply 31 and the path is completed via conduit 40, to starting point, hot water service conduit 42.
At a pre-programmed time, flow controller 22, causes remotely actuated valve 82 to be de-energized to the normally closed-to-flow position, interrupting the circulation loop. Pump 66 is de-energized and manual crossover control valve 27 is turned to the closed position. Hot water is available at the selected use point and no water has been wasted down the drain, waiting for hot water.
Normal Use Cycle
All the remotely actuated valves are de-energized and hot water supply pressure is now available for immediate use, as previously explained under the static state. The adjustable use cycle duration is programmed into the flow controller 22.
When control of the use cycle duration by the user, in the shower for example, is desired, then radio control unit 11 may be employed. Whether preprogrammed or controlled by the user, the operational function of the flow control unit 10 is the same. The preprogrammed signal or a signal from radio control unit 11, in the latter stage of the use cycle, causes the following events to occur, within energy saver segment 10A:
Energy Conservation Cycle
Flow controller 22 starts the sequence and energy saver 10A valves are configured as follows: Normally open-to-flow, remotely actuated valve 94 is energized to the close-to-flow position and normally closed-to-flow, remotely actuated valve 93 is energized to the open-to-flow position. Cool water supply pressure is interrupted to the hot water supply 31. Cool water supply pressure is now in fluid communication with conduit 97 and hot water supply conduit 32. Pressurized cool water flow is through conduit 91 and now open-to-flow remotely actuated valve 93, through check valve 95 and outlet 19 of flow control unit 10. Pressurized cool water acts to force hot water in conduits 40 and 42, to flow towards the open hot water outlet at sink 3 or shower/bath outlet 50. Depending upon the distance to the use point, the hot water user has a specified time to complete the use cycle. As the user senses the water cooling, the outlet is ready to be closed, as the user decides. Shortly thereafter the energy saver 10A valves are automatically de-energized once again to their static condition. Hot water normally left standing in the lines to cool, now has been fully utilized and replaced by cool water, so that energy is not wasted. An adjustable audible reminder device may be employed to signal the user that the water will turn cool in a specific period of time.
Service area B functions identical to service area A, except the hot water service conduit is conduit 52, and the cool water service conduit is conduit 8. Manual crossover control valve 72 is used to complete the crossover connection from hot water crossover conduit 73 to cool water crossover conduit 71 at sink 4. The adjustable time setting of the cycle is determined by the distance to service area B.
Check valves 95, 98 and 68 are to limit back flow, protecting system components. Remote control unit 9 is hard wired at one or more locations in the structure. Radio control unit 11 can be one of several moisture proof, battery operated, radio signal transmitting units, capable of communicating with a radio receiving device.
RAMIFICATIONS
Thus the reader will see that the universal water & energy conservation system provides a highly flexible water and energy conservation apparatus, adaptable to a user's economic capabilities, the availability and location of space within a structure and the construction status of the structure itself.
While my above description contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention, but rather as an exemplification of applicable embodiments thereof. Many other variations are possible.
For example:
One ramification of the system is that it can be segmented as a combination system, wherein the energy saver segment is located near the hot water supply and a water saver segment is located at one or more hot water use areas. The water saver segment could be configured as a one mode or three mode device, where the operation of a toilet flush tank, a holding tank and a pump are combined. When hot water is desired and the use of the toilet flush tanks is also required, actuating the water saver segment in mode 1 permits the cool water in the hot water line, under pressurized hot water supply, to be directed to refill the toilet flush tank, which has been emptied; thus bringing hot water to the use area without wasting water down the drain.
Operating the water saver segment in mode 2, when hot water is desired, would cause cool water in the hot water conduits, under pressurized hot water supply, to be directed to a holding tank, making hot water available without wasting water down the drain.
Operating the water saver segment in mode 3, would cause stored water to be pumped to refill an emptied flush tank, when it has been emptied but there is no current demand for hot water making use of previously saved water.
Another ramification is that the described holding tank could be coupled through associated conduits, to a clothes washer, a drip irrigation system or some other water use apparatus.
Another ramification is that where a water saver segment is installed at a hot water use area, a small use point water heater could be added with a minor alteration to the hot water service conduit, which would then eliminate the need for the holding tank and the pump. The water saver segment would then operate in a short cycle hot water use mode, and a long cycle hot water use mode. Water savings would be realized and couplings to other water use apparatus would be eliminated.
Another ramification of the system is that it can be configured as an integrated unit with all operating components located in close proximity to the hot water supply. A holding tank would be included which would receive the standing cool water in the hot water lines, each time hot water is demanded at a hot water use area. The holding tank could be located anywhere in the structure, and it would be capable of having its saved water pumped to other water apparatus in the structure, or a drip irrigation system, through associated conduits.
Another ramification of the system is that, where pressure levels permit, a pressure reducer could be substituted for the normally open-to-flow remotely actuated valve of the energy saver segment.
Another ramification of the system is that, where pressure levels permit, a spring loaded check valve could be substituted for the normally open-to-flow remotely actuated valve of the energy saver segment.
Another ramification of the system is that, where building practices would permit, a remotely actuated valve could be installed in the main cool water supply to temporarily interrupt supply pressure to the cool water conduit system. This would permit hot water, under supply pressure, to force cool water out of the hot water supply and service conduits, through a manual cross over valve, to a holding tank, a flush tank or other water apparatus.
Another ramification of the system is that one or more remotely actuated valves and the associated conduits could be added to the flow control unit to service additional hot water use areas.
Another ramification is that, in a building where extensive alterations to a standard plumbing plan would be acceptable and/or where electric service is inadequate, the electromechanically controlled energy saver segment, could be replaced by manual diverter valves located at each hot water use area; most efficiently in close proximity to each shower/bath outlet valve.
Another ramification of the system is it may be adapted and expanded for installation at multi use facilities such as motels, hotels, military quarters, college dormitories, etc.
Another ramification of the system is it may be configured as a must activate system, which will not deliver hot water until the system is activated. A room key, magnetic coded strip card or other secure device could be employed to limit access.
Another ramification of the system is that thermal sensors could be incorporated to control the operation of a pump and selected system components.
Another ramification is that flow sensitive devices may be installed to control the operation of a pump and selected system components.
Another ramification of the system is that one or more said manual crossover valves may be replaced by one or more remotely actuated valves, energized and de-energized by remote control signals from a radio control means or from a remote control means in electrical continuity with the system.
The present disclosure includes that contained in the appended claims as well as that of the foregoing description. It is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred forms has been made only by way of example. Although preferred and alternate embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed above, it will be appreciated that numerous alterations and modifications thereof will no doubt become apparent to those skilled in the art, after having read the above disclosures. It is therefore intended that the following claims be interpreted as covering all such alterations and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
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An on demand, multi-faceted, programmable, electronically and electromechanically controlled, water and energy conservation system, easily segmented and adaptable to the limitations of varying structures, specific conservation goals and each user's economic considerations. The energy saver segment and one of several water saver segments may be combined into a complete system, configurational to differing conditions and useable with any pressurized water supply. The invention may also be configured for installation in existing, new or add-on structures. Preselected opening and closing of remotely actuated valves alters conduit paths, to avoid water waste down the drain, waiting for hot water. Hot water delivered from the hot water supply is completely used, eliminating the energy waste of hot water cooling in the pipes. On command from radio control unit (11) or remote control unit (9), power control (21) energizes flow controller (22) pre-programed to selectively energize and de-energize remotely actuated valve (61) or (62), and pump (66) of flow control unit (10), to simultaneously deliver hot water and re-circulate standing water in applicable conduits (32), (40), and (42), or (52), to hot water supply (31). Automatically, or by the user's override command, near the end of the selected use cycle, another conduit path is provided. Cold water supply pressure (12) to hot water supply (31) is interrupted through normally open, remotely actuated valve (94) and is re-directed through normally closed, remotely actuated valve (93), forcing delivered hot water to the open outlet, until used. The system operates only when commanded.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/937,596 filed Nov. 10, 2015 which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Pat. App. No. 62/077,370 filed Nov. 10, 2014 both of which are incorporated herein in their entireties and for all purposes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Field of the Invention
[0003] The invention relates to the field of electromagnetic signal transport and distribution. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for transporting and distributing signals in radio frequency and light portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
[0004] Discussion of the Related Art
[0005] Electromagnetic signals are commonly transported in radio frequency and infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Transport media includes metallic cables for transporting radio frequency signals and fiber optic cables for transporting optical signals such as infrared signals.
[0006] Widespread use of fiber optic cables for long haul signal transport provides orders of magnitude more bandwidth over orders of magnitude longer distances as compared with copper cables such as a twisted pair of copper wires or coaxial cable. However, unlike long haul signal transport, signal distribution systems tend to be local to users and are more likely to use lower cost copper cabling given distribution bandwidth requirements typically do not require the capacity offered by fiber optic cables.
[0007] Fiber optic transmission, receiving, and conditioning equipment also represent a significant cost hurdle as compared with required metallic cable counterparts. For example, fiber optics transmit, amplify, receive, and split equipment costs for either of dense wavelength division multiplexing (“DWDM”) equipment (e.g., 0.8 nm channel spacing) or coarse wavelength division multiplexing (“CWDM”) equipment (e.g., 20 nm channel spacing) far exceed the costs of counterpart equipment required for twisted pair and coaxial cable signals.
[0008] Converting signals from mixed transport media into a common format usable at signal end points is a problem that is multiplied by an abundance of signal sources in multiple locations which may be near signal end point (e.g., “within sight”) or far from the signal end point (e.g., kilometers/miles away).
[0009] Signal transport and distribution systems that readily accommodate geographically diverse signals carried on multiple transport media while delivering a usable signal(s) at a signal end point or multiple signal end points are rare, especially in commercial, dwelling unit, and multi-dwelling unit applications where the cost of sophisticated signal handling equipment is prohibitive.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0010] A signal transport-distribution system and method aggregates and delivers multiple signals to multiple signal end points. In an embodiment a signal transport and distribution system serving users with internet and satellite television services, comprises: in a multi-dwelling building, a roof mounted DBS end, a weather protected dispatch block, and a user end; the dispatch block interconnecting the DBS end and the user end; an internet service provider passive optical network interconnected with an OLT of the dispatch block; in the dispatch block, a switch for receiving DBS signals via plural coaxial cables interconnected with a DBS low noise block, the switch configured to simultaneously deliver multiple channels of multimedia content at a switch coaxial output port in response to requests received from a plurality of set top boxes, a splitter with “y” output ports coupling the switch coaxial output to each of “y” dispatch block transceivers; in each of “y” dwelling units, a dwelling unit transceiver having a coaxial output port and an optical input and output port, a coaxial cable interconnecting the dwelling unit transceiver and a single or multi-tuner set top box, an optical cable interconnecting the dwelling unit transceiver and an ONU; and, for each dispatch block transceiver, a single mode fiber optic cable interconnecting the transceiver with a respective dwelling unit transceiver; wherein dwelling units simultaneously receive content of their choice as requested via their respective set top boxes and simultaneously exchange data with a public network.
[0011] In some embodiments each of the dispatch block and dwelling unit transceiver pairs utilizes diplexers to route bidirectional control signals exchanged between an associated set top box and the switch.
[0012] And, in some embodiments each of the dispatch block and dwelling unit transceiver pairs utilizes bidirectional filters or telephone hybrid transformers to route control signals exchanged between an associated set top box and the switch.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] FIG. 1A shows first block diagram of a system in accordance with the current invention.
[0014] FIG. 1B shows a second block diagram based on the system of FIG. 1A .
[0015] FIGS. 1C-D show wavelengths and frequencies used by various embodiments of FIG. 1A .
[0016] FIGS. 2A-C show details of transceivers used in the system of FIG. 1A .
[0017] FIGS. 3A-B show signal flows related to set top box requests in an embodiment of the system of FIG. 1A .
[0018] FIGS. 4A-B show signal flows related to downstream propagation of video and control signals used with an embodiment of the system of FIG. 1A .
[0019] FIGS. 5A-B show signal flows related to external network communications used with an embodiment of the system of FIG. 1A .
[0020] FIG. 6 shows an application of an embodiment of the system of FIG. 1A .
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0021] The disclosure provided in the following pages describes examples of some embodiments of the invention. The designs, figures and description are non-limiting examples of the embodiments they disclose. For example, other embodiments of the disclosed device and/or method may or may not include the features described herein. Moreover, disclosed advantages and benefits may apply to only certain embodiments of the invention and should not be used to limit the disclosed invention.
[0022] As used herein, the term “coupled” includes direct and indirect connections. Moreover, where first and second devices are coupled, intervening devices including active devices may be located therebetween.
[0023] This application incorporates by reference, in its entirety and for all purposes, ANSI/SCTE 174 2010 Radio Frequency over Glass Fiber-to-the-Home Specification (American National Standards Institute; Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers). This application incorporates by reference, in their entireties and for all purposes, IEEE standards including IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.3 ah, IEEE 802.3 ah-2004, and IEEE 802.3av (Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers).
[0024] FIG. 1A is a block diagram 100 A illustrating a signal transport and distribution system in accordance with the present invention. As discussed below, signals in this system are transported via metallic conductors such as copper, for example via coaxial cables, and via fiber.
[0025] In the diagram, a supply block 102 including a first transceiver 118 is linked with a user block 104 including a second transceiver 122 via a single mode fiber optic cable 120 . The first transceiver 118 exchanges optical signals (e.g., single mode fiber optic media) with a first source such as an internet service provider (“ISP”) 115 via an optical line terminal (“OLT”) 117 . In some embodiments a splitter 181 is interposed between the transceiver 118 and the OLT 117 . OLT functions include bidirectional control of information across an optical distribution network (“ODN”). The OLT may, for example, be located in a main distribution frame (“MDF”), an intermediate distribution (“IDF”), or a central office.
[0026] The first transceiver 118 also exchanges electrical signals (e.g., coaxial cable media) with a second source, for example with a video source such as a direct broadcast satellite (“DBS”) source 112 . Notably, a DBS source may provide multiple channels where individual channels and/or groups of channels are received by a set top box that delivers a multimedia presentation (e.g., movies and television shows to a TV). In various embodiments, a set top box may request a particular channel or group of channels via communicating with a switch 114 . The switch may be interposed between the DBS and the first transceiver.
[0027] Signals from the DBS source 112 may be processed by a switch 114 (e.g. single wire multiswitch, “SWM”) providing a plurality of frequency bands. Signals from the switch may be split or not via an electrical signal splitter 116 . For example, where a switch provides “n” frequency bands, the splitter may make these frequency bands available to multiple set top boxes as discussed below. For convenience, the first transceiver 118 may be referred to herein as a transmitter because it forwards video and internet signals.
[0028] The second transceiver 122 exchanges electrical signals with appliances such as a television (“TV”) 126 via a set top box 124 (“STB”). The second transceiver also exchanges optical signals with a network such as a local area network and/or appliances such computer(s) and voice over internet protocol (“VOIP”) devices 119 via an optical network unit (“ONU”) 121 . ONU functions include conversion of optical signals transmitted via fiber to electrical signals. The ONU may send, aggregate and groom different types of data coming from an appliance and send it upstream to the OLT. For convenience, this second transceiver 122 may, as the receiver of transmitted video and internet signals, be referred to as a receiver.
[0029] FIG. 1B shows an embodiment 100 B of the block diagram of FIG. 1 . As seen, a supply block 102 including a first transceiver 118 is linked with a user block 104 including a second transceiver 122 via a fiber link 120 . In some embodiments, the fiber link is a single mode fiber optic cable.
[0030] In the supply block, the first transceiver 118 exchanges GPON/EPON optical signals with an internet service provider (“ISP”) 115 via an optical line terminal (“OLT”) 117 and in some embodiments via a splitter 181 . Signals between the first transceiver and the OLT are transported via a fiber optic cable 150 . The first transceiver 118 also exchanges electrical signals with a DBS source 112 .
[0031] Between the DBS source and the transceiver is a switching device 114 followed by a signal splitter 116 . One or more coaxial cables 113 transport DBS signals (e.g., from a satellite dish low noise block “LNB”) to the switch. In response to signals received from the set top box 124 , the switch responds by transmitting requested DBS channel(s) over a coaxial cable 130 to the splitter 116 . One splitter port 140 of multiple splitter ports 140 - 142 forwards the requested channel(s) to the transmitter 118 .
[0032] In the user block, the second transceiver 122 exchanges electrical signals with a set top box STB 124 via a coaxial cable 160 . The second transceiver also exchanges GPON/EPON signals with an ONU 121 via a fiber optic cable 170 . As mentioned above, appliances such as computer(s) and voice over internet protocol (“VOIP”) device(s) 119 are supported by the ONU.
[0033] FIG. 1C shows a wavelength allocation chart for optical media communications 100 C. Some embodiments of the invention transmit and/or receive GPON and/or EPON signals utilizing O band, S band and C band communication. Some embodiments utilize C and/or S band communications for upstream communication of control signals. Some embodiments utilize L band for downstream communication of video and/or control signals. In an embodiment, 1490/1550 and 1310 nm wavelengths are used for downstream and upstream communication of EPON/GPON signals. In an embodiment 1570/1590 nm wavelength is used for downstream communication of control and/or video signals. In an embodiment 1530 nm wavelength is used for upstream communication of control signals.
[0034] FIG. 1D shows a frequency allocation chart for electrical media communications 100 D. Some embodiments of the invention provide for exchanging signals such as FSK signals between the switch 114 and the set top box 124 using frequencies in the range of 2.1-2.5 MHz, for example 2.25 Mhz. Some embodiments of the invention provide for transporting switch channels using frequencies in the range of 950-2150 MHz.
[0035] FIG. 2A shows an embodiment 200 A of the signal transport and distribution system of FIG. 1 .
[0036] In the figure, a supply block 102 includes a first transceiver 118 and a user block 104 includes a second transceiver 122 . The first transceiver has an electrical section 206 and an optical section 207 . The second transceiver has an electrical section 208 and an optical section 209 .
[0037] In the supply block 102 , an input signal amplifier 215 exchanges signals with a DBS source 212 via a switch 214 . The amplifier has an output to an electrical to optical converter (E/O converter) 220 and an input from an optical to electrical converter (O/E converter) 240 .
[0038] A first transceiver optical multiplexer 230 has a bidirectional connection with a fiber optic cable such as a single mode fiber optic cable 120 . The multiplexor receives a signal from the E/O converter 220 and sends a signal to the O/E converter 240 . In addition, the multiplexor exchanges signals with an ISP 115 via an OLT 117 . Notably, the optical multiplexor 230 is actually a multiplexer/demultiplexer. For convenience, this device is referred to as a multiplexer which is consistent with its role in multiplexing downstream signals.
[0039] In the user block 104 , an optical demultiplexer 250 has a bidirectional connection with the fiber optic cable 120 . In addition, the demultiplexer has an output to an O/E converter 260 , an input from an E/O converter 280 , and a bidirectional port that connects with an appliance 119 via an ONU 121 . Notably, the optical demultiplexer 250 is actually a multiplexer/demultiplexer. For convenience, this device is referred to as a demultiplexer which is consistent with its role in demultiplexing downstream signals.
[0040] An input amplifier 270 has a bidirectional connection with a set top box. In addition the amplifier receives a signal from the O/E Converter 260 and outputs a signal to the optical demultiplexer 250 via a E/O converter 280 .
[0041] FIGS. 2B-C show an embodiment 200 B-C of the signal transport and distribution system of FIG. 1 .
[0042] In FIG. 2B , a supply block 102 interconnects with a bidirectional 251 fiber optic cable 120 .
[0043] Within the supply block 102 a detailed implementation of the first transceiver 118 is shown. The transceiver may be described as having an electrical signal section 206 and an optical signal section 207 .
[0044] The electrical signal section 206 includes an input signal amplifier 215 for exchanging signals with the switch 214 and driving a laser 226 (e.g. 1570 DFB laser operating at 1563-1577 nm). A laser driving circuit 220 may include a driver amplifier 222 in series with a dropping resistor 224 .
[0045] The input signal amplifier 215 provides for receiving a multiband signal from the switch 214 and amplifying the signal. In an embodiment, a first diplexer 216 i) receives video and STB signals (e.g., control and/or FSK control signals) from the switch 214 over a single coaxial cable 140 , ii) outputs the video signal to a video signal amplifier 218 , and iii) outputs the control signal to an control signal amplifier 246 via a signal director 249 (e.g., a telephone hybrid transformer). In a second diplexer 219 , the amplified video and control signals are recombined for driving the laser 226 as by the laser driving circuit 220 .
[0046] The input signal amplifier 215 also provides for receiving a control signal from the STB 124 . In particular, the signal director may provide an input port 243 , an output port 245 , and a bi-directional port 247 . The output port may be used for transporting control signals originating from the switch 214 as described above. The bi-directional port 247 may be used for transporting control signals from the STB 124 to the switch.
[0047] The method of directing signals can be achieved through the use of a telephone hybrid transformer, as discussed above, or by utilizing radio frequency designs that deliver appropriate signals to the appropriate ports based on the frequencies used in the application and the amount of signal needed to perform the function.
[0048] A photodetector such as photodiode or PIN diode 241 excited by an STB signal may be coupled with the signal director input port 243 via an optical to electrical converter (“O/E converter”) 240 . For example, a PIN diode output may be coupled with the signal director input port 243 via a transimpedance amplifier 242 with attenuated feedback 244 driving an automatic gain control 248 .
[0049] Signals from the electrical section 206 are passed to the optical section 207 via an optical multiplexer 230 . In particular, the optical multiplexer includes an input port 231 , an output port 237 and two bidirectional ports 233 , 235 . In an embodiment, the multiplexer includes first and second optical add drop multiplexers (“OADM”) 232 , 234 coupled via a bidirectional link 238 . The first multiplexer 232 includes the input port 231 and the bidirectional port 235 . The second multiplexer 234 includes the output port 237 and the bidirectional port 233 .
[0050] Notably, optical multiplexing can be achieved by several technologies that have relative benefits depending upon production concerns, quality, cost, supply, and/or application. Examples of these technologies include CWDM (coarse wavelength division multiplexing) and DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing), OADM (optical add-drop multiplexors), and BOSA (Bidirectional Optical Sub-Assemblies). In addition, these technologies can be used in a series arrangement as described earlier. All of these technologies can be used to multiplex (i.e. combine) and de-multiplex (i.e. separate) wavelengths onto the same fiber cable in opposite directions (i.e. bidirectional).
[0051] The laser diode 226 transmits video and control signals from the electrical section 206 to the input port 231 and the multiplexer passes these signals to the fiber link 120 which is attached to the first bidirectional port 233 . Optical connections such as unidirectional and bidirectional port connections may utilize an optical connector such as an sc/apc optical connector 236 .
[0052] Optical network signals such as GPON/EPON signals 235 exchanged with an ISP 115 via an OLT 117 also pass through the optical multiplexer 230 via the second bidirectional port 235 .
[0053] As mentioned above and as is further described below, the optical multiplexer 230 also receives signals from the second transceiver 122 . In particular, signals from the second transceiver enter the multiplexer 230 from the fiber link 120 at the first bidirectional port 233 . These signals may include control signals from the set top box 124 and optical network signals such as EPON/GPON signals passed to the second transceiver from various appliances 119 via an ONU 121 . The optical multiplexer 230 segregates these signals such that EPON/GPON signals are exchanged via the second bidirectional port 235 and control signals via the output port 237 excite the first transceiver PIN diode 241 .
[0054] While the optical section including block 230 and in cases photodiode 226 and photodetector 241 has been implemented using OADM's, this is, as mentioned, but one of several methods. For example, a bidirectional optical sub-assembly (“BOSA”) might be used having a fiber optic connection, a receiver optical connection (“ROSA”) and a transmitter optical connection (“TOSA”) for the GPON/EPON signals, a transmitter optical connection for the for the video and control signals (“ROSA”) and a receiver optical connection for the control signals (“TOSA”).
[0055] In FIG. 2C , a user block 104 interconnects with the fiber link 120 .
[0056] Within the user block 104 a detailed implementation of the second transceiver 122 is shown. The transceiver may be described as having an optical signal section 209 and an electrical signal section 208 .
[0057] The optical signal section 209 includes a receiver demultiplexer 250 with an input port 257 , a first bidirectional 251 fiber optic link 120 , an electrical section output port 253 , and a second bidirectional port 255 . In an embodiment, the demultiplexer includes first and second optical add drop multiplexers (“OADM”) 252 , 254 coupled via a bidirectional link 258 . The first multiplexer includes the first bidirectional output port 251 and the input port 257 . The second multiplexer includes the output port 253 and the second bidirectional port 255 .
[0058] Optical network signals such as GPON/EPON signals 259 exchanged with user appliances 119 via an ONU 121 also pass through the receiver demultiplexer 250 via the bidirectional port 255 .
[0059] The electrical signal section 208 includes an output signal amplifier 270 for exchanging signals between a PIN diode 264 and the set top box 124 . The amplifier is driven by an optical to electrical converter (“O/E converter”) 260 including the PIN diode and the PIN diode is driven by the demultiplexer electrical section output port 253 . The O/E converter circuit may include a serially arranged transimpedance amplifier 268 with attenuated feedback 266 .
[0060] In the output signal amplifier 270 , a first diplexer 271 is driven by the O/E converter circuit 260 . Diplexer outputs drive respective automatic gain control (“AGC”) amplifiers. A first of the amplifiers 272 receives a video output from the first diplexer and forwards an amplified video signal to second diplexer 274 . A second of the amplifiers 273 receives a control output from the first diplexer and forwards the amplified control signal to the second diplexer 274 via a signal director 278 (e.g., a telephone hybrid transformer). The set top box 124 receives a diplexed video/control signal via the second diplexer.
[0061] As mentioned earlier, STB control signals such as FSK signals may be passed over the fiber link 120 . In particular, a control signal entering the second diplexer 274 may be forwarded to an electrical to optical conversion block (“E/O block”) 280 via the signal director 278 . A laser diode 286 within the E/O block transfers the signal to the fiber link via the receiver demultiplexer 250 and its input port 257 . In an embodiment, the E/O block includes a driver 282 in series with the laser diode 286 and in some embodiments the driver output is attenuated 284 .
[0062] While the optical section including block 230 and in cases photodiode 226 and photodetector 241 has been implemented using OADM's, this is, as mentioned, but one of several methods. For example, a bidirectional optical subassembly (“BOSA”) might be used that includes a fiber optic connection, a receiver optical connection (“ROSA”) and a transmitter optical connection (“TOSA”) for the GPON/EPON signals, a receiver optical connection for the for the video and control signals (“ROSA”) and a transmitter optical connection for the control signals (“TOSA”).
[0063] FIGS. 3A-B show transport of a signal originating at a set top box 300 A-B. Here, a signal such as a control signal originates at a set top box 124 and carries an instruction to a switch 214 . In the second transceiver, the second diplexer 274 segregates high and low frequency signals such that relatively low frequency control signal from the STB is routed to the signal director 278 . In turn, the signal director routs the control signal to the E/O converter 280 . Receiving the E/O optical output, the optical demultiplexer 250 passes the signal to the fiber link 120 that interconnects the first 118 and second 122 transceivers.
[0064] In the first transceiver 118 , the multiplexor 230 receives the signal from the fiber link 120 and passes the signal to the O/E converter 240 . The signal director 249 receives the signal from the O/E converter and routs the signal to the first diplexer 216 which routs the signal to the switch 214 via a coaxial cable 140 .
[0065] FIGS. 4A-B show transport of control and video signals 400 A-B. Here, i) a control signal originates at the switch and ii) a video signal originates at the switch. In the first transceiver, a first diplexer 216 receives a signal from the switch 214 via a coaxial cable 140 .
[0066] The first diplexer segregates the signal into i) a relatively high frequency video signal and ii) a relatively low frequency control signal. The first diplexer routes the video signal to a second diplexer 219 via an amplifier 218 and routes the control signal to a signal director 249 . In turn, the signal director routes the control signal to the second diplexer via an amplifier 246 .
[0067] A diplexed control and video signal is passed from the second diplexer 219 to a multiplexer 230 via an electrical to optical converter 220 . The diplexed signal reaches a fiber link 120 interconnecting the first 118 and second 122 transceivers via the multiplexer.
[0068] In the second transceiver 122 , a demultiplexer 250 receives the diplexed signal from the fiber link 120 and passes it to first diplexer 271 via an O/E converter 260 . The first diplexer segregates the signal into i) a relatively high frequency video signal and ii) a relatively low frequency control signal.
[0069] The first diplexer i) routes the video signal to a second diplexer 274 via a first automatic gain control 272 and ii) routes the control signal to a signal director 278 via a second automatic gain control 273 . The signal director routs the control signal to the second diplexer 274 . The diplexed signal reaches the set top box 124 via a coaxial cable 160 .
[0070] FIGS. 5A-B show transport of bidirectional GPON/EPON signals 500 A-B. Here, bidirectional signals are transported between an OLT 117 and an ONU 121 . For example, signals originating at the OLT 117 are transported to a bidirectional port of the multiplexer 230 in the first transceiver 118 . Via the fiber link 120 interconnecting the first 118 and second 122 transceivers, the signal is passed to a demultiplexer 250 in the second transceiver. An ONU 121 coupled to a demultiplexer bidirectional port provides for interconnection of appliances seeking to communicate with the network 239 . For example, signals originating at the ONU 121 pass through a bidirectional port of the demultiplexer 250 , then via the fiber link 120 interconnecting the first 118 and second 122 transceivers, and to the OLT 117 via a bidirectional port on the multiplexor 230 .
[0071] FIG. 6 shows an electromagnetic signal transport and distribution system that employs an embodiment of the invention 600 . The system includes a DBS end 610 and a user end 680 . Interconnecting the DBS end and the user end is a dispatch block 640 and interconnecting with the dispatch block is a network 630 such as a network operated by an ISP.
[0072] In the DBS end 610 , a direct broadcast satellite (“DBS”) receiving subsystem includes a satellite dish 602 , a low noise block converter (“LNB”) 604 with one or more coaxial cable interconnections 606 .
[0073] Connecting with the DBS end 610 is the dispatch block 640 . The dispatch block includes one or more switches (e.g., “n” switches) and each switch includes a plurality of frequency blocks (e.g., “x” frequency blocks per switch). Each switch receives signal(s) from the dish. As shown, the LNB signals are carried by coaxial cables 606 and enter a tap or splitter 645 which feeds each to two switches S 1 and S 2 with respective signals 646 , 648 .
[0074] Switch S 1 has a single coaxial output coupled with a splitter P 1 and switch S 2 has a single coaxial output coupled with a splitter P 2 . These splitters P 1 , P 2 provide each of multiple end users or dwelling units with access to the frequency blocks within the interconnected switch. Various embodiments provide set top boxes 124 configured to access particular ones of the frequency blocks such that a frequency block or groups of frequency blocks available from each switch is/are allocated to particular set top boxes. For example, if a switch S 1 has x=15 frequency blocks and a connected splitter P 1 has y=3 ports, then the three way splitter shown P 1 provides each port, user, or dwelling unit with access to the frequency blocks.
[0075] In an embodiment, the LNB 604 and a switch S 1 are packaged together. In this case, a single coaxial output can be coupled to a splitter P 1 to provide multiple end users or dwelling units with access to the frequency blocks within the interconnected switch.
[0076] In various embodiments a switch S 1 allocates particular frequency blocks to each set top box. For example, where groups of frequency blocks are allocated to each of three set top boxes interconnected with the splitter ports, the first STB may have access to frequency blocks 1 - 5 , the second STB may have access to frequency blocks 6 - 10 , and the third STB may have access to frequency blocks 11 - 15 . In this example of equally allocated frequency blocks, each STB is allocated (x/y) frequency blocks from an interconnected switch.
[0077] As shown, each of the splitter output ports is interconnected via coaxial cable with a respective transceiver. As shown splitter P 1 is connected with transceivers T 1 , T 2 , T 3 and splitter P 2 is connected with transceivers T 4 , T 5 , T 6 . And, as shown, each of the transceivers is connected with an ISP 630 via an optical splitter 655 , and an OLT 650 . The connections between the optical splitter and the transmitter 690 are fiber connections as are the connections from the splitter to the OLT and from the OLT to the ISP.
[0078] Transport is via single mode fiber links. In particular, fiber optic cables 670 interconnect each of the transceivers with respective second transceivers R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 , R 5 , R 6 located in respective units U 1 , U 2 , U 3 and U 4 , U 5 , U 6 in user end 680 .
[0079] Coaxial cable ports on the second transceivers R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 , R 5 , R 6 interconnect with respective set top boxes located in each of the units U 1 -U 6 . Fiber optic ports on the second transceivers interconnect with respective optical devices such as with respective ONU's.
[0080] In an embodiment the transceivers R 1 -R 6 are included in the ONU. In an embodiment the transceivers are included in the set top box. In an embodiment the transceivers, the set top box, and the ONU are included in a common package.
[0081] In some embodiments, the DBS end 610 is roof mounted on a multi-dwelling building roof, the dispatch block 640 is located in a weather protected zone within the building, and the user end 680 is distributed within the dwelling units.
[0082] While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes in the form and details can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. As such, the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and equivalents thereof.
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An electromagnetic signal transport and distribution system simultaneously transports over one single mode fiber various programming specifically requested by multiple users in multiple locations while simultaneously offering bidirectional communications with a public network.
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TECHNICAL FIELD
The field of invention is methods and apparatus for dispersing insect repellant.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKGROUND ART
Repellants are chemical substances, natural and synthesized, having a chemical effect on insects. Their use in human and veterinary hygiene is of great practical importance, where they protect man and beast against blood sucking, biting or otherwise annoying insects. Numerous methods and apparatuses for repelling bugs away from areas occupied by humans and animals are known and marketed throughout the United States and the world.
Known apparatuses and methods employ various means to disperse insect repellant to discourage insects from occupying certain space. One such previous device uses a heat source as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,647 to disperse repellent through evaporation. Another device described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,589,181 incorporates direct application of repellent on the subject desiring relief from bothersome insects. An alternative technique, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,505, involves fogging an area with repellant to evict insects from their current location.
A drawback with the previous approaches is the indiscriminate coverage area protected by evaporation and fogging. Another disadvantage is a requirement to periodically reapply repellant to provide continuous protection.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The aim of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus that creates a veil of protection against insects.
It is also an object of this invention to provide protection from insects for a sustainable and definite time period without periodic reapplication of the repellant.
A further object of this invention is to avoid purposeful direct application of the insect repellant to the subject's skin or clothing.
According to one embodiment, insect repellent is drawn out of a vessel through a fitting and dispersed along a predefined boundary by a nozzle assembly comprising a distribution header and misting nozzles. In a version of this embodiment, the fitting is a venturi-like device. Pressurized fluid flows through the venturi-like device intermixing with the insect repellant prior to dispersement into the air. In one version of this embodiment, the fluid is pressurized water from a municipal source or private well.
In another embodiment, insect repellant is premixed with a dispersing agent such as water in a vessel. The vessel is then pressurized or the fluid is pumped out of the vessel to force the fluid through a nozzle assembly.
This invention is particularly suitable for an outdoor covered area, for example, a covered porch or tent, in which it is necessary to adopt adequate protection against insects for extended periods of time.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows the present insect repellant distribution system installed on an open porch with an overhead covering.
FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of an embodiment connected to an outside water source.
FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of an embodiment using a vessel containing insect repellant premixed with a dispersing fluid. The mixture is pumped out of the vessel through the nozzle assembly.
FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of an embodiment using a vessel containing insect repellant premixed with a dispersing fluid. The mixture is forced out of the vessel and through the nozzle assembly by compressed air introduced to the vessel.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In a first embodiment, shown in FIG. 1, an insect repellent, that is nontoxic to humans, for example citronella, is placed in a vessel 1. A pressurized fluid source 9, for example a water faucet connected to a well, storage tank, or municipal water supply at standard domestic water pressure (20-100 psi), is connected to a fitting 11 which is attached to the vessel 1. Larger systems may employ a pressure pump from 100-1000 psi to increase the dispersement of insect repellent.
The fitting 11 can be a venturi-like mixing device that passes the pressurized fluid through the fitting 11 from a first inlet 10 to an outlet 12, drawing the insect repellent 8 out of the vessel 1 through inlet 14. The insect repellent mixes with the pressurized fluid as it is drawn out of the vessel 1. Fittings using a venturi for mixing and proportioning two fluids are commercially available and well known in the art, two such devices are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,887,640 and 5,443,094. The fitting 11 mixes the pressurized fluid with the insect repellent and forces the insect repellent into the distribution header 3.
The distribution header 3 can be fabricated from plastic tubing, metal piping, or the like. The distribution header 3 distributes the insect repellant to a plurality of misting nozzles 5. The misting nozzles 5 disperse the insect repellant into the atmosphere along a predetermined boundary such as defined by the edge of a porch roof 7.
This embodiment and others described herein would also work with multiple distribution headers that branch off of a primary distribution header 3 or originate from multiple outlets of the fitting 11. In addition, this embodiment and others described herein would work well with any overhead covering, such as a tent or canvass awning.
The embodiments described herein are especially useful for providing extended protection against insects. For example, fitting 11 mixes the insect repellant at a ratio of 50 parts by volume of pressurized fluid to 1 part by volume of insect repellant. At a flow rate of 1/2 gallon of pressurized fluid per minute, one gallon of insect repellant will provide continuous protection against insects for an hour and 42 minutes before replenishment of insect repellant is required. By changing flow rates, vessel capacities, or mixing proportions and insect repellant concentrations, the time period for protection from insects can by lengthened or shortened.
In another embodiment, shown in FIG. 2, vessel 13 is a collapsible bladder contained within a second vessel 15 which is detachable from fitting 17. A pressurized fluid source 19 is connected to a fitting 17 which is attached to vessel 13 and vessel 15 such that, as the pressurized fluid passes through fitting 17 from a first inlet 18 to a first outlet 20, insect repellant is drawn out of vessel 13 through a second inlet 26. Vessel 13 collapses as insect repellant is drawn out. As vessel 13 collapses, fitting 17 allows an amount of pressurized fluid from first inlet 18 through a second outlet 28 into vessel 15. The amount of diverted pressurized fluid is equal to the amount of insect repellant exiting vessel 13, thereby maintaining a constant pressure in vessels 13 and 15. This embodiment provides consistent proportioning and mixing of the two fluids. Fitting 17 as described herein and variations thereof are commercially available and well known in the art.
The insect repellant mixture exits the fitting 17 through outlet 20 into the distribution headers 21 and 22. The mixture travels through the distribution headers 21 and 22 and is expelled out of the misting nozzles 23 and 24. The expulsion of insect repellant through the misting nozzles 23 and 24 disperses the repellent along a boundary defined by the location of the misting nozzles 23 and 24 creating an invisible veil of protection against insects.
In another embodiment, shown in FIG. 3, insect repellant is premixed with a dispersing fluid, such as water, and placed in a vessel 25. A pump 27 pumps the premixed solution out of the vessel 25 and into the distribution header 29 and out of the misting nozzles 31. This allows replenishment of the vessel 25 without shutting the system down to add more repellant and dispersing fluid. This embodiment is also useful when an independent source of pressurized fluid is not readily available.
In another embodiment, shown in FIG. 4, a source of compressed air 33, such as a compressor or pressurized air tank, forces air into the vessel 35 thereby forcing the premixed solution into a distribution header 37 and out of the misting nozzles 39. Another version of this embodiment is to pressurize vessel 35 and then disconnect the source of compressed air 33 for transportation of the pressurized vessel 35 to a remote nozzle assembly.
An aromatic compound pleasing to the sensory faculties of the subjects desiring protection from insects, may be added to the fluid insect repellant in and of the preceding embodiments. The aromatic compound can mask unpleasant odors caused by the insect repellant or other sources.
While there has been shown and described what are at present considered the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention defined by the appended claims. For example, the misting nozzles could be holes in the distribution header and the pressurized fluid could be compressed air or a volatile liquid.
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An insect repellant method and apparatus that can protect a defined area from insects for a determinable time period. The invention may be practiced in conjunction with or independent of normal building systems. The invention creates an invisible veil of protection against insects.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention concerns a device for connecting a piece of road equipment, such as a drain inlet, to a vertical fixed runoff drainage pipe.
BACKGROUND
The installation of devices known until now for connecting a piece of road equipment to a vertical runoff drainage pipe is not only complex but also poses problems concerning the adjustment of the position of the piece of road equipment with respect to the curb or gutter to which it is to be sealed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention aims to eliminate the disadvantages of these known devices by proposing a device for connecting to a vertical fixed runoff drainage pipe a piece of road equipment, such as a drain inlet, which is to be integrated with a curb or gutter, and has a rigid intermediate connecting plate with a central drainage opening, which is connected to a cylindrical barrel extending transversely under the plate coaxially to the opening and which can be engaged in a sealed manner in the vertical pipe or around it at an adjustable relative height, wherein the connecting plate can be oriented relative to the curb or to the gutter by rotation of the barrel in the vertical pipe or around it, and the piece of road equipment is mounted to slide bilaterally, guided in translation on the connecting plate, in the direction of the curb or gutter, thereby allowing the piece of road equipment to be brought into a predetermined definitive position relative to the curb or gutter before sealing the piece of road equipment in the curb or gutter.
The connecting plate is rectangular in shape, and the means for translationally guiding the piece of road equipment on this plate includes two long-armed lateral edges connected to the piece of equipment at the lower part of its rectangular frame and at least two pieces in the form of slideways respectively connected to the two sides of the connecting plate in such a way that the two lateral edges can slide into the two pieces in the form of slideways.
An elastomer seal is inserted between the barrel of the connecting plate and the vertical drainage pipe.
The seal is connected to the free end of the vertical pipe while covering it and has a sealing lip inserted between the barrel and the vertical drainage pipe.
When the barrel of the connecting plate is mounted around the vertical drainage pipe, the seal can be connected to the free end of this barrel while covering it and have a sealing lip inserted between the barrel and the vertical drainage pipe.
The central opening of the connecting plate is frustrum-shaped to form a funnel for drainage of runoff water.
Advantageously, a mud collection container is housed in the barrel of the connecting plate and supported on the frustrum-shaped central opening of this plate.
Preferably, two pieces in the form of slideways are provided which are located at intervals along each side of the connecting plate.
Each piece in the form of a slideway is made up of a small bent plate having a cross section in the form of a U, one of the arms of which is attached to the connecting plate in the plane thereof, with the other arm extending parallel above this plate.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
The invention will be better understood and its other aims, characteristics, details and advantages will appear more clearly in the following explanatory description with reference to the diagrammatic drawings given only by way of example and in which:
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the device of the invention for connecting a piece of road equipment to a vertical fixed runoff drainage pipe;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the piece of road equipment of FIG. 1 in definitive position before it is sealed in a curb;
FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a connecting plate of the connecting device of the invention before it is mounted in the vertical drainage pipe;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view similar to that of FIG. 3 , representing the connecting plate mounted in the drainage pipe;
FIG. 5 shows a section through the longitudinal vertical medial plane of the assembly consisting of the piece of road equipment, the connecting plate and the vertical drainage pipe arranged separately one above the other;
FIG. 6 is a view similar to that of FIG. 5 , representing the connecting plate on which the piece of road equipment is mounted and which is assembled on the drainage pipe;
FIG. 7 shows a section similar to that of FIG. 6 and represents an embodiment in which the connecting plate is mounted around the drainage pipe; and
FIG. 8 is a partial cross section of an embodiment variant of FIG. 7 .
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The invention will now be described with reference to a drain inlet device which is to be integrated with a curb after it is connected to a runoff drainage pipe, but it is understood that it can also be applied to any other type of road equipment, such as a rectangular grate for runoff drainage, which is to be integrated with elements besides curbs, such as gutters, for example.
With reference to the figures, reference numeral 1 designates a drain inlet device, which is already known, and which is to be integrated with beveled curb B of the sidewalk.
This drain inlet device is of the type which has a generally rectangular frame 2 , which comprises, at the top, articulated buffer 3 normally locked to frame 2 and provided with at least one slot 4 for the passage of runoff water, and at the lower part, grate 5 for the passage of runoff water, articulated to frame 2 while being normally locked to it. The drain inlet device, with its buffer 3 and grate 5 , has a configuration in the form of a step allowing it to be integrated with curb B. Buffer 3 and grate 5 can be unlocked and opened in the direction indicated by each of the arrows 0 in FIG. 6 in order to access the interior of frame 2 .
Drain inlet device 1 is connected to vertical runoff drainage pipe 6 penetrating into frame 2 towards the drain with which pipe 6 communicates. The latter is implanted in the ground or attached to it by any appropriate means a certain distance from curb B, and its free external upper part is located below the curb.
According to the invention, the device for connecting drain inlet 1 to drainage pipe 6 includes rigid intermediate connecting plate 7 , rectangular in shape, which has frustrum-shaped central opening 8 forming a funnel for drainage of the runoff water, and cylindrical barrel 9 attached under connecting plate 7 , extending perpendicularly to it and coaxially to central opening 8 . Barrel 9 can be attached to plate 7 by welding.
Barrel 9 of plate 7 can be engaged in a sealed manner in cylindrical pipe 6 as is shown more clearly in FIG. 6 , at a relative height which is adjustable according to the direction symbolized by the double arrow F 1 , or mounted in a sealed manner around cylindrical pipe 6 as represented in FIGS. 7 and 8 , at a relative height which is adjustable according to the direction also indicated by the double arrow F 1 .
The seal between cylindrical barrel 9 and cylindrical pipe 6 is ensured by elastomer seal 10 . According to the configuration in which barrel 9 is fitted into pipe 6 , seal 10 is mounted on the upper free end of pipe 6 and covers it. For this purpose, seal 10 can have roughly cylindrical external skirt 11 which fits around the upper part of pipe 6 . In the position in which seal 10 is mounted on pipe 6 before fitting of barrel 9 in pipe 6 , seal 10 has at rest an annular internal lip, approximately transverse to the longitudinal axis of pipe 6 , as represented in FIG. 5 . During the fitting of barrel 9 in pipe 6 , lip 10 is folded down by barrel 9 onto the upper cylindrical internal surface of pipe 6 , as represented in FIG. 6 , in order to provide a seal between barrel 9 and pipe 6 . In the case in which barrel 9 is fitted around cylindrical pipe 6 as represented in FIG. 7 , seal 10 is also attached on the upper free end of pipe 6 , covering it with roughly cylindrical skirt 11 surrounding pipe 6 , and it has an external lip constituting the actual seal, annular in shape, approximately transverse to the longitudinal axis of pipe 6 before mounting of barrel 9 around this pipe. When barrel 9 is fitted around pipe 6 , sealing lip 10 is folded down by barrel 9 to a position roughly parallel to the longitudinal axis of pipe 6 in order to constitute a cylindrical seal between barrel 9 and pipe 6 . FIG. 8 shows an embodiment of FIG. 7 , according to which seal 10 is attached at the end of barrel 9 and covers it, and its annular sealing lip is folded down on the internal surface of barrel 9 when it fitted in pipe 6 .
When barrel 9 is inserted in pipe 6 or mounted around it, connecting plate 7 can be maneuvered manually in order not only to move it vertically relative to pipe 6 according to the direction of the double arrow F 1 , but also to rotate it around the vertical axis of pipe 6 as indicated by the double arrow F 2 in FIGS. 6 and 7 , so as to adjust the height of connecting plate 7 and orient it angularly relative to curb B.
Furthermore, drain inlet 1 can be mounted so as to slide bilaterally, translationally guided on connecting plate 7 , in the direction of curb B, as symbolized by the double arrow F 3 in FIGS. 6 and 7 , so that drain inlet 1 can thus be brought into a predetermined definitive position relative to curb B by a combination of movements according to arrows F 1 to F 3 , before sealing drain inlet 1 to this curb.
The means of translationally guiding drain inlet 1 on connecting plate 7 include two long-armed lateral edges 12 connected to the lower part of frame 2 of drain inlet 1 and at least two pieces in the form of slideways 13 respectively connected on the two sides of connecting plate 7 in such a way that the two lateral edges 12 can slide into the two pieces in the form of slideways 13 . Preferably, each side of connecting plate 7 has two pieces in the form of slideways separated along this side. Each piece in the form of a slideway can consist of a small plate bent so as to have a cross section in the form of a U, one of the arms of which is connected to plate 7 extending roughly in the same plane, and the opposite arm is arranged in parallel over plate 7 . Of course, each piece in the form of a slideway can have a different configuration, for example, in the form of a corner bracket, one of the arms of which would be orthogonally connected to plate 7 , and the other arm would extend parallel above plate 7 .
As represented in FIGS. 5 and 6 , connecting plate 7 can support mud collecting container 14 housed in barrel 9 and held in this barrel by its upper frustrum-shaped edge resting on conjugately shaped frustrum-shaped opening 8 of plate 7 .
The connection of drain inlet 1 to drainage pipe 6 takes place as follows.
First, the operator takes hold of connecting plate 7 in order to position cylindrical barrel 9 over drainage pipe 6 and engage it therein, as represented in FIGS. 3 and 4 , which enables the operator to position barrel 9 and therefore plate 7 at a relative height by taking into account the vertical position of plate 7 relative to curb B; this plate can also be oriented by rotation relative to pipe 6 in order to position it along a direction roughly transverse with respect to curb B.
The operator then takes hold of drain inlet 1 and arranges it on plate 7 by introducing its lateral edges 12 into their respective guide slideways 13 and allows drain inlet 1 to slide in a guided manner on plate 7 in a roughly transverse direction with respect to curb B until drain inlet 1 is brought to its definitive position where it can be sealed in curb B by the usual sealing techniques.
It should be noted that plate 7 , once it is correctly positioned relative to curb B, can be sealed relative to it before introducing drain inlet 1 on plate 7 in order to position it relative to curb B and to seal it to the latter.
The connection of drain inlet 1 can also take place by fitting it in a guided manner on plate 7 and arranging this assembly on drainage pipe 6 by introducing barrel 9 in the latter, if it is possible to position this assembly precisely in a single step relative to curb B before sealing of this assembly.
The connecting device of the invention described above has an extremely simple structure and allows drain inlet 1 to be positioned precisely and quickly before sealing it in curb B. As an indication, for an external diameter of drainage pipe 6 of approximately 400 mm, the possibility for height adjustment according to arrow F 1 of barrel 9 relative to this pipe can extend over approximately 150 mm, and the extent of the adjustment of the position of drain inlet 1 on plate 7 according to the double direction F 3 can be 100 mm; that is, drain inlet 1 can occupy a rear position located to the left in FIG. 6 or 7 a maximum of 50 mm with respect to the longitudinal axis of pipe 6 and a front position located to the right in this figure a maximum of 50 mm from this longitudinal axis. Thus, the connecting device of the invention allows very extended possibilities for adjustment in order to adapt to all configurations of positioning of drainage pipe 6 relative to curb B. Although the drain inlet is usually fabricated from cast iron, it can be made of any other material, such as a rigid plastic material, as can connecting plate 7 and its barrel 9 . In this case, the assembly consisting of plate 7 , barrel 9 and slideways 13 will be produced in the form of a single piece by molding.
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An apparatus for connection of a drain inlet to a vertical fixed runoff drainage pipe includes an intermediate adapter plate with a cylindrical shank that can be inserted in an impervious manner into a drainage tube at an adjustable relative height. The drain is slidably mounted such that it is guided bilaterally in translation over the plate. In this way, the drain can be disposed at a final determined position in relation to a curb before being sealed to the curb.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention concerns a new and improved one-piece, integral card guide unit for use in guiding and supporting circuit boards in a circuit board card cage. Circuit board card cages are well known. The general structure of such a card cage is shown and described and the publication VME Bus Specification Manual, Rev. c.1, October 1995, pages 215-247 of this publication by Motorola entitled "Series in Solid-State Electronics Rev. c.1; which publication is also entitled "The VME Bus Specification" dated October 1995. This VME Bus Specification Manual also is known as the "IEC 821 Bus" and the "IEEE P1014/d1.2," and was printed by Printex Publishing, Inc.
Such circuit board card cages generally comprise enclosures having side walls and a back plane, secured together in a frame that comprises elongated front and rear cross members connected to the upper surface of the side walls and back plane and to the lower surface of the side walls and back plane, to form the circuit card rack enclosure. This enclosure is often open in the front, top and the bottom to allow air circulation around the individual circuit boards to cool the electronic components. The top and bottom and front openings can be closed if desired.
Positioned within the card cage structure are card rails or guides that extend generally between the front and rear cross members. These card guides have grooves that are opposing between the lower and upper card guide rails, for receiving the edges of the circuit boards. The card guides are also laterally spaced from each other, to provide space between the electrical and electronic components secured to the circuit boards. At the end of the known circuit boards, there is an electrical connection that interconnects with an electrical connection on the rear panel, known as the back plane electrical connector. The card rails in these card cages are often individually located and secured to the front and rear cross members in a manner to provide a vertical orientation of the circuit board to align the electrical connection on the circuit board with the electrical receptacle on the back plane. Here, problems arise in that the card rails often become skewed, moved or twisted by vibration or in the general use of the card cage, which can include shocks received by the card cage or just the overall use of the card cage in the environment in which the card cage is located. Such occurrences cause the circuit board to become misaligned to the extent that a good easy straight forward and precise connection cannot be made to the electrical circuit on the back plane. Further, in many card cages, the structure of the card rails and indeed the card cage in general is made of light sheet metal type construction or of plastic or other suitable materials. In these assemblies, there is a weak or insufficient connection between the card rails and the cross support members that will prevent slight movements or skewing of some of the card rails relative to other card rails which skews the position of the circuit boards. There are also some card guides units that are connected to the cross members in a manner where it is possible for the card guides to move relative to the cross member. This skews the circuit board in the guide relative to the opposing card guide, which again has an adverse effect on the circuit board being able to make the correct electrical connection.
So, there is a definite need for a new and improved circuit board card guide rail in which the card guide bars are integral with the multiple cross members, so that identical card rack guide units are connectable to the side walls and back plane of the card cage. This provides precise alignment of the circuit board with the back plane electrical connections, is not subject to twisting and other movements between the card guides and the cross members, and which card guides are formed in a manner that allows some transitory tolerance to twisting, vibration and other shocks to the card cage, while still maintaining permanent, precise alignment of the circuit board with the back plane electrical connections.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention concerns a new and improved one-piece, integral circuit card guide unit. This new circuit card guide unit is preferably made of metal. All parts, including the front and rear cross members and the elongated card guides, are all made in one integral unit. The new and improved construction of this guide unit provides a strong integral structure that when mated with an identical guide unit, in opposed relationship, and secured between two side walls at the outer ends of the respective cross members, provides a card rack in which the circuit boards or cards are directly aligned with the back plane electrical connection, and the integral construction holds this precision alignment through use of the card cage in many environments. This integral structure, which is preferably made of aluminum, is extruded to provide the cross members. An interconnecting portion of the aluminum plate is then machined to provide the precision elongated card guides with a U-shaped recess, that is rigidly and integrally secured in position relative to the rest of the rack unit. Further, in the shaping of the elongated card guides, the metal content therein is reduced to that required to maintain the rigidity and functionality of the card guides, while still allowing slight flexing as may be advantageous in aligning the circuit boards with the electrical contacts on the back plane.
This invention eliminates the problems of prior devices by the integral connection between the ends of the card guides and the cross members. The problems with these connections become major in prior art devices, because regardless of the connection that is made, this connection still allows movement of the card guides relative to the cross members and thus relative to the electrical connections on the back plane. Also, since this invention is not just an extruded product, it can be machined to required tolerances to achieve the desired rigidity and strength, with the desired reduction of weight and non-flexibility. Further, since each of the rack units are identical, the problems encountered in having different sizes, or different shapes, or different length ends of the cross members, all of which affects the alignment of the opposing card guides when installed in a card cage, are eliminated.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a new and improved card guide unit.
It is another object of this invention to provide a new and improved integral card cage rack unit that is machined to close tolerances for lasting, precision alignment of circuit boards with the back plane electrical connections.
It is another object of this invention to provide a new and improved integral card cage rack unit, that in combination with known circuit board card cages having two side walls and a back plane, provide a new and improved overall card cage.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the extrusion from which the card guide is machined;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the machined card guide;
FIG. 3 is a further enlarged top plan view of the card guide;
FIG. 4 is a front view of the card guide as shown in FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 5--5 of FIG. 3;
FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6--6 of FIG. 4;
FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken on line 7--7 of FIG. 4;
FIG. 8 is a side view of a typical card cage cabinet incorporating top and bottom card guides of the present design;
FIG. 9 is a front view of one end of the card cage; and
FIG. 10 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 10--10 of FIG. 9, showing the simple assembly of the complete card cage structure.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The present invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals refer to like parts and in which:
An exemplary embodiment of the circuit board and card cage with one-piece, integral card guide units, is illustrated in accordance with the invention in FIGS. 1 through 10. Referring to FIG. 2, the circuit board card guide unit 12 has a pair of cross members 14 and 16, member 14 being the rear cross member and member 16 being the front cross member. Interconnecting the two cross members 14 and 16 are integral elongated circuit board card guides 18 that have a generally rectangular cross section with a u-shaped card guide channel 28 in the upper surface of the guide. An enlarged entry to channel 28 is formed by angled surfaces 34 that aid in guiding the circuit board card edge into the U-shaped channel 28. The end portions 20 of each of the bar card guides 18 are integrally connected to the upper surface 30 of each of the respective cross members. The underneath or lower surface 38 of each card guide 28 has a curved surface, see FIGS. 5 and 7, which surface is above the upper surface 30 of the respective cross members 14 and 16. The intersection of the lower curved surface of the card guides 18 to the surface 30 by portion 20, has a groove 26 that connects the rounded surface 38 to the flat surface 30. Groove 26 also provides a degree of flexibility to the rigid card guide structure permitting some slight torsional movement on guides 18 in the rigid, integral structure of the entire card guide unit, that aids in absorbing vibrations and making circuit board electrical connections.
Each of the cross members 14 and 16 have forward slots in one side of the cross members that extend the full length of the member, and a rear slot 24 that extends the full length of the cross members. Both slots 22 and 24 provide means for interconnecting the ends of the respective cross members to the side walls of a card cage, such as the side wall illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9, namely side walls 102, 104 and back wall 106.
In installing the card guide units 12 into a known card cage, see FIGS. 8 and 9, the card cage has side wall 102, see FIGS. 8 and 9, and opposing side wall 103, see FIG. 10, that are secured to the end surfaces of cross members 16 and 14, by screws 122, that are inserted into the ends of the channels 23 in slot 22, see FIG. 10. The back plane 106 is connected to the rear cross member 14 by screws or bolts that pass through threaded holes in a long longitudinal strap 18 that has a length corresponding to the length of the slots. The bolt 140 passes through the back plane 106 and washer 138 to threaded holes in strap 118 to secure the back plane 106 in position. An electrical conduit and back plane stiffener 108 is secured to the back plane 106 by the longitudinal straps 118 in channels 127 and the threaded bolts 116. Electrical conduits or similar devices can pass through the conduit 119 in the normal manner, to the back plane electrical contacts. Once the card cage ends are bolted and secured into position, the cards are moved through the channels 28. The circuit board or card then makes electrical contact with electrical connections on the back plane 110.
The circuit board card 111 in moving in the channels 28 can be positioned relative to the front surface of stiffener 108. A door or similar type front panel 102 can be secured to the front side surfaces of the front cross member 116. This is accomplished by a longitudinal strap 118 in slots 22 with threaded holes therein that receive the threaded bolts 139. A buffer 120 of some type can be secured to the front cover 102, which can press against the end surface of the circuit board 111 holding the circuit board 111 into electrical contact with the electrical connections in the back plane 110.
The method, form and procedure for making the integral single piece card guide involves the first step of extruding the structure 10 into the form illustrated in FIG. 1. The extrusion forms the integral cross member portions, front and rear and the plate section 11 as illustrated, while at the same time forming slots 22 and 24, groove 26 and the upper surface 30 of the respective front and rear cross members. The entire structure 11 of the part 10 is flat and aligned at the edges with the end surfaces of the cross members. The part 10 is then milled or machined to cut away the metal, such as aluminum, leaving the individual card guides 18 as illustrated in FIG. 2. This machining also cuts the u-shaped channels 28 into the bar 18, and the widened entry 34 into the guide channels 28. The metal between the respective card guide members 18 is removed and the flat surfaces 30 expanded to provide the open space between the card guides 18. This maximizes the opening space 36 to that between the side surfaces of the respective card guides and the upper flat surfaces of the respective cross members 14 and 16. A thin plate 39 can be slidably inserted, or if flexible, bent to be re-inserted in slots 24 to cover the open space 36, where this is desired.
In Operation
The one-piece integral card guide units are formed in the manner illustrated and described in FIGS. 1 and 2. The card guide is then secured in the manner recited between side walls 102 and 103, see FIGS. 8, 9 and 10, by screws 114 so that the side walls 102 and 103 fit directly against the ends of the cross members. The back plane 106 is connected by screws or bolts 140 to the rear side of the respective cross members 14 in the manner described. The back plane electrical connectors 110 are positioned in alignment with the channel guides 28. Circuit cards are then slidably positioned in the grooves 28 of the respective card guides with the end of the circuit board card making electrical contact with the back plane electrical connectors. A front panel 104 can then be mounted to the front side surfaces of the front cross members 16 in the manner illustrated. The circuit board card is then in a position for electrical operation and the assembly is complete.
It can be understood that the one-piece integral card guide units are identical, have the same identical lengths and widths and accordingly when the upper card guide unit and the lower card guide units are directly aligned, the card guides are identically positioned and aligned to the electrical connections in the back plane, and are integral to the respective cross based members. It is further understood that this provides for precise alignment of the circuit board in the channels 28, which alignment is less likely to be disturbed by impact, shock, vibration or other causes that could interfere or change the position of the circuit card in the channels relative to the cross members, as illustrated and described.
It should be further recognized that changes may be made in the form, construction, and arrangement of the circuit board card cage with the one-piece integral card rack unit as described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and without sacrificing any of its advantages, and it is understood that all matters herein are to be interpreted and illustrative and not in any limiting sense.
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A card guide unit for use in guiding and positioning circuit boards in a card cage, which guide unit is integral, having front and rear cross members that are integral with machined elongated card guides, having machined spaces between the card guides, and which guide units are inter-connectable to side walls of a card cage, providing identical precisioned alignment between circuit boards in the card guides so that precise electrical connections can be made between the circuit board and electrical connectors on the back plane.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a method of growing semiconductor crystals, such as, for example, silicon or germanium crystals for use in the manufacture of semiconductor components and manufactured by the Czochralski method, and, more particularly, to a method of automatically controlling the diameter of such crystals to get a predetermined shape in the region from after making of seed through shouldering to a constant diameter of the body using a combination of new parameters and adjusting these parameters.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
The Czochralski method of crystal growing is well known and various schemes are available in the prior art for controlling the diameter of the crystal to desired values during the solidification both in the stages of shoulder and body. Such diameter control schemes have been of the closed loops variety and it has been well known to use an electrooptical system, for example. In a conventional method, while the temperature profile in the melt is kept constant, a crystal diameter related offset signal is supplied to a motor control means for the motor to pull the crystal at a desired diameter. The adjustment of the pulling velocity has adverse effects on the crystallinity of the resulting crystal, such as dislocations generated at the peripheral portion. In another conventional method, the diameter is controlled solely by way of adjusting the temperature profile to enlarge or lessen it through change in the power supplied to the surrounding heating means. Generally, the heat capacity of the melt is too large to allow temperature profile to be finely changed to a proper extent and with quick response, and diameter control is therefore unsuccessful in practical terms.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above-described problems of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to provide a method of controlling the diameter of a crystal which ensures quick response and highly stable control and yet does not cause crystal defects such as dislocations.
To attain this object, the present invention provides a method of controlling the diameter of a crystal produced by the Czochralski method which comprises the step of controlling the diameter of a tapered portion of the single crystal by controlling the temperature of a melt contained in a crucible and the rotational speed of the crucible, the control range of the rotational speed of the crucible being made narrower as the diameter of the tapered portion gets closer to that of a body, and the rotational speed of the crucible being made constant just past the start of the body growing.
Since the diameter of the crystal is more effectively controlled, especially with a small diameter, by the rotational speed of the crucible, as compared with a case wherein the temperature of the melt is adjusted, the rotational speed of the crucible can be used advantageously to control the crystal diameter in a tapered portion of the crystal growing without causing any adverse effect in terms of generation of dislocation or other crystallographic defects that are commonly experienced with the conventional pulling method for the diameter control.
The diameter control technique according to the present invention can be applied to the body--not being limited to the tapered portion only. But the body represents a part used in semiconductor component manufacturing and, therefore, the crystallinity is not the only critical factor of the quality and other qualitites such as oxygen contents and resistivity or a dopant level need to be controlled at predetermined values. These special requirements assigned to the body limit the present invention to the tapered portion alone. The smooth and gradual transition from a tapered portion to a body of the rotational speed of a crucible will prevent any undesirable phenomena, for instance, polycrystallization, deformation of a crystal or the like, from manifesting.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows a crystal growing apparatus to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied;
FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the software of a microcomputer 50 of FIG. 1; and
FIG. 3 is a graph showing the upper and lower limits of the rotational speed of a crucible with respect to the time.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Referring first to FIG. 1, a quartz crucible 12 fitted into a graphite susceptor 10 contains silicon in the form of a melt 16, the polycrystalline silicon being melted by the superheating with a heater 14 which surrounds the graphite susceptor 10. The heater 14 is in turn enclosed by a heat insulating material 18. All of these units are contained in a vessel 20 filled with argon.
The susceptor 10 and the crucible 12 are rotated by a motor 24 through a shaft 22.
A crystal-lifting shaft 26 hangs over the melt 16. A seed crystal 30 is provided on the lower end of the shaft 26 in a seed holder 28. The lower end of the seed crystal 30 is immersed in the melt 16 by lowering the shaft 26. A crystal 32 is pulled upward through stages in the order of a narrowed portion, a tapered portion 32A, a shoulder portion 32B (which refers especially to a transition as), and a body portion 32C thereof as the shaft 26 is gradually pulled up by a motor 34. The shaft 26 and the shaft 22 coincide with the axis of rotational symmetry of the quartz crucible 12.
For the purpose of simplification, a motor for rotating the crystal-lifting shaft 26 and a motor for moving the shaft 22 up and down are not shown in FIG. 1.
An industrial TV camera 38 is provided in such a manner as to face a glass window 36 provided at the upper portion of the vessel 20. Video signals of the TV camera 38 are supplied to a diameter measuring device 40 which measures the diameter of a luminous ring 42 formed at the interface between the single crystal 32 and the melt 16; the diameter of the ring 42 relates to that of the single crystal 32 at the interface thereof with the melt 16.
A radiation thermometer 48 is disposed in such a manner as to face another glass window 44 provided at the lower side surface of the vessel 20 so as to enable the temperature of a recessed portion 46 formed in the side of the heat insulating material 18, hence the temperature of the melt 16, to be detected.
Control of the diameter of the crystal is performed by using a microcomputer 50. The microcomputer 50 includes a central processing unit 52, a read only memory 54, a random access memory 56, an input port 58, and an output port 60. The central processing unit 52 reads through the input port 58 diameter D of the single crystal 32 from the diameter measuring device 40 in accordance with the program stored in the read only memory 54. The central processing unit 52 also indirectly reads temperature T of the melt 16 from an A/D converter 62, as well as object diameter D 0 of the body portion 32 set by a setter 64.
The read only memory 54 contains an equation which is used to calculate the desired value of the rate of change of the diameter of the conical portion 32A of the single crystal 32. A unspecified constant contained in that equation is determined by using the desired diameter D 0 . The read only memory 54 also contains equations used to calculate the upper and lower limits of the rotational speed of the crucible, such as those shown in FIG. 3, which in another case are predetermined 8 rpm for the lower and 12 rpm for the upper, and in still another 0.5 and 4 rpm, respectively, and so forth. The abscissa of the graph in FIG. 3 represents the time which has elapsed after the tapered portion starts to grow. As the time elapses, the upper and lower limits converge on the desired value (fixed) of the rotational speed of the crucible which is to be attained just past the start of the body portion. The range between the upper and lower limits may be 30 and 0 r.p.m., preferably 30 and 5 r.p.m.
The central processing unit 52 calculates the level of power to be supplied to the heater 14 and the desired rotational speed of the motor 24 by using the equations stored in the read only memory 54 and by exchanging data with the random access memory 56, then outputs operational signals to the output port 60 so as to control the heater 14 and the motor 24 through a driving circuit 66.
During crystal growth, the rotational speed of the motor 34 is fixed at a given value.
When the rotational speed of the quartz crucible 12 increases, the temperature at the center of the top surface of the melt 16 becomes lower than that of the peripheral portion thereof, increasing the growth rate of the single crystal 32. Changes in the growth rate of the single crystal 32 respond to those in the rotational speed of the quartz crucible 12 relatively quickly (within about one minute), whereas they respond to those in the power supplied to the heater 14 relatively slowly (within about 10 to 15 minutes). Since the amount of oxygen taken into the single crystal 32 as a solute depends on the rotational speed of the quartz crucible 12, it must be fixed at a certain value throughout the growth of the body portion 34C to keep constant in the concentration. Therefore, only when the diameter of the tapered portion 32A is still small at starting stage, control of the crystal diameter can be fully adjusted by control of the rotation of the quartz crucible 12. As the diameter of the tapered portion 32A approaches closer to that of the body portion 32C, control of the diameter of the crystal should be mainly adjusted by the pulling speed of the shaft 26 with the aid of the heating control of the heater 14. This enables the tapered portion 32A, which is discarded as a waste, to be reduced in the volume, and guarantees a superiority in crystallinity of the body portion which follows that of the tapered portion.
The software structure of the microcomputer 50 will be described below with reference to FIG. 2 which is a flowchart of a tapered portion process which corresponds to the program stored in the read only memory 54.
First, the desired value D 0 of the diameter of the body portion is set by operating the setting device 64 in step 100. Next, in step 102, this desired value D 0 is read and stored in the random access memory 56, then the desired value of the rate of change in the diameter of the crystal as well as the upper and lower limits V 2 and V 1 of the rotational speed of the crucible are calculated by using the equations stored in the read only memory 54 in step 104.
In step 106, the diameter D of the crystal is read into the random access memory 56 from the diameter measuring device 40 through the input port 58.
In step 108, the first and second differential coefficients of the diameter D of the crystal are calculated using the diameters D of the crystal which have been written this time, the preceding time, and the time before the preceding time.
Next, in step 110, the manipulated variable of the proportional (p) plus derivative (D) action is calculated using the values obtained in the steps of 104 and 108, then the desired value of the temperature of the melt is calculated in accordance with the thus-obtained value, i.e., calculations are set in cascade fashion.
Thereafter, the temperature T of the melt 16 is read indirectly from the A/D converter 62, then it is adjusted so that it becomes identical to the desired value thereof by supplying power to the heater 14 in step 112.
In step 114, the manipulated variable of the proportional action is calculated by using the values obtained in steps 104 and 108, then the desired value V of the rotational speed of the crucible is calculated in accordance with the thus-obtained value, i.e., the calculations are set in cascade fashion. Next, this desired value V is corrected in the manner described below.
If V 1 ≦V ≦V 2 , the flow proceeds to steps 116, 118, then 124. If V<V 1 , V is set to V 1 in steps 116 and 120, then the flow goes to step 124. If V>V 2 , V is set to V 2 in steps 116, 118, and 122, then the flow goes to step 124.
In step 124, the motor 24 is driven in such a manner that the rotational speed of the quartz crucible becomes equal to the desired value V.
The flow then returns to step 104 so as to repeat the above-described processing.
The present invention is not limited to the example decribed above, but various modifications and alterations including the ones described below are possible.
In the processing of step 110, the ratio of the quantity of control applied to the temperature of the melt to that applied to the rotational speed of the crucible may be further increased over that in the above-described embodiment as the diameter of the tapered portion becomes closer to that of the body portion by multiplying the variance of the obtained desired value of the temperature of the melt by a coefficient which gradually becomes larger as the upper and lower limits of the rotational speed of the crucible converge on the predetermined value, and which becomes 1 when they have converged to thereby correct this desired value.
The abscissa of the graph in FIG. 3 may represent either the detected diameter of the growing crystal or the ratio thereof to the desired diameter of the body portion instead of the time.
In the above-described embodiment, the upper and lower limits of the rotational speed of the crucible converge on a predetermined value as the diameter of the tapered portion becomes closer to that of the body portion. However, control may be performed in any way so long as the control range of the rotational speed of the crucible becomes narrower as the diameter of the growing crystal becomes closer to that of the body portion. For example, control may be arranged such that the proportional gain obtained in the proportional plus derivative action is made smaller as the diameter of the tapered portion becomes closer to that of the body portion. In this case, the proportional gain may be programmed as a function of elapsed time, as a function of the diameter of the growing crystal, or as a function of the ratio of the diameter of the growing crystal to that of the desired diameter of the body portion.
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Disclosed is a method of controlling the diameter of a single crystal produced by the Czochralski method. The diameter of a tapered portion of the single crystal is controlled by controlling the temperature of a melt in a crucible and the rotational speed of the crucible. The control range of the rotational speed of the crucible is made narrower as the diameter of the tapered portion approaches closer to that of a body portion, and the rotational speed is made constant while the body portion is grown.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to an electronic computer, and more particularly to a small computer such as a portable electronic calculator.
2. Description of the prior art:
Some of conventional small electronic computers, such as portable electronic calculators are capable of performing, besides usual divisions, a calculation to find a quotient Q and a remainder R which satisfy the equation A=D·Q+R (where Q represents an integer) with respect to a dividend A and a divisor D. Hereinafter, this kind of calculation is referred to as "quotient/remainder calculation". Where the term "division" is used herein, it is understood that the term means a usual division.
An example such conventional electronic calculators which can carry out quotient/remainder calculations is shown in FIG. 5. The calculator of FIG. 5 comprises a display 51, a keyboard 52, and a slide switch 53. The keyboard 52 includes numeric keys 52a for entering a number, a divide key 52b for specifying division or quotient/remainder calculation, an [=] key 52c for execution an arithmetic operation such as a division, and a [REM] key 52d for finding a remainder after execution of a quotient/remainder calculation. The slide switch 53 is a switch for selecting the current operation mode. Operation modes selectable by the slide switch 53 are: REM (remainder) mode for carrying out a quotient/remainder calculation, F mode in which the result of calculation is obtained to the maximum possible number of digits for display, and 3-, 2-, and 0-modes in which the fourth, third, and first decimal places of the calculation result are rounded off respectively so that the calculation result is rounded to the third, second, or zero decimal place. Among these operation modes, REM mode is the only mode in which a quotient/remainder calculation can be carried out.
An example of the operation procedures for division and quotient/remainder calculation in the calculator of FIG. 5, and the calculation result displayed are shown in FIG. 6. In FIG. 6, rows A and B show the operation procedure for division. Initially, the slide switch 53 is operated to select F mode in order to obtain a calculation result to the maximum possible number of digits for display (row A in FIG. 6). When keys are operated as shown in row B in FIG. 6, the required division is carried out. Rows C to E in FIG. 6 show the operation procedure for quotient/remainder calculation. First, the slide switch 53 is operated to select REM mode (row C in FIG. 6). Next, keys are operated as shown in row D of FIG. 6, and a quotient resulting from the quotient/remainder calculation is first computed and displayed as it is. The key operation in row D of FIG. 6 is identical with that in the operation for division in row B, but a different operation result is obtained because the selected operation mode is different. Then, the [REM] key 52d is depressed, then the required remainder is obtained and displayed.
As stated above, with the prior art calculator it is necessary to preselect a particular operation mode (REM mode) for execution of a quotient/remainder calculation when such calculation is to be carried out. This complicates the necessary operation procedure. Another problem is that since the result of the quotient/remainder calculation is displayed in two steps, i.e., first with respect to the quotient and then with respect to the remainder, once the remainder is displayed, the quotient cannot be displayed again. This is very inconvenient in that the calculation result cannot be ascertained time and again.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The electronic computer of this invention, which overcomes the above-discussed and numerous other disadvantages and deficiencies of the prior art, comprises:
first and second memory means for storing respectively a dividend and a divisor which are input for execution of division;
input means which can be operated by the operator; and
calculation means for, when said input means is operated by the operator, carrying out a quotient/remainder calculation using said dividend and divisor stored respectively in said first and second memory means.
According to the invention, the electronic computer may further comprise:
third and fourth memory means for storing respectively a quotient and a remainder which are obtained in the calculation by said calculation means;
display means for displaying at least the contents of said third memory means or the contents of said fourth memory means;
detection means for detecting which of the contents of said third memory means or the contents of said fourth memory means are displayed on said display means; and
display control means for, when a predetermined input operation is performed, controlling said display means to display the contents of said third memory means or the contents of said fourth memory means which have not been detected by said detection means as being displayed on said display means.
Thus, the invention described herein makes possible the objectives of:
(1) providing an electronic computer which enables a quotient/remainder calculation to be carried out without requiring the selection of any special operation mode;
(2) providing an electronic computer which enables a quotient/remainder calculation to be carried out according to a simple operation procedure; and
(3) providing an electronic computer which can display the result of a quotient/remainder calculation a plurality of times.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
This invention may be better understood and its numerous objects and advantages will become apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to the accompanying drawings as follows:
FIG. 1 shows an electronic portable calculator according to the invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of the present embodiment for execution of a quotient/remainder calculation in the embodiment of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the arrangement for display of the results of a quotient/remainder calculation in the embodiment of FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 shows examples of the manner of operation in the embodiment and operation results displayed.
FIG. 5 shows a conventional electronic portable calculator.
FIG. 6 shows examples of the manner of operation in the calculator of FIG. 5 and operation results displayed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of the invention. This embodiment represents an electronic portable calculator which can carry out varieties of function calculations. In FIG. 1, symbols identifying keys unnecessary for the purpose of describing this embodiment are not illustrated. The electronic calculator of FIG. 1 comprises a liquid crystal display (LCD) 1 and a keyboard 2. The LCD 1 has a main display area 1a and a fraction display area 1b in which a fraction or the like is displayed. The keyboard 2 includes an [a b / c ] key 2a to be used for entry of a fraction as well as for conversion between an improper fraction and a mixed fraction, a [2ndF] key 2b to be used for selection of a second function with respect to various different keys, numeral keys 2c for inputting numerics 0 to 9, a division key 2d for specifying operation for division, and an [=] key 2e for execution of division or the like arithmetic operation. The [=] key 2 e has a second function assigned to it for execution of a quotient/remainder calculation and also for performing a changeover between quotient display and remainder display. In the case where the [=] key 2e is used for execution of the second function, the key 2e is referred to as a [QUOT/REM] key.
FIG. 2 illustrates the arrangement of the present embodiment for execution of a quotient/remainder calculation. A [QUOT/REM] key detector circuit 21 outputs "1" when the [2ndF] key 2b and the [QUOT/REM] key 2e are depressed successively, and in all other cases it outputs "0". A division detector circuit 23 is set for operation when a division is executed and thereupon it outputs "1". A dividend register 24 and a divisor register 25 are registers for storing therein a dividend and a divisor respectively as inputted thereto when the division is carried out. A quotient/remainder computing unit 22 carries out a quotient/remainder calculation using the contents of both the dividend register 24 and the divisor register 25 when both the output of the [QUOT/REM] key detector circuit 21 and the output of the division detector circuit 23 are "1", and cause the quotient and remainder thus obtained to be stored respectively in a quotient register 26 and a remainder register 27. The quotient/remainder computing unit 22 resets the division detector circuit 23 when it carries out the quotient/remainder calculation. The quotient/remainder computing unit 22 is preferably comprised of software. With such arrangement as described above, the quotient/remainder calculation is carried out when the [QUOT/REM] key detector circuit 21 outputs "1" initially after execution of the division.
FIG. 3 shows the arrangement for display of the results of a quotient/remainder calculation. The [QUOT/REM] key detector circuit 21 is same as the one shown in FIG. 2, and the output of the circuit 21 is applied to one input terminal of an AND gate 32 and also to one input terminal of an AND gate 33. The output of the AND gate 32 is applied to a set terminal of a flip-flop 31, while the output of the AND gate 33 is applied to a reset terminal of the flip-flop 31. The output of the flip-flop 31 is applied to the other input terminal of the AND gate 32 via an inverter 34, and the output of the flip-flop 31 is also applied to the other input terminal of the AND gate 33. Therefore, the output of the flip-flop 31 changes over from "0" to "1" or from "1" to "0" each time the [QUOT/REM] key detector circuit 21 outputs "1". A gate 35 transmits the contents of the quotient register 26 to a display register 38 when the output of the flip-flop 31 is "1". The output of the flip-flop 31 is also applied to a gate 36 through an inverter 37, and, therefore, the gate 36 transmits the contents of the remainder register 27 to the display register 38 when the output of the flip-flop 31 is "0". A display control unit 39 causes the contents of the display register 38 to be displayed on the LCD 1.
According to the embodiment having the foregoing arrangement, the quotient stored in the quotient register 26 is displayed on the LCD 1 when the output of the flip-flop 31 is "1", while the remainder stored in the remainder register 27 is displayed on the LCD 1 when the output of the flip-flop 31 is "0". Therefore, assuming that the flip-flop 31 is reset by adequate means (not shown) when a division operation is executed, the output of the flip-flop 31 becomes "1" when the [QUOT/REM] key detector circuit 21 outputs "1" intially after the execution of the division, and accordingly the quotient stored in the quotient register 26 is displayed as such. Thereafter, quotient display and remainder display change over from the one to the other each time the [QUOT/REM] key detector circuit 21 outputs "1".
In this embodiment, both the quotient/remainder calculation function and the function of changeover from quotient display to remainder display and vice versa are assigned to one key, i.e., the [QUOT/REM] key 2e. Alternatively, however, these two functions may be assigned to separate keys.
FIG. 4 illustrates examples of the manner of operation with respect to the present embodiment and operation results displayed. When key operation is made as exemplified in row A, a division operation is carried out and the results of the operation are displayed as such. Nextly, the [2ndF] key 2b and the [QUOT/REM] key 2e are depressed successively as shown in row B, whereupon a quotient/remainder calculation is carried out using a dividend "10" and divisor "3" which have been input for execution of the division operation, the quotient "3" of the calculation results being displayed. Again, the [2ndF] key 2b and the [QUOT/REM] key 2e are depressed successively, whereupon the remainder "1" is displayed in place of the quotient. Thereafter, as shown in rows D to E, the quotient and the remainder are displayed alternately each time the [2ndF] key 2b and the [QUOT/REM] key 2e are depressed successively.
According to the present invention, there is provided an electronic computer which can perform a quotient/remainder calculation simply by operating input means after execution of a division operation and without the necessity of selecting a special operation mode, and which affords greater ease of operation. Therefore, the electronic computer of the invention makes it possible to carry out quotient/remainder calculations in a very simply way, and precludes any operational error which might otherwise easily occur such that failing of the select a particular operation mode the desired computation cannot be achieved. Further, according to the invention, the quotient and the remainder, both of which represent the results of a quotient/remainder calculation, can be repeatedly displayed in simple operation procedures. In an embodiment where same input means are employed both for instructing a quotient/remainder calculation and for switching over from quotient display to remainder display and vice versa, the number of input means required for obtaining the above mentioned functional benefits can be reduced.
It is understood that various other modifications will be apparent to and can be readily made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention. Accordingly, it is not intended that the scope of the claims appended hereto be limited to the description as set forth herein, but rather that the claims be construed as encompassing all the features of patentable novelty that reside in the present invention, including all features that would be treated as equivalents thereof by those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains.
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An improved electronic computer which can produce a quotient/remainder calculation. The computer has first and second memories for storing respectively a dividend and a divisor which are input for execution of division. A quotient/remainder calculation is carried out using the dividend and divisor stored respectively in the first and second memories. The computer further includes third and fourth memories for storing respectively a quotient and a remainder which are obtained in the division calculation. A detector is provided for detecting which of the contents of the third memory or the contents of the fourth memory are displayed. The contents of the third memory or the contents of the fourth memory which have not been detected as being displayed are displayed in response to a predetermined input operation.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a small disk cartridge which rotatably houses a disk serving as a recording medium in a flat housing constituted of a frame and upper and lower shells made of metal plates covering the top and bottom of the frame. More particularly, the present invention relates to an assembly structure of the housing.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] Recording media, e.g., a micro-magnetic disk cartridge called “clik!” (registered trademark) shown in a schematic perspective view in FIG. 9, have conventionally been used for mobile equipment such as digital cameras.
[0005] [0005]FIGS. 10A to C are a plan view, a right side view, and a bottom plan view of a closed rotary shutter 7 of a magnetic disk cartridge 1 , respectively. FIGS. 11A and B are a plan view and a bottom plan view of the opened rotary shutter 7 , respectively. FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view of the magnetic disk cartridge 1 . As shown in these drawings, a flat housing of the magnetic disk cartridge 1 rotatably contains a magnetic disk 5 . A resin frame 2 and upper and lower shells 3 and 4 constitute the housing. The resin frame 2 includes a pressing portion 2 a , and the upper and lower shells 3 and 4 are made of thin metal plates. The dimensions of the housing are 50 mm wide by 55 mm deep by 1.95 mm thick. The magnetic disk 5 has a storage capacity of 40 MB and a diameter of 1.8 inches (45.7 mm).
[0006] The magnetic disk cartridge 1 is provided with a V-shaped opening 6 and a rotary shutter 7 . The opening 6 is for a magnetic head provided in a disk drive, into which the cartridge 1 is inserted to be mounted, to access the surface of the magnetic disk 5 , and the rotary shutter 7 opens and closes the opening 6 . Upper and lower shutter members 7 U and 7 D (refer to FIG. 12) engage each other to form the rotary shutter 7 , and a center pin 17 axially supports the upper shutter member 7 U beneath the upper shell 3 . Liners 18 are individually inserted between the magnetic disk 5 and the upper shutter member 7 U and between the magnetic disk 5 and the lower shutter member 7 D.
[0007] In addition, a notch 8 is formed in the top portion on the left side of the housing in FIG. 10A, and a small window 9 is formed in the top portion of the right side. The notch 8 engages with an engaging member of the disk drive to ensure the positioning of the magnetic disk cartridge 1 in the disk drive. The small window 9 is for a shutter locking member 11 , which locks the rotary shutter 7 at a closed position, to face the exterior.
[0008] A circular opening 4 a and an arcuate groove 4 b are formed on the lower shell 4 of the housing. The opening 4 a is for a center core 10 of the magnetic disk 5 to connect with a drive spindle of the disk drive, and the arcuate groove 4 b is concentric with the rotary shutter 7 . A shutter knob 7 b is fixed to the lower shutter 7 d . The shutter knob 7 b protrudes from the arcuate groove 4 b and moves along the arcuate groove 4 b to open and close the rotary shutter 7 .
[0009] [0009]FIGS. 13A and B are plan views of the rotary shutter 7 in its closed and opened state, respectively, shown by removing the upper shell 3 and omitting the magnetic disk 5 .
[0010] The shutter locking member 11 is provided with an engaging protrusion 11 a at the tip thereof. The protrusion 11 a can engage with an engaging recess 7 c formed on the periphery of the rotary shutter 7 , and the shutter locking member 11 locks the rotary shutter 7 at the closed position. The shutter locking member 11 is rotatably attached to a shaft 12 provided in the housing, and a spring plate 11 b urges the shutter locking member 11 in the direction (counterclockwise direction in FIG. 13) that enables the engaging protrusion 11 a to engage with the engaging recess 7 c . When the magnetic disk cartridge 1 is inserted into the disk drive, a lock releasing member provided in the disk drive passes through the small window 9 to press the shutter locking member 11 . Accordingly, the locking member 11 is slightly rotated clockwise, and the engaging protrusion 11 a escapes from the engaging recess 7 c . Thus, the lock on the rotary shutter 7 is released.
[0011] A long thin coil spring 14 with a small diameter urges the rotary shutter 7 in a closing direction (counterclockwise direction in FIG. 13). A guide wire 13 is provided to mount the coil spring 14 thereto. One end of the guide wire 13 is latched to the frame 2 at a portion 2 b which faces the periphery of the rotary shutter 7 , and the other end slidably penetrates a support member 7 d fixed to the periphery of the rotary shutter and extends along the periphery of the rotary shutter 7 . As shown in FIG. 13A, the coil spring 14 is compressed and provided between the portion 2 b of the frame 2 and the support member 7 d so as to be compressed and expanded along the guide wire 13 . The coil spring 14 urges the rotary shutter 7 in the closing direction (counterclockwise direction in FIG. 13). When the rotary shutter 7 which has been released from the lock is rotated from this state in a clockwise direction in FIG. 13, the coil spring 14 becomes compressed as shown in FIG. 13B.
[0012] Incidentally, when assembling the foregoing conventional magnetic disk cartridge 1 , the upper and lower shells 3 and 4 cover the frame 2 from the top and bottom thereof, and edges of the upper and lower shells 3 and 4 abut each other. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 9, ten or more spots P are laser welded to assemble the disk cartridge 1 . Hence, it takes considerable time and energy to disassemble the disk cartridge 1 for recycling and waste separation and disposal since the welds must be broken.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0013] In consideration of the foregoing circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide this type of disk cartridge, which is capable of being disassembled without breaking welds.
[0014] The disk cartridge rotatably houses a disk, which is a recording medium, in a flat housing. The flat housing is constituted of a frame and upper and lower shells made of metal plates covering the top and bottom of the frame.
[0015] The present invention is characterized in that an engaging protrusion is provided on at least one of upper and lower surfaces of the frame and an engaging aperture which engages with the engaging protrusion is formed on at least one of the upper and lower shells. The engaging protrusion can freely oscillate in and out from the surface and is elastically urged in the direction that the engaging protrusion protrudes from the surface.
[0016] The present invention is also characterized in that the frame, in which the engaging protrusion is sunk from the surface, is inserted into a space formed between the upper and lower shells until the engaging protrusion is at a position to be aligned with the engaging aperture. Thus, the engaging protrusion engages with the engaging aperture, and the housing is assembled.
[0017] The engaging protrusion is preferably coupled to the frame via thin portions which have elasticity and are integrally formed with the engaging protrusion and the frame by synthetic resin. In this case, a material of the frame is preferably ABS resin which is excellent in elastic deformability or polyester elastomer resin such as Hytrel (registered trademark).
[0018] Alternatively, the engaging protrusion can be formed separately from the frame and coupled to the frame via thin portions which have elasticity and are integrally formed with the engaging protrusion.
[0019] According to the disk cartridge of the present invention, a space is formed between the upper and lower shells by engagement of the upper and lower shells through, for example, welding. The frame, in which the engaging protrusion is sunk from the surface by thrust pressure against the urging force, is inserted into the space until the position the engaging protrusion is aligned with the engaging aperture. Accordingly, the engaging protrusion engages with the engaging aperture by the urging force, thereby assembling the housing. Thus, upon disassembly, the engagement between the frame and the upper and lower shells can be released by simply pressing the engaging protrusion engaged with the engaging aperture against the urging force. Therefore, there is an advantage that the disk cartridge can be easily disassembled without breaking the welds.
[0020] Moreover, in the case where the engaging protrusion is coupled to the frame through the thin portions which have flexibility and are integrally formed with the engaging protrusion and the frame by synthetic resin, the engaging protrusion can obtain the urging force by the thin portions. Therefore, the structure of the disk cartridge becomes simple, facilitating the manufacture thereof.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0021] [0021]FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing a housing in an embodiment of a magnetic disk cartridge according to the present invention.
[0022] [0022]FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the housing shown in FIG. 1.
[0023] [0023]FIG. 3A is an enlarged sectional view showing the essential part of a frame shown in FIG. 2, and FIGS. 3B and C are enlarged plan views showing the essential part of the frame shown in FIG. 2.
[0024] [0024]FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a method of assembling the housing shown in FIG. 1.
[0025] [0025]FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of the essential part of the housing.
[0026] [0026]FIGS. 6A to C are a plan view, a front view, and a plan view showing three modifications of the frame structures, respectively.
[0027] [0027]FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of a housing in another embodiment of a magnetic disk cartridge according to the present invention.
[0028] [0028]FIG. 8A is a sectional view showing a frame and an engaging member separate from the frame, and FIGS. 8B and C are a perspective view and a plan view showing the engaging member, respectively.
[0029] [0029]FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a conventional magnetic disk cartridge.
[0030] [0030]FIGS. 10A to C are a plan view, a right side view and a bottom plan view showing the magnetic disk cartridge in FIG. 9 when a rotary shutter is closed, respectively.
[0031] [0031]FIGS. 11A and B are a plan view and a bottom plan view showing the magnetic disk cartridge in FIG. 9 when the rotary shutter is open, respectively.
[0032] [0032]FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view showing the magnetic disk cartridge in FIG. 9.
[0033] [0033]FIGS. 13A and B are plan views showing a positional relationship between inner parts when the rotary shutter of the magnetic disk cartridge in FIG. 9 is closed and opened, respectively.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0034] Embodiments of the present invention are detailed below with reference to the drawings.
[0035] FIGS. 1 to 5 are views schematically showing a housing of a magnetic disk cartridge according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the assembled magnetic disk cartridge, and FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the magnetic disk cartridge. To facilitate understanding, the constituent parts are shown with dimensions having ratios different from the actual ratios, and details are omitted in FIGS. 1 to 5 to schematically show the magnetic disk cartridge.
[0036] In FIGS. 1 and 2, a synthetic resin frame 22 and upper and lower shells 23 and 24 constitute the housing of the magnetic disk cartridge 20 . The frame 22 is preferably made of ABS resin or polyester elastomer resin such as Hytrel (registered trademark) and the like, and the upper and lower shells 23 and 24 are made of 0.2 mm-thick stainless steel plates. Of the magnetic disk cartridge 20 , only the structure of the housing differs from the conventional magnetic disk cartridge 1 shown in FIGS. 9 through 13. In other respects, the magnetic disk cartridge 20 has substantially the same parts contained in the housing as the conventional magnetic disk cartridge 1 .
[0037] The upper shell 23 is formed of a flat part 23 a and sidewalls 23 b extending perpendicularly from the periphery of the flat part 23 a , excluding a straight front edge 23 d . Engaging apertures 23 c and 23 c are provided in the vicinity of the right and left ends of the front edge 23 d . Engaging protrusions 25 of the frame 22 , to be described later, engage with the engaging apertures 23 c and 23 c . The lower shell 24 is formed of a flat part 24 a and sidewalls 24 b . The flat part 24 a has the same outer shape as that of the flat part 23 a of the upper shell 23 , and the sidewalls 24 b extend upward from the outer edge of the flat part 24 a , excluding a straight front edge 24 d . At the center of the flat part 24 a , a circular aperture 24 c is formed for a center core 10 to face the exterior.
[0038] The frame 22 comprises an arcuate inner edge 22 a as well as engaging protrusions 25 at the right-and-left ends of the upper surface. As shown in an enlarged sectional view in FIG. 3A and an enlarged plan view in FIG. 3B, the engaging protrusion 25 is supported by four thin portions 27 to protrude from an upper surface 22 b of the frame 22 . The four thin portions 27 extend from an inner wall of an aperture 26 toward the center of the aperture 26 as beams, and the aperture 26 penetrates the frame 22 from the top to the bottom. The engaging protrusions 25 and the thin portions 27 are integrally formed with the frame 22 by a synthetic resin material. The four thin portions 27 have elasticity. Thus, by depressing the upper surface of the engaging protrusion 25 , the engaging portion 25 can be sunk from the upper surface 22 b of the frame 22 as indicated by broken lines in FIG. 3A. This urges the engaging protrusion 25 in a direction so that the engaging protrusion protrudes from the upper surface 22 b of the frame 22 , in other words, in an upward direction. Note that the number of the thin portions 27 may be three, and the number of the beam-like thin portions is not particularly limited. Alternatively, the thin portion 27 may enclose the entire periphery of the engaging protrusion 25 as a diaphragm as shown in FIG. 3C.
[0039] To assemble a housing by use of the frame 22 and the upper and lower shells 23 and 24 having these structures, first, side edges 23 b and 24 b of the upper and lower shells 23 and 24 are abutted and integrated by, for example, welding, to form a space having an opening 30 defined by straight front edges 23 d and 24 d , as shown in FIG. 4.
[0040] Next, the engaging protrusions 25 and 25 are depressed and sunk from the upper surface 22 b of the frame 22 into the apertures 26 and 26 , and the frame 22 is inserted into the space between the upper and lower shells 23 and 24 from the opening 30 . At this time, the engaging protrusions 25 and 25 are abutted on the lower surface of the upper shell 23 and slide along the lower surface of the flat part 23 a of the upper shell 23 . When the frame 22 is inserted to the position at which the engaging protrusions 25 and 25 are aligned with the engaging apertures 23 c and 23 c of the upper shell 23 , the thin portions 27 elastically urge the engaging protrusions 25 and 25 upward to engage with the engaging apertures 23 c and 23 c , respectively, as shown in FIG. 5. Accordingly, the frame 22 engages between the upper and lower shells 23 and 24 . Thus, the assembly of the housing is completed. Note that it is not preferable for the engaging protrusion 25 to protrude from the surface of the upper shell 23 in the assembly shown in FIG. 5.
[0041] As apparent from the description, according to the present embodiment, the upper and lower shells 23 and 24 are integrated by, for example, welding, and a space is formed between the upper and lower shells 23 and 24 . The frame 22 , in which the engaging protrusions 25 and 25 are pressed and sunk from the upper surface, is inserted into the space to the position at which the engaging protrusions 25 and 25 elastically engage with the engaging apertures 23 c and 23 c . Accordingly, the housing is assembled. Thus, upon disassembly of the housing, the frame 22 can be pulled out from the space between the upper and lower shells 23 and 24 by simply pressing the engaging protrusions 25 and 25 engaged with the engaging apertures 23 c and 23 c to release the engagements between the engaging protrusions 25 and 25 and engaging apertures 23 c and 23 c . Therefore, a disk cartridge of the present invention has an advantage that the disk cartridge can be easily disassembled without breaking the welds.
[0042] Moreover, the engaging protrusions 25 and 25 are coupled to the frame 22 through the thin portions 27 , which have elasticity and are integrally formed with the engaging protrusions 25 and 25 and the frame 22 . Thus, the structure of the disk cartridge is simple and can be easily produced.
[0043] Upon disassembly, the engaging protrusions 25 and 25 may be depressed with strong force to break the thin portions 27 . However, to recycle the parts, it is preferable to deform the thin portions 27 temporarily, instead of breaking them.
[0044] In the embodiment described above, two cylindrical engaging protrusions 25 and 25 are provided on the upper surface of the frame 22 . However, as shown in FIG. 6A, three or more protrusions 25 may be provided. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 6B, the protrusions 25 can be provided on both upper and lower surfaces of the frame 22 . In this case, the engaging apertures are provided on the flat part 24 a of the lower shell 24 as well, at the positions corresponding to the engaging protrusions 25 . Furthermore, the shape of the engaging protrusion is not limited to a cylinder. As shown in FIG. 6C, an engaging protrusion 25 ′ with an elongate shape when viewed from above maybe employed.
[0045] In addition, as shown in FIG. 7, the engaging protrusions 25 can be provided on both sides of the frame 22 . In this case, the apertures 26 are provided horizontally in the frame 22 , and engaging apertures 29 are provided on both sides of the upper and lower shells 23 and 24 .
[0046] Furthermore, as shown in FIGS. 8A and B, an engaging member 32 , separate from the frame 22 , having an engaging protrusion 35 and a circular elastic thin portion 37 can be employed. In this case, a circular recess 36 is provided on the frame 22 to receive this engaging member 32 , and grooves 36 a are provided in the periphery of the bottom of the recess 36 to engage with the outer edge of the thin portion 37 to hold the engaging member 32 . Although the engaging member 32 shown in perspective and plan views in FIG. 8B comprises a circular elastic thin portion 37 , the engaging member 33 comprising quadrilateral thin portions 38 extending in four directions can be employed as shown in perspective and plan views in FIG. 8C.
[0047] Since the thin portion 37 of the engaging member 32 and the thin portions 38 of the engaging member 33 are required to be elastic, the engaging members 32 and 33 are preferably made by a wringing process from a PET sheet material or a PC (polycarbonate) sheet material when formed of resin. In the case that metal is employed as the material, the engaging members 32 are 33 are preferably made by wringing process from stainless steel plates.
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A frame and upper and lower shells made of metal plates covering the top and bottom of the frame constitute a flat housing. A disk cartridge rotatably houses a disk serving as a recording medium in the flat housing. Disassembly of the disk cartridge is facilitated. An engaging protrusion 25 is provided on at least one of the side of the frame 22 . The engaging protrusion can freely oscillate in and out from the surface and is elastically urged in a direction the engaging protrusion 25 protrudes from the surface. At the same time, an engaging aperture 23 c which engages with the engaging protrusion 25 is formed on at least one of the upper and lower shells 23 and 24.
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BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0001] This disclosure relates to a clothes washer, and more particularly to a horizontal axis clothes washer that is also intended to dry a load of laundry in the washer. The drying cycle within the washer is a selectable feature by the consumer.
[0002] Combination units are already available in the marketplace. These types of units are intended to serve as both the primary clothes washer and primary clothes dryer in a single unit. These units are relatively expensive and slow. They are slow because the primary use of these units is to do both the washing and the drying function.
[0003] In certain instances, a consumer desires that a load of clothes be washed and also dried for the morning. If the load of clothes or laundry to be washed and dried for the morning is not started until late, the consumer would like to avoid staying up to transfer the load from the washer into the dryer before going to bed for the evening Likewise, the consumer would like to have the clothes ready for work in the morning without having to get up any earlier in order to transfer the load from the washer to the dryer, and still leave sufficient time for the laundry to dry in a standard drying cycle.
[0004] Accordingly, a need exists for an overnight cycle for a washer that is intended to give the consumer a convenience option and without having to add undue expense to the washer.
SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0005] An optional overnight drying cycle that allows a consumer to dry the laundry without having to transfer to a separate machine during an extended overnight drying cycle.
[0006] A clothes washer includes a housing having a drum received in the housing for rotation about a substantially horizontal axis. The drum receives a load of laundry, and a controller includes a drying mode selection for providing subsequent drying in the drum after a wash cycle has been completed. A blower for introducing air from an outside source into the drum and directing air from the drum to the outside source is included.
[0007] The extended drying mode may have an operative drying period on the order of three (3) or more hours, and at a minimum, approximately two (2) hours.
[0008] The controller includes an operator interface for selecting an associated size of the laundry wherein the extended drying mode selection is available for small and medium loads only.
[0009] The clothes washer further includes a memory providing a predetermined time for the drying cycle responsive to information selected in the operator interface relating to the approximate number of garments. The clothes washer provides for a delayed starting of the washing and drying cycles whereby the drying cycle will occur in the same drum as the washing cycle without having to transfer the laundry load.
[0010] In one preferred arrangement, the clothes washer does not use a separate heater for drying.
[0011] In a preferred arrangement, the load of laundry is dried by tumbling the laundry through drum rotation and introducing a stream of air during the tumbling.
[0012] A blower is operated during a latter portion of the wash cycle in order to dry an interior of the drum.
[0013] The drying air path communicates with a drive motor of the drum so that heat is transferred from the drive motor to the air passing through the drum.
[0014] A preferred method of washing and drying laundry in a single apparatus includes a drum that rotates about a substantially horizontal axis. The method includes washing the laundry in the apparatus, drying the laundry in the same apparatus without removing the laundry from the drum, and where the drying step includes directing air from outside the apparatus into the drum and tumbling the laundry while the air is directed into the drum.
[0015] In one arrangement the drying step does not employ a separate heater.
[0016] In a preferred arrangement the drying step includes passing air from outside the apparatus adjacent a drum motor prior to introduction into the drum.
[0017] In a preferred arrangement, the air is not recirculated in the drying step.
[0018] The drying step is only available if the laundry is a small or medium load selection.
[0019] In another embodiment, an input requires a selection of an approximate number of laundry items in the load, and may further include a delay to the start of at least one of the washing and drying steps so that the laundry is completed in an overnight time period.
[0020] A primary benefit is the ability to efficiently and inexpensively wash a laundry load and dry the same load in the same apparatus.
[0021] Another benefit resides in the ability to at least dry the laundry load overnight without having to transfer the load from washer into a separate dryer.
[0022] Still another advantage is the limited modification needed to an existing washer in order to provide for the overnight drying capability.
[0023] Still other features and benefits of the present disclosure will become more apparent from reading and understanding the following detailed description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0024] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a front-load washing machine with selected portions removed to illustrate and overnight dry sub-system.
[0025] FIG. 2 is a side view of the system, again with selected portions removed for ease of illustration.
[0026] FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the inlet and outlet ducting added to the drum.
[0027] FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the inlet ducting particularly illustrating the airflow path from outside of the housing to the drum.
[0028] FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the outlet ducting particularly illustrating an airflow path from the drum and through the exhaust blower to outside of the apparatus.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0029] Turning initially to FIGS. 1-3 , the washer 100 has a housing 102 that receives a drum 104 adapted for selective rotation relative to the housing. The drum has an access opening 106 that is selectively closed by a door (not shown) and the opening leads to an interior drum cavity 108 dimensioned to receive a load of laundry therein. The drum includes tumbling or beater bars 120 preferably at spaced locations along an inner surface of the drum so that as the drum rotates, the laundry undergoes a tumbling action to facilitate washing and also drying. As perhaps best seen in FIG. 2 , the washer is referred to as a horizontal axis clothes washer where in point of fact, the rotational axis may not be exactly horizontal but is substantially horizontal as is known in the art. The drum is rotated by a motor (not shown) along a drive access 122 ( FIG. 2 ). The introduction of water, detergent, and control of the movement of the drum during prewash, wash, rinse, spin cycles, etc. are all generally well-known in the art and controlled by a controller schematically represented by box 130 in FIG. 1 . In addition, an interface or control panel has been removed for ease of illustration. The control panel serves as a user interface to allow the consumer to pick the type of wash that the laundry will undergo, again, in a manner generally well-known in the art so that further discussion herein is deemed unnecessary.
[0030] An overnight dry sub-system 200 is added to a standard front-load washing machine. The overnight dry sub-system 200 includes inlet ducting 210 that is shown in FIGS. 1-3 and more particularly illustrated in FIG. 4 . The inlet ducting 210 includes an opening 212 extending through the housing, preferably through a rear surface thereof, that allows air from outside the housing to be drawn into the washing machine for introduction into the drum during the overnight dry cycle. If needed, a blower 214 ( FIGS. 1-3 ) may be added to enhance movement of air from outside of the washer housing and into the drum. It is also contemplated that the inlet duct may be extended to pass in proximity or adjacent to the drive motor in order to pick up some latent heat through a heat exchange before introduction into the drum. Otherwise, it is intended that the air received from outside of the housing need not be subsequently heated before being introduced into the drum.
[0031] Outlet ducting 230 receives the air at a location spaced from the inlet duct. For example, the inlet is shown as introducing air along a read region of the drum while the outlet duct 230 receives air from the perimeter of the drum adjacent the front opening 106 . The duct 230 leads to a blower such as centrifugal blower 232 that enhances movement of the drying air through the drum while the drum is rotated. As will be appreciated, during the overnight dry cycle, the drum is rotated by the motor to institute a tumbling action on the clothes or other laundry items. The air is received from outside the housing, directed through the drum, and then directed outwardly through the outlet ducting where it is reintroduced to a location outside of the housing. It is not intended that the air be re-circulated, but rather that a continuous through-path of air be established through the drum.
[0032] It is also contemplated that at the end of the wash cycle, air will be introduced through the overnight dry sub-system, and more particularly through the inlet duct work 210 in order to dry the inner surface of the drum.
[0033] In this modified washer, the washing time is relatively standard and thus operates in the same manner for the same time period. The drying time, however, is at least two to three times longer, and may be up to seven (7) hours for the drying cycle to be complete. This is particularly true when no heating element is used, rather just a blower and since no air is re-circulated. It is also intended for use with small to medium loads of laundry. For example, socks and a few shirts would entail a much shorter drying time if only a few garments are washed and in the drum for the overnight dry cycle. One option is to have the consumer input the approximate number of garments that are being dried. Presets will select the load types, whether they be cotton, synthetic, etc. and the additional selection of the approximate number of garments will allow these inputs to be compared with memory data to determine the approximate length of time for an overnight drying operation to be effective. If chosen by the consumer, the wash cycle would be completed in the typical fashion and then the clothes tumble dried within the washer over an extended period of time. Although this could be termed a combination washer-dryer unit, the intent here is to be wash only with this washer and only occasionally dry small to medium size loads when the overnight dry feature is selected. This satisfies the consumer's desire to have a load of clothes washed and dried for the morning by selecting the overnight dry cycle, and avoid having to stay up to transfer the load from the washer to the dryer before going to bed at night or to avoid having to awaken early in order to transfer the load from the washer to the dryer and complete the dry cycle early in the morning. The overnight cycle is deemed to be a selectable feature intended to give the consumer a convenience option. The unit is not intended to be the sole washing and drying unit in the home, but rather the washer only. Again, when the consumer has a small to medium load that is required to be done in the morning, this option would enable the consumer to use a slow, extended dry process with the washer to accomplish this drying task with a minimal design change made to a standard horizontal axis washer design. Adding a forced airflow across the clothes during a tumbling cycle as an overnight dry cycle will dry them in a relatively slow method, but create the opportunity for consumers to avoid having to transfer the clothes from the washer to the dryer to complete the laundry process.
[0034] The disclosure has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments. Obviously, modifications and alterations will occur to others upon reading and understanding the preceding detailed description. It is intended that the disclosure be construed as including all such modifications and alterations.
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A method and modified clothes washer provides for an overnight dry cycle. A standard washer is modified to draw air from external to the housing, direct the air into the tumbling drum, and remove the air with a blower to exhaust from the housing during an extended drying period overnight. By selecting this option, the consumer need not move the clothes from the washer to the dryer.
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RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 676,290 filed Nov. 29, 1984.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an improved bearing retainer and more particularly to a plastic combined bearing seal and retainer.
It is very common practice to mount either reciprocating and/or rotating shafts in bearings which are themselves supported by pillow blocks or other mountings. After the bearing is positioned within the pillow block it is necessary to lock the bearing in place in the pillow block and also to provide a seal for isolating the operating surfaces of the bearing from outside contamiments and for retaining lubrication within the bearing.
Presently used devices for this purpose comprise metallic locking rings which are positioned in locking slots at the bearing ends and separate seals or wipers mounted at the opposite ends of the bearing consisting of ring-like metal housings incorporating sealing or wiper rings. This construction requires four separate elements in typical bearing applications, as well as, as many as, four distinct manipulations for mounting the bearings in the pillow blocks and for applying suitable bearing seals.
The retainer and seal of the present invention is a unitary ring-like member which simultaneously performs both the locking and sealing functions. Because of its unitary construction, the locking and the sealing are done by a single snap-on application with two retainers making up a locking pair. Additionally, when the retainer is of a soft molded plastic, it may be removed from the bearing for replacement or inspection by simply slitting the retainer with a knife or razor and slipping it clear of the bearing and shaft without requiring the shaft to be removed from the bearing or pillow block. Similarly, the retainer may be reapplied or a new retainer and seal snapped into place in the same manner by cutting it so that it may be slipped over the shaft and the cut may be repaired with a suitable tape or an adhesive.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved bearing seal and retainer.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a unitary molded plastic bearing retainer which also acts as a bearing seal.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a unitary bearing retainer and seal which is easily snapped into place initially and which may be thereafter removed and replaced without requiring the supported shaft to be removed from the bearing and the pillow block.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a flexible plastic bearing retainer which incorporates a self locking feature.
Other and further objects of the present invention will become apparent upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiments about to be described, or will be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes of illustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the specification, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the bearing seal and retainer in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a side elevational view, partially cut away of retainer of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged partial sectional view of the retainer.
FIG. 4 is a corresponding sectional view of an alternative embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a side elevational view partially in section illustrating a pair of retainers in accordance with the invention locking a typical bearing in place in a pillow block.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a slotted embodiment of a retainer in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating the removal from or placement of a retainer on a bearing with a shaft in place.
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the slotted retainer.
FIG. 9 is a side elevational view, partially in section of another embodiment.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
A preferred embodiment of a sealing retainer in accordance with the invention is illustrated in FIGS. 1 thru 3 and 5. The retainer 1 is a unitary ring which may be molded or cast of a plastic such as polyurethane or a variety of other plastics or materials which may be molded, cast or machined in form retaining and flexible form so that the retainer 1 may be snapped in place as described below. Two retainers 1 are shown in FIG. 5 locking a bearing 2 in place in a pillow block 3 for mounting an elongated shaft 4. FIG. 5 illustrates a typical arrangement for a shaft 4 which may either be a reciprocating and/or rotating shaft supported by the bearing 2. The bearing 2 is mounted in a suitable pillow block 3.
The bearing 2, as is common practice, includes a pair of spaced circular locking grooves 6 positioned at the opposite ends of the bearing 2 axially outwardly of the spaced faces 7 of the pillow block 3. A pair of retainers 1 are illustrated as locked into place on the bearing 2 at the opposite faces 7 of the pillow block 3 to contain or lock the bearing 2 in place in the pillow block 3.
Each of the retainers 1 is a molded unitary plastic article with an outer cylindrical body portion 8 having depending end portions 9. Radially inwardly projecting locking flanges 10 are formed on the body portion 8 which are snapped into and which are in locking engagement with the spaced grooves 6 in the bearing 2. The innermost edges of the end portions 9 are dimensioned to extend to a position adjacent to the shaft 4 where flared and pointed flexible sealing edges 12 are in sliding or rotating engagement with the shaft 4.
FIGS. 1 thru 3 are detailed illustrations of a preferred embodiment of the retainer 1. FIG. 1 illustrates a generally cylindrical form of the retainer 1 which is useful for most bearings of the type used for cylindrical shafting. In particular instances it is possible for the overall general shape to have other form such as an oval or possibly square form, depending upon the particular shaft and bearing combination used.
Each retainer 1 has a ring-like outer body portion 8 terminating at one end in a radially inwardly directed end portion 9. In a preferred embodiment, the end portion 9 terminates at a shaft opening in an integral and flexible shaft wiper and sealing element 12. In order to effectively perform the wiping and sealing functions, the sealing element 12 preferably has a flared or pointed cross-section as best illustrated in FIGS. 2, 3, and 5. The sealing element 12 of the retainer 1 is in sliding, sealing or wiping engagement with the shaft 4 during the shaft rotation and/or reciprocation. The end portion 9 is arranged to extend radially inwardly at the generally flat bearing end surfaces 5.
Integrally formed on the center surface of the retainer body portion 8 is a locking flange 10. The locking flange 10 preferably is proportioned to fit snuggly within a bearing groove 6 to provide the locking action between the retainer 1 and the bearing 2. A cross-section of the retainer 1 is illustrated in FIG. 3 showing the seal 12 on the end portion 9 and the flange 10 on the body portion 8. The dimensions of the end portion 9 of the body portion 8 preferably are set to cause the retainers 1 to firmly engage the pillow block 3.
FIG. 4 illustrates an alternative retainer shape. As illustrated in this cross-sectional view, the end portion 16 of a retainer 15 is formed without a wiping element on its edge 17 where the particular use of the retainer 15 makes the seal unnecessary. The retainer 15 also has a different proportioning of the spacing of a locking flange 18 and the length of the retainer abutment portion 19.
FIG. 5 illustrates two retainers 1 in position to mount the shaft 4 in bearing 2 on a pillow block 3. This combination is assembled by mounting the bearing 2 within operational bearing ring 20 in the pillow block 3 with the shaft 4 positioned in the bearing 2. The two retainers 1 are slipped over the shaft 4 and pressed together over the opposite ends of the bearing 2 causing the locking flanges 10 to snap into position in the bearing grooves 6 and with the abutment end portions 14 of the two retainers 1 confining the bearing 2 in position on the pillow block 3. The shaft 4 may reciprocate and/or rotate. The retainer rings 1 may also act as a bumper means to protect the bearing 2 against damaging contact with stationary members adjacent to the shaft 4. The wiper edges 12 are in sliding engagement with the shaft 4 and in this position they block the entry of contaminents or foreign matter into the bearing 2 and simultaneously act as a seal to confine any lubricants employed within the bearing 2.
FIG. 6 illustrates another embodiment in retainers 36 employed on a bearing mounted in a moving pillow block 37 which has a sliding action along stationery runners 38. In this embodiment, the stationery runner mounts 39 are bypassed by the moving pillow block 37. Suitable slots 40 are provided for this purpose in the retainers 36 and similar slots or cut-outs are provided in the bearing and pillow block 37. The retainers 36 are otherwise similar to retainer 1 described above.
A pair of end flaps 42 (FIG. 8) are positioned adjacent to the slots 40 in retainer 36 for engaging the bearing and for assisting in keeping the retainer 36 locked in place on the bearing.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating the removal of retainers 1 from a shaft 4 by cutting slits 21 axially of the retainers. The flexible retainers 1 may then be slipped off the shaft 4 for inspection or replacement. A retainer 1 may be replaced without removing the shaft 4 by forming a similar slit 21 in a new retainer 1 and by snapping it over the shaft 4 and by repairing the slit 21 using tape 22 or adhesive or other fastening means.
FIG. 9 illustrates another embodiment of a retainer 24 positioned on a bearing 25 for a shaft 30. FIG. 9 also illustrates the use of a retainer 24 on one end of the bearing 25 and the use of a regular locking ring 26 on the opposite end of the bearing 25. The locking ring 26 has been snapped into place in the bearing slot 27. This embodiment of the retainer 24 has the abutment portion terminated at the locking flange 28 so that the abutment portion of the retainer 24 abutting the bearing block 29 comprises the outer surface of the locking flange 28. Retainers, such as the retainer 24 may be used on one end of a bearing 25 as illustrated, or may also be used in pairs on the opposite ends of a bearing in the manner described above for the other embodiments of the bearing retainer where no locking ring is used.
It will be seen that an improved unitary retainer has been provided for bearing installations which is simple, effective and easily installed and which also has the advantage of being replaceable without disassembling the bearing and shaft arrangement. The retainers are easily manufactured by molding or casting or machining and replace prior devices of considerably greater complexity and difficulty of manufacture.
As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the invention and without deparing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
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A bearing retainer and seal is described which is snapped into locking engagement on a bearing mounted in a pillow block. The retainer includes an interior circular locking flange which snaps into locking grooves on the outer surfaces of the bearings whereby a pair of the retainers cooperate to lock the bearing in position in a pillow block or other bearing support. The retainer shaft opeining has an integral wiping seal at its edge both to seal the bearing for excluding foreign matter and also for retaining lubrication within the bearing.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation-in-part of our application Ser. No. 07/431,532 filed Nov. 3, 1989 now abandoned.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the sequential feeding of discrete items to processing machines. More particularly, the invention relates to internally synchronized discrete item feeding systems which provide accurate and efficient item registration and delivery at fast item delivery speeds.
Product feed systems are well known, and are in widespread use for the delivery of products in industrial processes. Such systems have been found to be particularly useful in conjunction with packaging machinery wherein discrete product units are delivered to machines which wrap, or otherwise process, the discrete product into a finished package for market. One form of this commercial operation involves a machine known as a horizontal-form-fill-seal machine. That machine includes an infeed conveyor which feeds products into the machine. The delivered product is then enwrapped in a tube of wrapping material that is formed by the wrapping machine, both ends and the bottom lap (or side joining of material) are sealed, and the tube of material with products within is severed between the end seals of succeeding packages to produce a series of discrete packages.
As the speed of delivery of products to the packaging machines is increased in an attempt to improve the efficiency of plant operations and reduce costs, it becomes necessary to utilize a continuous motion of the transverse sealing mechanism. These mechanisms are usually comprised of sealing jaws that rotate, or sealing jaws that travel in an orbital motion, or multiple sealing jaws fastened to a chain. In all cases the sealing jaws travel downstream at nearly the velocity of product flow during the time the transverse seal is being made. Higher packaging speeds require that the motion of the sealing jaws be essentially continuous to avoid the shock and vibration that would result from starting and stopping the jaws for each package.
Because the motion of the jaws is predetermined and continuous, it is necessary to control the location of the products entering the wrapping machine, and a flighted infeed conveyor is commonly used to control the position of products as they enter the seal jaws in a horizontal form-fill-seal machine. This is because the location of product passing through the wrapping machine must be such that the transverse jaws will make their end seals in the gaps between the products. As operational speeds become higher and product spacing becomes tightened, the location of the gaps (or spacing) between the discrete packages cannot be assured in the absence of a physical locating means such as that provided by the flights of the flighted conveyor. It should be noted, however, that even if the flighted conveyor were replaced with a flat belt conveyor, it would still be essential to control the placement of product on the belt in order to make seals in the gaps between the products. In this case, the synchronizing system of the present invention would serve the same function of locating the products into the machine as would the flighted conveyor were it present.
Feeding product between the flights of the flighted infeed conveyor has always been a problem. The simplest product feed system, of course, is manual placement of the individual product units on the conveyor. Even with multiple operators handling product to fill the flights on the conveyor, however, it is virtually impossible to keep up with a processing machine operating at well over 100 products per minute using the manual feed system.
Known mechanical feed systems for packaging machines include hopper feeds in which each flight of the conveyor strips a product off the bottom of a stack of products, and motorized hoppers which deposit product discretely into the respective spaces between the flights of the conveyor in response to signals generated by a cam or similar mechanism associated with the drive of the flighted conveyor. Such systems are limited in the types of packages which they can handle effectively. Thus, the hopper system is generally adaptable only to regularly shaped products of relatively low profile such as uniform size boxes or the like. Similarly, the motorized version is generally used to deliver thin product such as greeting cards, magazines, LP records and the like. Further, each of the hopper systems requires one product to slide along the surface of an adjacent product during the conveyor loading sequence which can cause jamming of the machinery and damage to sensitive products. Still further, manual or machine loading of the hopper is still required which introduces increased cost and reduced efficiency to the overall production operation.
Other mechanical means for sequentially loading the respective spaces between the flights of a flighted conveyor have been used. These means include angle feed in which product is fed at approximately a right angle to the flighted conveyor travel, brought to a dead stop and peeled off by the transverse action of the flights of the conveyor; the produce placement system in which the product is delivered in line against a stop which is periodically removed to permit the advance of a single product; and, timing screws which are adapted to feed product, usually of a particular shape which permits the entrance of the thread of the timing screws between adjacent product units, to the spaces between the flights of the conveyor sequentially. All of these systems have utility related to their particular mode of operation, but they all also suffer from disadvantages. In particular, the product placement system is limited to the delivery of product at speeds well below those that can be achieved with the present invention, and even at lower speeds, product motion involves violent starts and stops. Timing screws can be disadvantageous in that their use can be limited by product shape as described above, and in that a specific set of screws is required for each specific size and shape of product. The angle feed is limited to relatively narrow product, because the stop-start-stop action that occurs as each product is peeled off by the flighted conveyor and the next product is rapidly advanced into the path of the flights becomes more violent as product width increases.
Registration systems for continuously fed webs are well known but when individual discrete products are being handled, the situation is quite different because here control of any one product does not necessarily constitute control of preceding or succeeding products because each product is independent of all others. Furthermore, products may arrive at the infeed to the machine in an ever changing random spacing. It is also important to note that once a product is released from controlling members of the mechanism, it will travel at the speed of the conveyor upon which it is sitting and its timing cannot be further adjusted or corrected. Furthermore, since there is not connection between the products, each product must be individually controlled, properly spaced and sequenced to enter the space between the conveyor flights.
The Nordstrom patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,098, discloses an infeed conveyor system for feeding packages to a wrapping machine and utilizes a squeeze conveyor that is driven through a differential; the squeeze conveyor running at a speed which is less than synchronous. When product falls behind a synchronous speed, the squeeze conveyor is driven at a speed higher than synchronous which causes the product to catch up and it continues to do so until a sensing mechanism determines that the product is too far advanced and the conveyor then resumes a speed which is slower than synchronous. The difficulty with this particular arrangement is that products are always moving in and out of correct location in the machine, and the product is never being fed at synchronous speed. A further problem is that when a product is sensed to be out of correct location, it is too late to bring it back into correct location. Succeeding products can be gradually brought back into correct location, but the position of the product that was sensed to be out of correct location cannot be corrected. The control conveyor of the apparatus of the present invention, on the other hand, always feeds product at synchronous speed, except for fractional second increases or decreases to bring product back into correct location. In addition, the present invention can correct the position of each product passing through it so that every product is delivered in correct location for subsequent processing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The preferred embodiment and best mode for practicing the present invention are disclosed as an in-line product feed system for delivering a series of discrete, individual products precisely located into a processing machine usually between the flights of a flighted infeed conveyor. The product flow is smooth, involves no dead stops while feeding individual packages and, hence, is not subject to undue acceleration or deceleration which could cause product damage and undue wear upon the components of the system. The system of the invention is capable of delivering individual products to processing machinery at extremely high speeds, i.e., approaching 250 products per minute or more. To achieve these objectives, the present invention delivers product in-line to a dynamic retarding system which accumulates product in abutting contiguous position while maintaining forward motion of products. The dynamic retarding system is speed and phase controlled relative to a flighted conveyor (or other downstream destination) such that it thereafter delivers product one at a time in uniform sequential relation to a conveyor which deposits the discrete products individually precisely between flights of the flighted conveyor or other destination.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a product feeding system which is capable of handling a wide variety of products of various forms, shapes and content, and of delivering such products individually without undue acceleration, deceleration or physical stress to the products or the machinery and with accurate placement of the product on a subsequent conveyor or receptacle.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a product delivery system which accumulates randomly supplied product from a source and maintains a ready access storage which delivers product uniformly therefrom in synchronism with a time take-away such as a flighted conveyor.
An object is to provide a discrete product conveyor system which accepts products which have minor manufacturing size variations and eliminates the cumulative effect of such variations to deliver products to the output of the system in synchronism with a timed take-away conveyor.
A further object of the invention is to provide a product delivery system which is readily adaptable for the handling of discrete products of various shapes, sizes and contents.
A further object of the invention is to provide a product delivery system in which product size changes can be accommodated without the need for expensive change parts.
A further object is to provide a novel method of discrete product feed that produces precise position of the delivered product.
A further object of the invention is to provide a product delivery system capable of detecting whether any individual product is out of synchronism with a timed take-away conveyor and of correcting the position of that individual product incrementally to return it into synchronism prior to delivering the product to the take-away conveyor.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
These and other features and objects of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments thereof and by reference to the attached drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the transport and control system of a preferred embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 1A is a schematic representation of an articulated conveyor drive for height adjustment of an upper conveyor;
FIG. 1B is a schematic representation of a gear drive for the upper conveyor;
FIG. 2 is a pictorial diagram showing the control and differential drive portion of the system of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a view on line 3--3 of FIG. 2 showing a slot and pin dead-zone drive;
FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view of a position phase sensor control suitable for use with the system of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4A is a diagrammatic view of the device in FIG. 4 with the armature in the advance sensor;
FIG. 4B is a diagrammatic view of the device in FIG. 4 with the armature in the retard sensor;
FIG. 4C is a schematic diagram of FIG. 4 showing advance, retard, zero, and dead-band sectors;
FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic side view of an alternative dynamic retarding means suitable for use with the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic top view of another dynamic retarding means suitable for use with the present invention; and
FIG. 7 shows an alternative means for driving and controlling the preferred embodiment incorporating a servo-motor, drive and control system.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring now to the drawings wherein like elements are referred to by like reference numerals throughout, and particularly to FIG. 1, a diagrammatic representation of the arrangement of the conveyors and associated equipment of the present preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown. Generally, this arrangement comprises an infeed conveyor 10; a control conveyor 20, which includes a lower support belt 21 and an upper conveyor belt 22; a transfer conveyor 30; and, a flighted conveyor 40. The conveyors 10, 20, 30 and 40 are aligned for transferring the discrete products (designated "A") therethrough without significant change in the direction of product flow.
The infeed conveyor 10 is a flat, endless belt mounted upon rollers 11 and 12. Roller 12 includes a drive pulley 13. A drive motor 14, having a drive pulley 15, drives the infeed conveyor 10 at a preselected speed by drive belt 16 located about drive pulleys 13 and 15. The product support surface of infeed conveyor 10 is selected such that the discrete products A will slide thereon without damage in the event that they encounter an obstruction to their motion in the discretion of the travel of conveyor 10, indicated by arrows in FIG. 1. Conveyor 10 may be a belt conveyor whose belt has the proper coefficient of friction, or it could be a conveyor comprised of a series of rollers which deliver only limited thrust to products A.
The control conveyor 20 includes lower support belt 21 mounted upon rollers 25 and 26, and may also include an upper conveyor belt 22 mounted upon rollers 23 and 24. Suitable means, which will be described later, are provided so that the spacing between the lower run of upper conveyor 22 and the upper run of lower conveyor 21 may be varied according to the vertical dimension of the discrete product A to be processed by the system. Drive pulleys 27 and 28 on rollers 24 and 26 respectively, are connected by drive belt 29. It will be noted that, for simplicity, in FIG. 1 belt 29 is indicated as being crossed to reverse the direction of pulley 27 so that the lower portion of belt 22 will run in the same direction as belt 21. In a preferred embodiment, a spur gear drive, such as illustrated in FIG. 1B, produces the directional reversal by means of gears G1 G2 to provide the correct rotation of pulley 27 to drive conveyor 22 in the correct direction. The drive system between lower conveyor 21 and upper conveyor 22 is arranged to permit the vertical distance between conveyor 21 and conveyor 22 to be adjusted while maintaining a drive to the conveyor 22 as hereinafter described. A drive belt 70 connects drive pulley 28 to drive pulley 31 located on synchronizing transmission 32. Drive belt 33 connects drive pulley 34 on the synchronizing transmission 32 with a drive pulley 35 located on a main drive motor 36. The operation of synchronizing transmission 32, which is controlled by a timing control 37 will be described below in the context of the synchronizing operation of the present system. It will be seen, however, that through the above described system of drive pulleys and drive belts the conveyors 21 and 22 are driven at the same speed in the direction of the arrows shown in FIG. 1.
As indicated in FIG. 1, the top run of drive belt 21 and the bottom run of drive belt 22 are spaced vertically at approximately the height dimension of the products A. As will be explained in detail, the spacing between the top and bottom runs of belts 21 and 22, respectively, is adjusted to just grip the packages A to retard them to the speed of conveyor 20. The speeds of conveyors 10 and 20 are set so that arriving products A are accumulated in end abutment with those products A which are still on conveyor 10 slipping on the upper run of conveyor belt 10.
The spacing adjustment between the upper run of conveyor 21 and the lower run of conveyor 22 can be accomplished by mounting conveyor 22 on any suitable mechanical means, such as guide rails, which will permit the height of conveyor 22 above conveyor 21 to be varied while maintaining the lower surface of conveyor 22 essentially horizontal and parallel to the upper surface of conveyor 21. A drive to conveyor 22 which adjusts to suit the height location of conveyor 22 can be accomplished by any suitable arrangement One such arrangement is indicated in FIG. 1A where the drive connection between drive pulley 28 and driven pulley 27 is by way of an articulated arm supporting idler pulleys 127, 128. As indicated by the alternate positions of idlers 127, 128 and driven pulley 27 in FIG. 1A, the vertical spacing between drive pulley 28 and driven pulley 27 can be adjusted over any desired range of height for products A while maintaining a continuity of drive between belt 21 and belt 22.
Transfer conveyor 30 comprises a pair of belts mounted upon rollers 38 and 39 located on either side of flighted conveyor 40 which is mounted upon rollers 41, 42, 43 and 44. The flighted conveyor 40 is driven in the direction of the arrows shown in FIG. 1 by the main drive motor 36. This is accomplished by the engagement of a belt 148 with drive pulley 35 and a driven pulley 45, the latter being located on the roller 41.
Transfer conveyor 30 is driven by a belt 47 which is driven by drive pulley 48 mounted on roller 43 which in turn is driven by flighted conveyor belt 140. Belt 47 drives pulley 46 mounted on roller 39 and conveyor belts 30. The transfer conveyor 30 is driven at a speed sufficiently faster than control conveyor 20 to pull a gap between succeeding products A into which conveyor flights 49 can be inserted. The gaps also make it possible for sensing eye 61 to indicate precisely the leading and trailing edges of products A as they pass from control conveyor 20 to transfer conveyor 30. Although not illustrated, the transfer conveyor 30 may be driven by its own speed controlled motor separate from the main drive motor 36 without departing from the present invention.
In flighted conveyor 40 a plurality of flights 49 extend perpendicularly upwardly from the top outer surface defining gaps, representatively indicated at 50, between each pair thereof. The gaps 50 are larger than product length A and are contemplated to be established such that one discrete product A, or in the case of multiple product packages, a predetermined number of products will fit therein.
A transducer 51 is provided to sense the speed of control conveyor 20 and drives a meter 52 to provide a visual indication of that speed to the operator. Similarly, a meter 54 is driven by a transducer 53 on a rotary switch 55 to provide a visual indication of the speed of the flighted conveyor 40. The rotary switch 55 is driven by a belt 58 located around changeable sprockets 56 and 57 disposed on roller 42 and switch 55 respectively. The sprocket ratio can thereby be changed to match the spacing 50 between flights 49 as this spacing may be changed to accommodate different lengths of products A.
It will be understood that the object of the configuration of elements just described is to pass the discrete products A along the various conveyors in such a manner that they reach the flighted conveyor in phase to fall within one of the gaps 50 between the flights 49. To accomplish this objective, the products A must exit the control conveyor 20 to the transfer conveyor 30 at a rate such that a product is delivered for each gap between flights that occurs during the operation of flighted conveyor 40. In addition, the position (or timing) of discharge of each product A from control conveyor 20 must be such that transfer conveyor 30 will bring each product into the flighted conveyor so as to arrive in the gaps 50 between flights 49 rather than on top of a flight 49. This requires not only that the speeds of conveyors 20, 30 and 40 be maintained in the appropriate ratio, but also that the timing of product release from the control conveyor 20 and the passage of the flights 49 past the downstream end of the transfer conveyor 30 be synchronized in position as well as speed. With the present invention, it is possible to do this while continuously moving the products in essentially a straight line through the system. Although the velocity of the products is varied by the system, the forward motion of products is not stopped, and thus the products are not subjected to the violent acceleration associated with starting and stopping many times per minute as in prior art systems. As important as this is for products in the system, it becomes even more important when products A form a solid line of product upstream of the system. The forces generated by the momentum and inertia of a considerable accumulated weight of product being suddenly accelerated and then stopped in prior art systems can crush delicate product and can inflict considerable wear on machine parts.
In the present embodiment, an electric eye 61 in conjunction with the time control 37 and the synchronizing transmission 32 allow the foregoing objective to be realized. As best seen in FIG. 2, the synchronizing transmission 32 includes a variable speed drive mechanism 62 and a differential 63 between input drive pulley 34 and output pulley 31. The relative speed of output pulley 31 is controlled by adjustment screw 65 driven by an adjusting motor 64, by means of belt 67. The relative phase of output pulley 31 is controlled by the differential 63 whose position correction worm 66 is driven by the correction motor 68 by means of a belt 69 the operation of which is described in detail hereinafter.
There are numerous variable speed drive devices available in the art. The variable speed drive disclosed is commercially available and utilizes variable pitch pulleys to drive a metal chain in a bath of oil. It will be understood that by adjusting the pitch of the two pulleys by rotation of an adjustment screw 65, the output shaft velocity versus the input shaft velocity can be altered continuously. Accordingly, by adjusting the variable speed drive 62, the speed of the control conveyor 20 can be modified relative to the speeds of the transfer conveyor 30 and flighted conveyor 40. In each case, it is contemplated that the speed of the control conveyor 20 will be less than the speed of the infeed conveyor 10 for reasons which will become apparent presently.
At the outset, the speed ratios of the various conveyors are set manually utilizing meters 52 and 54. It will be seen that the meter 52 reads out the number of feet per minute (or other convenient format of velocity) at which the control conveyor 20 is traveling. The meter 54, o the other hand, reads out the revolutions per minute (or equivalent) at which the rotary switch 55 is being driven by the belt 58 as sensed by transducer 53. By appropriately selecting he size of the sprockets 56 and 57, the rotary switch 55 can be made to pass through one rotation for each flight space 50 of the flighted conveyor 40. The relative speed of the control conveyor 20 and the flighted conveyor 40 can be adjusted manually by adjusting the variable speed drive 62. Conveniently, this adjustment may be made by activation of advance or retard push buttons on a time control 37 to activate the adjusting motor 64 which controls the desired adjustment of the variable speed control 62.
The general operation of the mechanical elements of the disclosed embodiment will now be described.
The discrete products A are fed into the machine on infeed conveyor 10 driven by motor 14. As mentioned previously, the infeed conveyor 10 is running at a faster speed than the control conveyor 20. Thus, as the packages A reach the control conveyor 20, they are grasped between the upper belt 22 and the lower belt 21, and are slowed from their velocity on the infeed conveyor 10. Since the operation of the device is continuous, this leads to a back up of abutting products A on the infeed conveyor 10. Damage to the product and/or the machinery due to this back-up of product is not a problem because the infeed conveyor 10 is specifically designed to permit the slippage of product thereon upon its encountering a force resistive to the forward movement of the product. An electric eye 60, located adjacent the downstream end of the infeed conveyor 10, and an electric eye 59, located upstream from eye 60, control the operation of the remainder of the conveyors and permit the utilization of at least two modes of operation.
In one of these modes, the eye 60 controls the operation of the main drive 36 such that the main drive 36 and control conveyor 20 are maintained in the off condition until product is located in front of the eyes 60 and 59. Once sufficient product has accumulated on the infeed conveyor 10, to block eye 60 and eye 59, the main drive 36 will be activated and the product feed function of the equipment will proceed. Eye 59 is used to determine when the requisite accumulation of product has occurred. Thus, eye 59 also includes a time delay circuit which allows spaced individual products to pass it without activation of the main drive 36. Eye 60 may be used alone, but it is preferred that eyes 59 and 60 be used in combination in order to assure a sufficiently long run and to avoid short term stops and starts which may be injurious to the wrapping machine to which products A are delivered. The absence of product in front of the eye 60 will cause the main drive motor 36 to be turned off.
Alternatively, a two speed main drive may also be used. Such a drive mechanism is more self correcting and less prone to shut down the system during normal operating conditions. In this case, when product is absent from in front of the eye 60 the machine stops. Product is thereafter allowed to accumulate back on the infeed conveyor 10 until the eye 60 an subsequently eye 59 are again covered. At this point, the main drive is started in the low speed mode until a continuous flow of product covering eye 59 causes a time delayed circuit to close thereby switching the main drive into the high speed mode. When there is insufficient product on conveyor 10 to keep eye 59 covered, the main drive shifts into low speed mode until eye 59 is again covered and the main drive will again shift into high speed. If eye 60 is uncovered, the main drive will stop. The control of the high and low speed operation of a drive motor is well known in the art and may be accomplished in numerous ways.
Once the products A have accumulated upon infeed conveyor 10 to a predetermined back-up at eye 59, the remainder of the conveyors are activated. The control conveyor 20 grips each product and transfers it to the transfer conveyor 30. As previously described the control conveyor 20 may be an upper and a lower conveyor as discussed above. In this event, the upper conveyor 22 may be supplied with an articulating chain drive as described with reference to FIG. 1A (or other appropriate mechanism) which permits the adjustment of the spacing between the upper and lower conveyors so that products of varying heights may be accommodated by the system. Alternatively, the control conveyor may be a lower conveyor and an upper roller 168 used to create a pinch roller assembly with roller 28 adjacent the downstream end of the control conveyor 20 as shown in FIG. 5. The control conveyor 20 may also comprise a lower conveyor 21 and a pair of side squeeze conveyors (or rollers) having adjustable width spacing generally indicated at 166 and 167 in FIG. 6. The choice regarding which type of control conveyor is to be used will depend upon the nature of the packages to be controlled.
Whatever the configuration selected for the control conveyor 20, it is important that it satisfy several criteria. Thus, the control conveyor must overcome the forward force imparted to the products by the infeed conveyor 10 such that the speed of the products on the control conveyor 20 is determined totally by that conveyor, and not externally thereto. As will be seen presently, if this condition is not met, the entire synchronization of the system may be destroyed. In addition, it is important that the control conveyor 20 maintains control of the products until their trailing edges are released therefrom. This is a subtle, but a very important feature of this invention. The speed of transfer conveyor 30 is faster than the speed of the control conveyor 20 so that a space will be created between the products deposited thereon by the control conveyor 20. This allows the discrete products to be deposited within the spaces 50 between the flights 49 and provides space between succeeding products into which flight 49 can be inserted. The change of velocity of the products from the control conveyor 20 to the transfer conveyor 30 occurs effectively upon release of product from the control conveyor 20 and the point at which the velocity change occurs must be the same for every product for the system to work reliably. Accordingly, as the products pass the downstream end of the control conveyor 20, it is important that their weight be substantially transferred to the transfer conveyor 30 prior to their release by the control conveyor 20. One cannot rely simply upon the differential speeds of the control and the transfer conveyors because the center of gravity of the products may vary significantly. This would mean that some products would become controlled by the transfer conveyor 30 earlier than others. Even products with a uniform center of gravity will show variation in transferring from a lower speed belt to a higher speed belt if gravity and friction are the sole determinates of which belt velocity the product will assume. Failure to provide the positive control of product transfer would clearly destroy any possibility of reliably synchronizing the system as will be described presently. Transfer conveyor 30 will therefore be provided with a conveying surface that permits slippage of the product therealong after its weight has been transferred to it but before its rear edge is released by the control conveyor 20. In certain applications it may be possible to replace the transfer conveyor 30 with a gravity chute, an air blast on the products, or some other means of accelerating products out of control conveyor 20 creating product separation, but this does not alter the requirement for a precision release from control conveyor 20. Such alternate product take-away would still be within the scope of this invention.
After the released product is transferred to the transfer conveyor 30, it is deposited on the flighted conveyor 40 for final delivery to a subsequent destination or processing machine. The speed ratio of the control conveyor 20 to the flighted conveyor 40 is set such that the rate of product delivery by the control conveyor 20 will correspond with the rate of passage of spaces 50 of the flighted conveyor past the downstream end of transfer conveyor 30.
Referring to FIG. 1, and the following description, the mathematical relationship between the speeds of conveyor 20 and 40 will become evident. It will be noted that infeed conveyor 10 delivers a sequence of products in a fashion where the product may slip if forward advance of the product A, for example, is resisted by an accumulation of product. Control conveyor 20 essentially accumulates products from infeed conveyor 10 in a contiguously abutted condition as seen in FIG. I. In order to deliver one product A per space 50 of the flighted conveyor, control conveyor 20 must run at a speed that is equal to the speed of the flighted conveyor 40, multiplied by the length of a product A, and divided by the length of a designated space in the product receiving means as indicated at 50. For delivering multiples of product A, control conveyor 20 must, of course, run at multiples of the speed described above. The transfer conveyor 30 removes the product at a speed higher than the speed of the control conveyor 20 so as to create a space between succeeding products. The speed differential between the conveyors together with a means, which will be described presently, of synchronizing the release of products A with the position of spaces 50 allows one to insure that the products A will be deposited into the spaces 50, rather than on top of a flight 49. In applications of the invention which a flighted conveyor is not used, the need would still exist to deposit products onto a conveyor synchronized with the machine components, such as transverse sealing jaws, so that the seals will be made in the gap between the products. Thus the synchronizing system would serve the same function as with the flighted conveyor of feeding products precisely into the wrapping machine.
Product synchronization is accomplished utilizing timing control 37, differential 63, gear motor 68, rotary switch 55 and the electric eye 61 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 in the following manner.
As products pass from control conveyor 20 to transfer conveyor 30, the higher speed of transfer conveyor 30 pulls a gap between the products released to the transfer conveyor 30. This gap permits electric eye 61 to sense the end of each product and thus the position of the product as it reaches the discharge end of control conveyor 20. Electric eye 61 signals this position to timing control 37. The timing control 37 then compares the position of the product with the position of the flighted conveyor 40 by means of a signal from rotary switch 55, which it will be recalled is being driven by the flighted conveyor 40 at a speed such that one revolution of the switch indicates the advancement of the flights of the flighted conveyor a distance equivalent of one space 50. In some cases the advancement of one space 50 could rotate switch 55 two or more complete revolutions, but its signals must always accurately represent the location of the conveyor flights for each product released. Also, for short packages, switch 55 could rotate one complete revolution for every two, three or more complete spaces 50 of travel of conveyor flights 49 without changing the intent of the invention.
As illustrated in FIG. 4, the rotary switch 55 is constructed so that there is an advance sector 70, a retard sector 71, and a zero section 72. These sectors are defined by the position of sensors 76 and 77 which sense the passage of an armature 73 which generates the signal of rotary switch 55 as calling for a zero, advance or retard correction. The peripheral positions of sensors 76, 77 are adjustable to vary the size of the zero sector 72. The timing of rotary switch 55 (See FIG. 2) relative to flighted conveyor 40 can be adjusted by loosening a locking screw 155 and rotating a sensor mounting plate 156 relative to the armature 7 and thereafter tightening the locking screw 155.
If the signal from the eye 61 occurs when the armature 73 of the switch 55 is in the zero sector 72, as shown in FIG. 4, it signals that product placement is correct, and therefore no correction (zero correction) occurs at either adjusting motor 64 or correcting motor 68. If signal from eye 61 occurs when the armature 73 is in the area of sensor 77, as shown in Fib. 4B, it signals that a retard connection is required. A corresponding signal is sent to gear motor 68 to drive the differential 63 in such a direction as to retard the position of control conveyor 20, thereby delaying the release of the next product therefrom. The amount by which the control conveyor 20 is retarded is adjusted by adjusting the time interval of operation of gear motor 68 by means of an interval timer, many types of which are commonly known in the art.
The time set into the interval timer is generally one to two tenths of a second, and full positional correction should be accomplished with the passage of a single product if every product being delivered is to be in correct location with respect to spaces 50. Thus at production rates of 120 products per minute, the maximum desirable running time for gear motor 68 would be five tenths of a second. Thus it will be seen that positional corrections are accomplished by means of short incremental adjustments to the position of control conveyor 20 with respect to the position of flighted conveyor 40.
In the event that the armature 73 is in the area of sensor 76, as shown in FIG. 4A when the signal from eye 61 occurs, this signals that an advance correction is required. A corresponding signal advances the control conveyor 20 by driving differential 63 in a direction to advance the position of control conveyor 20 in a similar manner as just described for retardation. Sensors 76 and 77 send advance and retard signals respectively to control 37 when armature 73 is present at the respective sensors in incremental steps by conveniently using timers in the circuit to motor 68.
FIG. 4C illustrates that in addition to the advance, zero, and retard sectors of the rotary switch 55 there is a dead-band 79 in which no sensing is made and no correction will occur. Because of this, it is essential to start up the system in such a way that the signal from eye 61 will occur when the armature 73 is within the advance, zero, or retard sections. Referring to FIG. 1, the first product A' downstream of control conveyor 20 is advanced to a predetermined point on transfer conveyor 30 and the next A" to exit the control conveyor 20 is advanced until it covers eye 61. Control conveyor 20 is then retarded until product A" just uncovers eye 61. This represents the zero position for the product. Control conveyor 20 can conveniently be advanced or retarded by operating a position adjust advance jog switch 138 or retard jog switch -39 to cause correcting motor 68 to respectively advance or retard the control conveyor. Locking knob 155 is loosened and rotary switch 55 is then adjusted until a slight adjustment of the switch is either direction will cause either the green advance LED (115 on FIG. 2) or red retard LED (116 on FIG. 2) to illuminate. The rotary switch 55 is then locked in the zero sector 72 which is indicated when neither LED 115 nor LED 116 are illuminated. The rotary switch 55 is now correctly aligned and should be locked in position by tightening locking knob 155
While the relative speed of control conveyor 20 to flighted conveyor 40 is initially set manually, it is advantageous to have these relative speed corrections under automatic control. One reason for this is that the product lengths may vary slightly over the course of a run. Since lengths are cumulative, any variations in product length could cause the position correcting gear motor 68 and differential drive 63 to correct the location of every product in an attempt to maintain proper synchronization. Additionally automatic speed adjustment makes it easier for a moderately trained operator to set up the control conveyor correctly, because once it is set reasonably closely, the system will take over and make the final adjustment automatically. Excessive running of gear motor 68 and differential drive 63 may be avoided by energizing the length adjusting motor 64 at the same time as the gear motor 68, so that while the correction in placement is being made with the differential 63 a very minute adjustment is also being made to the variable speed drive 62 by energizing motor 64.
FIG. 3 shows an arrangement to prevent excessive wear on the speed adjustment parts of the variable speed drive 62. A sprocket 81 having an arc slot 82 which can drive a pin 83 is utilized between the adjusting motor 64 and the variable speed drive adjusting screw 65. Motor 64 drives the sprocket 81 with slot 82 via belt 67 as shown. Variator speed adjustment screw 65 incorporates pin 83 attached to it. Except for engagement of pin 83 in either end of slot 82, sprocket 81 can turn freely with respect to adjusting screw member 65. In this way, minute motions back and forth of the sprocket 81 moves slot 82 but will not move pin 83 and thus will not cause the adjustment screw 65 of the variable speed drive 62 to move. But greater motion in one direction will cause the pin 83 to engage the sprocket at one end of slot 82 and adjust the variable speed drive mechanism to correct the speed of the variator. A similar function could be accomplished electrically, if desired.
The timing control 37 contains the circuitry to compare the output from the eye 61 with the signal received from the rotary switch 55. It also contains manual jog adjustments 138 and 139 for the gear motor 68 and adjusting motor 64, lights to indicate the phase of the machine and the institution of the various corrective measures described above to the operator, and visual indications of its other various timing and control functions such as, "Control On" and "Control Off".
FIG. 7 shows an alternative means for driving and controlling the preferred embodiment of the invention incorporating a servo motor, drive, and control system. FIG. 7, in which like parts bear like reference numerals to FIG. 1, incorporates the same infeed conveyor 10 feeding products A into a control conveyor 20 which retards the speed of the products, accumulating them on the infeed conveyor. Control conveyor 20 feeds contiguously abutted products A past eye 61 onto transfer conveyor 30 and into spaces 50 between flights 49 on flighted conveyor 40. Infeed conveyor 10 is driven by gear motor 14 and run at a higher speed than control conveyor 20. Flighted conveyor 40 is driven by main drive motor 36, which in turn drives transfer conveyor 30, through belt and pulley system 46, 47 and 48. In this embodiment of the invention, servo motor 91 drives the control conveyor 20 by means of belt 70 and pulleys 28 and 31. Signals to control the speed and position of the servo motor are generated by servo controller 92 and corresponding current is supplied to drive motor 91 by servo amplifier 93. The position of the flights in flighted conveyor 40 are sensed by flight sensor 94 each time a flight passes the sensor. Meter 54 indicates the speed of flighted conveyor 40 and meter 52 indicates the speed of control conveyor 20. In this embodiment these meters are optional, since they are not necessary for ease of set-up of the machine.
In operation, packages A are accumulated at the control conveyor 20 and are separated by transfer conveyor 30 which runs faster than control conveyor 20. Eye 61 senses the leading edge of product A" as it advances into the eye, and the computer in the servo controller measures how far the control conveyor is driven before the leading edge of the succeeding product A', is sensed by eye 61. Thus the servo controller, which incorporates a computer, learns the length of products A. Encoder 95 signals to the servo controller the position and motion of flighted conveyor 40 while the flight sensor 94 signals the servo controller as to the position of each flight as it passes. Thus the computer learns how far encoder 95 is rotated for the passage of one space 50 of the flighted conveyor, and it also learns the exact location of the last flight 49 that was sensed. Since the speed ratio between flighted conveyor 40 and transfer conveyor 30 is known (it can be calculated from the diameters of the sprockets and pulleys involved), the computer in the servo controller can be programmed so that it will call for releasing products A from the control conveyor at the right point so that they will be inserted between flights 49 of the flighted conveyor 40. Once the servo controller computer has been taught the flight spacing and the flight location, and it has been taught the product length as described above, the machine is ready to run.
In operation, the control conveyor 20 is driven at the precise speed to feed one product for every flight 49 of the flighted conveyor 40. Thus, servo motor 91 will drive the control conveyor at a speed equal to the speed of flighted conveyor 40 multiplied by the length of a product A and divided by the length of a space 50. For delivering multiples of product A, control conveyor 20 must, of course, run at a multiple of the speed described above providing that the servo controller 92 has been programmed to feed multiple products into the flight spaces.
As previously described, it is important that product A be inserted into the spaces between the flights and not on top of a flight 49. Thus, every time a flight 49 passes flight sensor 94, it will signal the position of the flight to the servo controller 92. Since the position of each flight 49 is indicated by flight sensor 94, and since the speed of travel of the belt 140 of flighted conveyor 40 is being continuously monitored by means of encoder 95, and since the positional relationship of conveyors 20 and 40 are known and the speed relationship of conveyors 30 and 40 are known, servo controller 92 will compute when to release product A" so that it will be in proper synchronization for deposit in a space 50 between conveyor flights 49. When eye 61 sees the leading edge of product A", it signals the servo controller which compares the position of product A" with what it knows to be the correct position for proper release of the product. If the product has arrived at eye 61 at the proper time, no change is made and the servo motor continues to run without correction. In the event that the product arrives in advance of the correct position, the servo controller 92 calculates the proper correction, superimposes the correction on the running signal, and sends the combined signal to amplifier 93 which in turn sends the correct current to servo motor 91 to retard the product sufficiently so that the product will release at the proper time to synchronize into a space between flights 49. Similarly, if product A" arrives too late at eye 61, the servo controller 92 will calculate the amount to advance the product, and will signal amplifier 93 which will send modified current to servo motor 91 so that product A" is advanced to arrive between flights 49 of flighted conveyor 40. After each correction, the servo motor returns to its previously set running speed. The positional correction made by the servo motor should be accomplished prior to the trailing end of each product A being released from the control conveyor, so that every product delivered to flighted conveyor 40 will be synchronized into the correct position in spaces 50 of flighted conveyor 40.
Servo controller 92 can be programmed so that the running speed will be adjusted automatically in the event that positional corrections occur predominantly in the same direction. Alternatively, servo controller 92 can be programmed to automatically adjust the speed of control conveyor 20 for products A on a continuing basis, since encoder 95 is continually measuring the speed of flighted conveyor 40, and since eye 61 is continually indicating the length of products A as they pass by the eye. The positional correction made by the servo motor should be accomplished prior to the trailing end of each product A being released from the control conveyor, so that every product delivered to flighted conveyor 40 will be synchronized into the correct position in spaces 50 of flighted conveyor 40. Having thus described preferred embodiments of the present invention, numerous modifications, variations, additions and equivalents will occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the invention is not limited to the specific disclosed embodiments, but only by the scope of the appended claims.
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A controlled product feed system for delivering discrete products at high speed to a downstream industrial operation which requires accurate speed and position of delivery. A retarding force is applied to the product stream to accumulate an abutting sequence of products with means controlling the rate of package release to correspond to the downstream operation and timing the release to obtain a predetermined phase of arrival of products at the point of delivery.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to foil bearings used as journal bearings and spring assemblies associated with the foil bearing, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for maintaining a foil journal bearing and its associated spring assembly (if any) in axial position along a shaft within a bore of housing.
Fluid film bearings, also known as foil bearings in the prior art, are used in many diverse applications requiring high speed rotating turbo-machinery. A foil bearing generally comprises two relatively movable elements separated by a thin film of fluid lubricant, such as air, refrigerant, and other such fluids. For example, a foil bearing may comprise a stationary element that surrounds a rotating shaft journal, having predetermined radial clearance therebetween filled with air. The foil bearing may or may not be accompanied by an arcuate corrugated spring to assist in maintaining the optimum geometry of the foil bearing around the shaft.
FIG. 1 shows a cutaway drawing of a typical (one piece) turbo compressor housing 100 with a bore 110 therethrough to receive a rotating shaft (not shown). Midway through the bore 110 , a channel 120 may be found which has a slightly larger inner diameter than that of the bore 110 . As shown in FIG. 1 , the bore 110 is shown as configured for two foil bearings, with each foil bearing being positioned along a region designated herein as a foil bearing surface 130 , which comprises an inner wall 140 of the bore. At either end of the bore is located a ring retainer groove 150 .
FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of how the shaft, the foil bearing system 240 , and the housing 100 interrelate, according to the prior art. The foil bearing system 240 is assembled surrounding the shaft 160 and may be comprised of one or more journal foil bearing assemblies 200 with a sleeve 220 therebetween to hold them in a fixed, spaced apart relationship with each other and with respect to the bore 110 . As part of the foil bearing system 240 , retaining rings 230 are used on either end of the foil bearing system 240 to hold the bearing assembly in a fixed position within the bore 110 of the housing 100 . The foil bearing system 240 is assembled by inserting a retaining ring 230 into a ring retainer groove 150 at one end of the bore 110 in the housing 100 . Then a journal foil bearing assembly 200 is inserted against the retaining ring 230 , followed by the sleeve 220 and another journal foil bearing assembly 200 . When the last journal foil bearing assembly 200 has been inserted, the foil bearing assembly 240 may be held in place by inserting a second retaining ring 230 into the remaining ring retainer groove 150 at the opposite end of the bore 110 . The shaft 160 may then be inserted through the foil bearing system 240 and supported thereby.
Referring now to FIG. 3 , a cross sectional view of a journal foil bearing assembly 200 is shown. According to the figure, each journal foil bearing assembly 200 comprises one or more springs 202 , which in turn may be fabricated from thin corrugated metal sheets with a retaining lug 210 along the sheet. The springs 202 are interposed between the bore and a foil 203 adjacent the shaft 160 and held from contact by the fluid. The foil 203 may also have a downturned retaining lug 210 formed along its extent. For purposes of this disclosure, there is no functional difference between a lug 210 formed in a spring 202 or a foil 203 . Therefore, when reference is made to a retaining lug 210 hereafter, the reference should be interpreted as being either for a spring 202 , a foil 203 , or both. Furthermore, the retaining lug 210 may be formed in a number of ways, i.e. a downturned edge of the spring/foil or a welded bar running axially along the spring/foil intermediate its radial edges. The manner of forming a retaining lug 210 is not relevant to this disclosure and it should encompass any method and manner of providing a retaining lug 210 for preventing radial movement of the spring 202 or foil 203 about the centerline of the bore 110 .
Generally, the springs 202 are identical in shape and are fabricated to traverse the circumference of a shaft 160 and occupy the space between the shaft 160 and the inner wall 140 of the bore 110 . It should be noted that different applications may require different numbers of springs 202 and foils 203 , and some applications may dispense altogether with the springs 202 . The configuration shown in FIG. 3 is typical and used to illustrate the general concept only.
Significantly, the foil bearing assembly 200 must be restrained from rotating with the shaft. Therefore, each of the springs 202 and the foils 203 may have a retaining lug 210 formed along its outer surface away from the centerline of the shaft 160 in such a way as to align the spring/foil parallel with a centerline of the shaft 160 and bore 110 surrounding the shaft 160 . For this purpose, a number of axial grooves 170 may be machined into the inner wall 140 of the bore 110 such that they are parallel with the centerline. The retaining lug 210 is formed to fit into an axial groove 170 in the inner wall 140 of the bore 110 to prevent the spring 202 or the foil 230 (and thus the journal foil bearing assembly 200 ) from rotating with the shaft 160 and to maintain its position along the foil bearing surface 130 . The axial groove 170 generally runs the extent of the bore 110 .
A turbo compressor machine may have one or more journal foil bearing assemblies 200 upon which the shaft 160 rotates. Typically, two such assemblies 200 are configured within the bore 110 of the housing 100 . Each journal foil bearing assembly 200 must be held in place along the journals of the shaft 160 . Standard retaining rings 230 are used to constrain axial movement of the journal foil bearing assemblies 200 on the outboard ends of the shaft 160 , where each retaining ring 230 is held in a retaining ring groove 150 (FIG. 1 ).
However, on the inboard side of each journal foil bearing assembly 200 , installation or use of a retaining ring 230 is difficult due to space limitations, particularly when the housing is fabricated from a single casting. Current practice is to install a single coiled up sleeve 220 fabricated of thin sheet metal in the channel 120 between the two foil bearing surfaces 130 ( FIGS. 1 and 2 ). The sleeve 220 has an axial slit which allows the sleeve 220 to be compressed into a smaller diameter, i.e. a diameter less than that of the bore 110 , so that the sleeve 220 can be inserted into the bore 110 and allowed to “spring back” into its original diameter which coincides with the inner diameter of the channel 120 .
Referring to FIG. 4 , the journal foil bearing assembly 200 is shown as it is held in place by the sleeve 220 . According to the figure, the axial groove 170 extends of sufficient depth along the inner wall 140 so that the axial groove 170 opens into the channel 120 . This opening allows a sleeve edge 221 to abut a lug edge 212 , and thereby prevent the journal foil bearing assembly 200 from drifting inwardly along the shaft 160 . The sleeve edge 221 and the lug edge 212 are in approximate 90° relationship to one another and therefore the point of contact is approximately the width of the lug edge 212 and the sleeve edge 221 , which is very small in area. Since this point of contact is so small, the sleeve edge 221 and the lug edge 212 can easily cut into or wear into the other.
As can be seen, an improved mechanism is needed to maintain axial separation of the foil bearings along the shaft without excessive wear.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In one aspect of the present invention, a bearing system is provided for supporting a shaft for rotational movement, where the bearing system comprises a first foil bearing assembly for insertion between the shaft and an inner wall of a bore, the first foil bearing assembly comprising one or more foils, each foil curved in an arc around the shaft, each foil having a lug adapted for insertion into an axial groove in the inner wall, the axial groove parallel with a centerline of the bore, wherein the lug constrains the foil from rotational movement about the shaft; and a pin for insertion into the axial groove, the pin having a first end and a second end, the first end abutting an edge of the lug in the groove.
In a further aspect of the present invention, a turbo compressor is provided, where the turbo compressor comprises a housing; a bore through the housing with the bore having an axial groove extending along an inner wall of the bore, the axial groove being parallel with a centerline of the bore; a shaft received by the bore; an foil bearing assembly positioned between the shaft and the inner wall, the foil bearing assembly comprising a foil curved in an arc around the shaft and a lug adapted for insertion into the axial groove, the lug having a lug end, wherein the lug constrains the foil from rotational movement about the shaft; and a pin positioned in the axial groove, the pin having a first pin end and a second pin end, the first pin end positioned against the lug end, wherein the lug end abuts the first pin end to constrain the foil from axial movement along the bore.
In another aspect of the present invention, a method for restraining journal foil bearing assemblies from migration along a bore comprises the following steps: positioning the lug of a foil of a first journal foil bearing assembly in an axial groove in an inner wall of the bore and parallel with a centerline of the bore, so that the lug prevents the foil from moving radially about the bore with a shaft inserted therethrough; and preventing the foil from migrating axially along the bore by positioning a pin with a first end and a second end between the foil and an object, the first end abutting the lug of the foil and the second end abutting the object.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings, description and claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows a cutaway perspective drawing of a turbo compressor housing and a bore therethrough, according to the prior art;
FIG. 2 shows an exploded parts drawing, in perspective, of an arrangement of foil bearing assemblies as they are configured along a shaft in the turbo compressor housing bore, according to the prior art;
FIG. 3 shows a cross sectional view of the bearing assembly of FIG. 2 having three foils equidistantly positioned about a shaft, according to the prior art;
FIG. 4 shows a cutaway perspective drawing of a bore in the turbo compressor housing shown in FIG. 1 in order to illustrate the relationship between the axial grooves, the channel, the sleeve and the lugs, according to the prior art;
FIG. 5 shows a perspective drawing of two bearing assemblies in which the sleeve has been replaced by a plurality of pins, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 6 shows a close up view of an axial groove and the relationship between an end of the pin and the lugs of the bearing assembly, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 7 shows an exploded parts drawing, in perspective, of an arrangement of foil bearing assemblies and pins as they are configured along a shaft in the turbo compressor housing bore, according to an embodiment of the invention; and
FIG. 8 shows a flow diagram of a method for restraining a foil bearing from migration along a shaft, according to an embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
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.
Various inventive features are described below that can each be used independently of one another or in combination with other features.
The invention may find application in any machine featuring a rotating shaft which maintains a rotational speed sufficient to justify the use of an foil bearing. In particular, such machines employing a plurality of foil bearings along the same shaft may use the invention to maintain the foil bearings in proper relationship along the shaft. The invention may increase the time between replacement of the foil bearings due to excessive wear along the lugs of the foil bearings.
Broadly, embodiments of the present invention generally provide a method and a restraint device which replaces the sleeve of the prior art with one or more pins that provide improved wear resistance to the lug edges. The pins may function as a component of a bearing system that may comprise a plurality of foil bearing assemblies and sets of pins correspond in number to the number of lugs associated with springs and foils which comprise each foil bearing assembly.
Referring now to FIG. 5 , an embodiment of the present invention may be seen. According to the embodiment, the sleeve 220 , as described above with reference to FIG. 2 of the prior art, may be replaced by one or more pins 300 . The ends of each pin 300 may abut the lug edges 511 , for as many lugs as may be configured for the springs 520 and foils 530 comprising the foil bearing. As illustrated in the embodiment of the drawing as shown in FIG. 5 , two journal foil bearing assemblies 500 may be shown, each assembly comprising a single foil 530 with a lug 510 having a lug edge 511 . In addition, each assembly may also comprise three springs 520 , each having a lug 510 having a lug edge 511 . Note that the lug 510 of the foil 530 may be coincident with a lug 510 of one of the springs 520 . Each pin 300 may be inserted into that portion of the axial groove 170 that traverses the channel 120 (as shown in the prior art in FIGS. 1 , 3 , and 4 ). While a channel 120 (see FIGS. 1 and 4 ) may not be necessary according to embodiments of the present invention, such a channel 120 may continue to be fabricated in order to remove metal from the bore 110 and thus reduce weight of the housing 100 .
The geometry of the axial grooves 170 into which lugs 510 are inserted may be modified to accommodate the pins 300 and enable the pins 300 to be inserted from an end of the bore 110 and slid into place. The pins 300 may fill the axial space between the two journal foil bearing assemblies 500 ( FIG. 5 ).
Both foil bearing surfaces 130 and the space between them may be combined into a single long bore 110 having a constant diameter, with the axial grooves 170 extending between the ends of the bore 110 . The pins 300 may thereby provide axial separation of the two journal foil bearing assemblies 500 by occupying the axial groove 170 therebetween. The pins 300 may be provided as a set of pins having a number of pins equal in number to the number of foils in the journal foil bearing assembly 500 . However, housing material may be removed to form a channel 120 between the two journal foil bearing assemblies 500 for purposes of saving weight. The channel 120 may be shorter in length than that of the pins 300 so that the pins 300 may still be secured in place at their ends.
In another embodiment, the journal foil bearing assembly 500 may be positioned away from the end of the bore 110 , so that a retaining ring 530 may be difficult to insert internally to the bore 110 . In such a scenario, pins 300 may be inserted into the axial grooves 170 between the ring retainer groove 150 and the journal foil bearing assembly 500 and then captured in place by installing a retainer ring 530 into the ring retainer groove 150 .
Referring now to FIG. 6 , a close up view of an axial groove and the relationship between an end of the pin and the lugs of the foil bearing assembly may be seen. According to FIG. 6 , an end of pin 300 may be seen as it occupies the recess of axial groove 170 . Note that the geometry of axial groove 170 may be altered as by machining to capture pin 300 and to hold it away from the bore 100 . Lug edge 511 of lug 510 may occupy the same axial groove 170 and rest against the end of pin 300 to be prevented from moving along the bore 110 .
FIG. 7 shows an exploded view of how the shaft 760 , the bearing system 740 , and the housing 700 interrelate, according to an embodiment of the invention. The bearing system 740 may be assembled surrounding the shaft 760 and may be comprised of one or more journal foil bearing assemblies 780 having a set of pins 300 therebetween to hold them in a fixed, spaced apart relationship. As part of the bearing system 740 , a plurality of retaining rings 785 are placed on either end of the bearing system 740 to hold the bearing system 740 in a fixed position within the housing 700 . The bearing system 740 may be assembled by inserting a retaining ring 785 into a ring retainer groove 750 at one end of the bore 710 in the housing 700 . A journal foil bearing assembly 780 may be inserted against the retaining ring 785 , with the lugs 782 thereof being placed into the axial grooves 770 along the bore 710 , followed by the set of pins 300 and another journal foil bearing assembly 780 . The ends of each pin 300 may abut a lug edge (not shown) of each lug 782 occupying the same axial groove 770 as the pin 300 . When the last journal foil bearing assembly 780 has been inserted, the bearing system 740 may be held in place by inserting a second retaining ring 785 into the remaining ring retainer groove 750 at the opposing end of the bore 710 . The shaft 760 may then be inserted through the bearing system 740 and supported thereby.
In another embodiment of the invention, a method for restraining journal foil bearing assemblies from migration along a bore may be provided. Referring to the flow diagram 800 shown in FIG. 8 , the method may be applied for an journal foil bearing assembly having one or more foils, each formed as an arc generally conforming to the curvature of a bore, each foil having a downturned, extending retaining lug that may extend radially away from a centerline of the bore. According to the block labeled 810 , each lug of the journal foil bearing assembly may be positioned in an axial groove extending along an inner wall of the bore and parallel with its centerline. In this manner, the lug may be captured by the axial groove so that it is prevented from moving radially about the bore with a shaft that is inserted therethrough. Each foil and spring, and thus the journal foil bearing assembly, may be held in axial position along the bore by abutting an edge of the lug with a first end of a pin, the second end of which abuts an object, according to the block labeled 820 .
The opposing end of each pin may abut against another object, so that the foils of the journal foil bearing assembly are maintained in general axial alignment with each other. When two journal foil bearing assemblies are present, each pin may be installed therebetween so that the ends of the pin may abut the corresponding lugs of the assemblies which are inserted therein. Ordinarily the journal foil bearing assemblies may be installed so that one end of each lug abuts a pin in the axial groove and the other end of each lug abuts a retaining ring inserted into a ring retainer groove radially fabricated at an end of the bore. In such a situation, the pins may be regarded as “internal pins”, since they are placed between two journal foil bearing assemblies internally to the bore.
However, under certain conditions, it may be desirable to space a foil bearing assembly inwardly along the bore away from the normal placement of the ring retainer groove. In such situations, a pin may be inserted into each axial groove so that one end of the pin abuts the retaining ring and the other end of the pin abuts a lug, thus maintaining the journal foil bearing assembly a fixed distance away from and end of the bore. In such a situation, the pins may be regarded as “external pins”, since they are placed immediately adjacent the retaining ring at the end of the bore.
Under still other conditions, it may be desirable to separately restrain two sets of journal foil bearing assemblies, each set having axial grooves for lugs of that set and only that set. For example, two sets of journal foil bearing assemblies may be provided, with each set containing a plurality of journal foil bearing assemblies each having three foils. Six axial grooves may be provided by the method, with one set of journal foil bearing assemblies assigned three axial grooves and the other set assigned the other three axial grooves. Thus, it may be possible to provide pins for each set of journal foil bearing assemblies to be installed in the grooves assigned to that set of journal foil bearing assemblies, and bypassing the other set. Other permutations may be evident upon inspection. The method does not depend upon the number of foils and springs in each foil bearing assembly or whether or not each foil bearing assembly has the same number of foils and springs. Furthermore, while the number of axial grooves may typically be no greater than the sum of the extending from each of the foil bearing assemblies comprising the foil bearing system for the shaft, the method does not impose a limitation on the manner in which the axial grooves are assigned to different journal foil bearing assemblies, the number of journal foil bearing assemblies having lugs occupying the same axial groove, or that two journal foil bearing assemblies separated by pins be physically adjacent along the shaft. Different geometries and arrangements of this nature may be considered to be within the scope of the invention. The invention does not impose an upper limit on the number of axial grooves that may be provided, and additional unassigned axial grooves may be present for other purposes without restricting the scope of the invention.
It should be noted that the invention does not impose a restriction on the cross sectional geometry of the pins or on their continuity. For illustration, the pins shown in the drawings have a circular cross section, but other cross sections may be used and still be considered as within the scope of the invention; for example, pins may have a rectangular, square, oval, or oblate spheroid cross section depending upon the application. The invention and method do not depend on the cross sectional geometry of the pins, and each pin associated with a journal foil bearing assembly may have a different cross sectional geometry without departing from the scope of the invention. Furthermore, although each pin has been described as being a single. monolithic object, the pin may be sectioned into a plurality of separate portions abutting each other and all enclosed within a groove, without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, each pin may have its end portions fabricated from a material having a composition that is peculiar to the application and its mid section portion fabricated from a different material for purposes of weight reduction. The portions may be mechanically joined or unconnected within the axial groove, as long as the geometry of the axial groove is such that the axial groove maintains the portions in alignment without allowing any portion to migrate out of the axial groove.
The disclosure has referred to retaining rings inserted within grooves as being objects against which the foil bearing or the pins abut, in order to maintain required axial spacing of the foil bearing along the shaft. The retaining rings functionally terminates the axial groove at the ends of the bore. However, it should be noted that the use of retainer rings is illustrative and other means may be used to provide a fixed surface against which the foil bearing or the pin abuts. For example, the housing may be divided into two portions and attached together (as by bolts or welding), with a portion of one housing providing the fixed surface for terminating the axial grooves along the bore of the other housing. Present technology makes it difficult to fabricate axial grooves that are “stopped” at the ends, that is, imposed along the inner wall of the bore with the ends of the axial groove ending a short distance from the ends of the bore thus providing a fixed surface against which the end of a pin may abut. Should such technology be developed, then stopped axial grooves may be used to contain pins according to the scope of the invention.
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 invention as set forth in the following claims.
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An apparatus and method for maintaining separation of two journal foil bearing assemblies, where each journal foil bearing assembly comprises one or more foils with lugs formed thereon for insertion into axial grooves of a bore, the means comprising a pin for insertion into each groove so that an edge of the lug that is inserted into the groove abuts the pin and is prevented from axially drifting along the bore. The pin provides a broad area along the lug edge so that the lug edge does not cut into the pin.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] This invention relates to automotive emission control devices, e.g., canisters. In particular, the invention described and claimed herein is related to an adsorbent, preferably activate carbon structure, provided within the canister to adsorb emissions of volatile organic compounds emitted from the automobile's gasoline tank and from the engine at rest (after having been operating). More particularly, this invention relates to such a canister and/or adsorbent having been adapted for heating the adsorbent to increase its adsorption efficiency.
[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art
[0004] The working capacity and bleed performance of automotive evaporative emission control canisters can be significantly improved by providing heat to the carbon adsorbent during purge to offset the cooling that takes place as adsorbed hydrocarbons are desorbed. Thus, a challenge is how to input sufficient heat to the carbon (to sufficiently offset said cooling) without raising local temperatures to an unsafe level. Difficulty in providing good heat distribution in packed beds of activated carbon is a common problem because of the poor thermal conductivity of this highly porous material. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that when carbon material in closest contact with the heat source it loses a major portion of its hydrocarbon load, and its ability to sink heat suddenly diminishes. The low heat capacity of the clean carbon results in a rapid rise in carbon temperature.
[0005] In 1981, General Motors (in U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,466) described heating the purge air by means of a stove heated by the engine. Other patents, including U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,686 (1986), U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,495 (1988), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,103 (1989), consider heating purge air by electric heaters, including positive temperature coefficient heaters that self regulate temperatures to the desired range. Heating the influent purge air can be effective for transferring heat to the carbon, but this depends upon the amount of purge air that can be applied. Canister heating tests (at MeadWestvaco Corporation) using a 2 liter canister indicated that under cycle test purge conditions (150 bed volumes of purge for 20 minutes) direct electrical heating of the carbon at an input rate of 40 watts gave a 90% decrease in bleed emissions but yielded less than a 15% increase in working capacity. In order to attain the same heat input using heated air at low purge volumes, for example 50 bed volumes, the influent air would have to be heated to over 750° F. Assuming good heat transfer, the canister purge inlet and the carbon near the inlet would approach that temperature, which is clearly too high to be safe. Furthermore, in the example cited, a 15% improvement in working capacity might be considered too small to support the added complexity of carbon heating.
[0006] U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,103 (1990) teaches heating the carbon through the canister wall by contact with hot fuel from the fuel rail return line. Other patents, including U.S. Pat. No. 6,230,693 (2001), U.S. Pat. No. 6,279,547 (2001), U.S. Pat. No 6,701,902 (2004) and Published Application No. 10/151430 (published March 2004), describe various means of contacting carbon in canisters with electrically heated plates. By such arrangements, heat can be transferred directly to the carbon irrespective of the purge volume. The drawbacks of such arrangements relate, on one hand, to the space in the canister occupied by the heater assemblies, and on the other, to non-uniform distribution of the heat. Because of the very large porosity of activated carbon particles, and the high resistance to thermal flow at contact points between particles, thermal conductivity in packed beds of carbon is very poor. Therefore, attempts to heat activated carbon to useful regeneration temperatures by contact with a heated plate leads to large thermal gradients across a few particle diameters closest to the plate. This means that for uniform heat distribution the space between plates must be limited to a relatively few particle diameters. Accordingly, in the heating apparatuses of the prior art, a large part of the volume of the adsorption canister would have to be occupied by the heating plates in order to achieve a high degree of heating uniformity.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] Activated carbon for automobile emission control canisters is heated by modular adsorbent structures within the canister in which activated carbon is bonded to very thin, electrically conductive heating elements, such that all of the carbon in the canister is in close proximity to a heated surface. As deployed in this invention, the heating element is so thin as to occupy a negligible volume in the module. Heating activated carbon adsorbents during purge can provide a large improvement in bleed emission performance, and, if sufficient carbon can be heated, a large increase in working capacity is produced. The heating system of this invention provides a way to provide controlled heat distribution to a relatively large amount of activated carbon despite the very poor heat conductivity of this adsorbent.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0008] One objective of this invention is to provide a capability to introduce sufficient heat into an evaporative emission control canister to achieve a much greater improvement in working capacity than possible using methods of the prior art. Another objective is to provide very uniform heat distribution such that the input heat will not raise the local temperatures to an unsafe level. Still another objective is to configure the heating apparatus in such a way as to occupy only a very small part of the adsorption canister volume.
[0009] In the present invention, heat is electrically introduced directly to the carbon in the primary adsorption canister or a substantial partition (e.g., one third) thereof. In order to obtain a large increase in working capacity, the temperature of a significant fraction of the carbon adsorbent must be raised into the target range during purge. In accordance with the objectives of this invention, the heater assembly must therefore present a large surface area to the carbon, and at the same time the heater must have a very small volume. This can be accomplished, for example, by using an etched foil heater. One such heater (Omega KH212/5P), used in the previously mentioned canister test, had a total surface area of 310 cm 2 and a volume of only 6 cc, including an aluminum foil backing used to stiffen the assembly. This heater was formed into a spiral to make a tube shape with a diameter of 3.8 cm and a length of about 16 cm. This was inserted into a canister partition having a diameter of 6.4 cm and a volume of 560 cc as part of a total canister volume of 2000 cc. The part of the carbon bed lying outside of the heater tube represents the major fraction of carbon in the canister, and all particles in this annular region are within about five particle diameters from the heater surface. In the smaller volume inside the heater tube, all particles are within about six particle diameters from the heater surface. Experiments demonstrated that under purge conditions using 150 bed volumes of air (based on the total canister volume) in 20 minutes, the maximum rate of power input without exceeding a target heater surface temperature of 250° F., deemed to be safe, was 40 watts. Under these conditions, the volumetric working capacity was about 15% higher than for the unheated canister. This improvement is based on the assuming the same internal canister volume in both cases.
[0010] While these results demonstrate one efficient and effective means of transferring heat into a carbon canister, it is an object of this invention to achieve a substantially greater improvement in working capacity, for example at least twice as high. This could be accomplished by providing additional heater area in the canister using the same kind of etched foil heaters, with the drawback of substantial additional expense. Another approach would be to employ a heater element simply made from a strip of metal foil using a metal having a relatively high resistivity, for example, nichrome or stainless steel. In one embodiment, the foil strip would be coated on one side with an adhesive, and activated carbon granules would be applied to the adhesive in such a way as to give a random or oriented, close packed, two-dimensional array of particles attached to the foil. Preferably, the particles, such as pellets or spheres, would have a uniform diameter dimension, and the carbon layer would be of constant thickness, one particle deep. A length of this foil/carbon strip would then be rolled up to form a modular cylinder appropriate to particular canister dimensions. These modules would have approximately the same volume and flow restriction as a simple packed bed of particles containing the same amount of carbon. Heating efficiency would be excellent because each particle would be less than one particle diameter from a heated surface. As an example using nominal 2 mm diameter carbon pellets, three foil/carbon modules, 6.4 cm in diameter and 5.3 cm in height, would fill the canister partition of the previous example. Using 2 mil (0.00508 cm) stainless foil, and wired in series, this heater assembly could dissipate over 100 watts at 12 volts. An appropriate time-proportioning, or other type of controller, would modulate actual heat input based on temperature. In the present example, the objective of good heat distribution would be met by exposure of the carbon to a heater area of over 4900 cm 2 . At the same time, the objective of minimal heater volume is attained because the heater of the example occupies only about 2% of the volume of the canister partition. In addition to metal foil, other conductive substrates could be used to support the adsorbent carbon. For example, stainless steel wire cloth in mesh sizes in the range of about 100 to 400 would exhibit volume and electrical resistivity properties similar to foils.
[0011] In another embodiment of this concept, the adsorbent pellets could be replaced with sheet forms of carbon which can be readily attached to the thin conductive backing. One way of producing such a sheet is by dispersing activated carbon in a fiber matrix as in the production of paper. Such sheets of carbon-loaded paper can include embossed ridges, such that when attached to the backing, and rolled-up, a cylindrical or other shaped body is formed with channels in the axial direction that allow airflow through the body. Alternatively, the carbon loaded paper can be corrugated with one liner sheet being made from conductive foil or wire cloth. In this case airflow is conducted by the fluted corrugations. In addition to using papermaking methods or other methods to produce carbon in suitable sheet form, such sheets can also be made by extrusion of carbon mixed with a suitable binder. For example, mixing carbon with small amounts of Teflon can produce an extrudable plastic mass. Formed into sheets, these could be adhesively attached to an electrically conductive backing, or extruded with, and pressed into, conductive wire cloth. This method offers an advantage over other sheet forming methods of including up to about 95% by weight of carbon in the formed sheet, thus increasing the potential adsorption capacity of an adsorption module.
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Activated carbon for automobile emission control canisters is disclosed to be heated by modular adsorbent structures within the canister in which activated carbon is bonded to very thin, electrically conductive heating elements, such that all of the carbon in the canister is in close proximity to a heated surface.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] Reference is hereby made to the following co-pending U.S. application dealing with related subject matter and assigned to the assignee of the present invention: “Single-Emitter Diode Based Light Homogenizing Apparatus And A Hair Removal Device Employing The Same,” U.S. Ser. No. 12/976,466, filed Dec. 22, 2010.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] Generally, the field of the present invention relates to sensor systems. Specifically, the present invention relates to skin color and capacitive sensor systems for devices including hand-held consumer devices and assemblies thereof.
[0004] 2. Background Art
[0005] Several devices and methods are presently used for the removal of hair on a person's body including applying hot wax to a target area and quickly removing the wax after the wax has cooled, shaving the target area with a razor, applying chemical depilatories to a target area, and applying laser radiation to a targeted area. There are significant advantages to the laser methods over the others with respect to the length of time it takes hair to grow back, ease of the process, etc. However, available laser hair removal devices tend to be far too bulky, unwieldy, and expensive for easy in-home use.
[0006] Many laser-based hair removal devices use bars of laser diodes to generate the light for the device. This typically requires the device to be capable of generating a large current to power the bars. Power supplies capable of producing such currents tend to be large and more expensive than power supplies producing less current. Additionally, larger currents produce more heat which can become a potential hazard if not handled effectively. If the efficiency of the device suffers at any point between the power supply and the targeted treatment area, even more power will be required to make the device function in a particular range. This also has the tendency to produce more heat, further complicating heat dissipation. Resolving heat dissipation can lead to additional or larger components which further detract from the ergonomics of the device and again prevent the useful application of laser removal methods for home use. Also, for safe use, it is important to understand the attributes of the targeted surface such as the type of skin or the presence of skin being targeted as well as to provide safe and secure use of the device. Accordingly, there is a need for a device that incorporates many of the aforementioned advantages and dispenses with the drawbacks.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The exemplary embodiment of a single-emitter diode based hair removal device, as disclosed herein, has several aspects which are designed to satisfy the aforementioned needs. One aspect relates to a light homogenizing apparatus that uses single-emitter laser diodes disposed adjacent to and capable of emitting into a highly transmissive light guide that refractively adjusts entering beams and homogenizes them so as to produce an output beam exiting the light guide that is substantially uniform in optical intensity across one or both dimensions generally transverse to propagation. The single-emitter diodes may be chosen so that each solid state diode emits at a selected wavelength or wavelength distribution. This allows the spectral power distribution of the final laser beam to be selected or varied for different applications. By comparison, in the current laser hair removal industry, beams tend to be monochromatically limited. Moreover, the use of a set of single-emitter diodes requires less power than a standard laser diode bar. Consequently, single-emitter diodes can be more efficient at generating light since less waste heat is generated, and when they are used in conjunction with laser hair removal the reduction in waste heat can allow for safer and smaller device configurations. Lower waste heat can result in a lower operating temperature which can allow more repeat usage of the device and a longer mean-time between failures as well. Thus, the use of one or more single-emitter diodes allows the system to remain smaller and safer, but also more rugged, reliable, and robust.
[0008] The laser light emitted from the diodes is coupled into a light guide made from a material with a high refractive index. The light guide is shaped to achieve total internal reflection of the laser light along at least one dimension and also minimizes the divergence angle of the light at the exit end of the light pipe. A low divergence angle of the light exiting the light pipe allows a greater amount of light to be directed at the target area rather than being wasted by being directed in an unproductive direction. It also reduces the need for additional expensive optics. The opposite walls of the light guide are tapered or expanded respectively, such that the entrance aperture of the light pipe is a rectangle and the exit aperture is a narrower square. This two-sided tapering reduces power loss by lowering the divergence angle of the exiting light, while shaping the light into an approximately uniform beam for use.
[0009] An optical diffuser is disposed after the light guide that includes an array or arrays of optical lenses, making the efficiency of light transmission through the diffuser very high. The diffuser spreads the power of the incoming light evenly over the area occupied by the exiting light, so that the fluence over the targeted area is more even and consistent but also causes the light to diverge widely to make the emitted beam eye-safe. While the aforementioned features are directed to claims in a co-pending application, cross-referenced above, the construction and function are illustrated and described herein for facilitating a complete and thorough understanding of the features of the system and claims of the present application.
[0010] The present invention relates to another feature of the hair removal device, such being the unique arrangement of sensors that detect the presence and color of a target surface in order to ensure safe application of the device. The skin presence sensor is situated in proximity to a window on the housing of the device and has a circuit that senses the capacitance of an object placed in proximity to or in contact with the housing. When the capacitance of skin is detected, the circuit is activated, allowing the laser hair removal device to function. The device or the light-generating components therein may be disabled if improper contact is detected in order to avoid misuse. Also, since darker skin tones absorb more light, laser hair removal can potentially be unsafe for different skin tones. For example, certain skin tones will absorb enough light to damage the surface skin layer, while less light will not damage the skin but will also not impact the hair or follicles. Therefore, the skin color detector is positioned in the device, preferably near the output of the device, and is configured to detect the color of the surface in proximity to it. If the skin color or tone is found to be in an unsafe category, the device can be rendered inoperable. Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments, and from the claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 is perspective view of a handheld hair removal device in accordance with the present invention.
[0012] FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the hair removal device shown in FIG. 1 .
[0013] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of components of a light homogenizing apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0014] FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the homogenizing apparatus shown in FIG. 3 .
[0015] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a mounting subassembly which is one of the components of the homogenizing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0016] FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a pair of laser diodes mounted to a contact plate of the mounting subassembly shown in FIG. 5 .
[0017] FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a light guide of the homogenizing apparatus shown previously in FIGS. 3 and 4 but now without additional components surrounding it.
[0018] FIG. 8 is a side view ray tracing of light emitted by the laser diodes and propagated through the light guide according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0019] FIG. 9 is a top view ray tracing of light emitted by the laser diodes and propagated through the light guide according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0020] FIG. 10 is an expanded view of a side view ray tracing of light exiting the light guide and becoming diffused through a diffuser according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0021] FIG. 11 is a graph of optical intensity across a range of divergence angles for light exiting the diffuser shown in FIG. 10 .
[0022] FIG. 12 is a graph of a substantially homogenized output beam in accordance with the present invention.
[0023] FIG. 13 is an exploded view of the front portion of the hair removal device that includes a skin color sensor and a skin contact sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0024] FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram showing the application of the skin contact sensor works in accordance with the present invention.
[0025] FIG. 15 is an expanded cross-sectional view of the front portion of the hair removal device showing the light path of the skin color sensor in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In General
[0026] Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2 , a hair removal device 10 is shown that is sufficiently compact and lightweight so that it may be held in one hand by a user. The device 10 has a housing 12 that includes an arcuate-shaped middle section 14 extending between opposite front and rear ends 16 , 18 , allowing for a comfortable and ergonomic grip by a user. The user positions the front end 16 of the device 10 towards a location on the body for application of radiative energy towards the epidermis such as for the removal of unwanted hair. Other embodiments of the device 10 may be used for other applications, such as for the removal of skin blemishes.
[0027] The rear end 18 receives electrical energy for powering the device via a cable 20 attached to a suitable external power supply (not shown). The aspect ratio of the housing 12 between the arcuate-shaped middle section 14 and the front and rear ends 14 , 16 is large, thereby enabling the user of the device 10 to access harder to reach areas on the body. The middle section 14 includes a pair of opposite rubber grip portions 22 that provide a frictional area allowing the thumb and fingers of the user to easily grasp and direct the device 10 towards a target area of application. A button 24 is disposed at a top surface of the housing 12 so that the user may operate the device 10 with a forefinger while the device remains comfortably held. The user may select a power level and be provided with a visual indication thereof by way of an indication strip 26 disposed to emit light out the top surface of the housing 12 between the front end 16 and the button 24 .
[0028] As shown in FIG. 2 , the device 10 includes various components disposed within the housing 12 that allow for effective operation. Several of the heavier components, including for example a heatsink 28 , are positioned closer to the front end 16 , thereby situating much of the weight of the device 10 in proximity to the grip sides 22 and enhancing the ergonomics of the device. Additionally, a fan 30 that is operable to cool the heatsink 28 is positioned between the grip sides 22 and spins about an axis approximately in line with the longitudinal center of the arcuate middle section 14 . The gyroscopic effect due to the positioning and spin direction of the fan 30 adds stability to the grip of the device 10 thereby also enhancing the effective application of the device. A first and second set of air-flow holes 32 , 34 penetrating the bottom portion of the housing 12 allow air to flow in and out of the interior of the device 10 so that the fan 30 and heatsink 28 may work in conjunction to cool the device. The holes 32 , 34 are placed out of the way of the grip by the user to ensure effective heat exchange by the device 10 .
[0029] Light Homogenizing Apparatus
[0030] Referring now to FIGS. 2-7 a light homogenizing apparatus 40 is shown that is disposed within the housing 12 of the device 10 . The apparatus 40 includes light guide 42 disposed adjacent to and optically coupled with a diode assembly 44 . The diode assembly 44 includes a mounting subassembly 43 formed by a carrier plate 46 and one or more submounts 48 mounted upon the carrier plate 46 . The carrier plate 46 is seated flush to a surface 96 of the heatsink 28 , and a pair of fasteners 50 secures the light guide 42 and carrier plate 46 to the heatsink 28 . The diode assembly 44 also includes one or more single-emitter laser diodes 52 that are mounted adjacent to each other on the one or more submounts 48 and are arranged so that an emitting end 54 of each emits light along a light path directed towards the light guide 42 . The diodes 46 may be attached to or integrated with the carrier plate 46 , however in the exemplary embodiment submounts 48 are used to enhance manufacturability. Beams 58 emitted from each emitting end 54 enter an input end 60 of the light guide 42 and propagate inside towards an output end 62 . An output beam 64 exiting the output end 62 as seen in FIGS. 8-10 has a homogenized intensity profile 66 , as depicted in FIGS. 11 and 12 .
[0031] The laser diodes 52 may also be LEDs capable of producing an output beam of similar power, however as shown in FIGS. 3-6 and 9 each of the diodes 52 are laser diodes. In other hair removal devices, laser diode bars are typically used which tend to require large operating current, such as between 20 and 40 A. Higher operating currents tend to require larger and more expensive current supplies, more batteries, etc. However, by using single-emitter diode lasers 52 it is possible to produce 30 W of power using only 7 A. This enables the selection of a more compact and lower cost power supply to power the diodes 52 . Additionally, the single emitter format combines with specialized optics described herein to allow for a compact and highly ergonomic laser hair removal device. If LEDs are to be used, they would have an alternative configuration within the scope of the present invention, and would include a plurality of LED chips (not shown) capable of producing more than 0.5 W each instead of laser diodes 52 . A high density packaged LED array is capable of applying more than 50 W in a 10 mm by 10 mm area, and is therefore suitable for hair removal.
[0032] The laser diodes 52 may all be selected to emit radiation centered on a particular wavelength, such as 810 nm, or they may selected to emit at different wavelengths. For example, one pair may emit at 810 nm, a second pair at approximately 900 nm, and a third pair at approximately 1000 nm. Different wavelengths may be used for different applications and for different skin colors and may be selectably enabled by the device 10 , such as by way of a skin color sensor assembly (described hereinafter) or a manual user selection. Thus, deeper penetration for darker skin tones can be achieved by using longer wavelengths. The diodes 52 are connected to each other in series with gold wire or other suitable contacting means and driven by approximately 1.85 V each. Thus, as shown the diodes 52 draw approximately 7 A from a 12 V power supply. Other configurations may be used and may be suitable, such as connecting two or more diodes in parallel, depending on the application.
[0033] Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 7 - 9 , each laser diode 52 is capable of emitting a laser beam 58 with a chief ray 68 propagating through a plane 70 that is generally aligned with a length-wise middle cross-section 72 of the light guide 42 . In the exemplary embodiment, the diodes 52 include six diodes 74 A-F grouped in pairs, each diode emitting a respective beam 80 A-F. Each pair has two single-emitter diode lasers 52 each mounted parallel to the other on a submount 78 A-C so that the beams in each pair are emitted in the same direction. For example, diode lasers 74 A, 74 B on submount 78 A emit parallel beams 80 A, 80 B having chief rays 82 A, 82 B at an angle α with respect to a central axis 86 and into plane 70 . Diode lasers 74 E, 74 F are similarly mounted but with an opposite angle β with respect to central axis 86 . Because of opposite angles α, β, the chief ray 82 A of beam 80 A is therefore normally configured to intersect chief ray 82 F of beam 80 F. Likewise, chief ray 82 B of beam 80 B is normally configured to intersect chief ray 82 E of beam 80 E. Diode lasers 74 C, 74 D are mounted so that the chief rays 82 C, 82 D of their respective beams 80 C, 80 D are directed into plane 70 parallel to the central axis 86 . In other embodiments, diodes 52 may have beams directed into planes other than plane 70 and with different angles with respect to each other and with respect to the central axis 86 .
[0034] Referring to FIGS. 3-9 , the input end 60 of the light guide 42 is disposed adjacent to the submounts 48 , which support the laser diodes 52 , and has a pair of opposite mounting ears 90 , 92 through which opposite holes are drilled. The mounting ears 90 , 92 provide a bottom mating surface 94 allowing flush contact with recessed mounting tabs 46 A, 46 B of the carrier plate 46 . The heatsink 28 is disposed below the carrier plate 46 and has a flat surface 96 configured to make flush contact with a bottom surface 98 of the carrier plate 46 . Fasteners 50 , such as hex socket head type fasteners, are first inserted through holes in the mounting ears 90 , 92 of the light guide 42 , next inserted through holes in the mounting tabs 46 A, 46 B of the carrier plate 46 and then fastened into threaded holes in the heatsink 28 so as to firmly secure the light guide 42 in a given orientation with respect to the carrier plate 46 . In this way, in the exemplary embodiment the middle cross-section 72 of the light guide 42 is generally aligned with plane 70 into which the chief rays 68 of the beams 58 propagate. In other embodiments, different attaching mechanisms may be used to dispose the light guide 42 , carrier plate 46 , and heatsink 28 relative to each other, including but not limited to attaching them to or integrating them into the housing 12 . Additionally, the middle cross-section 72 may be at an angle to plane 70 .
[0035] With respect to the exemplary embodiment, upon exiting the laser diodes 52 , the beams 58 diverge considerably with respect to a first axis 84 that is vertical since the laser diodes 52 are oriented generally parallel with plane 70 . Axis 84 is also referred to as the fast axis since the beam diverges the most across this axis. A corresponding second axis 88 , that is horizontal and slow, i.e., where divergence is minimum, lies generally orthogonal to the fast axis 84 and the direction of the beam. When axes 84 , 88 are extended in the direction of beam propagation they become planes having characteristic divergences. Also, depending on the geometry and composition of the diode 52 and the positioning of the diode 52 on the submount 48 , a different divergence and relationship between the respective fast and slow axes can result. Separate collimation optics (not shown) may be disposed between the emitting ends 54 of the laser diodes 52 and the input end 60 of the light guide 42 . However, as shown in FIG. 3 , the light guide 42 is configured to provide the refractive adjustments normally provided by additional optics. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 7 , the input end 60 has a sharply curved vertical contour and less sharply curved horizontal contour extending in a substantially orthogonal relationship to one another between the mounting ears 90 , 92 . The curved vertical contour refractively directs the diverging beams 58 to propagate through the interior of the light pipe, as shown in FIG. 8 . The curved horizontal contour or bulge matches the respective positions of the laser diodes 52 relative to the input end 60 such that the distance between the emitting end 54 and the input end 60 is consistent or close to consistent across diodes.
[0036] As best shown in FIGS. 3 , 4 and 7 , the light guide 42 includes a first pair of opposite walls 100 spaced apart from each other and a second pair of opposite walls 102 spaced apart from each other and extending transversely between the first pair of walls 100 . Both pairs of opposite walls 100 , 102 extend generally between the input and output ends 60 , 62 . The first pair or relatively vertical walls 100 increase in height linearly as the walls 100 extend from the input end 60 to the output end 62 . Thus, as shown in FIG. 8 , substantial portions of the beams 80 C, 80 D coupled into the input end 60 become reflected as the beams 58 propagate throughout the light guide 42 . Similarly, other beams 80 A, 80 B and 80 E, 80 F become reflected throughout the interior of the light guide 42 . The refractive index of the material comprising the light guide 42 is sufficiently large compared to media adjoining the second pair or relatively horizontal walls 102 such that total internal reflection is allowed for vertical reflections occurring throughout the interior of the light guide 42 . Total internal reflection may be optimized by also considering the divergence correction achieved by the sharply curved vertical contour of the input end 60 hereinbefore described. The relatively horizontal walls 102 taper in width linearly as the walls 102 extend from the input end 60 to the output 62 . As shown in FIG. 9 , due to the orientation of the laser diodes 74 A-F and the relatively low divergence across each slow axis thereof, the respective beams 80 A-F do not interact substantially with the vertical walls 100 as they propagate through the interior of the light guide 42 . However, in other embodiments light propagating through the light guide 42 interacts with vertical walls 100 so as to enhance horizontal homogenization of the output beam 64 .
[0037] After expanding the height of the vertical walls 100 and tapering the height of the horizontal walls 102 , the resulting output end 62 has a square to rectangular configuration of approximately 8 mm by 8 mm. As seen in FIGS. 1 , 2 , 9 and 10 , a window 104 made from glass or other suitable material is disposed after the output end 62 and receives the output beam 64 emitting therefrom, and transmits the output beam 64 therethrough so that the output beam 64 may impinge the surface of a target substrate, such as the epidermis of a user. The light guide 42 described herein is highly transmissive, having an efficiency of greater than 90% and emitting light at the output end 62 with exit angles of less than +/−10°. Approximate operating parameters of the exemplary embodiment of the hair removal device 10 include a deposited pulse energy of between 9-20 J/cm 2 , a treatment area of approximately 0.5 cm 2 , a pulse length of between 0.2-0.5 s, a pulse repetition rate of 0.5 Hz, a homogenized intensity profile and exit angle of less than +/−10° produced by the light guide 42 , and in a package having a weight of approximately 0.2 kg.
[0038] In order to make the output beam 64 eye-safe according to ANSI Z136.1 and IEC 60825 using the aforementioned operating parameters, the light of the output beam 64 should be made to diverge by more than one hundred degrees. Adding a typical diffuser to achieve eye-safe divergence, such as an opal or Lambertian type that scatters incoming light in all directions with a cosinusoidal distribution about an axis perpendicular to the scattering surface, would only allow transmission of less than 50% of input light into a usable forward cone. However, a suitable polymer based engineered surface, such as one made by RPC Photonics, can provide the requisite divergence for collimated input beams. Because the light guide 42 provides an output beam 64 that is relatively collimated, such an engineered surface may be included in the homogenizing apparatus 40 in order to achieve the required eye-safe divergence angle. As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 , diffusive engineered surface 106 is applied to the input end 108 of the window 104 . The resulting output beam 64 has an eye-safe divergence angle and the transmission efficiency across the diffusing surface 106 is between 80% and 90%. The engineered surface 106 may also be applied elsewhere on the homogenizing apparatus, such as to the input end 60 of the light guide 42 . The intensity profile 66 of the homogenized output beam 64 produced by the homogenizing apparatus 40 with the engineered surface 106 applied to the window 104 is shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 . FIG. 11 shows that the intensity profile 66 has losses minimized outside the imposed divergence angle requirement and FIG. 12 shows the substantial consistency across two dimensions of the intensity profile 66 of the output beam 64 exiting the window 104 .
[0039] Sensor System and Assembly
[0040] Referring to FIGS. 2 and 13 - 15 , the hair removal device 10 is shown to include one or more sensor assemblies disposed near the front end 16 . In order to ensure that the device 10 is contacting the surface of the person's body, a sensor assembly 110 for detecting touch capacitance is positioned inside the housing 12 and near the output window 104 . As shown in FIG. 13 in exploded view, the sensor assembly 110 includes a printed circuit board member 112 that provides a base for the sensor assembly 110 and fits into a relief area 114 that surrounds the window 104 on three sides. Two capacitance sensors 116 , 118 are disposed on the underside of the member 112 and contact the inside surface of the front end 16 of the housing 12 . The sensors 116 , 118 are wired to a logic circuit attached to the printed circuit board member 112 . As schematically illustrated in FIG. 14 , the sensors 116 , 118 detect a change in capacitance through the housing 12 by way of the presence of human touch. The sensor 116 includes a copper piece 120 attached to the pcb member 112 and that is grounded and in series with a microcontroller 113 shown in FIG. 13 . The housing 12 provides a base capacitance 122 and contact with a person, such as with a finger 124 , provides additional capacitance 126 that is sensed by the microcontroller 113 . Second sensor 118 is positioned on the opposing side of the pcb member 112 . Additional sensors may be included to surround the device, though two sensors are sufficient to ensure sufficient proximity between the housing 12 and the skin surface. Thus, when sufficient proximity is not sensed, the microcontroller 113 can enable the device 10 to become inoperable.
[0041] Referring to FIGS. 2 , 13 and 15 , the hair removal device 10 is also shown to include a skin color sensing assembly 128 . The assembly 128 basically includes a printed circuit board member 130 , a holder member 132 , and a light pipe 134 . The light pipe 134 has opposite curved ends 136 with a rectangular profile therebetween, and is shaped so as to fit into a similarly shaped cavity 138 molded into the housing 12 . The light pipe 134 also has a pair of relief notches 140 cut into a top or inner surface thereof. The holder 132 includes a pair of standoff supports 142 interposed between an outer ring halves 144 having similar geometry to the light pipe 134 . The bottom ends of the supports 142 fit into the relief notches 140 of the light pipe 134 and the top ends of the supports 142 fit into holes cut into the pcb member 130 . With compression, adhesive, clasps, or other suitable means, the holder 132 fits between and secures the light pipe 134 and the pcb member 130 of the skin color assembly 128 . The light pipe 134 then fits into the cavity 138 and has bottom surface that becomes exposed to the exterior of the housing 12 through a color sensor aperture 146 . Thus, the skin color sensing assembly 128 becomes disposed in the housing 12 in proximity to the window 104 that transmits the output beam 64 of the device. In other embodiments, the skin color sensing assembly 128 , or skin color sensor aperture 146 , or both, is disposed away from the window 104 .
[0042] The printed circuit board member 130 of the color sensing assembly 128 has a pair of light emitting diodes 148 situated on opposite sides of the standoff supports 142 and directed to emit toward the light pipe 134 . A sensor array 150 is situated on the pcb member 130 interposed between the standoff supports 142 . As shown by the direction arrows in the cross-sectional view of the assembly 128 in FIG. 15 , light emitted by LEDs 148 propagates through side emission propagation regions of the light pipe 134 and some portion of that light becomes reflected off a surface, such as skin positioned in proximity to the aperture 146 , back through a middle receiving propagation region of the light pipe 134 and is received at the sensor array 150 . The relief notches 140 and respective standoff supports 142 help define these regions by blocking light emitted by the LEDs 148 from propagating directly to the sensor array 150 . A microcontroller 152 shown in FIG. 13 receives a signal from the sensor array 150 and computes a value that can inform the user of the device 10 of the viability of application to the surface in question. The LEDs 148 can be white LEDs that emit light into a relatively broad spectrum. The sensor array 150 then detects particular wavelengths that have been reflected back and the microcontroller 152 can form a composite value based on the relative quantities of reflected light. For composite values outside of a particular cutoff value the device 10 can be rendered inoperable. The skin color sensing assembly 128 and associated color sensor aperture 146 may be positioned elsewhere on the device 10 as needed.
[0043] The combination of sensor assemblies 110 , 128 may be applied to other devices as well. For example, a handheld device may include a security feature wherein functionality requires both the detection of skin contact and the detection of a particular skin color or tone. Such a parent device may be one where safety or injury-risk avoidance is a concern, such as a laser hair removal device 10 as described in detail above. Another parent device may be one where security is more of a concern such as an electrical device like a handheld portable communications device. Here the combinations of sensor assemblies 110 , 128 may serve a lockout function or a personal identity recognition function. Thus, the parent device may only be operated by a user physically operating the device and that matches a particular skin color profile.
[0044] It is thought that the present invention and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be understood from the foregoing description and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the parts thereof without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the form hereinbefore described being merely an exemplary embodiment thereof.
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A hair removal device utilizes a system for sensing the presence and color of skin. The system includes a skin color sensor assembly and a capacitive sensor assembly disposed in a housing. The skin color sensor assembly includes a light pipe communicating with a color sensor aperture of the housing and having one or more notches defining receiving and emitting light propagation regions, a color sensor and one or more light emitting diodes, and a holder having at least one standoff mated to the notches thereby directing light emitted by the light emitting diodes through the light pipe for reflection of an external surface and receipt by the sensor for detection of surface color. The capacitive sensor assembly includes a plurality of copper elements in proximity to a device aperture and contacting an interior surface of the housing and for detection of an object in contact with the copper elements.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to automatic control of engine speed in a fully or partially automated vehicular transmission system including an electronically controlled engine, preferably communicating over an electronic data link and allowing control in at least a speed-limiting mode and in a torque-limiting mode. In particular, the present invention relates to control of engine speed for such systems when a relatively large decrease in engine speed is required, typically when synchronizing for an upshift.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fully and partially automated mechanical transmission systems intended for medium- and heavy-duty vehicular use are well known in the prior art, as may be seen by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,361,060; 4,595,986; 4,648,290; 4,850,236; 5,582,558; 5,735,771; 5,755,639; 5,797,110; 5,894,758 and 5,904,635, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. Such systems typically involve some automatic control of engine speed to synchronize for engaging a target gear ratio.
The current fully or partially automated transmission systems may include an electronically controlled engine having control logic conforming to and/or communicating over an electronic data link conforming to an industry standard protocol, such as SAE J-1922, SAE J-1939, ISO 11898 or the like. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,457,633 and 5,738,606 are illustrative of such electronically controlled internal combustion (usually diesel) engines.
Such systems have an engine speed mode of operation wherein the engine is controlled to achieve a target engine speed. In heavy-duty diesel engines, the engines are programmed to respond to engine speed mode commands by fueling the engine to achieve the target engine speed in a smooth, ramped manner.
The prior art systems are subject to improvement, as when commanding a relatively large decrease in engine speed in the speed control mode of operation, usually during a single or skip upshift, a longer-than-desirable time may be required to achieve the target engine speed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, the drawbacks of the prior art are minimized or overcome by shortening the time required to achieve a relatively large decrease in engine speed to a target engine speed.
The foregoing is accomplished by operating in a torque control mode requesting a low torque, preferably zero torque, not in a speed control mode, when a significant decrease in engine speed is required. For the electronically controlled heavy-and medium-duty diesel engines produced by engine manufacturers, when in the torque control mode and when defueling to reduce torque, engine speed will decrease in an unmodulated manner according to the “decay rate” of the engine.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved engine speed control when substantial decreases in engine speed are required, such as in upshifts, which will decrease the time required to reach the desired engine speed.
This and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the following description of the preferred embodiment taken in connection with the attached drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a vehicular automated mechanical transmission system of the type with which the improved engine speed control of the present invention is particularly advantageously utilized.
FIG. 2 is a graphical representation of the rate of decrease in engine speed in a speed control mode versus a torque control mode of a typical heavy-duty diesel engine operating under an industry standard data link protocol such as SAE J-1922 or SAE J-1939.
FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration, in flow chart format, of the engine speed control of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration, in flow chart format, of an alternate embodiment of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
A typical vehicular powertrain 10 for a land vehicle, such as a heavy-duty or medium-duty truck, is schematically illustrated in FIG. 1 . The powertrain 10 includes a well-known diesel engine 12 and a multiple-speed, change-gear mechanical transmission 14 drivingly connected to the engine by means of a master friction clutch 16 and having an output shaft 18 connected to a final drive (such as a drive axle) 20 , by means of a prop shaft 22 and universal joints. The crankshaft 24 of the engine drives the input elements 26 of the master clutch 16 , which are frictionally engageable to and disengageable from output elements 28 carried by the transmission input shaft 30 . A manual 32 or automatic 34 control controls the engagement and disengagement of the master friction clutch 16 . Transmission 14 is preferably a 9-to-18-forward-speed transmission controlled by a manual shift lever 36 or an automatically controlled X-Y shifter 38 acting on a shift bar housing or shift shaft mechanism.
Transmission 14 is preferably a compound-type transmission of the range, splitter or combined range-and-splitter type, as may be seen in greater detail by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,754,665 and 5,390,561, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. Preferably, transmission 14 is of the mechanical type in which speed ratios are engaged and disengaged by means of engaging and disengaging one or more jaw clutches, which are preferably but not necessarily of the non-synchronized type.
A throttle pedal monitor assembly 40 monitors the position or displacement of the throttle pedal 42 and provides a signal (THL) indicative thereof. The engine includes a controller, preferably a microprocessor-based controller 44 , which communicates over an electronic data link and is effective to fuel the engine in accordance with commands over the data link. Typically, commands will request fueling to match operator throttle settings or to achieve a required engine speed and/or provide a maximum output (ie., flywheel) torque.
A microprocessor-based system controller 46 receives input signals 48 from the throttle pedal position sensor 40 , the transmission shift actuator 38 , signal GRT, from the driver command console 50 , signal ES indicative of engine speed from sensor 52 , signal IS from input shaft speed sensor 54 , and/or signal OS from output shaft speed sensor 56 . The input signals also may include a signal from the clutch actuator 34 indicative of the engaged or disengaged condition of master clutch 16 and/or the transmission operator 38 . X-Y shift mechanisms and shift position sensors may be seen by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,729,110 and 5,743,143. The system controller will process these input signals in accordance with predetermined logic rules to issue command output signals 58 to various system actuators, including the engine controller 44 . In certain systems, ECU 46 may be integral with the engine controller 44 .
As is well known, electronically controlled, heavy-duty diesel engines conforming to industry standard protocols such as SAE J-1922 and/or SAE J-1939 will receive and obey commands to operate in at least four different modes:
(1) a mode wherein engine fueling is under control of the vehicle operator and the engine will be fueled in accordance with the operator's positioning of the throttle pedal 42 ;
(2) an engine speed control mode wherein the engine will be fueled to achieve a commanded engine speed;
(3) a torque control mode wherein the engine will be fueled such that engine torque will achieve a requested maximum engine torque; and
(4) a speed- and torque-limiting mode wherein the engine is fueled such that engine speed and engine torque will not exceed requested maximum values thereof.
Torque usually is requested as a percentage of the maximum rated gross, output or other torque rating of the engine.
To complete a desired single or skip upshift by engaging non-synchronized jaw clutches, it is required that the engine speed be lowered to a substantially synchronous value (ES TARGET =(OX×GR T )±X). See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,682,790, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
In the prior art automated mechanical transmission systems, when it was necessary to significantly reduce engine speed to synchronize for engaging an upshift target gear ratio, the engine was commanded to operate in the engine speed control mode to achieve the target engine speed (ES=ES TARGET ). The engine then would implement the governor control required to reach this desired speed. The engine deceleration rate that occurs is dependent upon the engine manufacturer's implementation of the speed control mode and can sometimes be undesirably slow, as the implementation attempts to smoothly ramp to the target engine speed. “Ramped” is used to mean a modulated rate of deceleration less than the rate of unmodulated engine deceleration. Line 62 in FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a typical response in the engine speed control mode to decrease engine speed to the desired engine speed to engage the target gear ratio.
According to the present invention, Applicants have discovered that when a significant decrease in engine speed is required, by using the torque control mode or the speed- and torque-limiting mode and requesting that maximum torque to set to a relatively low value (such as zero torque), the engine will decelerate toward the desired engine speed as quickly as possible without any attempt by the engine controller to smoothly ramp the value. This will assure that the maximum engine deceleration rate is obtained and shorten the time to complete an upshift. Line 64 in FIG. 2 schematically illustrates engine speed in the torque control mode with a zero torque command. A similar line would be seen in the speed- and torque-limiting mode of operation. As the speeds of the engaging jaw clutch members pass through synchronous, the jaw clutch members will engage. This is especially true for engaging splitter clutches, which do require precision to engage. FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration, in flow chart format, of the upshift engine speed control method of the present invention. This is less desirable, as the system may cause engine speed to “chase” torsional vibrations in the driveline.
In another alternative mode, illustrated in FIG. 4, whenever current engine speed exceeds target engine speed (ES>ES TARGET ), operation in the torque control mode or the speed- and torque-limiting mode may be commanded.
Alternatively, as engine speed approaches within a relatively narrow band (about ±10-20 RPM) of the target synchronous speed 66 , the engine then may be commanded to operate in the engine speed control mode and to achieve the exact target engine speed.
Although the present invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the description of the preferred embodiment is by way of example only and that numerous changes to form and detailed are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.
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An improved control method/system for controlling engine speed (ES) of an electronically controlled engine ( 12 ) communicating over an industry standard data link. If the difference between engine speed and target engine speed exceeds a reference value ((ES−ES TARGET )>REF?), then the engine is commanded to operate in a torque control mode or a speed- and torque-limiting mode ( 64 ).
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION
[0001] This patent claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Appl. No. 60/951,816 (filed Jul. 25, 2007). The entire text of that patent application is incorporated by reference into this patent.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to a new process for preparing oxazolidine and oxazolidinone protected aminodiol compounds. These compounds are generally useful as intermediates in processes for making Florfenicol and related compounds.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Florfenicol is a broad spectrum antibiotic of Formula I
[0000]
[0004] It has wide spread application in veterinary medicine for the treatment of both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria as well as rickettsial infections. Florfenicol is also known as 2,2-Dichloro-N-[(1S,2R)-1-(fluoromethyl)-2-hydroxy-2-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]ethyl]-acetamide or [R—(R*,S*)]-2,2-dichloro-N-[1-(fluoromethyl)-2-hydroxy-2-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]ethyl]-acetamide.
[0005] U.S. Patent Published Application No. 2005/0075506 A1, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes the synthesis of Florfenicol intermediates of Formula II and their use in processes for making Florfenicol.
[0000]
[0006] U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/514,741, 11/515,278 and 11/515,135 also describe the preparation of Florfenicol intermediates of Formulas II (supra) and III:
[0000]
[0000] The primary advantage discussed therein is that the process eliminated the requirement in the prior art to use the expensive and difficult to isolate aminodiol sulfone (ADS) starting material. The ADS was generated in situ from a readily available and economical phenyl serine ester compound, then reacted further in the same reaction vessel to form the desired Florfenicol oxazolidine intermediates. Alternatively, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/515,135, the use of or generation of the ADS was eliminated completely.
[0007] The present invention now discloses new processes to generate oxazolidine protected aminodiols and oxazolidinone protected aminodiols from compounds of Formula VII:
[0000]
[0008] Applicants have now surprisingly found significant processing advantages for forming oxazolidine and oxazolidinone protected aminodiol compounds, allowing for more efficient and cost-saving processes. The present invention thus has the advantage of being an efficient and economical process for preparing Florfenicol, its analogs, and oxazolidine and oxazolidinone intermediates related thereto. The present invention is directed to oxazolidine and oxazolidinone protected aminodiol compounds and alternative methods of preparing useful intermediates included in the synthesis of Florfenicol.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] The present invention provides a process for preparing an oxazolidine protected aminodiol compound of Formula VI:
[0000]
[0000] wherein:
[0010] R 1 is hydrogen, methylthio, methylsulfoxy, methylsulfonyl, fluoromethylthio, fluoromethylsulfoxy, fluoromethylsulfonyl, nitro, fluoro, bromo, chloro, acetyl, benzyl, phenyl, halo substituted phenyl, C 1-6 alkyl, C 1-6 haloalkyl, C 3-8 cycloalkyl, C 2-6 alkenyl, C 2-6 alkynyl, C 1-6 alkoxy, C 1-6 aralkyl, C 2-6 aralkenyl, or a C 3-7 heterocyclic group;
[0011] R 2 is hydrogen, C 1-6 alkyl, C 1-6 haloalkyl, C 3-4 cycloalkyl, C 2-6 alkenyl, C 2-6 alkynyl, C 1-6 alkoxy, C 1-6 aralkyl, C 2-6 aralkenyl, aryl, or a C 3-7 heterocyclic group;
[0012] R 3 is hydrogen, C 1-6 alkyl, C 1-6 haloalkyl, C 3-4 cycloalkyl, C 2-6 alkenyl, C 2-6 alkynyl, C 1-6 alkoxy, C 1-6 aralkyl, C 2-6 aralkenyl, aryl, or a C 3-7 heterocyclic group; and
[0013] R 4 is hydrogen, C 1-6 alkyl, C 1-6 haloalkyl, C 1-6 dihaloalkyl, C 1-6 trihaloalkyl, CH 2 Cl, CHCl 2 , CCl 3 , CH 2 Br, CHBr 2 , CBr 3 , CH 2 F, CHF 2 , CF 3 , C 3-8 cycloalkyl, C 3-4 cyclohaloalkyl, C 3-4 cyclodihaloalkyl, C 3-4 cyclotrihaloalkyl, C 2-6 alkenyl, C 2-6 alkynyl, C 1-6 alkoxy, C 1-6 aralkyl, C 2-6 aralkenyl, a C 3-7 heterocyclic group, benzyl, phenyl or phenyl alkyl wherein the phenyl or phenyl alkyl can be substituted by one or two halogens, C 1-6 alkyl, or C 1-6 alkoxy; or its pharmaceutically acceptable salt. In some embodiments, the process comprises the step of converting the compound of Formula VII to Florfenicol of Formula I.
[0014] In some embodiments, the process includes the steps of reacting a compound of Formula VII:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 and R 4 are as previously defined, in a vessel with an oxazolidine-forming solvent to form a reaction mixture, and adding an oxazolidine-forming reagent and an oxazolidine-promoting compound to the reaction mixture to form the oxazolidine protected aminodiol compound of Formula VI:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 are as previously defined.
[0015] The present invention also provides a process for preparing an oxazolidinone protected aminodiol compound of Formula V:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 and R 4 are as previously defined; and R 5 is oxygen, sulfur, or monosubstituted amino; or its pharmaceutically acceptable salt. In some embodiments, the process comprises the step of converting the compound of Formula V to Florfenicol of Formula I.
[0016] In some embodiments, the process includes the steps of reacting a compound of Formula VII:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 and R 4 are as previously defined in a vessel with an oxazolidinone-forming solvent and adding an oxazolidinone-forming reagent and an oxazolidinone-promoting compound to form an oxazolidinone protected aminodiol compound of Formula V:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 , R 4 and R 5 are as previously defined.
[0017] In some embodiments, a process of the present invention forms Florfenicol, related compounds, or both after the compounds of Formulas V and VI have been prepared.
[0018] The present invention also provides a compound of Formula:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 , R 4 and R 5 are as previously defined; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.
[0019] In some embodiments, the compound of Formula V is the compound of Formula Vd:
[0000]
[0000] or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.
[0020] The present invention also provides a compound of Formula X:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 , R 4 and R 5 are as previously defined; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.
[0021] In some embodiments, the compound of Formula V is the compound of Formula Xd:
[0000]
[0000] or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.
[0022] Further benefits of Applicants' invention will be apparent to one skilled in the art from reading this specification.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0023] This detailed description of preferred embodiments is intended only to acquaint others skilled in the art with Applicants' invention, its principles, and its practical application so that others skilled in the art may adapt and apply the invention in its numerous forms, as they may be best suited to the requirements of a particular use. This detailed description and its specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of this invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only. This invention, therefore, is not limited to the preferred embodiments described in this specification, and may be variously modified.
[0024] When used herein and in the appended claims, the terms listed below, unless otherwise indicated, will be used and are intended to be defined as indicated immediately below. Definitions for other terms can occur throughout the specification. It is intended that all terms used include the plural, active tense and past tense forms of a term.
[0025] The term “acetyl” means a CH 3 CO— radical.
[0026] The term “alcoholic solvent” includes C 1 to C 10 monoalcohols such as methanol, ethanol, and mixtures thereof, C 2 to C 10 dialcohols such as ethylene glycol and C 1 to C 10 trialcohols such as glycerin. Alternatively, the term alcoholic solvent includes such alcohol admixed with any suitable co-solvent (i.e., a second solvent added to the original solvent, generally in small concentrations, to form a mixture that has greatly enhanced solvent powers due to synergism). Such co-solvents can include other solvents which are miscible with the alcoholic solvent such as C 4 to C 10 alkanes, aromatic solvents such as benzene, toluene, and xylenes, halobenzenes such as chlorobenzene, and ethers such as diethylether, tert-butylmethylether, isopropylether and tetrahydrofuran, or mixtures of any of the above co-solvents.
[0027] The term “alkyl” means a saturated straight or branched alkyl such as methyl, ethyl, propyl, or sec-butyl. Alternatively, the number of carbons in an alkyl can be specified. For example, “C 1-6 alkyl” means an “alkyl” as described above containing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 carbon atoms.
[0028] The term “C 2 alkenyl” means an unsaturated branched or unbranched hydrocarbon group having at least one double carbon-carbon (—C═C—) bond and containing 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 carbon atoms. Example alkenyl groups include, without limitation, ethenyl, 1-propenyl, isopropenyl, 2-butenyl, 1,3-butadienyl, 3-pentenyl and 2-hexenyl, and the like.
[0029] The term “C 2-6 alkynyl” means an unsaturated branched or unbranched hydrocarbon group having at least one triple carbon-carbon (—C≡C—) bond and containing 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 carbon atoms. Example alkynyl groups include, without limitation, ethynyl, 1-propynyl, 2-propynyl, 2-butynyl, 3-butynyl, 2-penten-4-ynyl, and the like.
[0030] The term “C 1-6 alkoxy” means an alkyl-O— group, where the term “alkyl” is defined herein. Example alkoxy groups include, without limitation, methoxy, ethoxy, propoxy (e.g., n-propoxy and isopropoxy), 1-butoxy, and the like,
[0031] The term “aryl” means phenyl, or phenyl substituted by C 1 to C 6 alkyl or “halo”, where phenyl and halo are as defined herein.
[0032] The term “C 1-6 aralkyl” means a C 1-6 alkyl as defined herein substituted by an aryl group that is any radical derived from an aromatic hydrocarbon by the removal of a hydrogen atom.
[0033] The term “C 2-6 aralkenyl” means a C 2-6 alkenyl as defined herein substituted by an aryl group that is any radical derived from an aromatic hydrocarbon by the removal of a hydrogen atom.
[0034] The term “bromo” means the chemical element bromine.
[0035] “Substituted benzyl” means benzyl substituted by C 1 to C 6 alkyl or “halo”, where benzyl is the univalent radical C 6 H 5 CH 2 , formally derived from toluene (i.e., methylbenzene).
[0036] The term “chloro” means the chemical element chorine.
[0037] The term “C 3-8 cycloalkyl” means a saturated cyclic hydrocarbon group (i.e., a cyclized alkyl group) containing 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 carbon atoms. Example cycloalkyl groups include, without limitation, cyclopropyl, cyclobutyl, cyclopentyl, cyclohexyl and the like.
[0038] The term “C 3-8 cyclohaloalkyl” means a C 3-8 cycloalkyl as defined herein substituted by halo as defined herein.
[0039] The term “C 3-8 cyclodihaloalkyl” means a C 3-8 cycloalkyl as defined herein substituted twice by halo as defined herein where the halo atoms can be the same or different.
[0040] The term “C 3-8 cyclotrihaloalkyl” means a C 3-8 cycloalkyl as defined herein substituted thrice by halo as defined herein where the halo atoms can be the same or different.
[0041] The term “C 2 to C 10 dialcohol” means an alcohol containing two hydroxyl groups and 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 carbon atoms.
[0042] The term “C 1-6 dihaloalkyl” means a C 1-6 alkyl as defined herein substituted twice by halo as defined herein where the halo atoms can be the same or different.
[0043] The term “fluoro” means the chemical element fluorine.
[0044] The term “fluoromethylsulfonyl” means a CH 2 FSO 2 — radical.
[0045] The term “fluoromethylsulfoxy” means a CH 2 FSO— radical.
[0046] The term “fluoromethylthio” means a CH 2 FS— radical.
[0047] The term “halo” or “halogen” means fluoro, chloro, bromo or iodo.
[0048] The term “haloalkyl” means an alkyl as described above wherein one or more hydrogens are replaced by halo as defined herein.
[0049] The term “halo substituted phenyl” means a phenyl as defined herein substituted by halo as defined herein.
[0050] The term “C 3-7 heterocyclic group” means a ring system radical where one or more of the ring-forming carbon atoms is replaced by a heteroatom, such as an oxygen, nitrogen, or sulfur atom, which include mono- or polycyclic (e.g., having 2 or more fused rings) ring systems as well as spiro ring systems. The ring system can contain 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 carbon atoms and can be aromatic or non-aromatic.
[0051] The term “iodo” means the chemical element iodine.
[0052] The term “methylsulfonyl” means a CH 3 SO 2 — radical.
[0053] The term “methylsulfoxy” means a CH 3 SO— radical.
[0054] The term “methylthio” means a CH 3 S— radical.
[0055] The term “C 1 to C 10 monoalcohol” means an alcohol containing one hydroxyl group and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 carbon atoms.
[0056] The term “monosubstituted amino” means an —NH 2 radical where one of its hydrogen is substituted by another atom or radical.
[0057] The term “nitro” means a —NO 2 radical.
[0058] The term “oxazolidine-promoting compound” means an acid or base that enhances, increases, accelerates or otherwise facilitates the reaction between the oxazolidine-forming reagent and the β-hydroxy amide compound.
[0059] The term “oxazolidine-forming reagent” means a reagent such that when reacted with a β-hydroxy amide compound forms an oxazolidine ring, where the oxygen of the β-hydroxy group and the nitrogen of the amide function are connected through a new carbon bond to form the oxaolidine ring.
[0060] The term “oxazolidine-forming solvent” means a solvent that by the nature of its dissolution properties enhances, increases, accelerates or otherwise facilitates the reaction between the oxazolidine-forming reagent and the β-hydroxy amide compound.
[0061] The term “oxazolidinone-promoting compound” means an acid or base that enhances, increases, accelerates or otherwise facilitates the reaction between the oxazolidinone-forming reagent and the β-hydroxy amide compound.
[0062] The term “oxazolidinone-forming reagent” means a reagent such that when reacted with a β-hydroxy amide compound forms an oxazolidinone ring where the oxygen of the β-hydroxy group and the nitrogen of the amide function are connected through a new carbon bond to form the oxaolidinone ring.
[0063] The term “oxazolidinone-promoting solvent” means a solvent that enhances, increases, accelerates of otherwise facilitates the reaction between the oxazolidinone-forming reagent and the β-hydroxy amide group to form an oxazolidinone ring.
[0064] The term “phenyl” means the monovalent radical C 6 H 5 — of benzene, which is the aromatic hydrocarbon C 6 H 6 .
[0065] The term “phenyl alkyl” means an alkyl as defined herein substituted by phenyl as defined herein.
[0066] The term “C 1 to C 10 trialcohol” means an alcohol containing three hydroxyl groups and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 carbon atoms.
[0067] The term “C 1-6 trihaloalkyl” means a C 1-6 alkyl as defined herein substituted thrice by halo as defined herein where the halo atoms can be the same or different.
[0068] Throughout the specification and the appended claims, a given chemical formula or name shall encompass all stereo and optical isomers and racemates thereof, as well as mixtures in different proportions of the separate enantiomers, where such isomers and enantiomers exist, as well as pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof and solvates thereof such as for instance hydrates. Isomers can be separated using conventional techniques, e.g. chromatography or fractional crystallization. The enantiomers can be isolated by separation of a racemic mixture, for example, by fractional crystallization, resolution or high-performance (or -pressure) liquid chromatography (HPLC). The diastereomers can be isolated by separation of isomer mixtures, for instance, by fractional crystallization, HPLC or flash chromatography. The stereoisomers also can be made by chiral synthesis from chiral starting materials under conditions which will not cause racemization or epimerization, or by derivatization, with a chiral reagent. The starting materials and conditions will be within the skill of one skilled in the art. All stereoisomers are included within the scope of the invention.
[0069] In one aspect, the present invention provides a process for preparing an oxazolidine protected aminodiol compound, or its pharmaceutically acceptable salt, of Formula VI:
[0000]
[0000] wherein:
[0070] R 1 is hydrogen, methylthio, methylsulfoxy, methylsulfonyl, fluoromethylthio, fluoromethylsulfoxy, fluoromethylsulfonyl, nitro, fluoro, bromo, chloro, acetyl, benzyl, phenyl, halo substituted phenyl, C 1-6 alkyl, C 1-6 haloalkyl, C 3-4 cycloalkyl, C 2-6 alkenyl, C 2-6 alkynyl, C 1-6 alkoxy, C 1-5 aralkyl, C 2-6 aralkenyl, or a C 3-7 heterocyclic group;
[0071] R 2 is hydrogen, C 1-6 alkyl, C 1-6 haloalkyl, C 3-8 cycloalkyl, C 2-6 alkenyl, C 2-6 alkynyl, C 1-6 alkoxy, C 1-6 aralkyl, C 2-6 aralkenyl, aryl, or a C 3-7 heterocyclic group;
[0072] R 3 is hydrogen, C 1-6 alkyl, C 1-6 haloalkyl, C 3-8 cycloalkyl, C 2-6 alkenyl, C 2-6 alkynyl, C 1-6 alkoxy, C 1-6 aralkyl, C 2-6 aralkenyl, aryl, or a C 3-7 heterocyclic group; and
[0073] R 4 is hydrogen, C 1-6 alkyl, C 1-6 haloalkyl, C 1-4 dihaloalkyl, C 1-6 trihaloalkyl, CH 2 Cl, CHCl 2 , CCl 3 , CH 2 Br, CHBr 2 , CBr 3 , CH 2 F, CHF 2 , CF 3 , C 3-8 cycloalkyl, C 3-8 cyclohaloalkyl, C 3-8 cyclodihaloalkyl, C 3-4 cyclotrihaloalkyl, C 2-6 alkenyl, C 2-6 alkynyl, C 1-6 alkoxy, C 1-6 aralkyl, C 2-4 aralkenyl, a C 3-7 heterocyclic group, benzyl, phenyl or phenyl alkyl wherein the phenyl or phenyl alkyl can be substituted by one or two halogens, C 1-6 alkyl, or C 1-6 alkoxy; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. In some embodiments, the process comprises the step of converting the compound of Formula VII to Florfenicol of Formula I.
[0074] In another aspect, the present invention provides a process for preparing an oxazolidinone protected aminodiol compound of Formula V:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 and R 4 are as previously defined and R 5 is oxygen, sulfur or monosubstituted amino; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. In some embodiments, the process comprises the step of converting the compound of Formula V to Florfenicol of Formula I.
[0075] The compounds of Formula V and VI are useful intermediates in the formation of Florfenicol and related compounds. The present invention thus has the advantage of being an efficient and economical process for preparing Florfenicol, its analogs, and oxazolidine or oxazolidinone intermediates related thereto.
[0076] In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, R 1 is methylthio, methylsulfoxy, or methylsulfonyl. In some such embodiments, R 1 is methylsulfonyl.
[0077] In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, R 2 and R 3 are hydrogen, methyl, ethyl or propyl. In some such embodiments, R 2 and R 3 are methyl.
[0078] In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, R 4 is CH 2 Cl, CHCl 2 , CCl 3 , CH 2 Br, CHBr 2 , CBr 3 , CH 2 F, CHF 2 , or CF 3 . In some such embodiments, R 4 is CH 2 Cl, CHCl 2 , or CCl 3 . In some such embodiments, R 4 is CHCl 2 .
[0079] In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, R 5 is oxygen.
[0080] In some embodiments, the process for preparing an oxazolidine protected aminodiol of Formula VI includes the steps of reacting a compound of Formula VII:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 and R 4 are as previously defined, in a vessel with an oxazolidine-forming solvent to form a reaction mixture, and adding an oxazolidine-forming reagent and oxazolidine-promoting compound to the reaction mixture to form the oxazolidine aminodiol protected compound of Formula VI.
[0081] In some such embodiments, the compounds of Formulas VIIa and VIIb are starting materials:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 and R 4 are as previously defined.
[0082] In some embodiments, the starting material is the commercially available, economical and widely known antibiotic thiamphenicol of Formula IV:
[0000]
[0083] In some embodiments, the compound of Formula VII reacts in an oxazolidine-forming solvent, such as and without limitation, acetone, methylene chloride, ethyl acetate, tetrahydrofuran, ether, toluene, xylene, hexane and a mixture thereof. In some such embodiments, the oxazolidine-forming solvent comprises toluene. An oxazolidine-forming reagent, such as and without limitation, formaldehyde, acetone, 2-methoxypropene, 2,2-dimethoxypropane, 2,2-diethoxypropane and a mixture thereof, is then added. In some embodiments, the oxazolidine-forming reagent comprises acetone.
[0084] In some embodiments, the oxazolidine-forming solvent comprises toluene and the oxazolidine-forming reagent comprises acetone. In some such embodiments, toluene and acetone are present in a ratio of from about 0.5:1 to about 3:1. In some such embodiments, the ratio is about 1:1.
[0085] The presence of an acid or a base, designated herein as an oxazolidine-promoting compound, such as and without limitation, potassium carbonate, sodium carbonate, trimethylamine, triethylamine, p-toluene sulfonic acid, methanesulfonic acid, acetic acid, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, phosphoric acid, and a mixture thereof facilitates the reaction with the oxazolidine-forming reagent. In some embodiments, the oxazolidine-promoting compound is potassium carbonate, triethylamine, p-toluene sulfonic acid or a mixture thereof. In some embodiments, the oxazolidine-promoting compound is potassium carbonate, triethylamine, or a mixture thereof.
[0086] In some embodiments, the oxazolidine-forming reaction is carried out at a temperature from about 40° C. to about 110° C. In some embodiments, the temperature is from about 65° C. to about 85° C.
[0087] In some embodiments, the compound of Formula VI corresponds to the compound of Formula VIa:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 2 , R 3 and R 4 are as previously defined.
[0088] In some embodiments, the compound of Formula VI corresponds to the compound of Formula VIb:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 , R 2 and R 3 are as previously defined.
[0089] In some embodiments, Florfenicol is the desired end product. In some such embodiments, the compound of Formula VI corresponds to the compound of Formula VIc:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 2 and R 3 are as previously defined. In still further such embodiments, the compound of Formula VI corresponds to the compound of Formula III.
[0000]
[0090] Once the compound of Formula VI has been prepared, one can use this compound as an intermediate for preparing Florfenicol and related compounds. Therefore, in continuing the process to prepare Florfenicol and related compounds, the process involves fluorinating the compound of Formula VI with a fluorinating agent, with or without isolation (i.e. in situ), in the presence of an organic solvent to obtain the compound of Formula VIII:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 are as previously defined.
[0091] In some such embodiments, suitable fluorinating agents include, without limitation, sodium fluoride, potassium fluoride, cesium fluoride, tetrabutylammonium fluoride, 1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,4-nonafluoro-1-butanesulfonyl fluoride, chloromethyl-4-fluoro-1,4-diazoniabicyclo[2.2.2]octane bis-(tetrafluoroborate), N-(2-chloro-1,1,2-trifluoroethyl)diethylamine, N-(2-chloro-1,1,2-trifluoroethyDdimethylamine, N-(2-chloro-1,1,2-trifluoroethyl)dipropylamine, N-(2-chloro-1,1,2-trifluoroethyl)pyrrolidine, N-(2-chloro-1,1,2-trifluoroethyl)-2-methylpyrrolidine, N-(2-chloro-1,1,2-trifluoroethyl)-4-methylpiperazine, N-(2-chloro-1,1,2-trifluoroethyl)-morpholine, N-(2-chloro-1,1,2-trifluoroethyl)piperidine, 1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethyl-N,N-dimethylamine, (diethylamino) sulfur trifluoride, Bis-(2-methoxyethyl)aminosulfur trifluoride, N,N-diethyl-1,1,2,3,3,3-hexafluoro-1-propanamine (commonly referred to as Ishikawa Reagent) and a mixture thereof. In some embodiments, the fluorinating agent comprises N,N-diethyl-1,1,2,3,3,3-hexafluoro-1-propanamine.
[0092] In some embodiments, the fluorinated compound of Formula VIII corresponds to the compound of Formula VIIIa:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 2 , R 3 and R 4 are as previously defined.
[0093] In some embodiments, the fluorinated compound of Formula VIII corresponds to the compound of Formula VIIIb:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 , R 2 and R 3 are as previously defined.
[0094] In some embodiments, when Florfenicol is the desired end product, the fluorinated compound of Formula VIII corresponds to the compound of Formula VIIIc:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 2 and R 3 are as previously defined.
[0095] In some embodiments, when Florfenicol is the desired end product, the fluorinated compound of Formula VIII corresponds to the compound of Formula VIIId:
[0000]
[0096] Once the compound of Formula VIII has been prepared, one can use this compound as an intermediate for preparing Florfenicol and related compounds. Therefore, in continuing the process to prepare Florfenicol and related compounds, the process then involves hydrolyzing, with or without isolation (i.e. in situ), with an acid catalyst or a basic catalyst to form the compound of Formula IX:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 and R 4 are as previously defined.
[0097] In some embodiments, hydrolysis is selective, i.e., hydrolysis of a compound at a specific location of the compound, where hydrolysis refers to the addition of water to the compound, thereby causing the splitting of the compound.
[0098] A wide range of acid catalysts can be employed in carrying out the process of the present invention. A non-limiting list of suitable acid catalysts include inorganic acids, such as dilute aqueous hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, phosphoric acid, and a mixture thereof, as well as organic acids, such as acetic acid, methanesulfonic acid, p-toluene sulfonic acid and a mixture thereof.
[0099] Similarly, a wide range of basic catalysts can be employed in carrying out the process of the present invention. A non-limiting list of suitable basic catalysts include inorganic bases, such as LiOH, NaOH, KOH, Li 2 CO 3 , Na 2 CO 3 , K 2 CO 3 and a mixture thereof, as well as organic bases, such as sodium methoxide, sodium ethoxide, potassium methoxide, potassium ethoxide and a mixture thereof.
[0100] In some embodiments, the hydrolyzing step is carried out with the compound of Formula VIII and the acid catalyst or the basic catalyst in an organic solvent, water or a mixture of an organic solvent and water. A non-limiting list of organic solvents useful in the hydrolyzing step include acetone, methanol, ethanol, propanol, isopropanol, methylene chloride, ethyl acetate, tetrahydrofuran and mixtures thereof.
[0101] In some embodiments, the compound of Formula IX formed by the hydrolyzing step corresponds to the compound of Formula IXa:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 4 is as previously defined.
[0102] In some embodiments, the compound of Formula IX formed by the hydrolyzing step corresponds to the compound of Formula IXb:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 is as previously defined.
[0103] In some embodiments, when Florfenicol is the desired end product, the compound of Formula IX formed by the hydrolyzing step corresponds to Florfenicol of Formula I:
[0000]
[0104] After the compound of Formula IX has been prepared the compound of Formula IX optionally can be purified. In some embodiments, purifying the compound of Formula IX involves using a mixture of a C 1-10 alkyl monoalcohol, a C 1-10 alkyl dialcohol or a C 1-10 alkyl trialcohol and water to form the purified compound of Formula IX. A non-limiting list of C 1-10 monoalcohols includes methanol, ethanol, propanol, isopropanol, butanol, sec-butanol, t-butanol, pentanol and a mixture thereof. A non-limiting list of C 1-10 dialcohols includes ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, butylene glycol and a mixture thereof. A non-limiting example of a C 1-10 trialcohol is glycerin.
[0105] In some embodiments, the process for preparing an oxazolidinone protected aminodiol compound of Formula V includes the steps of reacting a compound of Formula VII:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 and R 4 are as previously defined, in a vessel with an oxazolidinone-forming solvent to form a reaction mixture, and adding an oxazolidinone-forming reagent and an oxazolidinone-promoting compound to the reaction mixture to form the oxazolidinone protected aminodiol of Formula V:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 , R 4 and R 5 are as previously defined.
[0106] In some embodiments, the oxazolidinone-forming solvent comprises, for example and without limitation, ethyl acetate, acetone, tetrahydrofuran, ether, methylene chloride, methanol, ethanol, propanol, isopropanol, toluene, xylene, hexane or a mixture thereof. In some embodiments, the oxazolidinone-forming solvent comprises methanol.
[0107] In some embodiments, the oxazolidinone-forming reagent comprises phosgene, triphosgene, trichloromethyl chloroformate, urea, thiourea, p-nitrophenyl chloroformate, methyl chloroformate, ethyl chloroformate, propyl chloroformate, N, N-carbonyldiimidazole, dimethyl carbonate, diethyl carbonate, dipropyl carbonate, dibutyl carbonate or a mixture thereof. In some embodiments, the oxazolidinone-forming reagent comprises dimethyl carbonate, diethyl carbonate, dipropyl carbonate, dibutyl carbonate or a mixture thereof. In some embodiments, the oxazolidinone-forming reagent comprises dimethyl carbonate, diethyl carbonate, or a mixture thereof.
[0108] In some embodiments, the oxazolidinone-forming reagent and the compound of Formula VII have a molar ratio of from about 0.5:1 to about 3:1. In some embodiments, the molar ratio is about 1:1.
[0109] The presence of an acid or a base, designated herein as an oxazolidinone-promoting compound, such as, and without limitation, potassium carbonate, sodium carbonate, sodium methoxide, sodium ethoxide, trimethylamine, triethylamine, p-toluene sulfonic acid, methanesulfonic acid, acetic acid, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, phosphoric acid, or a mixture thereof, facilitates the reaction with the oxazolidinone-forming reagent. In some embodiments, the oxazolidinone-promoting compound comprises potassium carbonate, triethylamine or a mixture thereof.
[0110] In some embodiments, the compound of Formula V corresponds to the compound of Formula Va:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 4 and R 5 are as previously defined.
[0111] In some embodiments, the compound of Formula V corresponds to the compound of Formula Vb:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 and R 5 are as previously defined.
[0112] In some embodiments, when Florfenicol is the desired end product, the compound of Formula V corresponds to the compound of Formula Vc:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 5 is as previously defined.
[0113] In some embodiments, when Florfenicol is the desired end product, the compound of Formula V corresponds to the compound of Formula Vd:
[0000]
[0114] After the compound of Formula V has been prepared, one can use this compound as an intermediate for preparing Florfenicol and related compounds. Thus, in continuing the process to prepare Florfenicol and related compounds, the process involves reacting the oxazolidinone protected aminodiol of Formula V, with or without isolation (i.e., in situ), with a fluorinating agent to form a compound of Formula X:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 , R 4 and R 5 are as previously defined.
[0115] Suitable fluorinating agents and organic solvents useful during this part of the process are, for example and without limitation, those previously described above.
[0116] In some embodiments, the compound of Formula X corresponds to the compound of Formula Xa:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 4 and R 5 are as previously defined.
[0117] In some embodiments, the compound of Formula X corresponds to the compound of Formula Xb:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 and R 5 are as previously defined.
[0118] In some embodiments, when Florfenicol is the desired end product, the compound of Formula X corresponds to the compound of Formula Xc:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 5 is as previously defined.
[0119] In some embodiments, when Florfenicol is the desired end product, the compound of Formula X corresponds to the compound of Formula Xd:
[0000]
[0120] After the compound of Formula X has been prepared, it is hydrolyzed, with or without isolation (i.e. in situ), with an acid catalyst or a basic catalyst to form the compound of Formula IX:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 and R 4 are as previously defined.
[0121] A wide range of acids can be employed in carrying out the process of the invention, such as and without limitation, those previously described above. Similarly, a wide range of bases can be employed in carrying out the process of the invention, such as and without limitation, those previously described above.
[0122] In some embodiments, the hydrolyzing step is carried out with the compound of Formula X and the acid catalyst or the basic catalyst in an organic solvent, water or a mixture of an organic solvent and water. A non-limiting list of organic solvents are, for example and without limitation, those previously described above.
[0123] In some embodiments, the compound of Formula IX corresponds to the compound of Formula IXa:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 4 is as previously defined.
[0124] In some embodiments, the compound of Formula IX corresponds to the compound of Formula IXb:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 is as previously defined.
[0125] In some embodiments, when Florfenicol is the desired end product, the compound of Formula IX corresponds to Florfenicol of Formula I:
[0000]
[0126] After the compound of Formula IX is made and if necessary, it can optionally be purified by the process as described herein. When Florfenicol is the desired end product, the purified compound corresponding to Formula IX is the compound of Formula I.
[0127] In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, the oxazolidine protected aminodiol compound of Formula VI or the oxazolidinone protected aminodiol compound of Formula V is substantially formed (i.e., the reaction is greater than 95% completed) over from about 2 to about 18 hours.
[0128] In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, the fluorinating agent such as N,N-diethyl-1,1,2,3,3,3-hexafluoro-1-propanamine and the compound according to Formula VI have a molar ratio of from about 1:1 to about 2:1. In some embodiments, the molar ratio of the N,N-diethyl-1,1,2,3,3,3-hexafluoro-1-propanamine to the compound of Formula VI is about 1.5:1.
[0129] In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, the fluorinating agent such as N,N-diethyl-1,1,2,3,3,3-hexafluoro-1-propanamine and the compound according to Formula V have a molar ratio of from about 1:1 to about 2:1. In some embodiments, the molar ratio of the N,N-diethyl-1,1,2,3,3,3-hexafluoro-1-propanamine to the compound of Formula V is about 1.5:1.
[0130] In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, suitable organic solvents for the fluorinating step include, without limitation, 1,2-dichloroethane, methylene chloride, chloroform, chlorobenzene, chlorinated hydrocarbons and mixtures thereof. In some embodiments, the organic solvent comprises methylene chloride.
[0131] In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, the fluorinating step is carried out at a temperature of from about 80° C. to about 110° C., and at a pressure of about 60 psi.
[0132] In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, the acid catalyst of the hydrolyzing step comprises an inorganic acid, an organic acid or a mixture thereof. In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, the acid catalyst comprises p-toluene sulfonic acid. In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, the acid catalyst comprises methanesulfonic acid.
[0133] In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, the acid catalyst for the hydrolyzing step comprises an inorganic base, an organic base or a mixture thereof. In some embodiments, the basic catalyst comprises K 2 CO 3 . In some embodiments, the basic catalyst comprises LiOH.
[0134] In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, the organic solvent for the hydrolyzing step comprises tetrahydrofuran. In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, the organic solvent comprises methylene chloride. In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, the solvent is the mixture of the organic solvent and water. In some such embodiments, the organic solvent is methylene chloride.
[0135] The hydrolysis step of a process of the present invention can be carried out at a temperature up to about 100° C. That is to say, hydrolysis is performed at a temperature less than or equal to about 100° C. In some embodiments, the temperature is less than about 80° C.
[0136] In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, the hydrolyzing step further comprises heating the compound of Formula VIII or Formula X with the acid catalyst or the basic catalyst in a mixture of an organic solvent and water at a temperature less than about 100° C.
[0137] Other suitable hydrolyzing steps will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.
[0138] In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, the resultant compound of the fluorinating step (e.g., the compound of Formula VI or Formula X), the resultant compound of the hydrolyzing step (e.g., the compound of Formula VII or Formula IX), or any combination thereof, is isolated. In some embodiments, the resultant compound or any combination thereof is not isolated (i.e., is generated in situ).
[0139] In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, the C 1-10 monoalcohol for the purifying step comprises isopropanol. In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, the C 1-10 dialcohol of the purifying step comprises propylene glycol. In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, the C 1-10 trialcohol of the purifying step comprises glycerin.
[0140] In some embodiments of a process of the present invention, the purifying step comprises using a mixture of alcohol and water. In some embodiments, the mixture comprises methanol, ethanol, propanol, isopropanol, butanol, sec-butanol, t-butanol, pentanol, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, butylene glycol, glycerin or a mixture thereof. In some embodiments, the alcohol, such as isopropanol, and water are present in a ratio of from about 1:5 to about 5:1. In some embodiments, the ratio of alcohol to water is about 1:1. In some embodiments, the alcohol comprises isopropanol and the ratio of the isopropanol to water mixture is about 1:1. In some embodiments, the compound of Formula IX and the about 1:1 isopropanol and water mixture have a weight to volume ratio of from about 1:1 to about 10:1. In some embodiments, the weight to volume ratio of the compound of Formula IX to the about 1:1 isopropanol and water mixture is about 1:4.6.
[0141] In some embodiments of the purifying step of a process of the present invention, the compound of Formula IX is dissolved in an about 1:1 isopropanol and water mixture, and the purifying step has a dissolution temperature that is the reflux point of the 1:1 isopropanol and water mixture. In some embodiments, the compound of Formula IX is dissolved in an about 1:1 isopropanol and water mixture, where the compound of Formula IX and the about 1:1 isopropanol and water mixture have a weight to volume ratio of about 1:4.6, and heated to the reflux point of the mixture. The resultant solution is clarified by filtration with active carbon and a filter, then cooled at a temperature of from about 10° C. to about 30° C. to obtain crystallized compound of Formula IX that is pure. As used herein, the terms “pure” or “purified” means reduced levels of impurities and improved color compared to unpurified compound. In some embodiments, the solution is cooled to a temperature of from about 20° C. to about 25° C. to crystallize the purified compound of Formula IX from the solution. In some embodiments, the purified compound of Formula IX crystallized from the solution is Florfenicol.
[0142] In another aspect, the present invention provides a compound of Formula V, having a structure of:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 , R 4 , and R 5 are as previously defined; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. In some embodiments, the compound of Formula V is the compound of Formula Vd:
[0000]
[0000] or
a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof
[0143] In another aspect, the present invention provides a compound of Formula X having a structure of:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 1 , R 4 and R 5 are as previously defined, with the proviso that if R 4 is O-t-butyl and R 5 is O, then R 1 is not Br, CH 3 SO 2 or CH 3 S; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. In some embodiments, the compound of Formula X is the compound of Formula Xd:
[0000]
[0000] or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.
EXAMPLES
[0144] The following hypothetical preparative examples are representative examples of a process and compounds of the present invention. While the present invention has been described with specificity in accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention, the following examples further serve only to exemplify and illustrate the present invention and are not intended to limit or restrict the effective scope of the present invention.
[0145] The term “C 1-6 trihaloalkyl” means a C 1-6 alkyl as defined herein substituted thrice by halo as defined herein where the halo atoms can be the same or different.
Example 1
[0146] Preparation of 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(R)-(hydroxymethyl)-2,2-dimethyl-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]oxazolidine (Compound III). Thiamphenicol (Compound IV) (about 10 g, 0.0281 moles) and triethylamine can be reacted in toluene (about 50 mL) and acetone (about 50 mL) at a temperature of from about 70° C. to about 80° C. for about 16 hours to provide a reaction mixture. Following cooling to a temperature of from about 20° C. to about 25° C., evaporation of the solvent, washing with toluene and water then drying, the reaction mixture can yield 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(R)-(hydroxymethyl)-2,2-dimethyl-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]oxazolidine (Compound III).
Example 2
[0147] Preparation of 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(R)-(hydroxymethyl)-2,2-dimethyl-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]oxazolidine (Compound III). Thiamphenicol (Compound IV) (about 5 g, 0.0140 moles), 2,2-dimethoxypropane (about 2.2 g, 0.0211 moles) and p-toluene sulfonic acid can be reacted in toluene (about 50 mL) at a temperature of from about 75 to about 85° C. over about 18 hours to provide a reaction mixture. Following cooling to a temperature of from about 20° C. to about 25° C., evaporation of the solvent, washing with toluene and water then drying, the reaction mixture can yield 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(R)-(hydroxymethyl)-2,2-dimethyl-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]oxazolidine (Compound III).
Example 3
[0148] Preparation of 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(S)-(fluoromethyl)-2,2-dimethyl-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]oxazolidine (Compound VIIId). 3-(Dichloroacetyl)-4(R)-(hydroxymethyl)-2,2-dimethyl-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]oxazolidine (Compound III) (about 10 g, 0.0252 moles) in methylene chloride (about 70 ml) can be reacted with N,N-diethyl-1,1,2,3,3,3-hexafluoro-1-propanamine (Ishikawa Reagent) (about 10.7 g, 0.0478 moles) at a temperature of from about 95° C. to about 105° C. over about 4 hours to provide a reaction mixture. Following cooling to a temperature of from about 20° C. to about 25° C., addition to sodium hydroxide (about 1.5 g) in water (about 330 mL), separation of the methylene chloride layer, distillation and replacement of methylene chloride by isopropanol (about 50 mL), then concentration of the isopropanol, the reaction mixture can precipitate the desired product. Following filtration, washing with water and isopropanol, then drying, the desired product can yield 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(S)-(fluoromethyl)-2,2-dimethyl-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]oxazolidine (Compound VIIId).
Example 4
[0149] Preparation of 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(S)-(fluoromethyl)-2,2-dimethyl-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]oxazolidine (Compound VIIId). Thiamphenicol (Compound IV) (about 10 g, 0.0281 moles), acetone (about 10 mL) and p-toluene sulfonic acid in methylene chloride (about 200 mL) can be reacted over about 18 hours at reflux to form 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(R)-(hydroxymethyl)-2,2-dimethyl-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]oxazolidine (Compound III) in solution. Addition of anhydrous sodium sulfate and charcoal to Compound III in solution, followed by filtration, and concentration of the solution to about 100 mL can yield a dry solution of Compound III, which then can be reacted with N,N-diethyl-1,1,2,3,3,3-hexafluoro-1-propanamine (Ishikawa Reagent) (about 9.4 g, 0.0421 moles) at a temperature of from about 95° C. to about 105° C. for over about 4 hours to provide a reaction mixture. Following cooling to a temperature of from about 20° C. to about 25° C., addition to sodium hydroxide (about 1 g) in water (about 330 mL), separation of the methylene chloride layer, evaporation of the methylene chloride, washing with water and isopropanol then drying, the reaction mixture can yield 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(S)-(fluoromethyl)-2,2-dimethyl-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]oxazolidine (Compound VIIId).
Example 5
[0150] Preparation of Florfenicol (Compound I). 3-(Dichloroacetyl)-4(S)-(fluoromethyl)-2,2-dimethyl-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]oxazolidine (about 10 g, 0.0251 moles) can be hydrolyzed in methylene chloride (about 50 mL) and water (about 20 mL) containing p-toluene sulfonic acid at about 60° C. over several (e.g., 4 to 8) hours to provide a reaction mixture. Following removal of the methylene chloride by distillation and cooling to a temperature of from about 20° C. to about 25° C., the reaction mixture can precipitate the product. Following filtration, washing with water (about 20 mL) and toluene (about 20 mL) then drying, the product can yield Florfenicol (Compound I).
Example 6
[0151] Purification of Florfenicol (Compound I). Florfenicol (Compound I) (about 25 g, 0.0700 moles) can be dissolved in water (about 60 mL) and isopropanol (about 60 mL) at reflux to provide a mixture. Following addition of charcoal, clarification by filtration, cooling to a temperature of from about 20° C. to about 25° C., filtration of the solids, washing with about 1:1 water/isopropanol (about 20 mL) then drying, the mixture can yield pure Florfenicol (Compound D.
Example 7
[0152] Preparation of Florfenicol (Compound I). 3-(Dichloroacetyl)-4(R)-(hydroxymethyl)-2,2-dimethyl-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]oxazolidine (Compound III) (5 g, 0.0126 moles) in methylene chloride (about 50 ml) can be reacted with N,N-diethyl-1,1,2,3,3,3-hexafluoro-1-propanamine (Ishikawa Reagent) (about 4.2 g, 0.0188 moles) at a temperature of from about 95° C. to about 105° C. over about 4 hours a reaction mixture. Following cooling to a temperature of from about 20° C. to about 25° C., quenching with about 25% aqueous sodium hydroxide and water (about 75 mL) then separation of the methylene chloride layer, the reaction mixture gives a solution of 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(S)-(fluoromethyl)-2,2-dimethyl-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]oxazolidine (Compound VIIId). Following addition of water and potassium carbonate with heating to a temperature of from about 50° C. to about 60° C. for about 10 hours, cooling to a temperature of from about 20° C. to about 25° C., filtration of the solids, washing with water and toluene then drying, the solution of Compound VIIId can yield Florfenicol (Compound I).
Example 8
[0153] Preparation of 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(R)-(hydroxymethyl)-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]-2-oxazolidinone (Compound Vd). Thiamphenicol (Compound IV) (about 10 g, 0.0281 moles) can be reacted with diethylcarbonate (about 3.7 g, 0.0313 moles) and potassium carbonate in methanol (about 100 mL) at reflux over about 6 hours to provide a reaction mixture. Following cooling to a temperature of from about 20° C. to about 25° C., evaporation of the solvent, washing with toluene and water then drying, the reaction mixture can yield 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(R)-(hydroxymethyl)-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]-2-oxazolidinone (Compound (Vd)).
Example 9
[0154] Preparation of 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(R)-(hydroxymethyl)-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]-2-oxazolidinone (Compound Vd). Thiamphenicol (Compound IV) (about 5 g, 0.0140 moles) can be reacted with ethyl chloroformate (about 2.6 g, 0.0185 moles) and triethylamine in methanol (about 50 mL) at a temperature of from about 0° C. to about 10° C. over about 10 hours to provide a reaction mixture. Following addition of water and concentration of the solvent, the reaction mixture can precipitate the product. Following washing with toluene and water then drying, the product can yield 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(R)-(hydroxymethyl)-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]-2-oxazolidinone (Compound Vd).
Example 10
[0155] Preparation of 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(S)-(fluoromethyl)-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]-2-oxazolidinone (Compound Xd). 3-(Dichloroacetyl)-4(R)-(hydroxymethyl)-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]-2-oxazolidinone (Compound Vd) (about 10 g, 0.0260 moles) in methylene chloride (about 100 ml) can be reacted with N,N-diethyl-1,1,2,3,3,3-hexafluoro-1-propanamine (Ishikawa Reagent) (about 8.7 g, 0.039 moles) at a temperature of from about 95° C. to about 105° C. over about 4 hours to provide a reaction mixture. Following cooling to a temperature of from about 20° C. to about 25° C., addition to sodium hydroxide (about 1.2 g) in water (about 300 mL), separation of the methylene chloride layer, distillation and replacement of methylene chloride by isopropanol and addition of water, the reaction mixture can precipitate the desired product. Following filtration, washing with water and isopropanol then drying, the product can yield 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(S)-(fluoromethyl)-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]-2-oxazolidinone (Compound Xd).
Example 11
[0156] Preparation of 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(S)-(fluoromethyl)-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]-2-oxazolidinone (Compound Xd). Thiamphenicol (Compound IV) (about 5 g, 0.0140 moles) can be reacted with ethyl chloroformate (about 2.6 g, 0.0185 moles) and triethylamine in methylene chloride (about 250 mL) at ambient room temperature over several hours to yield a solution of 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(R)-(hydroxymethyl)-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]-2-oxazolidinone (Compound Vd). Following drying over anhydrous sodium sulfate, addition of charcoal, clarification, addition of N,N-diethyl-1,1,2,3,3,3-hexafluoro-1-propanamine (Ishikawa Reagent) (about 4.7 g, 0.0211 moles), heating to a temperature of from about 95° C. to about 105° C. for about 6 hours then cooling to a temperature of from about 20° C. to about 25° C., the reaction mixture can produce a solution of 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(S)-(fluoromethyl)-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]-2-oxazolidinone (Compound Xd). Following addition to sodium hydroxide (about 1.5 g) in water (about 330 mL), separation of the methylene chloride layer, evaporation of the methylene chloride, washing with water and isopropanol then drying, the solution of Compound Xd can yield 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(S)-(fluoromethyl)-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]-2-oxazolidinone (Compound Xd).
Example 12
[0157] Preparation of Florfenicol (Compound I). 3-(Dichloroacetyl)-4(S)-(fluoromethyl)-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]-2-oxazolidinone (Compound Xd) (about 5 g, 0.130 moles) can be hydrolyzed in tetrahydrofuran (about 50 mL) and water (about 5 mL) containing LiOH at a temperature of from about 25° C. to about 35° C. for about 6 hours to provide a reaction mixture. Following concentration of the solvent, addition of water, filtration of the resulting solid, washing with water and toluene, the reaction mixture can yield Florfenicol (Compound I).
Example 13
[0158] Preparation of Florfenicol (Compound I). 3-(Dichloroacetyl)-4(R)-(hydroxymethyl)-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]-2-oxazolidinone (Compound Vd) (about 5 g, 0.0130 moles) in methylene chloride (about 75 ml) can be reacted with N,N-diethyl-1,1,2,3,3,3-hexafluoro-1-propanamine (Ishikawa Reagent) (about 8.4 g, 0.0197 moles) at a temperature of from about 95° C. to about 105° C. over about 6 hours to provide a reaction mixture. Following cooling to a temperature of from about 20° C. to about 25° C., quenching with about 25% aqueous sodium hydroxide and water (about 75 mL) and separation of the methylene chloride layer, the reaction mixture gives a solution of 3-(dichloroacetyl)-4(S)-(fluoromethyl)-5(R)-[4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl]-2-oxazolidinone (Compound Xd). Following addition of water (about 25 mL) and p-toluene sulfonic acid with heating to a temperature of from about 30° C. to about 40° C. for about 18 hours, addition of more water (about 50 mL), filtration of the resulting solid, washing with water and toluene then drying, the solution of Compound Xd can yield Florfenicol (Compound I).
[0159] The above detailed description of preferred embodiments is intended only to acquaint others skilled in the art with the invention, its principles, and its practical application so that others skilled in the art may adapt and apply the invention in its numerous forms, as they may be best suited to the requirements of a particular use. This invention, therefore, is not limited to the above embodiments, and may be variously modified.
[0160] The words “comprise”, “comprises”, and “comprising” are to be interpreted inclusively rather than exclusively. This interpretation is intended to be the same as the interpretation that these words are given under United States patent law.
[0161] The singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural references, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. It is intended that each of the patents, patent applications, technical articles and reports, government, trade and industry publications, printed publications, including books and any of the aforementioned publications, mentioned in this patent document be hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
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A method of preparing oxazolidine-protected and oxazolidinone-protected aminodiol compounds is disclosed. These compounds tend to be useful as intermediates in processes for making Florfenicol and related compounds.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/EP03/08318 filed Jul. 28, 2003, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, and which claimed priority to German Patent Application No. 102 34 693.3 filed Jul. 30, 2002, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not Applicable
REFERENCE TO A “MICROFICHE APPENDIX”
Not Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to brake boosters, in particular for motor vehicles, according to the preamble of claim 1 , such as are known e.g. from WO 99/26826. Such brake boosters generally take the form of vacuum brake boosters and are used during braking to provide the driver of a vehicle with an auxiliary force so that the brake actuating force to be summoned up by the driver may be kept to a comfortable level. Purely hydraulically operating brake boosters are also known and the present invention is therefore not restricted to vacuum brake boosters.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Described Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Irrespective of the manner in which the auxiliary force is generated, e.g. by means of a vacuum or hydraulically, a brake booster usually has a control valve for controlling the boosting force it generates, i.e. the amount of auxiliary force, as well as a control valve housing. Extending at least partially into the control valve housing is an input element, with the aid of which a braking request of the driver is communicated to the brake booster. The input force, which is introduced via the input element into the brake booster, and the auxiliary force, which is subsequently generated by the brake booster, are combined at an output element and delivered by the output element to a master cylinder, connected downstream of the brake booster, of a vehicle hydraulic brake system. If the brake booster is a vacuum brake booster, the output element generally comprises a rubber-elastic material in disk form, which is disposed in a chamber in an end piece of the control valve housing and behaves like a liquid. Situated between the output element and the input element is a thrust piece, which is movable axially relative to the control valve housing. The actuating force introduced into a brake booster therefore flows via the input element and from there, optionally via interposed components such as valve pistons or the like, to the thrust piece and then to the output element.
It has already been known for some time that most drivers of a motor vehicle in an emergency braking situation do not actuate the brake strongly enough. This behaviour is disadvantageous particularly if the vehicle brake system is equipped with an anti-skid system, because the maximum braking action of a brake system equipped with an anti-skid system may be achieved only when each vehicle wheel during braking enters a slip-controlled state, i.e. when each vehicle wheel is braked to such an extent that the slip control of the anti-skid system is activated. This state is reached only when a sufficiently high hydraulic actuating pressure is supplied to each vehicle wheel, this in practice frequently not being the case.
As a solution to this problem, a device mostly described in technical literature as “brake assistance” is proposed. To put it concisely, this brake assistance ensures that in an emergency braking situation, i.e. when the input element is moved very quickly a relatively long way in the actuating direction, the brake booster provides its maximum auxiliary force. Early brake assistance solutions employed an electromagnet which, after identification of an emergency braking situation, independently of the actual input force held the air control valve of a vacuum brake booster in the open position so that the maximum pressure difference between a vacuum chamber and a working chamber and hence the maximum possible auxiliary force was able to build up in the vacuum brake booster. In order to achieve the same effect without an expensive electromagnet, later solutions propose that the previously mentioned thrust piece be supported in an emergency braking situation against the control valve housing so that the hydraulic reaction forces transmitted from the master cylinder back into the brake booster do not retroact upon the input element of the brake booster and hence upon the brake pedal but are taken up by the brake booster. Thus, with a relatively low input and/or actuating force a high output force may be achieved, this being desirable in an emergency braking situation. Solutions of the last-described type are known from the previously mentioned WO 99/26826 and from EP 0 901 950 B1.
The last-mentioned solutions are however mechanically relatively complex and therefore not much less expensive than the likewise mentioned electromagnetic solution.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The underlying object of the invention is therefore to provide a brake booster with brake assist function, which is mechanically simpler and hence less expensive than previously known solutions.
Proceeding from the initially mentioned background art, which effects the supporting of the thrust piece in that by releasably supporting the thrust piece against the control valve housing by means of a coupling element biased by a spring, this object is achieved according to the invention in that the spring and the coupling element are designed as an integral coupling component, which is fastened to the control valve housing. Thus, without impairing the desired function, a markedly reduced complexity of the mechanical construction and hence a perceptible cost reduction is achieved.
According to a preferred development of the invention, the coupling component has a substantially hollow cylindrical shape and concentrically surrounds a valve piston, which is workingly connected to the input element and the thrust piece. Formed on the valve piston, which as a rule is connected directly to the input element, is a valve seat, the so-called atmosphere sealing seat, the opening of which by means of a displacement of the input element in actuating direction leads to a flow of atmospheric pressure into the working chamber of a vacuum brake booster and consequently to the build-up of a boosting force. The arrangement of a hollow cylindrical coupling component around such a valve piston not only saves space but is also functionally advantageous.
In preferred forms of construction of the brake booster according to the invention, the coupling component tapers conically in the direction of the thrust piece. In such embodiements, the coupling component in the region of its conical taper preferably has a plurality of spring tongues biased in a radially inward direction. Given such a form of construction, the spring tongues perform both the spring bias function and the coupling function.
In forms of construction with a coupling component that has spring tongues biased in a radially inward direction, the free ends of the spring tongues preferably cooperate in a sliding manner with a detent sleeve, which is disposed displaceably on the valve piston. The one end of the detent sleeve is in said case designed so that it may be supported against the valve piston, while the other detent sleeve end is designed so that it may be supported against the thrust piece. In order that such a detent sleeve may be locked against return displacement relative to the control valve housing and at the same time be supported against the control valve housing, with the result that the thrust piece supported against the detent sleeve is also locked and supported in the same manner, the detent sleeve preferably comprises a detent collar, behind which the free ends of the spring tongues latch when a predetermined displacement of the thrust piece relative to the control valve housing in the direction of the output element is exceeded. In a simple form of construction, the detent collar may be formed e.g. by a stepped taper of the outside diameter of the detent sleeve.
In another form of construction, the detent collar is a projection projecting in a radially outward direction from the outer peripheral surface of the detent sleeve and preferably designed circumferentially as an annular collar. The detent sleeve and the thrust piece, which have been described here as two separate parts, may alternatively be integrally connected to one another. Also, the detent sleeve need not be disposed on the valve piston but may adjoin the valve piston in actuating direction, i.e. be disposed between the valve piston and the thrust piece and, if desired, formed integrally with the thrust piece. The “detent sleeve” then also need no longer be a sleeve but may be made of solid material like the thrust piece.
In a preferred form of construction of the brake booster according to the invention, in order to be able to release the previously described latching state there is displaceably disposed on the valve piston a decoupling sleeve, of which one end facing the input element is designed to be supportable against a transverse locking bar connected to the valve piston and the other end is designed, upon a displacement of the control valve housing relative to the decoupling sleeve in the direction of the input element, to come into contact with the coupling component and press the free ends of the spring tongues radially outwards in order to release the latter from their latched position behind the detent collar of the detent sleeve. In order to be able to carry out this task, the decoupling sleeve has to be of a sufficiently rigid construction, i.e. it has to be easily able to withstand the radially inwardly directed spring bias of the coupling component. The end of the decoupling sleeve facing the coupling component is preferably annular, if the coupling component is hollow cylindrical.
In all forms of construction of the brake booster according to the invention, the coupling component is preferably made of spring steel. It is thereby guaranteed that the coupling component, on the one hand, generates the desired spring bias and, on the other hand, is capable of transmitting the supporting forces to the control valve housing without itself being destroyed.
For the stationary anchoring of the coupling component in the control valve housing, the coupling component at its end facing the input element is preferably provided with a radially outwardly projecting flange, which may engage behind a projection formed in the control valve housing, so that the flange is fixed in the control valve housing by means of a snap ring, which is inserted into an adjacent groove of the control valve housing. In order to increase the stability of the coupling component vis-à-vis a deformation brought about by transmission forces, a portion of the coupling component extending from the radially outwardly projecting flange in the direction of the free end of the coupling component has an outside diameter, which apart from normal tolerances corresponds to the inside diameter of a bore of the control valve housing, in which bore said portion of the coupling component is disposed. This allows the said portion to be supported against the wall of the bore in the control valve housing without leading to a deformation of the coupling component. Given such a construction, the wall thickness of the said portion of the coupling component need not be made as thick as would otherwise be necessary.
Other advantages of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, when read in light of the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 shows in longitudinal section the presently relevant part of a vacuum brake booster, generally denoted by 10 , for a motor vehicle hydraulic brake system. The brake booster 10 , downstream of which a master brake cylinder (not shown here) is connected, has a housing 12 of sheet-metal shells, only the beginning of which is shown in the drawing and in which a non-illustrated movable wall separates and seals off a working chamber 14 from a vacuum chamber 16 .
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The movable wall is firmly connected to a control valve housing 18 , which extends in a sliding, displaceable manner in a tubular end portion 20 of the brake booster housing 12 . The control valve housing 18 is part of a control valve 22 for selectively connecting either the working chamber 14 to the ambient atmosphere or the vacuum chamber 16 to the working chamber 14 .
During operation of the brake booster 10 the vacuum chamber 16 is constantly connected to a vacuum source, e.g. the intake manifold of an internal combustion engine, in order to continuously maintain in the vacuum chamber a pressure lower than the ambient atmosphere. In an initial state of the brake booster 10 , the working chamber 14 is also evacuated to this lower pressure. If the control valve 22 is then actuated by applying an input force F to an input element 24 , the input element 24 and a valve piston 26 workingly connected thereto are displaced into the brake booster housing 12 , i.e. to the left in the drawing. An annular atmosphere sealing seat 28 formed on the valve piston 26 therefore lifts off an annular valve sealing element 30 and therefore allows atmospheric pressure to flow through a filter 32 into the control valve housing 18 and past the now open atmosphere sealing seat 28 into the working chamber 14 . At the movable wall separating the working chamber 14 from the vacuum chamber 16 a pressure difference therefore builds up, and the force resulting therefrom then endeavours to displace the movable wall and the control valve housing 18 firmly connected thereto to the left. This force is the auxiliary or servo force generated by the brake booster 10 . It is delivered via a rubber-elastic output element 34 , which is disposed in a chamber in an end portion of the control valve housing 18 facing the master cylinder, to the master cylinder, e.g. with the aid of an only partially illustrated tappet 36 .
Disposed in an axially displaceable manner between the rubber-elastic output element 34 and the valve piston 26 is a thrust piece 38 , via which the input force F applied to the input element 24 is transmitted to the output element 34 . In the output element 34 , therefore, the input force F applied by a user and the auxiliary force generated by the brake booster 10 are combined and then delivered to the master cylinder.
When the user releases the brake, the valve piston 26 moves back to the right, strikes against the valve sealing element 30 and presses it slightly to the right so that the valve sealing element 30 lifts off an annular vacuum sealing seat 40 formed in the control valve housing 18 , with the result that a connection is established between the vacuum chamber 16 and the working chamber 14 and the working chamber 14 is evacuated once more in order to re-establish the initial state needed at the start of a braking operation. This general function of a vacuum brake booster is well known to experts in this field and therefore requires no further explanation.
To provide a so-called brake assist function, in the control valve 22 further components are disposed, which are described in detail below. Here, “brake assist function” means that the brake booster 10 in an emergency braking situation provides a user with the maximum brake power assistance, i.e. the maximum auxiliary force, even if the user does not maintain a corresponding input force F or at any rate does not maintain it throughout the braking operation. During a normal braking operation, as described, the valve piston 26 is displaced relative to the control valve housing 18 . On an end portion 42 of the valve piston 26 facing the output element 34 and having a reduced diameter a detent sleeve 44 having a radially outwardly projecting annular flange 45 is disposed in a floating manner, which detent sleeve in contrast to the form of construction illustrated here may alternatively be formed integrally with the thrust piece 38 . The end of the detent sleeve 44 facing the input element 24 is supported against a step 46 formed on the valve piston 26 by the diameter reduction, so that the detent sleeve 44 upon an actuation of the brake booster 10 is driven by the valve piston 26 to the left. The opposite, other end of the detent sleeve 44 terminates flush with the associated end of the valve piston 26 and, like this end, is in contact with the thrust piece 38 .
Formed on the outer peripheral surface of the detent sleeve 44 is a detent collar 48 , which in the present case is continuous in peripheral direction and the function of which is described in greater detail below.
Disposed in a bore 50 of the control valve housing 18 is a generally hollow cylindrical coupling component 52 , which in the present case is made of spring steel. At its end facing the input element 24 the coupling component 52 has a radially outwardly projecting flange 54 , which engages behind a stepped projection 56 in the bore 50 . Formed adjacent to the projection 56 in the wall of the bore 50 is an annular groove 58 , into which is inserted a snap ring 60 , which fastens the flange 54 of the coupling component 52 in the control valve housing 18 .
Adjoining the flange 54 is a portion 62 of the coupling component 52 , which portion extends in the direction of the output element 34 and has an outside diameter, which apart from normal tolerances corresponds to the inside diameter of the bore 50 . With this portion 62 the coupling component 52 may be supported against the wall of the bore 50 . The coupling component 52 tapers conically towards its free end. The region of the conical taper is formed by a plurality of spring tongues 64 , which are biased in a radially inward direction and separated from one another by non-illustrated slots and the free ends of which rest on the surface of the detent collar 48 .
A decoupling sleeve 68 is disposed in an axially displaceable manner on a portion 66 of the valve piston 26 and may be supported by its, in the present case, flange-like end facing the input element 24 against a transverse locking bar 70 , which is connected to the valve piston 26 and is axially displaceable in a groove 71 of the valve piston 26 . The transverse locking bar 70 is used to define an initial position of the control valve 22 in that its free end in the initial position is supported against a stop 72 of the brake booster housing 12 . This initial position is also referred to as the LTF position (lost-travel-free position). From this initial position, the brake booster 10 is actuable without lost travel.
As already explained, during a normal braking operation the valve piston 26 is displaced relative to the control valve housing 18 , thereby opening the atmosphere sealing seat 28 , and in said case drives the detent sleeve 44 . Both the detent sleeve 44 and the valve piston 26 press upon the thrust piece 38 , which is likewise displaced relative to the control valve housing 18 and penetrates into the rubber-elastic output element 34 . The spring tongues 64 , which in the initial state shown in the drawing rest on the annular free end of the decoupling sleeve 68 , in said case retain the decoupling sleeve 68 and hence the transverse locking bar 70 accommodated in a floating manner in the groove 71 . By virtue of the build-up of the corresponding auxiliary force in the brake booster 10 , the control valve housing 18 follows and the transverse locking bar 70 detaches itself from the stop 72 on the brake booster housing 12 . If a user of the brake booster 10 does not further increase the input force F, a state of equilibrium associated with the respective braking intensity sets in, in which the atmosphere sealing seat 28 once more lies against the valve sealing element 30 . During such a normal braking operation, the surface of the detent collar 48 only moves to and fro under the free ends of the spring tongues 64 because the relative displacement of the detent sleeve 44 during a normal braking operation is smaller than the extension of the surface of the detent collar 48 in axial direction.
It is only when the displacement of the valve piston 26 and hence of the detent sleeve 44 relative to the control valve housing 18 is greater and exceeds a predetermined value, as is the case e.g. during an emergency braking operation, that the surface of the detent collar 48 is moved away from the region under the free ends of the spring tongues 64 and the spring tongues 64 by virtue of their radially inwardly acting spring bias press the decoupling sleeve 68 slightly back in the direction of the input element 24 , i.e. to the right in the drawing, with the result that the transverse locking bar 70 is also correspondingly displaced in the groove 71 in the valve piston 26 . The free ends of the spring tongues 64 snap behind the detent collar 48 and therefore couple the detent sleeve 44 substantially rigidly to the control valve housing 18 . The effect of this coupling is that now all of the reaction forces retroacting from the hydraulic brake system no longer act upon the valve piston 26 and hence via the input element 24 upon the brake pedal but are introduced via the thrust piece 38 , the detent sleeve 44 and coupling component 52 into the control valve housing 18 . This means that all of the reaction forces are absorbed by the brake booster 10 alone, unless the user of the brake booster 10 presses upon the input element 24 powerfully enough for the valve piston 26 to rest against the thrust piece 38 . In this state, the atmosphere sealing seat 28 may therefore be held open without the user of the brake booster 10 having to overcome significant counterforces. In other words, this state corresponds to a change of the force transmission ratio of the brake booster 10 towards infinity.
The maximum possible displacement of the valve piston 26 relative to the control valve housing 18 is defined by the axial distance of the annular flange 45 of the detent sleeve 44 from the base of the bore 50 . This distance is smaller than the axial extension of the groove 71 in the valve piston 26 .
When a user of the brake booster 10 wishes to terminate an emergency braking operation, in the course of which the described rigid coupling of the thrust piece 38 to the control valve housing 18 has occurred, he reduces the input force F exerted upon the input element 24 in a corresponding manner, whereupon the valve piston 26 separates from the thrust piece 38 , the atmosphere sealing seat 28 is reapplied against the valve sealing element 30 and the latter shifts counter to actuating direction slightly to the right, with the result that the vacuum sealing seat 40 lifts off the valve sealing element 30 and a connection is established between the working chamber 14 and the vacuum chamber 16 . As a result of this connection, the pressure difference at the non-illustrated movable wall of the brake booster 10 is reduced and the control valve housing 18 moves back to the right. As soon as the transverse locking bar 70 is supported against the stop 72 , the decoupling sleeve 68 is also unable to move further to the right so that, upon a further return stroke of the control valve housing 18 , the annular free end of the decoupling sleeve 68 strikes from the inside against the spring tongues 64 and pushes them radially outwards. In other words, the inner surfaces of the spring tongues 64 run onto the end of the decoupling sleeve 68 and, upon a further return motion of the control valve housing 18 , are then inevitably pushed radially outwards. The latching state is thereby released and the surface of the detent collar 48 moves once more to a point under the free ends of the spring tongues 64 .
In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, the principle and mode of operation of this invention have been explained and illustrated in its preferred embodiments. However, it must be understood that this invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically explained and illustrated without departing from its spirit or scope.
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A brake booster, in particular for motor vehicles, having a control valve for controlling the boosting force generated by the brake booster. The control valve comprises a control valve housing, an input element, an output element and a thrust piece, which is disposed between the input element and the output element and acts upon the output element. The thrust piece in dependence upon a relative movement between the thrust piece and the control valve housing caused by the input element is supported releasably against the control valve housing by means of a coupling element biased by a spring. The spring and the coupling element are designed as an integral coupling component, which is fastened to the control valve housing.
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TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present invention relates to digging equipment, and in particular, to equipment for trenching.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Trenchers are used in landscaping to define beds, dig ditches for the bases of walls, allow insertion of edging or irrigation tubing and the like. Landscapers often use trenchers to provide the edging around basic, simple gardens, such as ovals or rectangles. While it has long been known to provide highly elaborate garden plans, such as the formal gardens at Versailles, using a trencher to create these shapes has not been practical because of the difficult of keeping a manually operated trencher precisely on course while digging in a complicated design. Instead, the design has been manually laid out and marked, e.g., with lime, then dug in by hand with a shovel. In addition to landscape uses, trenchers are used by electricians and utilities to install cables or wiring in small trenches in the ground.
[0003] Trenchers come in a variety of wheel configurations, including two wheel, three wheel and four wheel. Two wheel trenchers, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,874,581 and 6,938,699 can be highly steerable in very tight curves, but depend entirely on manual brute force from the operator for steering. Four wheel trenchers such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,195,427 and 4,896,442 may reduce amount of much brute force required for steering, but the four wheel configuration prevents a very tight turning radius. Three wheel trenchers can have a tighter turning radius than four wheel trenchers, but most, such as those shown in shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,503,630 and 5,226,248, are steered from the back. This means the wheels must be off-center from the trenching arbor, since they would fall into the trench of they were in-line with the arbor, and this in turn affects their stability, particularly in very tight turns.
[0004] The trencher shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,049 (the first two figures of which are included herein as FIGS. 1 and 2 ) puts the steering wheel at the front of the trencher in line with the arbor, with the axis of the rear wheels in line with the arbor axis. This allows for a much tighter turning radius than the other designs, as well as stability during tight turns. However, the design as shown in the referenced patent has no drive to the wheels, so motive power still comes from the operator. In addition, the combination of the handle extending at the front of the trencher and the need for the operator to stand in front of the handle to pull the trencher limit the usefulness of the trencher in tight spaces.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] The present invention improves upon these designs by providing a powered steering and drive mechanism and a control system for them. Preferably, the steering system is an electric motor mounted to a shaft extending upward from the pivot of the front wheel, and the drive mechanism is a hydraulic motor mounted to the front wheel. This configuration minimizes the total space required by the trencher, enabling its use in tight spaces.
[0006] The trencher also includes a control system to control the steering and drive mechanisms. This control system can take the form of a simple remote control with control knobs to allow an operator to manually regulate the power going to the different motors. Alternatively, this control system can incorporate a programmable computer, which can be programmed to steer the trencher along a specific path. In this configuration, the control system preferably is also provided with a position monitoring system to provide a feedback loop to the computer to ensure that the trencher is where expected.
[0007] A programmable trencher of such a design has the advantage that it can be used to cut shapes, such as logos, flowers, or any other design, into the earth. The pattern need not even be laid out and marked, just programmed into the computer. The computer then can use the position monitoring system to guide the trencher along the route needed for the design. The result is a trencher capable of doing types of digging that heretofore could only be done on a practical basis by hand.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] The following drawings are illustrative of particular embodiments of the present invention and therefore do not limit the scope of the invention. The drawings are not to scale (unless so stated) and are intended for use in conjunction with the explanations in the following detailed description. Embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings, wherein like numerals denote like elements.
[0009] FIG. 1 is a reproduction of FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,049, and is a perspective view of a trencher according to the prior art.
[0010] FIG. 2 is a reproduction of FIG. 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,049, and is an exploded isometric view the trencher of FIG. 1 according to the prior art.
[0011] FIG. 3 is a side perspective view of the main components of a preferred embodiment of a trencher according to the present invention.
[0012] FIG. 3 is a detailed view of a preferred embodiment of the steering mechanism of FIG. 2 .
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0013] The following detailed description is exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides practical illustrations for implementing exemplary embodiments of the present invention. Those skilled in the art will recognize that many of the examples provided have suitable alternatives that can be utilized.
[0014] The prior art trencher shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 has a main frame 10 with two rear wheels 12 rotatably mounted thereto (only the foreground wheel is visible for clarity of illustration). A front wheel 14 and steering handle 16 are mounted to a front wheel bracket 17 , which is in turn rotatably mounted to the main frame 10 via bushing 18 . The bushing 18 is located along the longitudinal center line of the main frame 10 , so that the rear wheels 12 and front wheel 14 form a balanced tripod arrangement which is readily steerable by changing the direction of the steering handle 16 .
[0015] An arbor housing 20 is mounted on the main frame 10 towards the rear thereof and centered between the rear wheels 12 . A deflector housing 22 is removably attached to the top of the arbor housing 20 , and preferably is reversible to deflect dirt in either direction. A rubber flap 23 or the like preferably is provided on the discharge chute 24 of the deflector housing 22 to prevent objects from being thrown.
[0016] An arbor pivot bracket 30 is pivotally mounted to the main frame 10 at pivot points 25 , e.g., by the use of bolts or pins. An arbor 32 is fixedly mounted to a shaft 34 which is rotatably mounted to the arbor pivot frame 30 . A pulley 26 is fixed to the shaft 34 . An engine 27 is mounted to the main frame 10 , and drives the shaft 34 and arbor 32 through a belt drive 28 and clutch 29 to the pulley 26 in the usual manner.
[0017] FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate a preferred embodiment of improving upon this design according to the present invention. In FIGS. 3 and 4 , parts which are essentially the same as in the prior design, e.g., rear wheel 12 , use the same reference numbers as in FIGS. 1 and 2 . Many of the parts illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,049, e.g., the deflector housing 22 , have been omitted in FIGS. 3 and 4 for clarity of illustration, but it will be understood that they are still included in the complete embodiment. Reference may be had to U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,049 for details of those components.
[0018] Turning to FIGS. 3 and 4 , a hydraulic pump 100 is mounted to be driven by engine 27 . A hydraulic motor 101 is mounted to the arbor pivot frame 30 and connected to drive the arbor through shaft 34 . The front wheel 14 is pivotally mounted in the bushing 18 by a front wheel bracket 102 . Another hydraulic motor 103 is mounted to the front wheel bracket 102 and connected to drive the front wheel 14 . A hydraulic valve box 105 is mounted to the main frame and connected via conventional hydraulic tubing (not shown for clarity of illustration) between the hydraulic pump 100 , and the hydraulic motors 101 , 103 .
[0019] A mounting frame 106 is mounted to the main frame 10 in a position above the front wheel bushing 18 . A gear reducer 107 is mounted to the top of the mounting frame 106 , with an output shaft extending downward through the mounting frame 106 . An electric motor 108 is mounted to the top of the gear reducer 107 , with the shaft of the electric motor connected as the input to the gear reducer 107 . The front wheel bracket 102 includes a shaft 109 which extends upwardly beyond the bushing 18 . The output shaft of the gear reducer 107 engages the upwardly extending shaft 109 via a keyway 110 .
[0020] An onboard control system 111 is mounted in any suitable location and is connected via wires (not shown for clarity of illustration) to control the electric steering motor 108 and the hydraulic valve box 105 , which in turn controls flow to the hydraulic motors 101 , 103 . A potentiometer 112 is mounted below the keyway 110 to monitor the rotational position of the upwardly extending shaft 109 , and therefore of the front wheel 14 , and provide a signal representative thereof to the onboard control system 111 via a wire (not shown for clarity of illustration).
[0021] In this configuration, the onboard control system 111 can control the rotational speed of the arbor by controlling the output of the hydraulic motor 101 and the longitudinal motion of the trencher by controlling the output of the hydraulic motor 103 . Preferably, the hydraulic valve box 105 includes separate valves for each of the hydraulic motors 101 , 103 , so that the onboard control system 111 can independently control the arbor speed and the speed at which the trencher moves. In addition, the hydraulic valve box 105 preferably includes valves to allow the drive motor to be driven both in forward and reverse. The onboard control system 111 can control the steering of the trencher by controlling the electric motor 108 , using the output of the potentiometer to provide a feedback loop.
[0022] The onboard control system 111 preferably is itself controlled by a remote control 114 , which may be in communication by wire to the onboard control system 111 , but preferably communicates wirelessly. The remote control 114 can be a simple hand operated radio control, much like those used with a radio controlled toy car, with knobs or other controls to adjust the arbor speed, drive speed and steering direction.
[0023] Preferably, the remote control 114 is a programmable computer. The computer can be programmed to emulate the simple hand operated radio control for use in manually guided use of the trencher, but also can be pre-programmed to drive the trencher along a pre-selected path. To assist in this configuration, a position sensor 115 may be provided on the trencher which can determine the position of the trencher at any time. A global positioning system such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,954,999 would be sufficient for this purpose in some situations, but in most situation a more precise localized laser, optical or radio frequency triangulation position will be preferable, e.g., systems such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,999,131 and 6,965,344. The position information from the position sensor 115 then can be provided to the remote control 114 to use as feedback to ensure that the trencher is following the appropriate path and adjust the steering and motion appropriately to keep it on path.
[0024] All patents referenced herein are incorporated by reference.
[0025] In the foregoing detailed description, the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, but various changes thereto will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. For example, while specific types of motors have been described in particular locations, it will be understood that electric, hydraulic, pneumatic or other motors could be substituted for all of them, with corresponding changes to the onboard control system. Similarly the hydraulic motor 103 could be mounted to one of the rear wheels 12 instead of the front wheel 14 . It may be appreciated that various other modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
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A trencher has two wheels equidistant on either side of the arbor, and a third steerable wheel at the front of the trencher in line with the arbor. Speed of the arbor, forward motion of the trencher and the direction of motion are determined by motors controlled by an onboard control system. The onboard control system is controlled by a remote control, which may be a simple manual wireless controller or a programmable computer. With a programmable computer, the trencher can be pre-programmed to dig along a pre-selected path, e.g., a logo, flower or other design.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)
[0001] This application claims the benefits of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/107,826 filed Nov. 10, 1998.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to overhead doors for use in buildings, especially for buildings with large openings.
[0003] Agricultural, aviation, commercial buildings and the like generally require a large opening for accommodating trucks, tractors, airplanes, large farm equipment (e.g. combines), large industrial equipment, and others, through such opening. Common types of conventional door assemblies currently used to accommodate this need include two piece center hinging cable drawn doors (bi-fold) and horizontally sliding doors that are supported by and slide on a track system. These types of conventional doors generally require a larger opening than is required to accommodate the door members, thus reducing the overall available vertical height of the building opening that can be provided for a given limited area of space or land. Furthermore, these types of doors require that the building be engineered with extra reinforcement because the load of the door is generally supported by the building itself.
[0004] The most common types of door assemblies used in buildings are the two piece center hinging cable drawn doors. Cables draw the bottom end of the door directly vertically towards the top of the door, while being guided on a track system. During the opening process, the hinged portion of the door moves in an outwardly and upwardly direction causing the bottom leaf of the door to fold underneath the top leaf. Consequently, this requires a larger building height to accommodate the desired opening. Furthermore, since the door itself is mounted to the building structure, the building bears the entire load of the door and must be reinforced accordingly. The bi-fold door also has other disadvantages because it is operated by a cable/pulley system having many moving parts, resulting in a high wear and high maintenance system. Furthermore, the bi-fold door must be locked down manually to effect a complete closure and has an inherently slow open/close cycle time, making the opening/closing process inconvenient and time consuming. Additionally, in the event of a failure of any of these mechanical components, the door may drop, thus creating a safety hazard. Moreover, the bi-fold door is drafty because it closes against the exterior of the building and the joints are exposed to the elements.
[0005] Other conventional types of door assemblies include horizontally sliding doors. These types of doors are supported by and slide on a track system. Problems also arise with these doors since the track can accumulate ice, mud and other debris that can push the door out of alignment with the track, making it difficult to operate. Once the doors are out of alignment, they are generally difficult to open and close. Moreover, horizontally sliding doors require storage space on either side of the building opening to accommodate the door leaves when the door is in the open position. The storage space required to accommodate the door leaves reduces the usable width of the building opening that can be provided for a given limited area of space or land.
[0006] Accordingly, for the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a door that pivots on a load bearing frame that is separate from the building structure such that the door does not hang on and load the building structure. There is also a need for a door that includes its own separate framework, such that loads placed on means for operating the door are transferred to the load bearing frame and not to the building structure.
[0007] There is also a need for a door that maximizes the useable space of the available opening in the building. For example, there is a need for a door that utilizes virtually no overhead or side door storage space making it possible to provide a smaller building size for a given required building opening size, or maximize an existing opening available in a building.
[0008] Furthermore, there is a need for a door member that has no moving parts such as pulleys, shafts, bearings, gear boxes, track systems or the like, thus making the door member virtually maintenance free. Also, there is a need for a door that includes means for connecting alternative power sources for operating the door in the event of an electrical power outage. There is also a need for a door that closes flush with the exterior building wall to provide a weather tight seal.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] To overcome the limitations of the related art described above, and to overcome other limitations that will become apparent upon reading and understanding the present specification, the invention is directed to an apparatus for an outwardly opening hydraulically actuated door assembly for a building having an opening to be closed by the door assembly.
[0010] The apparatus having features of the invention is a door assembly that hangs on its own framework that is separate from the building structure. The door assembly having features of the invention can be custom built to fit virtually any building, new or existing. The building structure does not have to be taller than the door to accommodate the door. The door assembly having features of the invention can be horizontal support member and first and second vertical members fixedly mounted to either end of the horizontal member, the vertical members being fixedly mounted to the ground. The assembly also includes a one-piece door member having a thickness including top and bottom horizontal ends and first and second vertical sides, the top horizontal end of the door member being pivotally mounted to the horizontal member of the frame, the door member being movable from a closed position to an open position about the pivot point. The assembly also includes a hydraulic cylinder having a first and second end, the first end pivotally mounted on a portion of either one of the first and second vertical member, and the second end pivotally mounted to the door member.
[0011] A further aspect of the invention includes a frame for an overhead door. The frame includes a horizontal support member; first and second vertical members fixedly mounted to either end of the horizontal member; and ground anchoring means disposed on the first and second vertical members, anchoring the frame to the ground.
[0012] Still another aspect of the invention includes an overhead door having a vertical closed position and a horizontal open position provided in a building having an opening to be closed by the door. The overhead door provided in the building includes a one-piece door member having a thickness including top and bottom horizontal ends and first and second vertical sides. The overhead door provided in the building also includes means for fixedly mounting the top horizontal end of the door member to a support structure; means for mounting to the door member a mechanism adapted and configured to open and close the door member; means for supporting the bottom horizontal end of the door member; and means for sealing the bottom horizontal end of the door member against the ground.
[0013] Yet another aspect of the invention includes a frame for an overhead door provided in a building having an opening to be closed the door. The frame provided in the building includes a horizontal support member; first and second vertical members fixedly mounted to either end of the horizontal member; and ground anchoring means disposed on the first and second vertical members, anchoring the frame to the ground.
[0014] These and various other features of novelty as well as advantages which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and form a part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the invention reference should be made to the drawings which form a further part hereof, and to accompanying descriptive matter, in which there are illustrated and described specific examples of an apparatus in accordance with the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] Referring now to the drawings in which like reference numbers represent corresponding parts throughout, where:
[0016] [0016]FIG. 1 is a view of a door assembly provided in a building;
[0017] [0017]FIG. 2 is a detail view of a door assembly provided in a building;
[0018] [0018]FIG. 3 is a front elevation view of a door assembly;
[0019] [0019]FIG. 4 is a front isometric view of a door assembly with the door in a partially open position;
[0020] [0020]FIG. 5 is a view of upper and lower pinpoints of a hydraulic cylinder;
[0021] [0021]FIG. 6 is a view of upper and lower pinpoints of a hydraulic cylinder in a closed position;
[0022] [0022]FIG. 7 is a side view elevation of a door assembly;
[0023] [0023]FIG. 8 us a top cut away view of a jamb connection to the floor;
[0024] [0024]FIG. 9A is a side cut away view of a bottom seal;
[0025] [0025]FIG. 9B is a top cut away view of a side seal;
[0026] [0026]FIG. 10A- 10 C are views of the top seal;
[0027] [0027]FIG. 11 is a view of a door splice;
[0028] [0028]FIG. 12 is a front elevation view of a door assembly;
[0029] [0029]FIG. 13 is a front isometric view of a door assembly with the door in a partially open position; and
[0030] [0030]FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a hydraulic power system.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0031] In the following description of the specific embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration the specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized as structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
[0032] [0032]FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate generally a building 10 provided with a door assembly 12 in a partially open position. The door assembly includes a frame 14 . The frame comprises two vertical support members 14 A, B (e.g. steel tube jambs) and a horizontal support member 14 C (e.g. a steel tube header). The assembly also includes a door member 22 (supporting grid structure only is shown). The door member 22 includes a support truss 16 and a weather tight resilient seal 18 disposed along the bottom horizontal end of the door member 22 . The door assembly 12 also includes a hydraulic cylinder 20 for opening and closing the door member 22 .
Door Frame
[0033] [0033]FIG. 3 illustrates the door assembly 12 including the support frame 14 , the supporting grid structure of the door member 22 , the truss support system 16 , the door member seal 18 and the hinges 34 , 38 providing the pivot point for opening and closing the door member 22 .
[0034] The door assembly 12 mounts to a given building structure via the provided supporting frame 14 from which the actual door member 22 is hung. The frame 14 includes the horizontal steel tube header 14 C, and the vertical steel tube jambs 14 A, B that connect to the floor or the ground. Both vertical jambs 14 A, B are secured to the given building structure 10 using fastening means (not shown) that are generally known by those skilled in the art such as screws, rivets, adhesives, and the like. Steel plates 24 A, B are secured to the bottom of each vertical jamb 14 A, B connecting to the floor. The steel plates 24 A, B are anchored to a concrete pad or footing or to other means provided.
[0035] The door member 22 includes load bearing supporting uprights 26 and Z-girt members 32 for attaching tin or other “skinning” materials for covering the door member's 22 supporting frame structure. Generally, the door member 22 is covered or “skinned” with the same material as the rest of the building. The door member 22 also includes an upper structural member 28 and a lower structural member 30 . Together the supporting members 26 , 28 , 30 , 32 provide the basic framework of the door member 22 .
[0036] The door assembly 12 includes outer hinges 38 and inner hinges 34 for mounting and supporting the door member 22 on the frame 14 . The hinges 34 , 38 also provide a pivoting point for the door member 22 while opening or closing the building opening. The door assembly 12 also includes a hinged angled member 36 (e.g. an angle iron) and side angled members 40 (e.g. angle irons). The angled members 36 , 40 have a compressed foam seal disposed thereon. The foam provides a weather tight seal on three sides of the door member. The door member 22 also includes a door splice member 31 for splicing the upper vertical support members 26 with the lower vertical support members 27 .
[0037] [0037]FIG. 4 illustrates the door member 22 , the truss support system 16 , the door member sealing means 18 and the hinging means 34 , 38 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, as follows:
Door Member
[0038] The door member 22 is constructed of steel tubing and includes four basic components. The lower pinpoint assembly 42 and the outer hinge 38 B are attached to the load bearing upright 26 E which is located vertically at the outermost portion of the door member 22 . The center hinge 34 C is attached to the center support upright 26 D which, is located in a vertical position between the load bearing upright tubes 26 A, B at a spacing not exceeding eight feet. The upper structural tube 28 is placed and secured horizontally across the top of all the uprights 26 . The lower structural tube 30 is placed and secured horizontally across the bottom of all the uprights 26 or 27 , depending on the configuration of the door member 22 .
Truss Support System
[0039] The door member 22 is constructed with a load bearing arc such that the door member 22 does not lose its structural integrity whenever it is placed in an outwardly, horizontal open position. Pressure is applied on the lower structural tube 30 creating the arc. A “V-truss” 16 is disposed horizontally along the bottom horizontal end of the door member 22 and is fastened onto the lower outside face of the door member 22 with the point of the “V” facing directly outwardly, thus maintaining the load bearing arc.
Door Member Seal
[0040] The seal 18 is disposed horizontally along the bottom portion of the door member 22 . The seal 18 is a rubber strap secured to the inside and the outside face of the lower structural tube 30 . The seal 18 wraps underneath the door member 22 when the door member 22 is in a closed position, thus creating a weather tight seal capable of conforming to irregularities of the floor surface.
[0041] The top seal and side seals are constructed of angled members 36 , 40 and a compressed foam stripping. The vertical angled member 40 B is secured vertically to the door member 22 and closes flush with the outside face of the load bearing uprights 26 A, B. The horizontal angled member 36 is secured horizontally to the door member 22 and closes flush with the outside face of the upper structural tube 28 . When the door member 22 is in a close position the angled member 40 B overlaps the inside comer of the outside face of the jamb 14 B. Likewise, the angled member 36 overlaps the outside face of the horizontal header 14 C. The compressed foam stripping is disposed along the entire length of the inside portion of the angled members 36 , 40 and overlaps the outside face of the door frame 14 . Insulation up to five-inches thick may be added to the interior portion of the door member 22 , thus providing an insulating R-value between 19 - 24 .
The Hinges
[0042] The outer hinges 38 and the inner hinges 34 are secured above each vertical support upright 26 . A first portion of the hinges 31 , 35 includes a steel plate with an end wrapped around to form an elongated hole therethrough. The steel plate is fastened to the horizontal angled member 36 . A second portion of the hinges 33 , 37 , includes a steel plate with an end wrapped around to form an elongated hole therethrough, matching the size and placement of the first portion such that the first portion 31 , 35 is accommodated within the second portion 33 , 37 . The second hinge portions 33 , 37 are also fastened to the top horizontal header 14 C. The door member 22 is fastened to the frame 14 C when the holes in both the first and second portions 31 , 35 and 33 , 37 , respectively, are aligned and a bolt is placed through the elongated holes formed by the first and second portions 31 , 35 and 33 , 37 , respectively.
Cylinder Pivot
[0043] [0043]FIG. 5 illustrates the cylinder 20 pivotal means 42 , 44 of the hydraulic power system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. An upper pinpoint assembly 44 constructed of one-inch thick steel plate includes two components, a J-shaped bracket 48 and a flat steel strap 46 . The J-shaped bracket 48 is constructed of steel tubing and one-inch thick steel plate having a hole drilled therethrough. A top portion of the cylinder 52 is placed and pinned with a chrome shaft pin 50 A to the J-shaped bracket 48 . The J-shaped bracket 48 is perpendicularly placed and secured to the inside face of the jamb 14 B facing directly inwardly in such a manner as to position the steel plate portion on the same plane as the steel plate 56 of the lower pinpoint assembly 42 . The flat steel strap 46 is bent in such a manner as to be secured to the most inward portion of the J-shaped bracket 48 and the inside face of the jamb 14 B, giving the upper pinpoint assembly 44 a three-point secured attachment.
[0044] The lower pinpoint assembly 42 is also constructed of a one-inch thick steel plate 56 and includes a teardrop shaped one-inch thick steel plate 54 with a hole drilled therethrough, in which the levis end of the cylinder is secured with a chrome shaft pin 50 B to the flat steel bar 56 . The lower pinpoint assembly 42 is mounted and secured to the load bearing upright 26 E of the door member 22 in such a manner as to allow the door to be closed tightly and securely against the door frame 14 as the cylinder ram 60 is retracted inwardly 51 .
Hydraulic Powering System
[0045] [0045]FIG. 6 illustrates a cross sectional view of the door member 22 in a closed position. The hydraulic cylinder 20 is shown with the ram 60 in a fully retracted position.
[0046] [0046]FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of the door member 22 in a partially open position. The steel plate 24 B is secured to the bottom of the vertical jamb 14 B for anchoring or connecting the jamb 14 B to the floor, concrete pad or footing. The center splice 39 (shown in detail at FIG. 11) is used to splice the top vertical support members 26 to the bottom vertical support members 27 .
[0047] [0047]FIG. 8 is top cut away view of the jamb 14 A ( 14 B) connection to the floor or concrete pad 64 . The jamb 14 A ( 14 B) is secured or anchored to a concrete footing 64 with cement anchor bolts (not shown) disposed through hole 66 formed in the steel plate 24 . The anchor bolt secures the steel plate 24 and the jambs 14 A, 14 B to provide a secure fastening of the frame 14 such that it is capable of supporting the load of the door member 22 .
[0048] [0048]FIG. 9A is a side cut away view of the bottom seal 18 . The seal 18 is made of a resilient weather resistant material, and is fastened to the lower structural member 30 with sheet metal screws 72 . Those skilled in art will appreciate that any number of fastening means may be utilized to fasten the seal 18 to the lower structural member without departing from the scope of the present invention. The seal 18 makes a weather tight seal between the door member 22 and the ground 70 .
[0049] [0049]FIG. 9B is a top cut away view of the side seal 68 sealing the two vertical sides on the top horizontal portion of the door member 22 . The side seal 68 is formed of a compressed foam and is attached to the angled member 40 B such that the foam 68 seals against the jamb 14 B when the door member 22 is in a closed position. The foam seal 68 is fastened to the underside of the angled members 40 A and 36 such that a seal is formed against the two vertical jambs 14 and the horizontal header 14 C when the door member 22 is in a closed position. The angled members 40 A, B are fastened to load bearing upright members 26 A, E, respectively. Angled member 36 is fastened to the hinges 34 , 38 , such that the door member 22 is supported by the hinges 34 , 38 .
[0050] FIGS. 10 A-C illustrate several views of the top horizontal header 14 C fastened to the hinges 34 , 38 . Hinge portions 33 or 37 (depending on the specific configuration) are fastened to the top horizontal header 14 C. Hinge portions 31 or 35 (depending on the specific configuration) are fastened to the top horizontally disposed angled member 36 . The angled member 36 is fastened to the upper structural member 28 . The upper structural member 28 is fastened to the vertical uprights 26 . Hinge portions 33 , 37 and 31 , 35 are fastened by a bolt 41 inserted through axially defined holes of the hinge portions of 33 , 37 and 31 , 35 .
[0051] [0051]FIG. 11 is a detailed view of the door splice. Lower vertical member 27 is spliced to the upper vertical member 26 with splice connection channels 39 . The splice connection channels 39 are welded at 78 to the upper vertical members 26 . The lower vertical members 27 are fastened to each splice connection channels 39 with bolts 74 and nuts 76 .
[0052] [0052]FIG. 12 illustrates an alternative embodiment of a door assembly 112 including the support frame 14 , the supporting grid structure of the door member 122 , the truss support system 16 , the door member seal 18 and the hinges 134 , 138 providing the pivot point for opening and closing the door member 122 .
[0053] The door assembly 112 mounts to a given building structure via the provided supporting frame 14 , from which the door member 122 is hung. The frame 14 consists of the horizontal steel tube header 14 C, and the vertical steel tube jambs 14 A, B that connect to the floor, the ground, a concrete pad or the like. Both vertical jambs 14 A, B are secured to the given building structure 10 using fastening means (not shown) generally known by those skilled in the art such as screws, rivets, adhesives, and the like. Steel plates 24 A, B are secured to the bottom of each vertical jamb 14 A, B for anchoring the vertical jambs 14 A, B to the floor, concrete pad or footing.
[0054] The door member 122 includes load bearing vertical supporting uprights 126 and Z-girt members 32 for attaching tin or other “skinning” materials for covering the door member's 122 supporting frame structure. The door member 122 also includes an upper structural member 28 and a lower structural member 30 . Together the supporting members 26 , 28 , 30 , 32 provide the basic framework for the door member 122 .
[0055] The door assembly 112 includes outer hinges 138 and inner hinges 134 for supporting the door member on the frame 14 . The hinges 134 , 134 also provide means for the door member 122 to pivot while opening or closing the building opening. The door assembly 112 also includes a hinging horizontal angled member 36 having a compressed foam stripping seal fastened to an underside thereto and side vertical angled members 40 also having a compressed foam stripping seal fastened to an underside thereto.
[0056] [0056]FIG. 13 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the door member 122 , the truss support system 16 , the door member sealing means 18 and the hinges 134 , 138 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, as follows:
Door Member
[0057] The door member 122 is constructed of steel tubing and includes four basic components. The load bearing vertical member 126 E is located vertically at the outermost portion of the door 122 . The pinpoint assembly 42 and the outer hinge 138 B are fastened to the vertical member 126 E. The center support vertical member 126 D is located in a vertical position between the load bearing upright tubes 126 A, B at a spacing not exceeding eight feet. The center hinge 134 C is fastened to the vertical member 126 D. The upper structural tube 28 is placed and secured horizontally across a top end of all the vertical members 126 . The lower structural tube 30 is placed and secured horizontally across a bottom end of all the vertical members 126 .
Truss Support System
[0058] The door member 122 is constructed with a load bearing arc such that the door member 122 does not lose its structural integrity whenever it is placed in an outwardly, horizontal, open position. Pressure is applied to the lower structural tube 30 creating an arc, then a “V-truss” 16 is disposed horizontally along the structural tube 30 and is fastened onto the lower outside face of the door member 122 with the point of the “V” facing directly outward, thus maintaining the load bearing arc.
Door Member Seal
[0059] The seal 18 is disposed horizontally along the bottom portion of the door member 122 . The seal 18 is a rubber strap secured to the inside and the outside face of the lower structural tube 30 . The seal 18 wraps underneath the door member 122 when the door member 122 is in a closed position, thus creating a weather tight seal capable of conforming to irregularities of the floor surface.
[0060] The top seal and side seals are constructed of angled members 36 , 40 and a compressed foam stripping 68 . The vertical angled member 40 B is secured vertically and flush to the outside face of the load bearing uprights 126 A, B and is secured horizontally and flush to the outside face of the upper horizontally disposed structural tube 28 . When the door member 122 is in a closed position the angled member 40 B overlaps the inside corner of the outside face of the jamb 14 B. Likewise, the angled member 36 overlaps the outside face of the horizontal header 14 C. Compressed foam stripping 68 is disposed along the entire length of the inside portion of both the top horizontal angled member 36 and the side vertical angled members 40 that overlap the outside of the door frame 14 .
The Hinges
[0061] Both the outer hinge 138 and the inner hinge 134 are constructed of an outer hinge component 133 and an inner hinge component 131 , one difference being the thickness of the steel from which they are constructed. The outer hinge component 133 includes two steel plates, with a drilled hole in each, placed vertically and parallel to each other, spaced apart at a predetermined distance and secured to the horizontal header 14 C of the frame 14 . The set of outer hinge components 133 are secured above each load bearing vertical member 126 A, E and above each center support vertical member 126 B, C, D.
[0062] The inner hinge component 131 includes an elongated piece of steel with a hole drilled therethrough, matching the size and placement of the hole defined in the outer hinge component 133 . The inner hinge components 131 are placed and secured to the top of the door member 122 in a manner such that they are mounted vertically and parallel to the outer hinge component 133 when the door member 122 is in a closed position. The door member 122 is fastened to the frame 14 when the holes in both the outer hinge components 133 and the inner hinge components 131 are aligned and a bolt is placed and secured through holes defined by both hinge components 131 , 133 .
[0063] [0063]FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a hydraulic system 98 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The hydraulic system 98 comprises the hydraulic cylinder 20 , a ram 60 , mechanical safety stops 80 , hydraulic hoses 84 , a three way valve 86 , a holding tank 88 and a pump 90 . The hydraulic cylinder 20 includes the ram 60 (or piston) and mechanical safety stops 80 to mechanically restrict the travel of the ram 60 . In case hydraulic power is lost whenever the ram 60 is supporting the load of the door member 22 , a restriction orifice 82 releases the hydraulic fluid at a controlled rate such that the door member 22 is lowered easily to the ground. The three way valve 86 controls the direction for the door member 122 (e.g. open or close). The hydraulic fluid collects in the holding tank 88 which is fluidly coupled to the pump 90 . The pump is electrically operated by electrical power source 92 . In case the electrical power source 92 fails, is disrupted or is unavailable (e.g. remote locations) the hydraulic system provides couplers to connect an alternate fluid power source 94 (e.g. the hydraulic system of a tractor) to operate the door member 22 .
[0064] In use, the three-way valve 86 directs fluid to the cylinder 20 and actuates the ram 60 . If fluid is introduced at the rear of the cylinder 20 the ram 60 is driven in an outwardly direction 53 thus raising the door member 22 ( 122 ). Through operation of the three-way valve 86 fluid may be introduced at the forward end of the cylinder moving the ram 60 in an inwardly direction 51 , thus lowering the door member 22 ( 122 ). The ram may be stopped at any intermediate position between the mechanical stops 80 to maintain the door member 22 ( 122 ) in a partially open position.
[0065] Two hydraulic cylinders 20 (only one is shown) are used, one on either side of the door member 22 ( 122 ) connecting the upper pinpoint assembly 44 to the lower pinpoint assembly 42 , to operate the door member 22 ( 122 ) such that it moves from a vertically closed position to a horizontal open position by extending the ram 60 in an outwardly direction 53 . The door member 22 is closed by inwardly 51 retracting the cylinder ram 60 .
[0066] The foregoing description of the specific embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of the invention be limited not with this description, but rather by the claims appended hereto.
[0067] Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, workers skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
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An overhead door assembly in which the door assembly has a vertical closed position and a horizontal opened position, the door assembly including a frame having a horizontal support member and first and second vertical members fixedly mounted to either end of the horizontal member, the vertical members are fixedly mounted to the ground. A one piece door member includes top and bottom horizontal ends and first and second vertical sides and is pivotally mounted to the horizontal member of the frame with the door member being movable from a closed position to an opened position about a pivot point. A hydraulic cylinder is pivotally mounted on a portion of either of the first or second vertical members and the second end of the hydraulic cylinder is pivotally mounted to the door member. The hydraulic cylinder includes a ram movably disposed within the cylinder and transmits an opening and closing force to the door member.
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FIELD
[0001] The present disclosure relates to a sensor assembly.
BACKGROUND
[0002] This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
[0003] There is need in the art for an inexpensive, reliable and accurate sensor to monitor the position of a component that is translated along a movement axis, particularly in the field of actuators for driveline components. In this regard, actuators for driveline components typically present an environment that is not friendly to conventional sensors due to large thermal extremes, the presence of lubricant, and potentially the presence of metallic particles that are suspended in the lubricant. Since these sensors must operate reliably over an extended period of time, there is a desire to avoid the use of magnets in the sensors (e.g., Hall-effect sensors), since there is a possibility that metallic particles could be attracted to the magnet of the sensor.
SUMMARY
[0004] This section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.
[0005] In one form, the present disclosure provides a sensor assembly for determining a location of a structure that is translated along a movement axis. The sensor assembly includes a sensor mount, first and second sensors, and first and second targets. The first sensor is coupled to the sensor mount and is an eddy current sensor that has a first X-axis, a first Y-axis and a first Z-axis that are orthogonal to one another. The first X-axis is disposed parallel to the movement axis. The first sensor includes a first coil that is wound helically around the first Z-axis. The second sensor is coupled to the sensor mount and is an eddy current sensor that has a second X-axis, a second Y-axis, and a second Z-axis that are orthogonal to one another. The second X-axis is parallel to the first X-axis. The second Z-axis is parallel to the first Z-axis. The second sensor includes a second coil that is wound helically around the second Z-axis. The first target is configured to be coupled to the structure for movement therewith. The first target is formed of an electrically conductive material and is configured to interact with the first sensor to produce a first sensor signal that has a first magnitude that varies proportionally with movement of the first target along the first X-axis. The second target is configured to be coupled to the structure for movement therewith. The second target is formed of an electrically conductive material and is configured to interact with the second sensor to produce a second sensor signal that has a second magnitude that varies proportionally with movement of the second target along the second X-axis. The first and second targets are configured so that coordinated movement of the first and second targets within predefined limits in a direction parallel to the first and second Z-axes as the structure is moved along the movement axis is detectable from the first and second sensor signals.
[0006] In another form, the present disclosure provides a sensor assembly for determining a location of a structure that is translated along a movement axis. The sensor assembly includes a sensor mount, first and second sensors, first and second targets and a controller. The first sensor is coupled to the sensor mount and is an eddy current sensor that has a first X-axis, a first Y-axis and a first Z-axis that are orthogonal to one another. The first X-axis is disposed parallel to the movement axis. The first sensor includes a first coil that is wound helically around the first Z-axis. The second sensor is coupled to the sensor mount and is an eddy current sensor that has a second X-axis, a second Y-axis, and a second Z-axis that are orthogonal to one another. The second X-axis is parallel to the first X-axis. The second Z-axis is parallel to the first Z-axis. The second sensor includes a second coil that is wound helically around the second Z-axis. The first target is configured to be coupled to the structure for movement therewith. The first target is formed of an electrically conductive material and is configured to interact with the first sensor to produce a first sensor signal that has a first magnitude that varies in a first predetermined manner with movement of the first target along the first X-axis. The second target is configured to be coupled to the structure for movement therewith. The second target is formed of an electrically conductive material and is configured to interact with the second sensor to produce a second sensor signal that has a second magnitude that varies in a second predetermined manner with movement of the second target along the second X-axis. The controller receives the first and second sensor signals and responsively determines the location of the structure along the movement axis. The first and second targets are configured such that coordinated movement of the first and second targets in a direction parallel to the first and second Z-axes within predefined limits as the structure is moved along the movement axis has no effect on the location of the structure that is determined by the controller.
[0007] In a further form, the present teachings provide a method that includes: providing a structure that is movable along a movement axis; coupling a sensor assembly to the structure, the sensor assembly comprising first and second eddy current sensors and first and second targets that are mounted to the structure for movement along the movement axis; sensing the first target with the first eddy current sensor and responsively generating a first sensor signal; sensing the second target with the second eddy current sensor and responsively generating a second sensor signal; and using the first and second sensor signals to determine a location of the structure along the movable axis in a manner that is insensitive to coordinated movement of the first and second targets in a first direction that is perpendicular to the movement axis.
[0008] Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. The description and specific examples in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
DRAWINGS
[0009] The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
[0010] FIG. 1 is a schematic top plan view of a sensor assembly constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure;
[0011] FIG. 2 is a schematic right side view of the sensor assembly of FIG. 1 ;
[0012] FIG. 2A is a schematic illustration of the sensor assembly that depicts each of the eddy current sensors as including an RLC gate-oscillator circuit that generates a frequency output;
[0013] FIG. 3 is a sectional, partly schematic view of the sensor assembly of FIG. 1 integrated into a vehicle driveline component having a clutch;
[0014] FIGS. 4 through 7 are views depicting alternately constructed portions of the sensor assembly of FIG. 1 , the alternately constructed portions being first and second sensor targets; and
[0015] FIG. 8 is a view similar to that of FIG. 3 but depicting the sensor assembly constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure as employing first and second sensor targets that are configured in the manner depicted in FIG. 6 and mounted to a synchronizer.
[0016] Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0017] Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0018] With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 , a sensor assembly constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure is generally indicated by reference numeral 10 . The sensor assembly 10 can include a sensor mount 12 , a first sensor portion 14 , a second sensor portion 16 and a controller 18 . The sensor mount 12 can be any type of structure, such as a circuit board, to which the first and second sensor portions 14 and 16 can be mounted.
[0019] The first sensor portion 14 can include a first sensor 22 and a first target 24 , while the second sensor portion 16 can include a second sensor 26 and a second target 28 . Each of the first and second sensors 22 and 26 can include a coil 32 that is mounted to the sensor mount 12 and configured to generate a magnetic field 36 when activated (i.e., when receiving alternating current). Each of the coils 32 can be oriented such that it disposed along an associated Z-axis 40 that extends perpendicular from a surface 42 of the sensor mount 12 to which the coils 32 are mounted. The wire of each coil 32 can be wound helically about the associated Z-axis 40 of the coil such that the coils 32 have a generally annular shape. Alternately, each of the coils 32 is wound in a helical manner that is parallel to the associated Z-axis 40 and parallel to an axis that is perpendicular the associated Z-axis 40 . In the particular example provided, each of the coils 32 is wound helically about its Z-axis 40 in a manner that is elongated about its Y-axis 44 so that when viewed from a plane that includes its X-axis 46 and Y-axis 44 , the coils 32 are generally oval in shape.
[0020] The first target 24 can be formed of a plate-like piece of an electrically conductive material that has opposite surfaces 50 and 52 that are oriented perpendicular to the Z-axis 40 . The first target 24 is configured to interact with the magnetic field 36 generated by the coil 32 of the first sensor 22 . More specifically, placement of the first target 24 into the magnetic field 36 generated by the coil 32 of the first sensor 22 can induce eddy currents 54 in the first target 24 . The eddy currents 54 induced in the first target 24 can create an opposing magnetic field 56 that can interact with the magnetic field 36 generated by the coil 32 of the first sensor 22 ; the first sensor 22 can output a first sensor signal that is responsive to the magnitude of the opposing magnetic field 56 . The first sensor 22 is configured so that the magnitude of the interaction between the magnetic field 36 and the opposing magnetic field 56 is dependent upon a distance between the first target 24 and the coil 32 of the first sensor 22 along the Z-axis 40 . The first target 24 , however, is also configured to also render the first sensor 22 sensitive to the placement of the first target 24 along the X-axis 46 . In this regard, the first target 24 can be shaped in a manner that varies the amount of the electrically conductive material in which the opposing magnetic field 56 is generated as a function of the placement of the first target 24 along the X-axis 46 . For example, the first target 24 can be shaped so that the output of the first sensor 22 is ratiometric when the first target 24 is moved only along the X-axis 46 . In the particular example provided, the first target 24 defines a generally V-shaped notch or aperture 60 that is formed through the material that forms the first target 24 and aligned such that the axis 62 of the V-shaped notch 60 is disposed in a plane that includes the Z-axis 40 and the X-axis 46 .
[0021] The second target 28 can be formed of a plate-like piece of an electrically conductive material that has opposite surfaces 64 and 66 that are oriented perpendicular to the Z-axis 40 . The second target 28 is configured to interact with the magnetic field 36 generated by the coil 32 of the second sensor 26 . More specifically, placement of the second target 28 into the magnetic field 36 generated by the coil 32 of the second sensor 26 can induce eddy currents 70 in the second target 28 . The eddy currents 70 induced in the second target 28 can create an opposing magnetic field 72 that can interact with the magnetic field 36 generated by the coil 32 of the second sensor 26 ; the second sensor 26 can output a second sensor signal that is responsive to the magnitude of the opposing magnetic field 72 . The second sensor 26 is configured so that the magnitude of the interaction between the magnetic field 36 and the opposing magnetic field 72 is dependent upon a distance between the second target 28 and the coil 32 of the second sensor 26 along the Z-axis 40 . The second target 28 , however, is also configured to also render the second sensor 26 sensitive to the placement of the second target 28 along the X-axis 46 . In this regard, the second target 28 can be shaped in a manner that varies the amount of the electrically conductive material in which the opposing magnetic field 72 is generated as a function of the placement of the second target 28 along the X-axis 46 . For example, the second target 28 can be shaped so that the output of the second sensor 26 is ratiometric when the second target 28 is moved only along the X-axis 46 . In the particular example provided, the second target 28 defines a generally V-shaped notch or aperture 78 that is formed through the material that forms the second target 28 and aligned such that the axis 80 of the V-shaped notch 78 is disposed in a plane that includes the Z-axis 40 and the X-axis 46 .
[0022] The first and second targets 24 and 28 can be fixedly coupled to one another for common movement. For example, the first and second targets 24 and 28 can be fixedly mounted to a structure 84 that is movable at least along a movement axis 86 that is parallel to the X-axes 46 . The first and second targets 24 and 28 can be aligned in coordinated manner relative to the first and second sensors 22 and 26 , respectively, such that the Z-axes 40 are parallel to one another, the X-axes 46 are parallel to one another and to the movement axis 86 , the Y-axes 44 are parallel one another, and the axes 62 , 80 of the V-shaped notches 60 , 78 are parallel to one another and aligned along the X-axes 46 . In the particular example provided, the structure 84 to which the first and second targets 24 and 28 are coupled is a piece of aluminum plate into which the first and second targets 24 and 28 are formed. It will be appreciated that the first and second targets 24 and 28 could be formed as discrete components that are mounted to another structure to reduce cost and/or weight as desired. Moreover, it will be appreciated that the first and second targets 24 and 28 could be offset from one another along the Z-axis 40 of the first sensor 22 , and/or that the first and second sensors 22 and 26 could be similarly offset from one another along the Z-axis 40 of the first sensor 22 .
[0023] The controller 18 can be coupled to any desired structure, such as the sensor mount 12 , and can be configured to receive the first and second sensor signals and to responsively determine a position of the structure 84 along the movement axis 86 .
[0024] The second target 28 can be configured to interact with second sensor 26 in a manner that is different from the manner in which the first target 24 is configured to interact with the first sensor 22 so that the manner in which the second sensor signal varies in response to movement of the structure 84 along the movement axis 86 is different from the manner in which the first sensor signal varies in response to movement of the structure 84 along the movement axis 86 . In the particular example provided, the V-shaped notch 78 of the second target 28 is oriented opposite to the V-shaped notch 60 of the first target 24 so that movement of the structure 84 along the movement axis 86 in a first direction is associated with enlargement of the width of the V-shaped notch 60 of the first target 24 along the Y-axis 44 of the first sensor 22 , and reduction of the width of the V-shaped notch 78 of the second target 28 along the Y-axis 44 of the second sensor 26 .
[0025] The V-shaped notch 60 in the first target 24 renders the first sensor portion 14 an absolute position sensor for positions along the X-axis 46 within a predetermined range. Similarly, the V-shaped notch 78 in the second target 28 renders the second sensor portion 16 an absolute position sensor for positions along the X-axis 46 within the predetermined range. Moreover, if there is no movement of the first and second targets 24 and 28 along the Z-axis 40 relative to the coils 32 , the value of the output of one of the first and second sensors 22 and 26 can be determined based on the value of the output of the other one of the first and second sensors 22 and 26 (i.e., the value of the second sensor signal can be determined based on the value of the first sensor signal and vice versa).
[0026] In situations where the first and second targets 24 and 28 move in a coordinated manner along the Z-axis 40 , the values of the first and second sensor signals will be higher or lower (relative to their values when there is no movement along the Z-axis 40 ) depending on whether the first and second targets 24 and 28 have moved toward or away from the coils 32 . As such, the values of the first and second sensor signals will not relate to one another in the expected manner (i.e., as though there is no movement along the Z-axis 40 ) but rather will include a common offset. The controller 18 can be configured to identify the existence of a common offset and to effectively remove the common offset from the values of the first and second sensor signals to thereby isolate the portion of the first and second sensor signals that relates to the absolute position of the structure 84 along the movement axis 86 from signal noise that relates to movement of the structure along the Z-axis 40 .
[0027] As an example, suppose that the values (y1, y2) of the first and second sensor signals are related to the position (x) of the structure 84 along the movement axis 86 (within predefined limits) in a linear manner according to the formulas:
[0000] y 1= m ( x )− b;
[0000] and
[0000] y 2= b−m ( x );
[0000] where (m) is a predefined slope and (b) is a predefined constant. In a situation where the structure 84 is moved only along the movement axis 86 and does not move along the Z-axis 40 , the values of y1 and y2 will sum to zero (i.e., the value of y2 is the additive inverse of y1). Accordingly, the controller 18 can average the values of y1 and y2 determine information relevant to the positioning of the structure 84 along the Z-axis 40 . For example, if the average is non-zero, the structure 84 has been positioned at a location along the Z-axis 40 that deviates from a predefined location. Additionally, the absolute value of the average is indicative of the magnitude by which the position of the structure 84 deviates along the Z-axis 40 from the predefined location, and the sign (positive or negative) of the average is indicative of the direction along the Z-axis 40 that the structure 84 is located relative to the predefined location.
[0028] Alternatively, the location of the structure 84 along the movement axis 86 can be determined by dividing the value of one of the first and second sensor signals by the sum of the values of the first and second sensor signals (e.g., the value of the first sensor signal divided by the sum of the values of the first and second sensor signals). Because the first and second sensor portions 14 and 16 employ a dual sensor configuration with complementing outputs, the controller 18 can: a) determine the value of each of the first and second sensor signals, b) determine the sum of the values, c) determine a first ratio that is equal to the value of the first sensor signal to the sum of the values, d) determine a second ratio that is equal to the value of the second sensor signal to the sum of the values, and e) determine the location of the structure 84 along the movement axis 86 based on the first and second ratios.
[0029] Construction of the sensor assembly 10 in this manner can be relatively inexpensive, eliminates the need for calibration of the sensor assembly 10 , requires relatively little space for the packaging of the sensor assembly 10 , and permits the axial location of the structure 84 to be determined along the movement axis 86 with accuracy that can be better than 0.5% regardless of changes in voltage, temperature or the presence of vibration.
[0030] With reference to FIG. 2A , each of the first and second sensors 22 and 26 can include an RLC gate-oscillator circuit that cooperates with the eddy current sensor to generate a frequency output that is dependent on the magnetic field produced by the coils 32 of the first and second targets 24 and 26 , respectively, and the opposing magnetic fields 56 and 72 ( FIG. 2 ).
[0031] In FIG. 3 , the sensor assembly 10 can be employed to sense a position of a clutch fork 100 that is moved by a linear actuator 102 along a movement axis 86 . The clutch fork 100 is engaged to a synchronizer 104 in a conventional manner and is employed for translating the synchronizer 104 into and out of meshing engagement with a plurality of first coupling teeth 108 that are coupled to a driven gear 110 for common rotation. Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the structure 84 is the clutch fork 100 and that the first and second targets 24 and 28 ( FIG. 1 ) are mounted directly to (or alternatively formed in) the clutch fork 100 . The linear actuator 102 can be any type of device that is configured to translate the clutch fork 100 along the movement axis 86 . In the particular example provided, the linear actuator 102 is a electromagnetically operated solenoid, but those of skill in the art will appreciate that other types of linear motors, including fluid-powered cylinders, could be employed in the alternative.
[0032] While the first and second targets 24 and 28 ( FIG. 1 ) have been described as comprising V-shaped notches 60 , 78 ( FIG. 1 ), those of skill in the art will appreciate from this disclosure that the first and second targets 24 and 28 ( FIG. 1 ) could be shaped differently. For example, the first and second targets could be shaped as tapered surfaces as shown in FIGS. 4 through 7 . In FIG. 4 , the first and second targets 24 a and 28 a comprise sensing surfaces 120 and 122 , respectively, that taper along the Z-axes 40 in a ratiometric manner. In FIGS. 5 through 7 , the first and second targets 24 b and 28 b comprise frusto-conical sensing surfaces 120 b and 122 b , respectively, that taper in a radial direction. Configuration in this latter manner may be particularly suitable for situations in which the structure 84 is also rotatable about the movement axis 86 and the first and second targets 24 b and 28 b are coupled to the structure 84 for rotation and axial movement therewith.
[0033] In FIG. 8 , the sensor assembly 10 b can be employed to sense a position of a rotating synchronizer 104 that is moved by a clutch fork 100 and a linear actuator 102 . The clutch fork 100 is engaged to a synchronizer 104 in a conventional manner and is employed for translating the synchronizer 104 into and out of engagement with a plurality of first coupling teeth 108 that are coupled to a driven gear 110 for common rotation. Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the structure 84 is the synchronizer 104 and that the first and second targets 24 b and 28 b are formed on a portion of the synchronizer 104 that is disposed on a side opposite the first coupling teeth 108 .
[0034] The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.
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A sensor assembly having a pair of sensors and a pair of sensor targets. Each of the sensors is an eddy current sensor that defines X, Y and Z axes that are orthogonal to one another such that the X-axes are aligned to a movement axis along which a structure is to be moved. The sensor targets are coupled to one another for common movement and are formed of an electrically conductive material that is configured to interact with a respective one of the eddy current sensors to cause the sensors to produce sensor signals that each vary in a distinct manner with movement of the targets parallel to the movement axis. The targets are configured such that their coordinated movement in a direction parallel to the Z-axes as they are moved along the movement axis has no effect on the determined location of the structure. A method is also provided.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a hot air gun and, more specifically, to a gas hot air gun that offers smaller physical size for users to carry around, complete burn of gas to reduce carbon monoxide and faster cooling down the whole set after application to prevent users from danger of burning, with a safety switch stopping power or gas flow under some pre-set conditions for safety purposes.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, it is known that the “Internal structure of a hot air gun” of Taiwan Patent No. 286505 comprises a main body 1, a handle 2 and a power supply 3. The main body 1 connects to the handle 2 with a hinge 11. The main body further comprises a motor 14, a fan 15 on the motor axis 141 of the motor 14, and a fan blade 16 on the front of the fan 15. A burning chamber 161 is beneath the fan blade 16. An ignition tube 17 interlinks to the burning chamber 161. A temperature control switch 18 and a control rod 19 are installed inside the ignition tube 17. A power supply 3 and gas can are inside the handle 2. A flow control knob 23 is on top of the handle 2. A flame nozzle 24 is on the front of the flow control knob 23. The flame nozzle 24 is ignited inside the burning chamber 161 beneath the fan blade 16. A press button 25 and a switch 26 are installed on the handle to ignite the gas and turn the motor 14 on.
Many drawbacks exist on the known gas hot air gun. The flame burns the gas in the burning chamber 161 beneath the fan blade 16 after the gas is ignited, and hot air is blown out by the fan blade 16 of the fan 15. However, the flame inside the burning chamber 161 is blown out easily and burn users, and thus is not very safe. The temperature control switch 18 reduces the gas quantity after the temperature is high, and when the temperature is low, the gas quantity is increased to have a larger flame. However, such design introduces incomplete burning of gas so that the air injected might contain large quantity of carbon monoxide. Thus, it is very dangerous for users to apply the equipment in a sealed environment.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a primary objective of the invention to provide a gas hot air gun that improves known hot air guns.
In order to achieve the objective set forth, a gas hot air gun in accordance with the present invention comprises a main body, an ignition device, a switch set and a safety switch. The main body comprises a blower and a nozzle. The main body has a barrel and a handle. A heating chamber and a mixing chamber are on the inner front of the barrel. A battery set and a gas can are inside the handle. One end of the nozzle is connected to the gas can. The switch set comprises a power switch and an ignition switch. The safety switch connects to the switch set electrically. The safety switch closes power of the battery set or gas flow of the gas can under some pre-set conditions. Users press the power switch and have gas spray out from the nozzle into the heating chamber to generate heat, with the blower sending hot air in the heating chamber out of the main body. A metal slice regulating the direction of air and a catalyst for avoiding flame extending out of the nozzle area are inside the heating chamber. The present invention is small in size and easy for users to carry.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The accomplishment of the above-mentioned objective of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and its accompanying drawings which disclose an illustrative embodiment of the present invention and which are as follows:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the present invention; and
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 6 , the present invention comprises a main body 10 , an air blower 20 , an ignition device 30 , a nozzle 40 , a switch set 50 and a safety switch 60 . The main body 10 consists of a barrel 11 and a handle 12 . A heating chamber 111 is inside the barrel 11 . A gas can 122 is inside the handle 12 . Users can press the switch set 50 to start the safety switch 60 and have the gas of the gas can 122 spray out from the nozzle 40 into the heating chamber 111 . The ignition device 30 ignites the gas inside the heating chamber 111 to generate a heat source. The air blower 20 blows the hot air inside the heating chamber 111 externally to the main body 10 .
The main body 10 comprises an intake 13 and a exhalation hole 14 . The heating chamber 111 and a mixing chamber 112 are on the inner front of the barrel 11 . A daisy shaped metal slice 113 and a catalyst 114 are inside the heating chamber 111 . The metal slice 113 is installed inside the heating chamber 111 near the front side of the barrel 11 . The catalyst 114 is installed near the end of the barrel 11 . A burning chamber 115 is inside the metal slice 113 . The mixing chamber 112 is installed in the barrel 11 opposite to the location of the heating chamber 111 . A shrink 116 near the metal slice 113 is formed on one end of the mixing chamber 112 . The shrink 116 is interlinked to the burning chamber 115 of the metal slice 113 . Several air inhalation holes 117 are around the mixing chamber 112 . Passages 118 are between the metal slice 113 and the barrel 11 . A tube shaped metal net 119 controlling the mixing air flow is installed between the burning chamber 115 of the metal slice 113 and the shrink 116 of the mixing chamber 112 . A thicker metal net 120 with smaller net holes near the exhalation hole 14 is on one side of the metal net 119 .
The handle 12 is connected to and beneath the barrel 11 . A first container 123 and a second container 124 are inside the handle 12 . A battery set 121 and the gas can 122 are inside the first and the second containers 123 , 124 , respectively. The gas can 122 contains burnable fluid, usually liquid gas. A movable cover 125 is on the bottom of the handle 12 to cover the first and the second container 123 , 124 . The intake 13 is installed on the end of the barrel 11 for air to flow into the barrel 11 . Several protective grids 131 are on the intake 13 to prevent users from inserting their fingers in. The exhalation hole 14 is on the front of the barrel 11 to expel air from the barrel 11 . A holder 15 is installed on the front of the barrel 11 for faster heating effect.
The air blower 20 is installed internally on the end of the barrel 11 to draw air from the intake 13 into the barrel 1 . The blower 20 comprises a motor 21 , such as a DC motor in this application, and a fan blade 22 . The motor 21 is located near one side of the exhalation hole 14 . The fan blade 22 is installed on the motor 21 and near one side of the intake 13 to be driven by the motor 21 . A temperature sensor 23 is installed around the barrel 11 near the heating chamber 111 and the exhalation hole 14 . The temperature sensor 23 controls the motor 20 . Specifically, after the end of the application and when the temperature of the heating chamber 111 is below a certain temperature, the temperature sensor 23 stops the motor 21 from turning.
The ignition device 30 is installed inside the metal slice 113 of the heating chamber 111 to ignite the mixed gas in the heating chamber 111 . The ignition device 30 is installed inside the burning chamber 115 of the metal slice 113 in this application.
The nozzle 40 is installed inside the barrel 11 of the main body 10 and located between the air blower 20 and the mixing chamber 112 . One end of the nozzle 40 is connected to the gas can 122 .
The switch set 50 is installed inside the handle 12 of the main body 10 near the barrel 11 . The switch set 50 comprises a power switch 51 , a control rod 52 , an ignition switch 53 and a regulation valve 54 . The control rod 52 controls opening and closing the gas can 122 . The ignition switch 53 connects to the ignition device 30 with electrical wires. The regulation valve 54 is installed on the gas can 122 to control the gas flow amount of the gas can 122 .
The safety switch 60 is connected to the power switch 51 , the motor 21 , the temperature sensor 23 of the air blower 20 , the battery set 121 on the handle 12 and the control rod 52 of the switch set 50 , with all these components being controlled by the safety switch 60 to turn on and off.
Referring to FIG. 4 , when the power switch 51 is pressed on, the safety switch 60 is activated. The safety switch 60 turns on the control rod 52 to open the gas can 122 , and the gas sprays out from the nozzle 40 . At the same time, the safety switch 60 activates the blower 20 to blow air from the intake 13 into the mixing chamber 112 to mix the gas and the air blown in. When the mixed gas passes through the shrink 116 and due to the shrinking diameter of the shrink 116 , the mixed gas is compressed so that the mixed air sprays out the shrink 116 at a faster speed. The high speed injected mixed air entering the burning chamber 115 of the metal slice 113 flows to the tube shaped metal net 119 that guides the flow direction of the mixed gas (referring to FIG. 5 ) which is blocked by the thicker metal net 120 on the front of the tube shaped metal net 119 and the tube shaped metal net 119 itself. Since, the net holes of the thicker metal net 120 is smaller, the mixed gas is blocked effectively to have most of the mixed gas sprayed out in all directions. When the ignition switch 53 is pressed, the ignition device 30 ignites the mixed gas and generates the flame forming the first burn. The flame expands several tongues of flames from the burning chamber 115 to surround the metal slice 113 and have the temperature of the metal slice 113 rise gradually. Due to the better heat exchange rate of the metal slice 113 and when the air flow sent by the blower 20 passes through the passages 118 of the metal slice 113 , air flow can bring the heat on the metal slice 113 to generate hot air. When the hot air passes through the catalyst 114 , the catalyst 114 burns the small quantity left-over gas to reduce the quantity of carbon monoxide (CO) and that forms the second burning. After two forms of burning, the air temperature is higher, and the air is safer as the catalyst 114 avoids the burning flame in the metal slice 113 from coming out of the exhalation hole 14 .
The mixed gas needs to have a good ratio of fresh air and gas to be properly burnt. When oxygen contained is too low in the mixed gas, the inhalation holes 117 around the burning chamber 115 offer fresh air. The diameter of the shrink 116 of the mixing chamber 112 shrinks gradually so that fresh air sucked in is mixed with gas and enters the burning chamber 115 to be burnt stably. The quantity of gas can also be controlled by the regulation valve 54 . Since the metal slice 113 inside the heating chamber 111 has very good heat conductivity, the temperature of the metal slice 113 is lifted rapidly after the ignition inside the burning chamber 115 . If the gas in the heating chamber 111 is not burnt properly, the toxic carbon monoxide is generated and is harmful to human body. In order to achieve complete burning, the catalyst 114 can achieve such purpose. Specifically, the catalyst 114 reacts with the burning gas and generates non-toxic carbon dioxide. The catalyst 114 can also prevent the flame from coming out of the exhalation hole 14 .
When the following situations happen, the safety switch 60 elaborates the proper function. When power switch 51 is on without flame or gas burning stops, the temperature sensor 23 installed on the barrel 11 near the heating chamber 111 detects the temperature did not reach the expected temperature. Thus, the safety switch 60 stops all the signals to make the motor 21 stop, and the control rod 52 breaks away to stop the gas. When the temperature sensor 23 detects abnormally high temperature, the safety switch 60 has the control rod 52 stop the gas and have the motor 21 turn on to blow air until the temperature drops. When temperature sensor 23 detects the temperature remains high after the power switch 51 is off, the safety switch 60 has the nozzle 40 stop spraying gas and turns on the blower 20 . The blower 20 keeps blowing fresh air to cool the temperature of the heating chamber 111 , and the metal slice 113 absorbs the cold fresh air to lower the temperature of the heating chamber 111 due to its good heat conductivity. When the temperature sensor 23 detects the temperature of the heating chamber 111 reached a lower temperature, the blower 20 is turned off. Such design makes the present invention easier to carry without the danger of burning.
Referring to FIG. 6 , when the safety switch 60 detects the battery set 121 in low battery condition or gas can 122 has insufficient gas to introduce the burning temperature drop, the safety switch 60 blocks all the signals to stop all operations. A new battery set 121 or gas can 122 can be replaced. Replacement is very convenient as users only need to lift the movable cover 125 and take the battery set 121 or gas can 122 out from the first or the second container 123 , 124 , respectively, and do the replacement. The gas can 122 can be the re-fill type can. The present invention applies gas to generate high temperature to avoid the troubles of a power cord and to reduce space. Users can carry the present invention around very conveniently.
While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail, it will be readily understood and appreciated that numerous omissions, changes and additions may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
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A gas hot air gun includes a main body, an ignition device, a switch set and a safety switch. The main body includes a blower, a nozzle, a barrel and a handle. A heating chamber and a mixing chamber are on the inner front of the barrel. A gas can is inside the handle. One end of the nozzle is connected to the gas can. The switch set includes a power switch, with the safety switch closing power of the battery set or gas flow of the gas can under some pre-set conditions. Users press the power switch and have gas spray out from the nozzle into the heating chamber to generate heat. The blower sends hot air in the heating chamber out of the main body. A metal slice regulating the direction of air and a catalyst for avoiding flame extending out of the nozzle area are inside the heating chamber.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved, internal-diameter flail tube cutter which utilizes a resilient bladder to temporarily affix the cutter in a desired position along the longitudinal axis of a tube. It is particularly useful in cutting sample heat exchange tubes from a nuclear steam generator.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Internal-diameter tube cutters are generally known in the prior art. One of the most common types of such cutters includes a pair of opposing blades which are outwardly extendable by means of a cam. In operation, this type of a cutter is slid into the tube to be cut, and the blade-extending cam is forcibly wedged through cam slots in the blades while the cutter is rotated. The cutting action of such cutters is similar to that of an ordinary household can opener, wherein the workpiece is rotated relative to the blade while a steady pressure causes the blade to cut into the wall of the tube.
While such internal-diameter tube cutters provide satisfactory results in many applications, certain problems may arise when tube cutters of this design are used to cut one or more sample heat exchange tubes out of a nuclear steam generator, which is sometimes necessary in order to determine the extent to which the heat exchange tubes are experiencing corrosion. For example, if the internal diameter of the heat exchange tube to be sampled has been dented around the area of the generator support plates, or internally sleeved to prevent a leak condition from arising in the tube, it may not be possible to slide a conventional, internal-diameter tube cutter through the restrictions in the tube caused by either such dents or sleeves. If one attempts to solve this problem by merely reducing the width of such cam-operated tube cutters so they can slide through such restrictions, the mechanical strength of the cutter may be diminished to the point where it breaks down or wears out after a few tube cuts.
Still another problem associated with such cam-operated tube cutters is the relatively long period of time it takes to penetrate the walls of the tube with such a cutter, coupled with the incompatibility with presently known robotic manipulators. This is a particularly acute problem when tube samples are being cut from an on-line nuclear steam generator, where the longer such a tube cutting process requires, the more radiation the maintenance personnel performing such cutting processes are exposed to.
To solve the problems associated with such prior art tube cutters, a flail tube cutter was developed by Mr. Edward Chobey of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. This flail tube cutter is described and claimed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 631,371 filed July 16, 1984, the entire specification of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. This flail tube cutter is generally comprised of an elongated, substantially cylindrical cutting head which is circumscribed at a point near its top end by a shallow, tapered cutting blade. This cutting blade is serrated at one point in order to define a pair of cutting teeth. The bottom end of the cutting head is connected to a flexible, high-speed drive shaft. Like a train with a partially flattened wheel, the sharp edges defined by the serration prevent any opportunity for a smooth, wheel-to-wheel engagement between the circular cutting blade and the inside wall of the tube. The end result is that the high-speed, flexible shaft whips and flails the cutting head and its shallow, serrated blade against the inner walls of the tube with sufficient force to create a series of overlapping nicks which eventually become overlapping perforations as the tube is finally cut. The cutting head and blade can be easily fabricated with a sufficiently small diameter so that the cutting head and its flexible drive shaft are easily inserted into the open end of a tube and snaked to any desired position along its longitudinal axis.
Unfortunately, this flail tube cutter is not without certain limitations. While it does provide a small-diameter cutting head which is capable of cutting completely through the walls of an Inconel® heat exchange tube in a matter of a few seconds, the squirming of the high-speed, flexible shaft sometimes causes the serrated, circular blade to perforate the tube in a pattern resembling a broad ring, rather than a thin circle. This ring-shaped cutting pattern becomes more pronounced the farther the cutting head and flexible shaft are snaked up the tube toward the top, U-bend portion thereof, since the squirming of the flexible drive shaft worsens with length. The end result is that this flail tube cutter will sometimes produce a jagged cut around the tubve. A neat well-focused cutting pattern is more desirable than a jagged cut, because it minimizes the amount of metallic debris associated with the cut, and renders it easier to withdraw the sample tube through the tubesheet for inspection.
Still another limitation of this prior art flail tube cutter is the fact that it is not designed to be inserted into the open ends of the tubes from the primary side of the generator, where most tube maintenance procedures are carried out. Rather, it is designed to be inserted through an open end of a tube from the secondary side of the generator, after a U-bend section of a tube has been cut out by an external tube cutting tool. Finally, like the cam-type cutter that preceded it, this prior art flail tube cutter is not compatible with known robotic manipulating devices, thereby necessitating the use of a human operator in a radioactive environment.
Clearly, there is a need for an internal diameter tube cutting device having a diameter which is small enough to slide around local obstructions in the tubes, but is capable of quickly, accurately and neatly cutting the tubes at any position along their longitudinal axis. Ideally, such a tube cutter should be usable from both the primary and secondary sides of the generator, simple in construction, positionable within curved as well as straight tubes by means of known robotic manipulators, and capable of remotely cutting these tubes with a minimum amount of operator effort. Finally, it would be desirable if such a cutter were usable in tubes having different diameters, and included some sort of means for quickly and easily changing the blades as they wore out.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In its broadest sense, the invention is an improved apparatus and method for cutting for conduit such as a tube, which comprises a support assembly which is insertable and slidable within a tube, a cutting means having a blade means which is rotatably connected to the support assembly by a flexible connecting shaft for cutting around the inner wall of the tube by a flailing action, and a means for temporarily affixing the support assembly to the inside surface of the tube in order to position the blade means adjacent to a selected point along the longitudinal axis of the tube. The affixing means may include a selectively expandable member such as a resilient bladder which is selectively expanded into engagement with the inside walls of the tube when a pressurized fluid is introduced therein.
The central portion of the support assembly may include a mandrel for supporting the resilient bladder. In the preferred embodiment, the resilient bladder completely circumscribes the mandrel and is sealingly engaged thereto. The mandrel may include a guide bore for receiving a linking shaft which connects the flexible connecting shaft of the cutting means to a flexible drive shaft. The support assembly may further include a first coupling assembly at its distal end for detachably coupling the cutting means from the linking shaft, as well as a second coupling assembly at its proximal end for detachably coupling a flexible drive shaft to the linking shaft. These coupling assemblies allow the blade means to be easily replaced when replacement becomes necessary. The flexible drive shaft is preferably surrounded by a casing which also acts as a conduit for conduting pressurized fluid to the resilient bladder. This casing is flexible enough to allow the cutter to be inserted into the open ends of heat exchange tubes from the primary side of the generator, yet rigid enough to provide a positioning means for a known robotic manipulator. The guide bore which rotatably mounts the linking shaft within the mandrel may also be used to conduct pressurized fluid to the interior of the expandable bladder. In order to restrict the motion of the flailing blade means to a thin circular path around the inner wall of the tube, the support assembly may include a thrust bearing for preventing longitudinal movement of the blade means during the cutting operation.
The method of the invention generally comprises the steps of positioning the blade means adjacent to a selected point along the longitudinal axis of a tube by a robotic manipulator which inserts and slides the support assembly into the tube by driving the drive shaft casing. The resilient bladder is next expanded into engagement with the inside walls of the tube in order to detachably mount the support assembly at a desired position within the tube. The blade means is then rotated by the drive shaft until it cuts through the walls of the tube. In the preferred process of the invention, the blade means is rotated between about 3,000 and 15,000 rpm. After the cut is complete, the support assembly and cutting means are detached from the inner walls of the tube by discharging the expanding fluid from the bladder. Finally, the support assembly and cutting means are slidably withdrawn from the tube by the robotic manipulator, which retracts the drive shaft casing completely out of the tube.
The invention is particularly useful for cutting through the inside walls of the heat exchange tubes of a nuclear steam generator from the primary side of the generator.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL FIGURES
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional schematic view of the tube cutting apparatus within a heat exchange tube of a nuclear steam generator;
FIG. 2 is a side view of the flail cutting head of the apparatus in operation within the heat exchange tube shown in cross section;
FIG. 3A is a partial cross-sectional side view of the tube cutting apparatus, illustrating how the cutting head and flexible connecting shaft are assembled onto a linking shaft journalled within a support assembly;
FIG. 3B is an enlarged side cross-sectional view of the distal bearing assembly mounted on top of the support assembly, and
FIG. 4 is a side cross-sectional view of the drive motor assembly which rotates the cutting head of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
With reference now to FIGS. 1 and 2, wherein like numerals designate like components throughout all the several figures, the improved tube cutting apparatus 1 of the invention is particularly adapted for use within a nuclear steam generator 3. Such generators 3 include a primary side 5, a secondary side 7, and a tubesheet 9 with a plurality of U-shaped tubes 11 mounted therein for hydraulically separating but thermally coupling the primary side 5 to the secondary side 7. Hot, radioactive water from the reactor (not shown) flows into the primary side 5 and into the inlets of the U-shaped tubes 11, where it flows around the U-bends of the tubes 11 and out the outlet ends thereof. A divider plate (not shown) in the primary side 5 hydraulically isolates the inlet ends of the tubes 11 from the outlet ends. Non-radioactive water is admitted into the secondary side 7 in order to receive the heat transferred through the walls of the tubes 11. This water boils, and produces non-radioactive steam which is used to turn the turbines of the electric generators in a power plant (also not shown).
The tube cutting apparatus 1 has a sufficiently small outer diameter throughout its entire longitudinal axis to allow it to be easily inserted and slid to virtually any position within a U-shaped heat exchange tube 11, whether dented or internally sleeved.
At its distal end, the tube cutting apparatus 1 includes a cutting head 15 which is circumscribed by a tapered cutting blade 17 near its top portion 21, as may best be seen in FIG. 2. The cutting blade 17 preferably includes a serration 19 which defines two cutting teeth. The proximal cylindrical portion 23 of the cutting head includes a bore for receiving the upper end of a flexible connecting shaft 27. As used herein the terms "proximal" and "distal" refer to points on the tube cutting apparatus 1 closer or father away from the robotic manipulator 54, respectively. The shaft 27 is secured within this bore by a pair of mounting screws 25a, 25b. The flexible connecting shaft 27 (as well as the flexible drive shaft 40) may be formed from a section of quarter-inch wire wound flexible shafting material which is available from the Flex-Shaft Division of Calco Manufacturing, Inc., located in Addision, Ill. In the preferred embodiment, the flexible connecting shaft 27 is between about 4 and 8 inches long, and is most preferably 6 inches long. While the invention will still be operable if the flexible connecting shaft 27 is longer than 8 inches, the shaft must be short enough so that no squirming occurs during the cutting operation which could significantly widen the area that the cutting blade 17 strikes. The provision of a relatively short flexible connecting shaft 27 between the cutting head 15 and a fixed position support assembly not only minimizes the amount of metallic debris created by the cutting blade 17, but also substantially enhances the cutting effectiveness of the blade 17 by focusing the area that the blade 17 strikes the inner wall of the tube 11 to a thin circle.
Turning back to FIG. 1, the flexible connecting shaft 27 is rotatably driven by and connected to a linking shaft within a support assembly 30 through a distal coupling 38. Generally speaking, the support assembly 30 includes a cylindrical mandrel 31 circumscribed by a sleeve-like resiliently expandable bladder 32. The linking shaft 34 is journalled within a centrally disposed guide bore 65 (see FIG. 3A) which extends completely through the mandrel 31. At the top end of the support assembly 30 is a distal bearing assembly 36 which serves to concentrically and rotatably amount the upper end of the linking shaft 34 to the mandrel 31. At the bottom end of the support assembly 30 is a flexible drive shaft 40 which is ultimately connected to and driven by a drive motor assembly 42. This flexible drive shaft 40 is circumscribed at all points by a shaft casing 44 which serves to conduct pressurized air from a compressed air supply 46 to the resiliently expandable bladder 32, as well as to encase and support this shaft 40. In the preferred embodiment, the compressed air supply 46 includes a pressure gauge 48 for visually displaying the pressure of the air admitted into the shaft casing 44 through a T-shaped air coupling 50. The shaft casing 44 should be flexible enough to be bent upwardly into the open end of a heat exchange tube 11 from a generally horizontal position through a primary manway 52, yet rigid enough so that it may be used as a postioning and support means to slidably position the support assembly 30 and cutting head 15 into a desired position along the longitudinal axis of the tube 11. Such a balance of rigidity and flexibility renders the tube cutting apparatus 1 compatible with a robotic manipulator such as the ROSA (which stands for "remote operated service arm") developed and patented by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, and example of which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,110 incorporated herein by reference. When the ROSA is used in connection with the tube cutting apparatus 1 of the invention, extension and retraction rollers 56a, 56b engage against the shaft casing 44 and slidably move both the support assembly 30 and the cutting head 15 throughout the tube 11 until the cutting blade 17 is positioned adjacent a desired point along the longitudinal axis of the tube 11.
Turning now to FIGS. 3A and 3B, the distal coupling 38 which joins the flexible connecting shaft 27 of the cutting head 15 to the linking shaft 34 includes a crimped endpiece 59 whose proximal end is furnished with a square rocket 61 having an Allen retention screw 63. The linking shaft 34 which is journalled within the centrally disposed guidebore 65 extends out of the top and bottom of the mandrel a short distance. Specifically, the distal end 67 of the linking shaft 34 extends out of the upper end of the distal bearing assembly 36, and is squared-off in order that it may be received within the complementary square socket 61 provided in the bottom of the crimped endpiece 59. It is secured therein by the securing screw 63.
With specific reference now to FIG. 3B, the bottom portion of the distal bearing assembly 36 includes a threaded cylindrical skirt 70 which may be screwed over the threaded cylindrical distal end 72 of the mandrel 31. At its top portion, this distal bearing assembly 36 includes a roller bearing 74 for centering and rotatably mounting the linking shaft 34 within the guide bore 65. Located immediately beneath the roller bearing 74 is a gas seal 78. This seal 78 prevents the compressed air which flows through the shaft casing 44 and into the expandable bladder 32 from escaping through the upper end of the guide bore 65. In the preferred embodiment, gas seal 78 is a model No. R231-L-005-FP sealing ring manufactured by the Bal Seal Engineering Company located in Santa Ana, Calif. On its upper side, the gas seal 78 abuts the lower side of the previously described roller bearing 74. On its lower side, it is snugly seated within an annular shoulder 76 provided within the bearing assembly 36. In order to prevent the linking shaft 34 (and the cutting head 15 connected thereto) from moving along the longitudinal axis of the tube during the cutting operation, the distal bearing assembly 36 is provided with a thrust bearing 82. The thrust bearing 82 includes a snap ring 84 which may be seated around a complementary annular groove 86 circumscribing the shaft 34. On its bottom side, the snap ring 84 (which is preferably ovular or rectangular in cross section) abuts the top face of the threaded end 72 of the mandrel 31. Around its upper surface, this snap ring 84 is captured by a complementary annular shoulder 88 in the manner illustrated. While any one of a number of different thrust-bearing arrangements may be used in order to prevent the linking shaft 34 from moving longitudinally during the cutting operation, the use of a thrust bearing employing a snap ring is preferred since it is simple, reliable, and facilitates the assembly and disassembly of the distal bearing assembly 36.
Near the top of the mandrel 31, a threaded distal retaining sleeve 90 lies just below the skirt 70 of the distal bearing assembly 36. Like skirt 70, retaining sleeve 90 is engaged on its inner surface to the threaded end 72 of the mandrel 31. The bottom edge of the distal retaining ring 90 is tapered, and overlies and forcibly squeezes the distal shoulder 92 of the expandable bladder 32 into a complementary annular recess 94 present in the upper end of the mandrel 31 in order to sealingly engage it thereto. The bottom end of the mandrel 31 also includes a proximal retaining ring 96 having a tapered edge 97 on its upper end for similarly squeezing the proximal shoulder 98 of the flexible bladder 32 into another annular recess 100 present within the lower end of the mandrel 31 to seal it thereto. In the preferred embodiment, the expandable bladder is formed from a resilient polyurethane plastic, such as Pellethane®.
The central section of the mandrel 31 includes a narrowed, cylindrical section 103. This narrowed, cylindrical section 103 is adjacent to a thin-walled section 105 of the expandable bladder 32. This section 103 of the mandrel 31 defines an annular space between the mandrel 31 and the thin-walled section 105 of the expandable bladder 32 which captures compressed air emanating out of an air port 107 in the mandrel 31. This configuration causes the bladder 32 to uniformly expand in a substantially cylindrical pattern (as is indicated in phantom) when compressed air is admitted into the annular space between the bladder 31 and narrowed section 103. Such a cylindrical expansion pattern advantageously allows the expandable bladder 32 to firmly yet gently engage a broad area of the inner walls of a heat exchange tube 11, and thereby to positively secure the positioning assembly 30 (and its attached cutting head 15) at any desired location along the longitudinal axis of the tube without marring or scratching the inner walls. The bladder's ability to firmly secure the cutting apparatus 1 within a tube 11 without scratching or marring its inner walls is a particularly important advantage when the cut tube is used to provide a representative metallurgical sample.
The bottom end of the mandrel 31 includes a threaded coupling ring 125 which screws over the threaded proximal end 126 of the mandrel 31 in abutting relationship with the proximal retaining ring 96. The outer surface of the lower end of this coupling ring 125 is threaded in order that the inner diameter of the distal end 127 of the shaft casing 44 may be screwed thereon in a gas-tight sealing engagement. In its interior, the bottom end of the mandrel 31 includes a proximal roller bearing 109 for journalling the proximal end of the linking shaft 34 within guide bore 65. The proximal end of the linking shaft 34 is in turn coupled to the drive shaft 40 by way of proximal coupling 111. This coupling 111 has air bores 119, 121, and 123 so that compressed air from shaft casing 44 can easily traverse the proximal coupling 111.
With reference now to FIG. 4, the drive motor assembly 42 includes a one and one-half hp electric motor 130 capable of generating at least a 15,000 rpm output. Any one of a number of the type of electric motors used in routing tools may be used. In order that the rotational speed of the output shaft 132 may be varied, a variable speed control 131 is connected between the electrical input of the motor 130, and its power source (not shown). The speed control 131 may be any one of a number of commercially available control circuits that is capable of varying the voltage of the electrical input to the motor 130. As will be appreciated when the process of the invention is described hereinafter, the motor speed control 131 should have the ability to control the rotational speed of the output shaft 132 from between 3,000 to 15,000 rpm.
In the preferred embodiment, the output shaft 132 terminates in a crimped coupling 134 that connects a flexible stub shaft 136 to another crimped coupling 138. Coupling 138 is disposed within a mounting flange 140 having a centrally disposed bore 141, and serves to connect the output end of the flexible stub shaft 136 to a rigid connecting shaft 150. This mounting flange 140 is assembled onto the front face of the electric motor 130 by means of flange bolts 142. The provision of a flexible stub shaft 136 between the output shaft 132 of the motor and the rigid connecting shaft 150 eliminates the need for the mounting flange 140 to be mounted on the face of the motor 130 in a near-perfect concentric relationship, and allows for some "play" to exist between these two shafts.
The mounting flange 140 further includes a circular top plate 143 onto which a junction sleeve 144 is welded in substantially concentric alignment with the bore 141 and flexible stub shaft 136. Junction sleeve 144 includes three bolt slots 145 spaced around its outer diameter in 120° intervals, and receives a cylindrical junction block 146. This junction block 146 is secured onto the sleeve 144 by means of mounting bolts 147 that are inserted through the bolt slots 145 and screwed into threaded bores present in the lower end of the slot 146. Junction block 146 further includes a shaft bore 148 at its lower end for journalling the rigid connecting shaft 150 therein. Roller bearings 152 and 154 are provided at the proximal and distal ends of the connecting shaft 150, respectively, in order to center the shaft 150 within the bore 148 and to rotatably mount it therein with a minimum of friction. Additionally, a gas seal 153 is provided at the proximal end of the bore 148 just above the roller bearing 152 in order to prevent compressed air entering gas nipple 158 from escaping to the outer atmosphere through the bolt slots 145.
Just above the upper end of the shaft bore 148 is a larger diameter gas conducting bore 156. Like the shaft bore 148, bore 156 is concentrically oriented along the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical junction block 146. The diameter of the gas conducting bore 156 is preferably large enough to receive a crimped coupling 157 which connects the distal end of the connecting shaft 150 to the proximal end of the flexible drive shaft 40 while providing an annular, gas conducting space between the outer walls of the coupling 157 and the inner walls of the bore 156. This gas conducting space ultimately communicates with the interior of the shaft casing 44. The junction block 146 includes a lateral gas bore 160 which terminates in the annular space between the crimped coupling 156, and the walls of the bore 156. The outer section of this lateral bore 160 (relative to the radius of the cylindrical junction block 146) is both enlarged and threaded in order to receive the previously mentioned gas nipple 158 therein in sealing engagement. This gas nipple 158 forms the junction 50 between the gas conducting bore 156 which ultimately communicates with the interior of the shaft casing 44, and the source of compressed air 46 illustrated in FIG. 1. To facilitate assembly and disassembly, the gas nipple 158 includes a quick release coupling 162.
The upper end of the cylindrical junction block 146 includes a shaft casing coupler 164 for coupling the shaft casing 44 into the block 146 in a gas-tight engagement. This coupling 164 includes an enlarged coupling bolt 166 which threads into a concentrically arranged bore 168 located at the top end of the junction block 146. The threaded bore 168 is serially connected to the gas-conducting bore 156 in the manner shown. Additionally, the coupling bolt 166 includes another centrally disposed, threaded bore 170 which completely penetrates it along its longitudinal axis. A sealing sleeve 172 having a threaded exterior 173 is screwed into this threaded bore 170, with the proximal end of the drive shaft casing 44 captured therebetween in a gas-tight seal. At its proximal end, the sealing sleeve 172 terminates in a stop flange 174 which abuts the bottom of the coupling bolt 166. Finally, an O-ring 175 is seated within a complementary groove present in the bottom face of the coupling bolt 166 to prevent compressed gas from escaping between the threaded exterior of the sleeve 172, and the threaded interior of the bore 168. During assembly, a silicon-based thread-sealing paste is applied to the threads of the coupling bolt 166 as a further precaution against gas leakage.
The process of the invention may be best understood with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3A. In the first step of the process, the tube cutting apparatus 1 is inserted into the open end of a heat exchange tube 11 selected to provide a sample representation of the metallurgical condition of the heat exchange tubes in a particular portion of the steam generator 3. In order to prevent human operators from being exposed to potentially harmful radiation, the insertion step is preferably implemented by means of a robotic arm such as the ROSA previously alluded to. After insertion, the support assembly 30 and its attached cutting head 15 are next slidably positioned within the tube 11 until the cutting blade 17 of the cutting head 15 is placed adjacent to the desired end of the sample cut. As was previously pointed out, this step can be accomplished by means of drive rollers 56a and 56b which engage and drive the shaft casing upwardly into the tube 11. The shaft casing 44 is preferably selected from a plastic material having a compressive strength great enough to support the support assembly 30 and the cutting head 15 without significantly buckling or sagging. This, in turn, allows the operator of the ROSA to easily infer the position of the blade 17 of the cutting head 15 along the longitudinal axis of the tube 11 by merely noting how many feet of shaft casing 44 have been inserted into the open end of the sample tube 11.
Once the cutting blade 17 has been so positioned, the driving rollers 56a and 56b of the ROSA are deactuated. A solenoid-operated valve (not shown) included within the source of compressed air 46 is then opened in order to allow compressed air of approximately 90 psi to enter the previously described lateral gas port 160 in the junction block 146 of the drive motor assembly 42. This compressed air travels up through the gas conducting bore 156 in the junction block 146, and into the annular space between the drive shaft 40, and the inner wall of the shaft casing 44. From there, it enters the lower air hole 119 in the lower crimp coupling 113 of the positioning assembly 30, where it flows through the centrally disposed air bore 123 located in the distal portion of the linking shaft 34 in order to traverse the proximal bearing 109. The air is next expelled out of the air hole 121 in the linking shaft 34, where it enters the annular space between the linking shaft 34 and the centrally disposed guide bore 65 in the mandrel 31. Ultimately, the compressed air flows out of the air port 107 located in the center part of the mandrel 31 and fills the annular space between the narrow portion of the mandrel 103, and the inner wall of the expandable bladder 32. As was mentioned earlier, the thin-walled configuration of the bladder 32 at its central portion allows the central portion of the bladder 32 to expand in a generally cylindrical pattern against the inner wall of the tube 11 to be cut, as is indicated in phantom.
With the support assembly 30 thus secured within the inner wall of the tube 11, the electric motor 130 of the drive assembly 42 is then actuated. The rotary motion generated by the output shaft 134 of the motor 130 is transmitted through the flexible stub shaft 136, the connecting shaft 150 and thence to the flexible drive shaft 40. The flexible drive shaft 40 then rotates the linking shaft 34 journalled within the mandrel 31, which in turn rotates the flexible connecting shaft 27 to which the cutting head is mounted. The off-center weight distribution of the cutting head 15 caused by the serration 19 in the blade 17 in turn causes the teeth of the blade 17 to whip and flail in a thin circular pattern around the inner wall of the tube 11.
As the blade 17 of the cutting head 15 cuts through the inner wall of the tube 11, the radial extent to which this blade can move relative to the tube 11 is limited by the top 21 of the cutting head 15, as may best be seen in FIG. 2. More importantly, the longitudinal movement of the cutting blade 17 is sharply restricted by the thrust bearing 82 provided within the distal bearing assembly 36. It should be noted that, in order to prevent any such longitudinal blade motion from occurring as a result of the squirming of the connecting flexible shaft 27, the length of the connecting shaft 27 should be relatively short as compared to the drive shaft 40. In the preferred embodiment, such dimensioning translates to between about four and eight inches, with six inches being the preferred length when 0.75 OD Inconel® tubing is being cut.
In order to minimize the "flairing" of the sample tube on its cut end, the cutting head 15 is rotated between about 3,000 and 15,000 rpm, with 12,000 rpms being the preferred rotational speed. At such rotational speeds, each cut takes approximately two and a half minutes. While faster rpm have been found to result in significantly shorter cutting times, the flailing motion of the cutting head 15 at such speeds can strike the inner walls of the open end of the sample tube 11 hard enough to create a work-hardened flair around its rim. Such a flair interferes with the withdrawal of the tube 11 from nuclear steam generator 39 since both the tube 11 and its flaired end must be drawn out of a bore in the tubesheet 9 which closely surrounds the tube 11. However, such flairing will not occur to any significant extent if the cutting head 15 is rotated at a speed within the aforementioned limits.
After the tube 11 has been cut, the motor 130 of the drive assembly 42 is deactuated, and the air within the expandable bladder 32 vented so that it returns to its initial, non-engaging shape around the mandrel 31. The tube cutter assembly 1 is then withdrawn out of the cut tube 11 by reversing the direction of the drive rollers 56a and 56b of the ROSA. The sample tube is then withdrawn out of the tubesheet 9 by means of a tube pulling apparatus which forms no part of the instant invention.
The provision of a support assembly 30 which is detachably mountable within the inner walls of a tube 11 by means of an expandable bladder 32 allows the tube cutting apparatus 1 to easily and accurately cut such tubes without marring or otherwise damaging the inner walls of the sample tube 11. Additionally, the provision of a thrust bearing 82 in a linking shaft 67 which drives a flail type cutting head 15 through a short flexible connecting shaft 27 provides a flail tube cutter which is capable of cutting the inner wall of a tube 11 in a thin circular pattern.
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An improved tube cutting apparatus and method for cutting through the inside of a metallic tube is disclosed herein. The apparatus generally comprises a support assembly which is slidably insertable within a tube, a flail tube cutting head connected to a short flexible shaft, and a linking shaft rotatably mounted within the support assembly for connecting the short flexible shaft of the cutting head to a longer flexible drive shaft. The center portion of the housing includes a mandrel circumscribed by a selectively expandable resilient bladder for temporarily affixing the support assembly to the inner wall of the tube in order to position the circular blade of the cutting head adjacent to a desired point along the longitudinal axis of the tube. The proximal and distal portions of the linking shaft include coupling assemblies for facilitating blade changes. In order to confine the cutting action of the blade on the cutting head to a thin circle around the inner wall of the tube, the support assembly also includes a thrust bearing that prevents the blade from moving longitudinally during the cutting operation.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates generally to a sensor for alkylating agents.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Alkylating agents such as dimethyl sulfate and alky halides are commonly used in small scale or large scale organic syntheses for research as well as for industrial purposes. Similar agents, because of their alkylating power are also being used as soil sterilizers, anticancer drugs and in a great variety of other applications.
[0003] Many of these materials, especially the methylating agents, are toxic and/or mutagenic because of their ability to react with the many nucleophilic species in the animal body, e.g. DNA, thus introducing defects into the genetic code. The later process is associated with mutagenesis and carcinogenesis.
[0004] The combination of wide use and high toxicity of alkylating agents has presented a unique need for new, simple, sensitive and selective methods for their detection both in solution and in the gas phase. Attempts of various researchers to develop efficient sensing tools for alkylating agents focused mainly on calorimetric systems that change their color in the presence of an alkylating agent.
[0005] One method for the detection of alkylating agents such as nitrogen or sulfur mustards is disclosed in International Publication No. WO 04/081561 [Ref. 1]. The disclosed method comprises mixing a sample solution suspected of containing a nitrogen or sulfur mustard with a reagent comprising 4-(4′-nitrobenzyl)pyridine or analogues thereof, and an additive selected from the group consisting of mercuric cyanide, a group I or group H metal perchlorate and mixtures thereof.
[0006] PET-based chemosensors consist of a luminescent species (e.g. a fluorophore) attached to a recognition group. In the unbound state, the recognition group quenches the excited state of the fluorophore, usually by its lone pair electrons of the unoccupied metal/proton binding site. Upon binding a Lewis acid the lone pair of the recognition group which previously served as the quencher of the fluorophore of the PET system, is engaged in the newly formed bond. Consequently, the lone pair of electrons of the recognition group can no longer quench the fluorophore and the luminescence is regained, thus signaling the capture of Lewis acid.
[0007] The PET approach has been employed in various detection methods. Weller et al [Refs. 2 and 3] developed a method for reporting the presence of metal cations and protons using the Photo-induced Electron Transfer (PET) and/or Photo-Induced Energy Transfer (PEET or EET) signaling approaches.
[0008] US application No. 2005/147534 [Ref. 4] relates to a class of luminescent and conductive polymer compositions having chromophores exhibiting increased luminescent lifetimes, quantum yields and amplified emissions. This application further discloses a sensor and a method for sensing an analyte through the luminescent and conductive properties of the polymers. Such analytes include aromatics, phosphate ester groups and in particular explosives and chemical warfare agents in a gaseous state.
LIST OF REFERENCES
[0000]
[1] WO 04/081561.
[2] Pure Appl. Chem. 1968, 16(1):115-23.
[3] Isr. J. Chem. 1970, 8(2):259-71.
[4] US 2005/0147534.
[5] Chem. Eur. J. 2003, 9:2745-2757.
[6] Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2001, 11832-1188.
[7] Tetrahedron, 2005, 61:11895-11901.
[8] J. Org. Chem. 2005, 70:4929-4934.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0017] It has now been surprisingly found that organic nucleophiles such as 2-(2-dimethylamino-ethyl)-benzo[de]isoquinoline-1,3-dione, also known as N-(2-dimethylaminoethyl)-1,8-naphthalimide are efficient and selective substrates for the detection of organic Lewis acids, i.e., alkylating agents, herein referred to as electrophiles. More surprising is the finding that these organic nucleophiles, herein referred to as chemosensors (or chemosensor molecules), are capable of detecting organic electrophiles which are only weakly electrophilic or have no alkylating power.
[0018] It has also been found that PET and/or electronic based sensing of such electrophiles may be performed in solution, in the solid phase or in the gas phase, wherein the electrophile may be present in trace amounts.
[0019] Thus, in a first aspect, the present invention provides a method for detecting an electrophile in a sample suspected of containing thereof, said method comprising:
[0020] (i) providing a chemosensor having at least one measurable electromagnetic property, said chemosensor comprising at least one π-conjugated moiety and at least one nucleophilic moiety;
[0021] (ii) contacting said sample with said chemosensor;
[0022] (iii) allowing a period of time sufficient for the formation of an electrophile-bound chemosensor; and
[0023] (iv) measuring the at least one electromagnetic property of said chemosensor in the sample;
[0000] whereby a change in the at least one electromagnetic property of the chemosensor after binding to said electrophile provides an indication of the presence of at least one electrophile in said sample.
[0024] In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for detecting an electrophile in a sample suspected of containing thereof, comprising:
[0025] (i) providing a chemosensor having at least one measurable electromagnetic property resulting from a photo-induced electron transfer (PET) and/or energy transfer between at least one π-conjugated moiety and at least one nucleophilic moiety;
[0026] (ii) contacting said sample with said chemosensor;
[0027] (iii) allowing a period of time sufficient for the formation of at least one electrophile-bound chemosensor;
[0028] (iv) measuring a change in the photo-induced electron transfer (PET) and/or energy transfer process of said electrophile-bound chemosensor,
[0000] whereby a change in the photo-induced electron transfer (PET) and/or energy transfer of said chemosensor provides an indication to the presence of at least one electrophile in said sample.
[0029] The term “chemosensor” as used herein refers to a molecule having the general structure A-B, wherein A is at least one π-conjugated moiety, and B is at least one recognition (nucleophilic) moiety capable of interacting with at least one electrophilic molecule. The chemosensor employed is typically one which is capable of absorbing and/or emitting electromagnetic radiation, where the absorbed and/or emitted energy may in some embodiments involve excited electronic states. As a person skilled in the art would recognize, the use of a singular form of the term “chemosensor” is not to be interpreted literally but rather should be taken to mean a plurality of such chemosensor molecules having the measurable electromagnetic characteristics.
[0030] In some broad embodiments of the invention, the method is based on photo-induced electron transfer quenching of a chemosensor of the general structure A-B, wherein A is a luminophore being quenched by the nucleophile (or Lewis base) moiety B. The luminophore is typically a chemosensor, or part thereof, that both absorbs and emits light. As such, within the scope of the invention, luminophores include chromophores, fluorophores, phosphors and chemiluminophores. Herein, the term luminophore also includes any intercalator-type moiety or other agent necessary to alter the conformation of the luminophore, or otherwise affect its luminescence, when the chemosensor or the device associated therewith interacts with the electrophile.
[0031] In one embodiment, moiety B is an integral part of A; such is the case with heteroaromatic moieties (e.g., furyls, pyridyls, thiophenyls) having a π-conjugated backbone and a nucleophilic heteroatom. In another embodiment, A and B are π-conjugated to each other.
[0032] In yet another embodiment, A is an aromatic or heteroaromatic moiety or a π-conjugated system having a pendent nucleophile B. The aromatic or heteroaromatic moiety may be selected, in a non-limiting fashion, from naphthalene, anthracene, quinoline, isoquinoline, pyridine, thiophene, furan, quinolizine, imidazole, pyrimidine, tetrazole, pyrrole, thiazole, isothiazole, oxazole, isoxazole, triazole, and derivatives thereof and others as may be known to a person skilled in the art.
[0033] The nucleophilic moiety (or the quencher of a photo-induced electron transfer process) B is a group or an atom capable of interacting with the electrophile. Such group or atom may be a neutral or charged Lewis base. Non-limiting examples of such Lewis base group are —OH, —OR, —SH, —SR, —NH 2 , —NHR, and —NRR′, in their neutral or charged forms (i.e., the charged form of —OH is its hydroxide). The Lewis base group or atom may be tethered to the π-conjugated moiety (e.g., luminophore) directly, namely via a single, double or triple bond, or via a linker moiety which may or may not be conjugated to the π-conjugated moiety.
[0034] The term “π-conjugated” or any lingual variation thereof, refers to a molecular entity having a system of alternating single and multiple bonds: e.g., —CH═CH—CH═CH—, —CH═CH—C═N—, —CH═CH—C≡CH, —CH═CH—C≡C—. In such systems, conjugation is the interaction of one p-orbital with another across an intervening σ-bond. The term is also extended to the analogous interaction involving a p-orbital containing an unshared electron pair, e.g., Cl—CH═CH 2 .
[0035] In one embodiment, the chemosensors are those where the π-conjugation is aromatic or heteroaromatic. In another embodiment, the chemosensors are those where the π-conjugated moiety is acyclic, or cyclic but non-aromatic.
[0036] π-conjugated chemosensors may include unsaturated alkyl groups having at least two carbon atoms with one or more sites of unsaturation, the groups being known as alkenyl groups or radicals and alkynyl groups or radicals, as defined hereinbelow. The sites of unsaturation may be one or more double or triple bonds, or a mixture thereof, structured linearly or may in a branched configuration.
[0037] Non-limiting examples of mixed π-conjugated moieties are 2-methyl-1-buten-3-yne, 2-methyl-1-hexen-3-yne and the like. Mixed alkenyl and alkynyl groups may be unsubstituted or substituted.
[0038] In another embodiment of the structure A-B, either A or B or each is bonded to at least one amino acid residue. The bonding between the amino acid residue and the chemosensor (through moiety A, or B, or each) is via the C-terminal (e.g., as an ester), N-terminal (e.g., as an amine) or the α-carbon atom of the amino acid. In the case of α-substituted amino acid residues such as lysine, the bonding with the chemosensor moiety may be via any atom of the α-substituent.
[0039] In another embodiment of the general structure A-B, the chemosensor is of the general formula (I):
[0000]
[0000] wherein
[0040] R 1 to R 6 may each, independently of each other, be selected from H, C 1 -C 10 alkyl, C 1 -C 10 alkylene, C 2 -C 10 alkenyl, C 2 -C 10 alkenylene, C 2 -C 10 alkynyl, C 2 -C 10 alkynylene, C 1 -C 10 -alkylamine, C 1 -C 10 alkoxy, cycloalkyl, cycloalkylene, C 6 -C 19 aryl, C 6 -C 10 arylene, C 5 -C 15 heteroaryl, —O(O═C)—, —(C═O)O—, —NO 2 , —NR′R″, —OH, halide, amino acid residue and derivatives thereof, peptide and derivatives thereof, fatty acid residue and derivatives thereof, and sugar residue and derivative thereof;
[0041] wherein each of said R′ and R″, independently of each other is selected amongst H, C 1 -C 10 alkyl, C 1 -C 10 alkylene, C 6 -C 10 aryl, C 6 -C 10 arylene, aralkyl, C 5 -C 15 heteroaryl, heteroarylene;
[0042] R′ and R″ together with the N atom to which they are bonded may form a 5- or 6-membered carbocyclic or heterocyclic ring system containing optionally at least one additional heteroatom selected from N, O and S;
[0043] each proximate R 1 to R 6 (R 1 and R 2 , R 2 and R 3 , R 3 and R 4 , R 4 and R 5 , and/or R 5 and R 6 ) together with the carbon atoms to which they are bonded may form a 5- or 6-membered ring containing optionally at least one heteroatom selected from N, O and S;
[0044] X 1 is an atom selected from C and N; when X 1 is C, it may be connected to X 2 via a single, double or triple bond;
[0045] X 2 is a carbon group selected from C 1 -C 10 alkylene, C 2 -C 10 alkenylene, C 2 -C 10 alkynylene, C 1 -C 10 ethers or polyethers, cycloalkylene, and C 6 -C 10 arylene;
[0046] m is an integer between 1 and 10;
[0047] X 3 is an atom having at least one lone pair of electrons, being preferably selected from N, O or S either in their neutral form or negatively charged, and more preferably selected from —NR 7 R 8 , —OR 7 , or —SR 7 ; and
[0048] R 7 and R 8 , independently of each other may be H or C 1 -C 5 alkyl.
[0049] In one embodiment of the general formula I, at least one of R 1 to R 6 is not H.
[0050] In another embodiment of the general formula I, either R 3 or R 4 or both are not H.
[0051] In another embodiment of the general formula I, each of R 1 , R 2 , R 5 and R 6 is H and X 2 is —CH 2 — and m is an integer between 1 and 5.
[0052] In another embodiment of the general formula I, R 3 and R 4 are each a C 1 -C 10 -alkoxy, X 2 is —CH 2 —, m is an integer between 1 and 5 and X 3 is —NR 7 R 8 , wherein each of R 7 and R 8 , independently of each other is a C 1 -C 5 alkyl group.
[0053] In another embodiment of the general formula I, each of R 7 and R 8 , independently of each other is a methyl, ethyl, propyl or iso-propyl group.
[0054] In another embodiment of the general formula I, each of R 3 and R 4 , independently of each other is a C 1 -C 5 alkoxy.
[0055] In another embodiment, the chemosensor of the general formula I is N-(2-dimethylaminoethyl)-1,8-naphthalimide or a ring-substituted derivative thereof of the general formula II:
[0000]
[0056] wherein each of R 1 to R 7 is as defined above.
[0057] In another embodiment, the chemosensor of the general formula I is N-(2-dimethylaminoethyl)-1,8-naphthalimide, herein designated Compound 1:
[0000]
[0058] In another embodiment, the chemosensor of the general formula II is a ring-substituted C 1 -C 10 alkoxy derivative of Compound 1, wherein in the general formula II each of R 1 to R 6 is independently selected from C 1 -C 10 alkoxy.
[0059] In another embodiment, in the derivative of Compound 1 at least one of R 1 to R 6 is not H. In another embodiment, either R3, or R4 or both are not H.
[0060] In still another embodiment, the chemosensor of the general formula II is N-(2-dimethylaminoethyl)-4,6-diethoxy-1,8-naphthalimide, herein designated Compound 2:
[0000]
[0061] In another embodiment, the chemosensor of the general formula II is N-(2-dimethylaminoethyl)-4,6-dimethoxy-1,8-naphthalimide, herein designated Compound 3:
[0000]
[0062] In another embodiment, the chemosensor of the general formula II is a ring-substituted amino-acid derivative of Compound 1, wherein each of R 1 to R 6 is independently selected amongst an amino-acid residue. The amino-acid substitution may be via the α-carbon of the amino acid residue or through the C or N terminal thereof. The amino acid residue may be selected from substituted or unsubstituted isoleucine, leucine, asparagines, alanine, phenylalanine, lysine, methionine, cysteine, glutamate, threonine, glutamine, tryptophan, glycine, valine, praline, arginine, serine, histidine, and tyrosine. In another embodiment, the amino acid residue is substituted or unsubstituted lysine.
[0063] In another embodiment, the chemosensor of the general formula I is N-(2-dimethylaminoethyl)-4-(N′—(N—Boc-lysinyl)-1,8-naphthalimide, herein designated Compound 4:
[0000]
[0064] The term “alkyl” refers within the context of the present invention to a straight, branched or cyclic, in certain embodiments straight or branched, divalent aliphatic hydrocarbon group, having from 1 to 10 carbon atoms. When the alkyl group is substituted on both of its ends, it is referred to herein as an alkylene.
[0065] There may be optionally inserted along the alkyl or alkylene group one or more oxygen, sulfur, including —S(═O)— and —S(═O) 2 — groups, or substituted or unsubstituted nitrogen atoms including —NR— and —N + RR— groups, where the nitrogen substituent(s) is(are) alkyl, aryl, aralkyl, heteroaryl, heteroaralkyl or —COR′, where R′ is alkyl, aryl, aralkyl, heteroaryl, heteroaralkyl, —OY or —NYY, where Y is hydrogen, alkyl, aryl, heteroaryl, cycloalkyl or heterocyclyl. Alkyl groups include, but are not limited to, methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl, iso-pentyl, hexyl, dodecyl and others as may be known to a person skilled in the art.
[0066] The alkyl group may be optionally substituted by at least one group selected from halogens, pseudohalogens, alkoxides, phenols, alkyls, alkenyls, alkynyls, —NO 2 , —CN, —SCN, —OCN and others, or any combinations therewith.
[0067] The alkyl of the alkyl halide may be an inner-chain alkylene group, with the halide atom being connected to the alkylene segment. Alkylene groups may for example be methylene (—CH 2 ), ethylene (—CH 2 CH 2 —), propylene (—(CH 2 ) 3 —), methylenedioxy (—O—CH 2 —O—) and ethylenedioxy (—O—(CH 2 ) 2 —O—).
[0068] The term “cycloalkyl” refers within the context of the present invention to a divalent saturated mono- or multi-cyclic ring system, having between 3 and 10 carbon atoms, more preferably between 3 and 6 carbon atoms. The ring systems of the cycloalkyl may be composed of one ring or two or more rings which may be joined together in a fused, bridged or spiro-connected fashion. When the cycloalkyl is substituted on both ends, it is referred to herein as a cycloalkylene group.
[0069] As used herein, “alkenyl” refers to a straight, branched or cyclic divalent aliphatic hydrocarbon group, having from 2 to 10 carbon atoms and at least one double bond. There may be optionally inserted along the alkenyl group one or more O, N or S or substituted or unsubstituted nitrogen atoms, where the nitrogen substituent is preferably alkyl. Alkenylene groups are mid-chain alkenyls, non-limiting examples of which are —CH═CH—CH═CH— and —CH═CH—CH 2 .
[0070] The term “alkynyl” refers to a straight, branched or cyclic divalent aliphatic hydrocarbon group, having from 2 to 10 carbon atoms and at least one triple bond. There may be optionally inserted along the alkynyl group one or more O, N or S or substituted or unsubstituted nitrogen atoms, where the nitrogen substituent is preferably alkyl. Alkynylene groups are mid-chain alkynyls. Non-limiting examples of alkynyls include —C≡C—C≡C—, —C≡C— and —C≡C—CH 2 —.
[0071] The term “halide” or “halo” refers to an atom selected from F, Cl, Br and I.
[0072] As used herein, “aryl” refers to aromatic monocyclic or multicyclic groups containing from 6 to 19 carbon atoms. Aryl groups include, but are not limited to groups such as unsubstituted or substituted fluorenyl, unsubstituted or substituted phenyl, and unsubstituted or substituted naphthyl. The term “arylene” refers to a monocyclic or polycyclic aromatic group, having from 6 to 10 carbon atoms and at least one aromatic ring. Arylene groups include, but are not limited to, 1,2-, 1,3- and 1,4-phenylene.
[0073] The term “heteroaryl” refers to a monocyclic or multicyclic aromatic ring system containing between 5 15 atoms, where one or more thereof being an heteroatom, namely an atom being different from C. Preferably, the heteroatom is selected from N, O and S. The heteroaryl group may be optionally fused to a benzene ring. Heteroaryl groups include, but are not limited to, furyl, imidazolyl, pyrimidinyl, tetrazolyl, thienyl, pyridyl, pyrrolyl, thiazolyl, isothiazolyl, oxazolyl, isoxazolyl, triazolyl, quinolinyl and isoquinolinyl. The term “heteroarylene” refers to a divalent monocyclic or multicyclic aromatic ring system, having between 6 and 10 atoms in the ring(s), where one or more of the atoms in the ring system is different from C, and being preferably selected from N, O or S.
[0074] The term “aralkyl” refers to an alkyl group, as defined above, in which one of the hydrogen atoms of the alkyl is replaced by an aryl group, as defined.
[0075] The term “alkoxy” refers to RO— in which R is alkyl, as defined above. Non-limiting examples are methoxy, ethoxy, propoxy, pentoxy, etc. The term also encompasses R groups which are aryls or heteroaryls as defined.
[0076] The term “alkyl amine” refers to an alkyl group, as defined above, substituted by at least one amine group. The amine group is generally of the structure —NRR, wherein each R group may be, independently of each other, selected from H, alkyl, aryl, heteroaryl, cycloalkyl or heterocyclyl, as defined above. The amine group may also be a quarternary amine having a positive charge. In such a case, the ammonium group is accompanied by at least one counter-ion selected from organic and inorganic anions, as may be known by a person skilled in the art.
[0077] The term “derivative” refers to a substituted or a main fragment of the parent compound, as may be known to a person skilled in the art. Preferably, the derivative of a certain chemosensor molecule is one which maintains the general structure of the parent compound (e.g., chemosensor as defined above) and its electromagnetic properties.
[0078] The term “substituent” or any lingual variation thereof is an art-recognized term which refers to the replacement of an atom or a functional group with another atom or functional group. The substitution of the parent chemosensor molecule disclosed herein may be of one or more alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, cycloalkyl, cycloalkenyl, cycloalkynyl, aryl, heteroaryl, heterocyclyl, alkylene, alkenylene, alkynylene, cycloalkylene, cycloalkenylene, cycloalkynylene, arylene, heteroarylene and heterocyclylene groups, as defined herein. Within the scope of this definition, a “ring-substituted derivative” refers specifically to a substitution on the ring system of the chemosensor molecule or on the ring system of a pendent substituent. A person skilled in the art would recognize, for example that in the chemosensor of the general formula I the ring system is the naphthalene system.
[0079] In other embodiments, the chemosensor is an oligomer or polymer associated with a plurality of pendent chemosensor moieties each having at least one π-conjugated group and at least one nucleophilic group. The association of the oligomer or polymer with each of said chemosensor moieties is preferably irreversible and may be via any type of chemical bonding or physical interaction known, e.g., covalent bonding, electrostatic interaction, hydrogen bonding, etc. Preferably, such interaction or association does not impose any constrains on or limit the activity of the chemosensor moieties.
[0080] In some preferred embodiments, the association is via π-conjugation. The type of association with each of the chemosensor moieties, however, may change as a result of the interaction between the chemosensor moieties and the electrophiles.
[0081] In yet another embodiment, the chemosensor is the backbone of the oligomer or polymer, at least one part thereof acting as a π-conjugated moiety (A), at least another part thereof acting as a nucleophilic moiety (B) with the two parts being connected to each other via π-conjugation.
[0082] In still other embodiments, the oligomer or polymer may be constructed of repeating π-conjugated groups (A), each being in conjugation with the other, while the nucleophilic groups (B) are pendent side group which are also in conjugation with the backbone itself.
[0083] The term “oligomer or polymer” refers to a molecular structure having a backbone which may be fully linear or optionally having pendant moieties. The backbone is typically constructed of the same or different repeating units, connected either directly via a single, double or triple bond, or indirectly via a mid-group such as an alkylene, alkenylene, alkynylene, arylene etc.
[0084] The oligomers contain between 1 and 10 repeating units. The polymers contain at least 11 repeating units.
[0085] Non-limiting examples of such oligomers and polymers useful in the invention are oligo(poly)styrenes, oligo(poly)acetylens, oligo(poly)ethylene oxides, oligo(poly)ethylenes, oligo(poly)pyridines, oligo(poly)siloxanes, oligo(poly)phenylenes, oligo(poly)thiophenes, oligo(poly)pyrroles, oligo(poly)(phenylenevinylene)s, oligo(poly)silanes, oligo(poly)ethylene terephthalates, oligo (poly)(phenylene ethynylene)s and other oligo(poly)arylenes and heteroarylenes, oligo(poly)arylene vinylenes, oligo(poly)arylene ethynylenes, and derivatives thereof.
[0086] Specific repeating units for such oligomers/polymers are:
(1) oligo(poly) arylenes and heteroarylenes having the following monomers:
[0000]
(2) oligo(poly) thiophenes having the following monomers:
[0000]
[0089] wherein each of groups R 9 and R 10 , independently of each other, may be selected from H, C 1 -C 10 alkyl, C 1 -C 10 alkylene, C 2 -C 10 alkenyl, C 2 -C 10 alkenylene, C 2 -C 10 alkynyl, C 2 -C 10 alkynylene, C 1 -C 10 -alkylamine, C 1 -C 10 alkoxide, cycloalkyl, cycloalkylene, C 6 -C 10 aryl, C 6 -C 10 arylene, —O(O═C)—, —(C═O)O—, —NO 2 , —NR′R″, —OH, halide, and —(X 2 ) n —(X 3 )R 7 R 8 ;
[0090] each of groups R 11 and R 12 , independently of each other, may be selected from H, C 1 -C 10 alkyl, C 1 -C 10 alkylene, C 2 -C 10 alkenyl, C 2 -C 10 alkenylene, C 2 -C 10 alkynyl, C 2 -C 10 alkynylene, C 1 -C 10 -alkylamine, C 1 -C 10 alkoxide, cycloalkyl, cycloalkylene, C 6 -C 10 aryl, C 6 -C 10 arylene, and —(X 2 ) n —(X 3 )R 7 R 8 ;
[0091] each of groups R 13 to R 15 , independently of each other, may be selected from H, C 1 -C 10 alkyl, C 1 -C 10 alkylene, C 2 -C 10 alkenyl, C 2 -C 10 alkenylene, C 2 -C 10 alkynyl, C 2 -C 10 alkynylene, C 1 -C 10 -alkylamine, C 1 -C 10 alkoxide, cycloalkyl, cycloalkylene, C 6 -C 10 aryl, C 6 -C 10 arylene, —NR′R″, —OH, —O(O═C)—, —(C═O)O—, and —(X 2 ) n —(X 3 )R 7 R 8 ;
[0092] wherein each of said R′ and R″, independently of each other is selected amongst alkyl, aryl, aralkyl, heteroaryl, heteroaralkyl;
[0093] R′ and R″ together with the N atom to which they are bonded may form a 5- or 6-membered carbocyclic or heterocyclic ring system containing optionally at least one additional heteroatom selected from N, O and S;
[0094] n is an integer being equal or greater than 1; for an oligomer n is an integer between 1 and 10 and for a polymer n is greater than 11, most preferably not greater than 100;
[0095] and wherein X 2 , X 3 , R 7 , R 8 and n are as defined hereinabove with respect to general formula I.
[0096] In the above exemplified oligomeric and polymeric chemosensors, the π-conjugated moiety (A) may be the π-conjugated backbone of the oligomer or polymer. The nucleophilic moiety (B) may be the heteroatom of the thiophene or pyridine rings or any pendent group bonded to the conjugated backbone. The pendent groups may be substituted as shown in case of groups R 9 and R 10 or by any other sequence along the conjugated chain.
[0097] In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a sensing system for sensing at least one electrophile in a sample for carrying out the method of the invention.
[0098] In one embodiment, the sensing system comprises a media associated with at least one chemosensor for allowing the formation of an electrophile-bound chemosensor and the detection thereof. This media may for example be the solution in which the at least one chemosensor is dissolved, the gel or matrix in which it is impregnated or the solid or semi-solid substrate on which it is deposited.
[0099] In yet another embodiment there is provided a sensor comprising:
[0100] (i) a media adapted to support interaction between at least one electrophile and a chemosensor molecule having at least one measurable electromagnetic property;
[0101] (ii) a plurality of chemosensor molecules wherein in response to binding to at least one electrophile the chemosensor molecules undergo a change in said at least one electromagnetic property; and
[0102] (iii) a detector adapted to detect the change in said at least one electromagnetic property.
[0103] The media adapted to support interaction between at least one electrophile and a chemosensor molecule is typically the media in which the chemosensor molecule is present. As detailed above, the chemosensor molecule may be in solution, impregnated in a gel or a matrix, loaded on a solid or semi solid support, attached to a fiber optic probe, etc.
[0104] In another embodiment, there is provided a sensor comprising:
[0105] (i) a chemosensor molecule immobilized on a solid or semi-solid support (as defined hereinabove);
[0106] (ii) a means for allowing the interaction between said chemosensor and at least one electrophile; and
[0107] (iii) a means for detecting (as defined hereinabove) the interaction and the formation of an electrophile-bound chemosensor.
[0108] According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a device for the detection of an electrophile, said device comprising a substrate carrying a plurality of chemosensor molecules having at least one predetermined electromagnetic property, said at least one electromagnetic property being changeable by subjecting the chemosensor molecules to a media (e.g., sample) containing at least one electrophile, wherein the electromagnetic property of the chemosensor molecules defines an electromagnetic property of the device, thereby determining a response of the device to certain electrophile.
[0109] According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided a sensor device configured and operable for sensing at least one electrophile, the structure comprising a plurality of chemosensor molecules selected to be capable of changing an electromagnetic property in response to a reaction with said at least one electrophile, thereby causing a change in at least one electromagnetic property of said structure, said change being readable.
[0110] The chemosensor is said of having a “measurable electromagnetic property”, namely an electromagnetic property of the chemosensor that is capable of being perceived, either by direct observation or instrumentally, and the presence or magnitude of which is a function of the presence of an electrophile in the sample. This change in an electromagnetic property may include optical, conduction, induction, permeability, potential, and dielectric properties. The optical property may be a change in intensity, quantum yield, polarization, lifetime, a shift in excitation or emission wavelength or a combination of these effects. Spectral changes that result in an enhancement or quenching of the intensity and/or a shift in the wavelength of the emission or excitation are preferred.
[0111] The electromagnetic property of the chemosensor prior to association with the electrophile may be a known property or may be measured. Preferably, in order to allow detection of the electrophile via the formation of the electrophile-bound chemosensor, the at least one measurable electromagnetic property of the chemosensor should be different from the at least one same electromagnetic property of the electrophile-bound chemosensor.
[0112] Once the nucleophilic moiety of the chemosensor undergoes binding (or association) with the electrophile, a new electromagnetic signal, now associated with the newly formed electrophile-bound chemosensor, is observed, thus affording a measurable qualitative and quantitative interaction. The binding that results from contact between the electrophile and the chemosensor results in the formation of an electrophile-bound chemosensor. The binding between the two may be any chemical or physical interaction which is associated with a change in the at least one electromagnetic property of the chemosensor (e.g., optical property). The binding type may be selected from covalent, ionic, hydrogen bonding, electrostatic, ligation, complexation, and others as may be known to skilled person in the art.
[0113] The binding between the chemosensor and the electrophile may result in the formation of a charged nucleophile, such as in the case of quaternary ammonium compounds. Alternatively, the chemosensor may be neutral. In some embodiments, the binding may be equimolar, namely a 1:1 ratio of electrophile to nucleophile or in different ratios, such as 1:2 nucleophile:electrophile, respectively.
[0114] In some other embodiments, the binding is reversible, allowing re-usable sensor device.
[0115] The detection of the change in the at least one electromagnetic property after interaction is preferably measured identically and by the same methods employed to measure the radiation of the free chemosensor.
[0116] In some embodiments, however, the chemosensor may not have a detectable and thus measurable radiation until it interacts with the electrophile to form the electrophile-bound chemosensor.
[0117] Examples of optical signals include changes in the optical properties, including, but not limited to, a change in color, changes in intensity (absorbance or fluorescence) at the same or different wavelengths, a spectral (absorption or emission) shift, and changes in lifetime of luminescence (fluorescence, phosphorescence, and the like).
[0118] Changes in the electromagnetic properties, preferably optical properties, of the chemosensor upon binding the electrophile are detected qualitatively, and/or optionally quantitatively, by detection of the resultant light emission. The amount of signal generated by the binding of the chemosensor to the electrophile can be correlated to the concentration by methods that will be known to the skilled artisan. For example, the artisan may determine the concentration of the electrophile in a sample by comparing the signal generated with a reference measurement, wherein the reference measurement is the amount of signal generated when the chemosensor is bound to a known quantity of the electrophile.
[0119] Various techniques are known to those in the art for measuring the time dependence of e.g., fluorescence emission, including streak cameras, time correlated single photon counting, direct measurement of the time resolved fluorescence, upconversion techniques, phase-sensitive detection, boxcar techniques, and the like. Similarly, while lasers as light sources and photomultiplier tubes as detectors have been used, for some applications adequate or improved performance may be achieved by the use of LED's, laser diodes, electroluminescent sources, arc lamps, spark gaps, xenon arc lamps, incandescent lamps, or other sources. In the same fashion other light detectors may be used, including microchannel plate photomultiplier tubes, photodiodes, avalanche photodiodes, streak cameras, CCD's and other detectors known to the art may be used.
[0120] The π-conjugated moiety of the chemosensor has delocalized π-electrons capable of emitting luminescence including UV and visible radiation, e.g., as measured with respect to the energy used to excite the chemosensor. The π-conjugated moiety may be linear, branched, or cyclic, and may or may not comprise mid-chain heteroatoms such as N, O or S. The π-conjugated moiety may or may not be composed of the same units (homopolymer, copolymer).
[0121] The term “electrophile” refers in the context of the present invention to a compound having reactivity towards species with available electron density, i.e. a Lewis acid and a nucleophile. The electrophile is preferably an organic Lewis acid. More preferably, the electrophile is an organic alkylating agent.
[0122] In one preferred embodiment, the organic electrophile is an alkyl halide (or alkylene halide, cycloalkyl halide, cycloalkyelene halide and other halide substituted carbon based systems), having between 1 and 20 carbon atoms.
[0123] In some preferred embodiments, the electrophile is further substituted or has at least one mid-chain heteroatom selected from N, O, S, or P. Such atoms may be oxidized or non-oxidized.
[0124] The electrophile may be selected, without being limited thereto, from halobenzyl, mono- or dihalomethane, mono- or dihalodiethyl sulfide, mono- or dihalo diethylether, mono- or dihalo ethylmethyl sulfide, mono- or dihalo ethylmethylether, and any substituted derivatives thereof.
[0125] Non limiting examples of electrophiles that may be detected according to the invention may include blister agents such as nitrogen or sulfur mustards, nerve agents, e.g., sarin, phosgene, soman, tabun and thionyl chloride, herbicides, pesticides or insecticides, e.g. 1,2,3,4,10-hexachloro-1,4,4a,5,8,8a-hexahydro-1,4,5,8-dimethano naphthalene, 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexa-chlorocyclohexane, 4,4′-(2,2,2-trichloroethane-1,1-diyl)bis(chlorobenzene), dichloro-diphenyldichloroethylene, 1,1-dichloroethane, 1,2-dichloroethane, toxaphen, heptachlor, endosulfan and others known in the art.
[0126] The term “sample” or “media” refers to a medium in which the organic electrophile may be contained. Such a sample may be solid, liquid, gaseous, any mixture of either combination or a solution; it may comprise one or more other organic and/or inorganic compounds and/or any one biological agent; it may be pure or contaminated; it may contain a mixture of known and unknown components; and it may require prior processing.
[0127] The sample may be a test sample of known concentration, or a test sample used to calibrate the detection of the electrophile or may be an environmental sample such as soil, water, atmospheric medium, rain, snow, etc., suspected of containing at least one electrophile.
[0128] The sample may be an aqueous solution or may be a solution collected directly from the environment such as a stream, ditch or water supply. Alternatively the solution could be prepared by dissolving a solid sample which is believed of being contaminated with at least one electrophile in an appropriate solvent. In such a case, the solid sample is tested after dissolution in accordance with the present method.
[0129] In some cases, the detection of the electrophile may necessitate the use of at least one additional agent such as an acid or a base or at least one additional solvent which is different from the solvent constituting the media of the sample. In such cases, the sample may be treated by adding thereto an amount of said agent, prior to contacting thereof with the chemosensor or thereafter.
[0130] The term “photo-induced electron and/or energy transfer” most generally refers to a process in which an electron and/or energy is transferred from one molecular system to another or from one molecular moiety to another in the same molecule employing any type of mechanism. In particular, photo-induced electron transfer (PET) or Internal Charge Transfer (ICT) may be used as the approaches for the detection and quantification of the electrophiles in the sample.
[0131] The π-conjugated moiety and nucleophilic moiety are chosen so that an electron transfer can occur from the nucleophilic moiety to the π-conjugated moiety upon excitation which quenches the excited state of the π-conjugated moiety. The introduction of an electrophile which can bind to the nucleophilic moiety alters the oxidation potential of the π-conjugated moiety and so changes the conditions at which PET occurs.
[0132] In PET an electron is transferred from the highest occupied molecular orbital of a donor in its ground state to the highest occupied molecular orbital of an acceptor in its excited state. In the compounds described PET is arranged by coupling a nucleophile moiety (donor moiety) to a π-conjugated moiety (acceptor moiety) via a linker. The presence of the linker means that the π-conjugated moiety and the nucleophilic moiety are spatially distinct and any orbital interactions between these portions of the chemosensor or sensor constructed therefrom are minimized. The π-conjugated moiety is the site of both excitation and emission whereas the nucleophilic moiety is responsible for complexing to the electrophile.
[0133] In ICT, the nucleophilic moiety has electron donors and the π-conjugated moiety is linked by a conjugated bridge so as to form a single delocalized unit. The electron donor nucleophilic moiety pushes electron density into the system whilst the electron acceptor π-conjugated moiety pulls electrons from it. A more integrated structure, generally lacking a spacer, is required for a molecule to achieve ICT.
[0134] The term “sufficient time” or any lingual variation thereof refers to a period of time which would allow interaction between the electrophile in said sample and the nucleophile and the formation of an electrophile-bound chemosensor. The sufficiency of time may be determined based on prior experimentation using control samples of each component and monitoring the formation of the electrophile-bound chemosensor using various spectroscopic methods. Alternatively, the time period required for the formation of the electrophile-bound chemosensor may be determined based on a prior statistical evaluation which would provide an averaged time for the formation of the adduct under an experimental set of conditions. It should be stated that a person skilled in the art would be able to determine the sufficiency of time required for the formation of the complex without necessitating undue experimentation.
[0135] The contacting of the electrophile in the sample with the chemosensor or device may be achieved by one or more of various methods. In one embodiment, the chemosensor is dissolved in an aqueous or non-aqueous solvent and the resulting solution is brought into contact or exposed to a sample suspected of containing the electrophile.
[0136] In another embodiment, the chemosensor is immobilized on a solid or semi-solid support.
[0137] In another embodiment, the chemosensor is present in a gel or a matrix, in which case contact between the sample and the chemosensor may optionally require agitation of the sample, and/or additional time for the diffusion of electrophile to the chemosensor.
[0138] In any case, the chemosensor concentration must be sufficient to generate a detectable optical response in the presence of the electrophile.
[0139] The detection of the presence of at least one electrophile by way of detection of the electrophile-bound chemosensor may be achieved remotely by incorporation of the chemosensor as part of a fiber optic probe. In this embodiment of the invention, the chemosensor is attached to the fiber optic probe material, typically glass or functionalized glass (e.g., aminopropyl glass) or the chemosensor is attached to the fiber optic probe via an intermediate polymer, such as polyacrylamide. The observation of a detectable change in the optical properties of the chemosensor is optionally used in cases exposure to e.g., an environment containing a toxic electrophile is to be avoided.
[0140] Alternatively, the chemosensor may be kept separate from the device or the substrate until the detection of the electrophile is to take place, whereupon the chemosensor molecules are placed into the sample and then allow binding either to the sensor device or to the electrophile in the sample, thereafter binding to the device or substrate.
[0141] The detectable response may be quantified and used to measure the concentration of the electrophile in the environment. Quantification may be performed by comparison of the electromagnetic (e.g., optical) response to a standard or calibration curve. The standard curve may be generated according to methods known in the art using varying and known amounts of the electrophile in standard solutions.
[0142] As stated above, the chemosensor may be immobilized on a solid or semi-solid support. The solid support may be any solid substrate conventional in the art that supports an array and on which molecules are allowed to interact and their reaction detected without degradation of or reaction with its surface. The surface of the substrate may be a bead or particle such as microspheres or nano-beads, or planar glass, a flexible, semi-rigid or rigid membrane, a plastic, metal, or mineral (e.g., quartz or mica) surface, to which a molecule may be adhered. The solid substrate may be planar or have simple or complex shape.
[0143] Generally, the substrate according to the present invention may be composed of any porous material which will permit immobilization of an electrophile and which will not melt or otherwise substantially degrade under the conditions associated with the exposure to the electrophile. The surface to which the chemosensor, particularly a polymeric chemosensor, is adhered may be an external surface or an internal surface of the porous substrate.
[0144] The chemosensor may be mounted or loaded onto a solid or semi-solid surface in a variety of fashions. It can be spin coated or drop cast on silicon surface or absorbed on porous membrane or any other fashion. The device prepared thereby may be a part of a detecting unit which may be manufactured in accordance with the engineering and general knowledge known to a person skilled in the art. The chemosensor may be made to cover a plate or any part of a detector or a surface in close proximity to a detector which is made to measure the change in the optical properties, e.g., PET.
[0145] The polymeric chemosensors employed in the method and/or device of the invention may be constructed as nano-tubes and may be used as such in the method and/or device.
[0146] The invention also pertains to a kit suitable for determining the presence and/or concentration of at least one electrophile in a sample. Preferably, the kit includes directions for use. In one embodiment of the kit, the chemosensor is adhered to a solid support material, impregnated therein or in solution in an amount sufficient to react with any electrophile in a sample.
[0147] In the alternative, the kit may include a solid support material coated with a preferred chemosensor for contact with a sample suspected of comprising an electrophile, wherein the solid support material may include, but not limited to, a non-aqueous matrix which may be a polysaccharide (such as agarose and cellulose); and other mechanically stable matrices such as silica (e.g. controlled pore glass), poly (styrenedivinyl)benzene, polyacrylamide, ceramic particles, optical fibers and derivatives of any of the above. In one embodiment, the solid support material comprises controlled pore glass beads retained in a column that is coated with a preferred chemosensor that has high affinity for electrophilic agents.
[0148] The kit may further include an illuminating source and/or a detection instrument, if the optical property change is not triggered by visible light or any changes that are not detectable in the visible range.
[0149] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that numerous changes and modifications may be made to the preferred embodiments of the invention and that such changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, by the implementation of known molecular recognition principles, the compounds disclosed herein can be modified to produce conducting polymers which are responsive to numerous electrophiles. It is therefore intended that the appended claims cover all such equivalent variations as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0150] In order to understand the invention and to see how it may be carried out in practice, a preferred embodiment will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
[0151] FIG. 1 exhibits the absorption and luminescence spectra of compound 1 in the presence of an electrophile.
[0152] FIG. 2 shows the relative fluorescence intensity of a solution of 1 in acetonitrile ([1]=2.2*10 −5 M) as a function of the chloromethyl ethyl ether concentration.
[0153] FIG. 3 shows the emission spectra of the chemosensor 4,6-dietoxy-1,8-naphthalimide before and after the interaction with the alkylating agent 2-chlorodiethylsulfide.
[0154] In one embodiment of the method of the present invention, the organic nucleophile is N-(2-dimethylaminoethyl)-1,8-naphthalimide, referred to herein as Compound 1.
[0155] Compound 1 was found to be a highly selective and effective PET chemosensor that turned fluorescent on upon reacting with different electrophilic alkylating agents. The PET based sensing of such alkylating agents may be performed either in solutions or in the solid state. Compounds 1a to 1d, shown below, are non-limiting examples of electrophile-bond chemosensors derived from a reaction of Compound 1 with various electrophiles, namely, 1-halomethyl ethylether (compound 1a), 1-halothioethylether (compound 1b), dihalomethane (compound 1c) and halobenzyl (compound 1d).
[0000]
[0156] In the absence of protons and ligating metal ions Compound 1 is a weak luminophore, emitting at around the red limit of the UV (382 nm in acetonitrile). Without wishing to be bound by theory, the exceptionally low emission is attributed to an efficient photo-induced electron transfer process (PET) that takes place between the photo-excited aromatic skeleton and the lone pair electrons of the free amine. In the presence of Lewis acids, such as acidic protons or ligating metal ions, the lone pair electrons of the free amine quencher are engaged in a hydrogen-nitrogen or metal-nitrogen bond. Once engaged in such a new bond with the Lewis acid, the former lone-pair of electrons of the amine group can no longer serve as an efficient quencher to the photo-excited aromatic skeleton since it is stabilized in the form of a σ-bond. In this Lewis acid bound state Compound 1 is a highly luminescent species.
[0157] The reaction between an organic nucleophile such as compound 1 and one or more alkylating agent is not limited to solutions and could also be performed very efficiently when in the solid phase with, for example, compound 1 adsorbed on a filter paper, as will be exemplified below.
[0158] The chemosensor molecules employed by the method of the invention may be prepared according to known methodologies. Generally, the compounds of general formula I may be constructed from the basic acenaphthene system or from a commercially available naphthalimide, as demonstrated hereinnext.
[0159] The polymers and/or oligomers employed may be used by employing one or more methodologies known in the art for their synthesis (For example see Resins for Coatings , Stoye and Freitag, Eds., New York, 1996).
[0160] A person skilled in the art would have the necessary knowledge to derivatize a known or commercially available compound in order to produce a more effective chemosensor. The analysis of the compounds may be carried out by any one standard method of analysis, such as thin layer chromatography (TLC), gel electrophoresis, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectrometry (MS), used by those of skill in the art to assess, e.g., the purity, and chemical or physical properties of the chemosensor.
[0161] Methods for purification of the chemosensors to produce substantially pure compounds are known to those of skill in the art. A substantially chemically pure compound may, however, be a mixture of stereoisomers. In such instances, further purification might increase the specific activity of the compound.
EXAMPLE 1
Solid State Sensing of Alkylating Agents Using N-(2-dimethylaminoethyl)-1,8-naphthalimide (Compound 1)
[0162] A filter paper (Whatman) was dipped in a solution of the Compound 1 (20 mg/mL) in acetonitrile for 1 min. The filter paper was left to dry in the dark, then placed in a Teflon holder. The Teflon holder was fitted into one of two ground joints of a round-bottomed flask. The second joint was fitted with a tube that contained calcium chloride beads. The Teflon holder was connected to a vacuum pump that aspirated the atmosphere of the flask through the filter paper. The experiment was performed by placing the relevant alkylating agent (selected from chloroethylmethyl ether, chloroethylmethyl thioether, dichloromethyl or benzyl chloride), in the amount of 10 mg each and Na 2 CO 3 (10 mg) at the bottom of a two-necked round-bottomed flask, then allowing the system to equilibrate for about 30 min and then aspirating the atmosphere of the flask for different periods of time.
[0163] Upon drying, the filter paper turned very weakly luminescent (λ ex =366 nm) in the blue region. Exposure for several seconds of the filter paper that was loaded with Compound 1 to the atmosphere above a one-drop (ca. 50 μL) mixture of the mustard analog, chloromethyl ethylether, and 10 mg of sodium carbonate, resulted in a dramatic increase in the luminescence and a red shift in its color.
[0164] Similar control experiments that were performed with hydrochloric acid and with different metal ions did not change the luminescence of the filter paper because of the presence of the base (or acid) and low vapor pressure (ions).
[0165] FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 represent the resulting absorption and fluorescence spectra (respectively) of the reaction of Compound 1 with the different alkylating agents.
[0166] FIG. 1 depicts the absorption and emission spectra of Compound 1 in acetonitrile in the presence of triethylamine and increasing concentrations of chloromethyl ethyl ether as the electrophile. As can be appreciated from FIG. 1 , the absorption spectrum of Compound 1 is practically insensitive to the addition of the electrophile. In contrast, the presence of the electrophile turns the luminescence on. At saturation, the luminescence is about 130 times stronger than that of free Compound 1.
[0167] Saturation occurs at around a 1:1 ratio between the electrophile Compound 1, as shown in FIG. 2 . This gives an indication to an efficient reaction that proceeds to completion even at rather low concentrations, allowing efficient detection of micromolar concentrations of electrophiles in solutions. Similar results were obtained with other alkylating agents of similar or different electrophilicity. Dichloromethane, a rather weak electriphile, was found to react with Compound 1 and turned its luminescence on.
EXAMPLE 2
Synthesis of 4,6-dietoxy-1,8-naphthalimide (Compound 2)
[0168] The synthesis of Compound 2 having both a luminescent moiety (dietoxy-1,8-naphthalimide) and a nucleophilic moiety (1,1-dimethyl alkyl amine) was undertaken in 5 synthetic steps (a-e) as detailed herein below and in Scheme 1 .
Step (a)-5,6-Dibromoacenaphthene [Ref. 5]
[0169] A suspension of N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) (25 gr, 143 mmol) in DMF (50 ml) was added in portions to an ice-cooled suspension of acenaphthene (10 g, 65 mmol) in DMF (15 mL) over a period of 1 h. The temperature of mixture was not allowed exceed 15° C. The mixture was stirred for a further 12 h and then allowed to warm to room temperature. The precipitate was filtered with suction, washed with ethanol (3×50 mL), and purified by stirring over night in refluxing ethanol (200 ml). Cooling to room temperature, filtration, washing with ethanol, and drying in vacuo yielded 4.5 g (22%) of a beige crystalline solid (m.p. 169-172° C.) that was suitable for further work.
[0170] 1 H NMR: δ 3.28 (s, 4H; H-1,2), 7.06 (d, 3J=7.49 Hz, 2H; H-3,8), 7.76 ppm (d, 3J=7.49 Hz, 2H; H-4,7);
[0171] 13 C NMR (68 MHz, CDCl 3 ): δ 29.99 (C-1,2), 114.31, 120.87, 131.80, 135.77, 141.75, 147 ppm (arom-C).
Step (b)-1,8-Dibromoacenaphthenedione [Ref. 6]
[0172] 1,8-Dibromoacenaphthene (8 g, 25.6 mmol) was dissolved in acetic anhydride (0.5 L) at 110° C. CrO 3 (20.4 g, 205 mmol) was added carefully to the stirred solution over a period of 2 h. The resulting green suspension was stirred at 160° C. for 30 min., and then poured while hot onto crushed ice (1 kg). Concentrated HCl (20 mL) was added and the mixture was filtered. The brownish precipitate was washed with water, dried in vacuo and recrystallized from acetic anhydride (2 L).
[0173] 1,8-Dibromoacenaphthenedione (6.33 g, 73%) was obtained as a light brown solid, m.p. 239° C.
[0174] Elemental analysis —C 12 H 4 Br 2 O 2 (340.0): calcd. C, 42.40; H, 1.19. found C, 42.22; H, 1.19. 2.
[0175] 1 H NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 57.93 (d, J=7.6 Hz, 2H, H 4,7 ), 8.27 (d, J=7.6 Hz, 2H, H 3,8 ).
Step (c)-1,8-Dibromonaphthoic Anhydride
[0176] 1,8-Dibromoacenaphthenedione (6.33 g, 18.6 mmol) was dissolved in a mixture of 1,4-dioxane (400 mL) and NaOH (2 M, 400 mL) and heated to 100° C. A solution of H 2 O 2 (10%, 400 mL) was added slowly to the stirred solution. After stirring for a further 30 min. at 100° C., the mixture was cooled to room temperature and filtered. The filtrate was acidified with concentrated HCl producing a voluminous precipitate. This was separated by centrifugation, washed twice with water and dried in vacuo. 1,8-dibromonaphthoic anhydride was obtained as a light brown powder, m.p. 260° C.
[0177] Elemental analysis: C 12 H 4 Br 2 O 3 (356.0): calcd. C, 40.49; H, 1.13. found C, 40.45; H, 1.11. 2.
[0178] 1 H NMR ([D 6 ] acetone): δ 5 7.95 (d, J=7.5 Hz, 2H, H 5,8 ), 8.17 (d, J=7.5 Hz, 2H, H 4,9 ).
Step (d)-4,6-dibromo-1,8-naphthalimide [Ref. 7]
[0179] 4,6-dibromo-1,8-naphthalic anhydride (0.86 g, 2.4 mmol) and N,N-dimethylethylenediamine (0.53 ml, 4.8 mmol) were added to 10 mL ethanol, the reaction mixture was stirred at reflux temperature for 2 h, then cooled, filtered, and dried, the crude product was obtained as yellow solid (0.3 g, 30%).
Step (e)-4,6-dietoxy-1,8-naphthalimide (Compound 2) [Ref. 8]
[0180] (0.3 gr, 0.7 mmol) of 4,6-dibromo-1,8-naphthalimide, 52 mg of CuBr, and a 10:1 stoichiometric ratio of sodium ethoxide in 20 ml ethanol, sodium (0.164 gr, 7 mmol) were stirred and refluxed for 18 h. Ethanol was removed by distillation. Crude product was purified by silica gel. The reaction afforded a tan or yellow powder (0.27 gr, 100%).
EXAMPLE 3
Solid State Sensing of Chlorodiethyl Thioether Using N-(2-dimethylaminoethyl)-4,6-diethoxy-1,8-naphthalimide (Compound 2)
[0181] The ability of Compound 2 in sensing chlorodiethyl thioether was tested similarly to the procedure detailed in Example 1 above. The reaction between the electrophile and the chemosensor is depicted in Scheme 2 .
[0182] As FIG. 3 demonstrates, the presence of the electrophile turns caused a marked change in the emission spectrum of the chemosensor molecule designated Compound 2. In the absence of the electrophile, the emission was substantially quenched.
[0000]
[0000]
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The present invention relates to methods for detecting alkylating agents in a sample using a chemosensor and measuring the change in measurable properties of chemosensor upon binding. Such changes provide indications of the presence and quantity of alkylating agent in the sample.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This is a Divisional Application of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/946,617, filed Sep. 6, 2001, which is based upon and claims the benefit of priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-122886, filed Apr. 20, 2001, the entire contents of both of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiving apparatus for receiving, e.g., digital television broadcast using a satellite and a control method therefor.
[0004] 2. Description of Related Art
[0005] As is known, digital television broadcast has been put into practice recently. In this digital television broadcast, program information is broadcast, and additionally, various kinds of content information are distributed by data broadcasting.
[0006] Content information contain contents irrelevant to a program to be broadcast or contents related to a program to be broadcast (e.g., the program title, broadcast date, program information, and the like).
[0007] A receiving apparatus for receiving such digital television broadcast can also display content information by OSD (On Screen Display) in decoding and displaying received program information.
[0008] In a system for broadcasting both program information and its content information, how to process content information, i.e., digital data in converting received program information into an analog video signal and recording it on a tape by a VTR (Video Tape Recorder) or the like poses a problem.
[0009] To solve this problem, in recent years, a standard called a video ID has been set as described in, e.g., Technical Report of Electronic Industries Association of Japan, “Video ID Signal Transmission Scheme Using VBI (525P System), enacted March, 1998”.
[0010] In this video ID standard, digital information is arranged in the effective video portion of the 41st line of the VBI (Vertical Blanking Interval) of a luminance signal, thereby recording the information.
[0011] This video ID standard has been initially set to transmit screen aspect ratio information along with the proliferation of wide screens with an aspect ratio of 16:9 and then revised for the other application purposes, i.e., to transmit various kinds of information such as the type of information to be transmitted and code assignment of information bits.
[0012] The video ID standard surely allows to multiplex digital information on an analog video signal and record it, as analog information, on a recording medium such as a tape by a VTR.
[0013] In the video ID standard, however, since digital information to be multiplexed on an analog video signal is data for a video index, the digital information cannot be played back and displayed unless a special player having a decoding function compatible with the video ID standard is used.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0014] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above situation, and has as its object, to provide a digital broadcast receiving apparatus capable of easily playing back content information multiplexed on an analog video signal without using any device with a special function, and a control method therefor.
[0015] According to the present invention, there is provided a digital broadcast receiving apparatus which receives a digital broadcast, generates an analog video signal, and extracts content information from the received digital broadcast, comprising a control section multiplexing the content information on the analog video signal as closed caption data, and outputting the content information.
[0016] According to the present invention, there is also provided a control method for a digital broadcast receiving apparatus which receives a digital broadcast, generates an analog video signal, and extracts content information from the received digital broadcast, comprising the control step of multiplexing the content information on the analog video signal as closed caption data, and outputting the content information.
[0017] According to the above arrangement and method, since content information is multiplexed on an analog video signal as closed caption data and output, the content information multiplexed on the analog video signal can easily be played back and displayed without using any device with a special function.
[0018] Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0019] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, and together with the general description given above and the detailed description of the embodiments given below, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
[0020] FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining a digital STB according to the first embodiment of the present invention;
[0021] FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining a digital STB according to the second embodiment of the present invention;
[0022] FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining a digital STB according to the third embodiment of the present invention;
[0023] FIG. 4 is a block diagram for explaining a digital television receiver according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention;
[0024] FIG. 5 is a block diagram for explaining a digital STB according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention; and
[0025] FIG. 6 is a block diagram for explaining a digital STB according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0026] The first embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the schematic arrangement of a digital STB (Set Top Box) 11 to be described in the first embodiment.
[0027] In this digital STB 11 , a tuner 12 extracts digital information of a desired channel from a received digital television broadcast wave and outputs the digital information to a digital information processing circuit 13 and content information extraction circuit 14 .
[0028] The digital information processing circuit 13 extracts a video information component (also including an audio information component) from the received digital information, reconstructs the component into a digital video signal, and outputs the signal to an analog conversion processing circuit 15 .
[0029] The analog conversion processing circuit 15 converts the received digital video signal into an analog video signal of NTSC (National Television System Committee) scheme and outputs the signal to a closed caption data insertion circuit 16 .
[0030] The digital video signal generated by the digital information processing circuit 13 is guided to a digital video output terminal 17 and output from the digital STB 11 through a line 18 connected to the digital video output terminal 17 .
[0031] The content information extraction circuit 14 extracts and reconstructs a content information component from the received digital information and outputs the component to the closed caption data insertion circuit 16 .
[0032] The closed caption data insertion circuit 16 multiplexes, as closed caption data, the content information supplied from the content information extraction circuit 14 on a line 21 of the vertical blanking interval of the analog video signal supplied from the analog conversion processing circuit 15 .
[0033] The analog video signal with the content information multiplexed by the closed caption data insertion circuit 16 is guided to an analog video output terminal 19 and output from the digital STB 11 through a line 20 connected to the analog video output terminal 19 .
[0034] A monitor 21 and VTR 22 are connected to the line 20 . The analog video signal output to the line 20 is displayed on the screen of the monitor 21 .
[0035] In this case, the content information multiplexed on the analog video signal can be decoded by a caption decoder 21 a of the monitor 21 and displayed on the screen in synchronism with the video.
[0036] The analog video signal output to the line 20 is also recorded on a magnetic tape 22 a by the VTR 22 together with the content information multiplexed as closed caption data.
[0037] Even in displaying on the monitor 21 the analog video signal played back from the magnetic tape 22 a by the VTR 22 , the content information multiplexed on the analog video signal is decoded by the caption decoder 21 a of the monitor 21 and displayed on the screen.
[0038] According to the above-described first embodiment, the content information is multiplexed, as closed caption data, on the line 21 of the vertical blanking interval of the analog video signal.
[0039] Hence, the content information can easily be played back and displayed using the caption decoder 21 a of the VTR 22 without using any device with a special function.
[0040] The monitor 21 normally has a function of automatically controlling the closed caption data display position on the screen not to overlap characters.
[0041] For this reason, even when content information is multiplexed as closed caption data on an analog video signal that contains actual closed caption data to be used as a subtitle, the subtitle display is not adversely affected.
[0042] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the second embodiment of the present invention. The same reference numerals as in FIG. 1 denote the same parts in FIG. 2 . A switch 23 that can be ON/OFF-controlled by a user is inserted between a content information extraction circuit 14 and a closed caption data insertion circuit 16 .
[0043] When the switch 23 is turned on, content information output from the content information extraction circuit 14 can be guided to the closed caption data insertion circuit 16 and multiplexed on an analog video signal, as described above.
[0044] On the other hand, when the switch 23 is turned off, the content information output from the content information extraction circuit 14 is not guided to the closed caption data insertion circuit 16 and not multiplexed on the analog video signal.
[0045] That is, instead of always multiplexing the content information on the analog video signal, the user can select the state wherein the content information is to be multiplexed on the analog video signal or the state wherein the content information is not to be multiplexed on the analog video signal.
[0046] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the third embodiment of the present invention. The same reference numerals as in FIG. 1 denote the same parts in FIG. 3 . A digital STB 11 incorporates an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 24 .
[0047] The HDD 24 can convert an analog video signal having content information multiplexed, which is output from a closed caption data insertion circuit 16 , into digital information and record it on a hard disk 24 a.
[0048] When the digital STB 11 incorporates the HDD 24 , for example, a program that is being watched can be temporarily recorded, and later, stored on a tape or disk as needed. Multiple functions can be offered to a user.
[0049] FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the fourth embodiment of the present invention. The same reference numerals as in FIG. 1 denote the same parts in FIG. 4 . A monitor 25 having a caption decoder 25 a is incorporated in the above-described digital STB 11 , thereby constructing a digital television receiver 26 .
[0050] In this case, an analog video signal having content information multiplexed, which is output from a closed caption data insertion circuit 16 , is supplied to the monitor 25 so that the program and content information are displayed.
[0051] As described above, the present invention can be applied not only to the digital STB 11 but also to the digital television receiver 26 . When the digital television receiver 26 is used, a monitor 21 need not be connected to a line 20 to which the analog video signal is output.
[0052] FIG. 5 shows the fifth embodiment of the present invention. The same reference numerals as in FIG. 1 denote the same parts in FIG. 5 . A digital STB 11 incorporates a memory 27 which stores the ID (identify) of its own.
[0053] A memory card 28 as a portable recording medium held by a user can be attached to the digital STB 11 . The memory card 28 stores ID information unique to the user who holds the card.
[0054] A closed caption data insertion circuit 16 multiplexes, on an analog video signal, both or one of the ID information stored in the memory 27 and the ID information stored in the memory card 28 as closed caption data together with content information.
[0055] According to the fifth embodiment, even when an analog video signal output from the digital STB 11 is illegally copied and put onto the market, the digital STB 11 used for the illegal copy or the user who is liable for the illegal copy can be specified by displaying the ID information multiplexed on the analog video signal as closed caption data.
[0056] FIG. 6 shows the sixth embodiment of the present invention. The same reference numerals as in FIG. 1 denote the same parts in FIG. 6 . A closed caption data insertion circuit 16 multiplexes, on an analog video signal, both or one of ID information stored in a memory 27 and ID information stored in a memory card 28 as closed caption data. With this arrangement as well, the same effect as in the fifth embodiment can be obtained.
[0057] A known technique related to a measure against illegal copy is disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2000-358227. In this technique, an analog video signal is scrambled, and key information/authentication information and the like are exchanged between a sender and a receiver. This technique does not suggest the technique described in the fifth or sixth embodiment, i.e., multiplexing ID information on an analog video signal as closed caption data.
[0058] The techniques described in the first to sixth embodiments can be arbitrarily selected and appropriately combined within the range without hindrance.
[0059] 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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This invention provides a digital broadcast receiving apparatus which receives a digital broadcast, generates an analog video signal, and extracts content information from the received digital broadcast. The content information is multiplexed on the analog video signal as closed caption data and output.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus for treating wood chips to enhance liquor penetration in subsequent pulping operations. More particularly, the present invention relates to destructuring apparatus in which chips are passed between closely spaced rolls whose surfaces are aggressively contoured for causing chips to be cracked by compressive forces.
In the production of paper from wood fibers, the wood fibers must be freed from the raw wood. In one widely used method, this is accomplished by cooking the wood fibers in a solution until the lignin which holds the fibers together is dissolved. It is desirable to minimize damage to fibers from over cooking. If wood chips of non-uniform thickness are sent to the digester, some chips will be over cooked before thicker chips are completely digested. In order to achieve rapid and uniform digestion by the cooking liquor, the wood, after it has been debarked, is passed through a chipper which reduces the raw wood to chips on the order of one inch to four inches long. The chipper tends to produce a large percentage of over-thick chips which, after separation on a bar screen, must normally be reprocessed through a slicer to reduce them to the desired thickness. This reprocessing through a slicer has the undesirable effect of creating excessive sawdust and pins. The production of sawdust and splinters reduces the overall yield of fibers from a given amount of raw wood. Because the cost of the raw wood is a major contributor to the cost of paper produced, re-slicing the oversized chips incurs a considerable cost.
An alternative to re-slicing over-thick wood chips is a process known as "destructuring" the chips. The chips are fed through opposed rollers which have aggressively contoured surfaces, for example surfaces formed with an array of pyramid-shaped projections. Compressing the chips as they pass through the nip of the rollers produces longitudinal fractures along the grain of the wood. The cracks induced in the chips allow the cooking liquor to penetrate the interior of the chip, thus effectively reducing the chip's thickness. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,953,795 and 5,385,309, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference, teach the construction of rolls which destructure the wood chips by cracking them preferentially in the direction of the grain.
Improvements in chip destructuring technology which reduce acquisition costs and simplify maintenance and installation would further improve the advantages provided by chip destructuring machines.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The chip destructuring device of this invention provides for a single drive motor connected by a speed reducer directly to the shaft of one of the two rolls making up the destructuring device. One roll is dynamically positionable to open and close the nip formed between the rolls. The adjustably positionable roll is driven by a clutch mechanism created by tires which run engaged tread to tread. Each roll has a shaft positioned along the axis of the roll, and the rolls are mounted to a frame by bearings which engage the shafts. The frame supports the rolls, the drive motor, and speed reducer. The non-dynamic roll is driven directly through shaft coupling by the electric motor through the speed reducer. The dynamically positionable roll and the shaft on which it is supported are driven by the system of two tires, with one mounted to the shaft of the stationery roll and one mounted to the shaft of the dynamic roll. When the dynamically positionable roll is positioned close to the non-dynamic roll the tire mounted to the shaft of the dynamic roll engages the tire mounted to the static roll, resulting in the dynamic roll being brought up to speed with the rotation of the static roll.
By only driving the static roll directly, a chip destructuring device which requires fewer parts, fewer safety shields, and which eliminates all moving electrical connections is possible.
It is an feature of the present invention to provide a chip destructuring device having a reduced cost.
It is another feature of the present invention to provide a chip destructuring device with lower maintenance.
It is a further feature of the present invention to provide a chip destructuring device which is easier to manufacture and install.
Further objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the chip destructuring apparatus of this invention.
FIG. 2 is a side elevational cross-sectional view of the chip destructuring apparatus of FIG. 1 taken along section lines 2--2.
FIG. 3 is an isometric view of the destructuring rolls of the apparatus of FIG. 1 forming a nip.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring more particularly to FIGS. 1-3 wherein like numbers refer to similar parts, a chip destructuring apparatus 20 is shown in FIG. 1. The destructuring apparatus 20 has a frame 22 on which a first roll 24, and a second roll 26 are mounted. The first roll is supported on a shaft 28 and the shaft is supported on a drive side bearing 30 and an opposed bearing 32. The bearings 30, 32 which support the first roll are rigidly mounted to the frame. An electric motor 34 is also mounted to the frame and is coupled to a speed reducer 36 which is mounted to the frame and is in driving engagement with the shaft 28 of the first roll 24. Flexible couplings may be placed between the motor 34, and the speed reducer 36, and between the speed reducer and the first roll shaft 28 to accommodate small misalignments between the input and output of the speed reducer 36 and the motor shaft and the roll shaft 28.
Other approaches to mounting the drive motor include mounting it above the speed reducer and connecting it to the speed reducer with a v-belt drive. An inline speed reducer and an inline electric motor wherein the electric motor and the speed reducer are mounted by a bracket which extends from the frame is also possible. A parallel shaft, speed reducer such as those available from Falk Corporation, P.O. Box 492, Milwaukee, Wis. 53201-0492 may be the most cost effective.
In comparison to existing devices of similar size the destructuring apparatus 20 will have a motor driving the first roll 24 which has approximately twice the horsepower of a destructuring device in which both rolls are driven. Because the motor drives only the shaft 28, which does not move laterally on the frame 22, the use of drive belts can be eliminated.
The second roll 26 is mounted on a shaft 37 which is mounted to a first bearing 38 and a second bearing 40. The bearings 38, 40 slidably mount the second roll 26 to the frame 22. Hydraulic actuators 42 mounted between the frame and the bearings 38, 40 control movement of the second roll 26 toward and away from the first roll 24. Where the rolls 24, 26 most closely approach they form a nip 27, as best shown in FIG. 3. Wood chips 45 which pass through the nip 27 are engaged by a series of pyramids 44 which are formed on the surfaces 46, 48 of the rolls 24, 26. As shown in FIG. 2, the pyramids 44 grip and compress wood chips 45 as they pass through the nip 27. The compression of the wood chips 45 results in cracking preferentially along the grain of the wood.
Compressing the wood chips 45 as they pass through the nip 27 requires work to be done. The rate at which work is performed dictates the power required to compress the chips 45. The power necessary to compress the wood chips 45 is supplied by the drive motor 34 which drives the first roll 24 through a speed reducer 36.
The kinematics of a device which uses two opposed rolls to crush material between the rolls is as follows. The surfaces of the opposed rolls approach each other as they rotate through the nip. A particle or object, whether a stone or a wood chip, experiences a crushing force as the object approaches the nip, and because the rolls' sides slope away from the nip, the particle experiences a force away from the nip. Particles can be caused to pass through the nip either by increasing the diameter of the rolls forming the nip, or by increasing the frictional forces engaging the particles/wood chips with the rolls surfaces. For a chip destructuring device the wood chips are driven through the nip by aggressively contoured surfaces which also compress the chips so they crack along the grain of the wood.
Substantially all the work done on the wood chips which pass through the nip is a result of compressing the wood chips. The surface velocity of the rolls times the level of force necessary to crush the wood chips between the rolls equals the horsepower which must be supplied by the drive motor or motors.
If each roll is driven by a motor of identical size then each roll provides half the power necessary to crush the material passing through the nip between the rolls. If one roll is driven and the other is not, then the driven roll provides all power necessary to crush the material moving between the two rolls. The process does not require that power be transferred to the non-driven roll. This can be understood by considering the problem of cracking a nut with two hammers: If the nut is struck from both sides simultaneously by two hammers, both hammers contribute towards the energy necessary to crack the nut. On the other hand if one hammer is fixed to a support and the other hammer is swung with twice the force against the nut all the energy necessary to crack the nut is supplied by the moving hammer.
Another way to view the energy balance involved in crushing a wood chip between two rotating rolls is to consider where the work is applied. The energy which is applied in a chip destructuring device is completely utilized by the wood chips that pass through the destructuring device. If energy is being transferred through the chip all the work required to crush the chip is completed before energy is transfered to the non-driven roll.
Although the non-driven roll 26 does not require any drive power, it must rotate in sync with the driven roll 24 in order that the chips not be subjected to shear forces. The chips 45 passing through the nip 27 will rapidly cause the non-driven roll to accelerate to the angular velocity of the driven roll 24. However the acceleration of the non-driven roll takes place over a very short interval if wood chips are fed into the nip 27 created between the rolls 26, 24. Overly rapid acceleration of the non-driven roll can place high loads on the non-driven roll and its support structure. Therefore a mechanism 50 for gradually accelerating the non-driven roll is required. The mechanism shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes a first tire 52 mounted on the driven shaft 28 and a second tire 54 mounted on the non-driven shaft 37. The tires 52, 54 are sized so that they contact as the non-driven roll 26 is brought next to the driven roll 24 to form a nip 27 as shown in FIG. 3. The rolls 24, 26 do not actually touch but form an undulating line 56 where the roll surfaces most closely approach each other. The wood chips pass through this undulating line 56 of closest approach and are compressed and cracked.
The tires 52, 54 can be used to start both rolls while in engagement or to accelerate the non-driven roll 26 by movement of the non-driven roll into juxtaposition with the driven roll so that the tires engage and cause the non-driven roll to turn at the same angular rate as the driven roll 24.
The tires 52, 54 form a clutch mechanism 50 which has two important attributes: the power system does not need to move with the non-driven roll 26 and, at the same time, the power transmitted through the system forms a clutch which allows the direct engagement through a frictional system. Thus the non-driven roll 26 as it approaches the driven roll 24 experiences an acceleration force which can be controlled by how rapidly the non-driven roll approaches the driven roll 24 and has a maximum force governed by the maximum dynamic friction force between the engaging surfaces 62, 64 of the tires 52, 54.
The tires 52, 54 form clutch members which interact through a frictionally physical interaction to cause the non-driven roll 26 to rotate at the same angular rate as the driven roll 24. Thus when wood chips are introduced into the nip 27, a simple crushing action takes place without any significant shear.
The size, air pressure (if they are air filled) of the tires, as well as the coefficient of friction of the tire surfaces 62, 64, can be used to control the dynamics of the engagement between the tires 52, 54.
A frictional physical interaction is defined as the interaction between two rotatable mechanical systems which brings a non-rotating system into dynamic sync with a rotating system and which allows slippage between the two rotatable mechanical systems and employs an energy dissipation mechanism such as friction to limit maximum angular acceleration of the non-rotating system.
It should be understood that wherein the destructuring device 20 is shown with a frame constructed of tubular sections, for ease of manufacture and to take advantage of modern part-layout and computer controlled laser part cutting, the framework may be constructed of welded plate segments. An example of such manufacturing design is shown in "Rader DynaYield TM II Chip Conditioner" Brochure 9703 Printed May, 1997 and distributed by Rader Companies, a Division of Beloit Corporation.
It is understood that the invention is not limited to the particular construction and arrangement of parts herein illustrated and described, but embraces such modified forms thereof as come within the scope of the following claims.
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A single drive motor is connected by a speed reducer directly to the shaft of one roll of the two aggressive surfaced rolls which form a chip destructuring nip. One roll is dynamically positionable perpendicular to its axis of rotation to open and close the nip. Each roll turns on a shaft positioned along the axis of the roll which is mounted to a frame by bearings. Only the non-positionable roll is driven directly by the drive motor. The roll which is dynamically positionable is driven by a tire arrangement mounted about the axes of the rolls. Opposed tires mounted on the spaced apart parallel shafts form a clutch-like means for driving the dynamically positionable roll.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/970,738 filed Oct. 20, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,079,962 which is herein incorporated by reference.
TECHNICAL FIELD
The embodiments of the invention relate generally to an automated meter reading (AMR) system such as automated utility resource measurements, data collection, and exercise of control and notification, and more particularly to mobile or fixed AMR receivers for monitoring of utility consumption.
BACKGROUND
Historically the meter readings of the consumption of utility resources such as water, gas, or electricity has been accomplished manually by human meter readers at the customers' premises. The relatively recent advances in this area include collection of data by telephone lines, radio transmission, walk-by, or drive-by reading systems using radio communications between the meters and the meter reading devices. Although some of these methods require close physical proximity to the meters, they have become more desirable than the manual reading and recording of the consumption levels. Over the last few years, there has been a concerted effort to automate meter reading by installing fixed networks that allow data to flow from the meter to a host computer system without human intervention. These systems are referred to in the art as Automated Meter Reading (AMR) systems.
A mobile radio AMR system consists of three basic components: an Encoder-Receiver-Transmitter (ERT), a Data Collection Unit (DCU), and AMR Software. The ERT is a meter interface device attached to the meter, which either periodically transmits utility consumption data (“bubble-up” ERTs), or receives a “wake up” polling signal or a request for their meter information from a transceiver mounted in a passing vehicle or carried by the meter reader. The ERT, in response to a wake-up signal, broadcasts the meter number, the meter reading, and other information to the DCU, which is a mobile computer in, for example, the meter reading vehicle. The DCU collects the information from the ERTs for subsequent uploading into the AMR Software system. The AMR Software interfaces with the main system and updates the appropriate accounts of the billing system with the new meter readings.
Today's ERT signals are not synthesized and drift in frequency due to temperature changes, location of the ERT modules with respect to the other objects, and internal heating and pulling. The frequency shifts, in turn, create problems for a narrowband receiver. As such, wideband receivers are required to read ERTs, but wideband receivers are more prone to unwanted interference and other problems. One of the possible solutions for this problem is to synthesize the ERT signals as wideband signals. However, it is not possible to read a wideband ERT with a narrowband receiver.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 illustrates the basic elements and processes of a mobile AMR system.
FIG. 2 is a high level schematic diagram of the signal path within a typical AMR system.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the windowing, partitioning, overlaping, adding, and the FFT processing of the Weighted Overlap-Add (WOLA) method.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an application of four window functions in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of the proposed method in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Embodiments of the present invention relates generally to an AMR system such as automated utility resource measurements, data collection, and exercise of control and notification, and more particularly to AMR receivers that are adjustable to accept signals of different bandwidths. In light of the fact that there is certainly a need for a receiver that can easily and efficiently change its bandwidth to accommodate different transmitters while keeping the computational requirements relatively unchanged, the embodiments of this invention keep the signal processing computational requirements and complexity of the different bandwidths relatively constant. This is done by basic manipulation of the received data prior to Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) or, in particular, prior to Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) operations.
In the following description, several specific details are presented to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or in combination with or with other components, etc. In other instances, well-known implementations or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of various embodiments of the invention.
The terminology used in the description presented below is intended to be interpreted in its broadest reasonable manner, even though it is being used in conjunction with a detailed description of certain specific embodiments of the invention. Certain terms may even be emphasized below; however, any terminology intended to be interpreted in any restricted manner will be overtly and specifically defined as such in this Detailed Description section.
Reference throughout the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, implementation, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, uses of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, implementation, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.
FIG. 1 illustrates the basic elements and processes of a typical mobile AMR system. As illustrated in FIG. 1 , a passing data-collecting vehicle 102 first sends a wake-up signal 104 to each ERT, such as ERT 106 . Upon the receipt of the wake-up call 104 , each ERT transmits the required information 108 , which is subsequently received by a DCU 110 of the passing vehicle 102 . Afterward, the received ERT signal goes through several signal-processing steps and the embedded data is retrieved from it. Finally, the retrieved data may be uploaded from the DCU 110 to a main system or computer 112 for billing and other purposes.
In general, if a receiver, such as the one included in the DCU 110 , utilizes an N-point FFT to process a synthesized narrowband ERT signal, the same receiver may use an M×N-point FFT to process another ERT's signal with a bandwidth M times narrower. Alternatively, a receiver may use the same N-point FFT to merely process every K th point of the FFT output (where K is an integer multiple of 2), which is called “decimation” of the FFT.
FIG. 2 is a high level schematic diagram of a signal path within an AMR system. As depicted in FIG. 2 , a receiver 202 portion of the DCU 110 receives the ERT 106 transmitted signal 108 . As part of the receiving process the received signal is passed through a low-noise amplifier LNA before Radio Frequency (RF) filtering of the signal. The gain of the RF filtered signal will be subsequently controlled by passing it through an automatic gain controller AGC, after which the signal goes through a mixer and filtered again by an intermediate filter of 70 MHz. This signal is again amplified by an IF amplifier before being input to block 204 . After some pre-processing on the signal under block 204 (described below), such as sampling, scaling, parsing, and combining, the resulting data points go through some form of transformation such as under an FFT 206 . Subsequently, the transformed data is decoded and embedded information is deciphered under block 208 , to be later uploaded into the main system 112 . In block 208 , the digital signal processing (DSP) of the data comprises inputs from the channel correlator and an automatic gain controller, before the processed data becomes available on a serial port through a universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter UART.
Gumas, in his paper titled “Window-presum FFT achieves high-dynamic range, resolution”, which is incorporated by reference, mathematically shows that the mere computation of every M th point of an FFT output can be achieved by partitioning the M×N data points into M equal data groups (where M is an integer multiple of 2), overlapping and adding them together, and processing the resulting N data points by an N-point FFT. Furthermore, prior to such partitioning, the wideband signal can be multiplied by a window function to scale different segments of its spectrum. It is known to those skilled in the relevant arts that a windowed FFT serves as a filter bank of uniformly spaced and shaped digital filters, and the window itself is the filters' impulse response.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the windowing, partitioning, overlapping, adding, and the FFT processing of the Weighted Overlap-Add (WOLA) method. In FIG. 3 the sampled data 302 is loaded into an input buffer 304 . During the next step of the process, the data residing in the buffer 304 is multiplied by a weighting function 306 , which represents the windowing process, to produce multiplied data 308 . Subsequent to the multiplication of the buffer 304 data with the weighting function 306 , the multiplied data 308 is partitioned into M groups of data, each having N-data points. Afterward, the M groups are all overlapped and all corresponding data points of all groups are added together to form one resulting group with N-data points, 310 . This N-data-point group resulting from the addition process, 310 , will later enter an N-point FFT (block 312 ) before being decoded (block 314 ).
Embodiments of the present invention take advantage of this mathematical concept to process a range of narrow to wideband signals by a fixed N-point FFT while the entire computation process remains the same for all bandwidths (except for the value of a multiplier). Each multiplier is a windowing function, which is pre-calculated and stored in a memory. Therefore, the embodiments can process the signals of various bandwidths by performing the exact same operations except for using a different memory content in one of its steps. Therefore, with this method, a mere change of a multiplier adjusts the receiver bandwidth for receiving a wider- or a narrower-band signal.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the application of four window functions in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment an input buffer 304 is used to hold 4N input data points at all times, regardless of the input signal bandwidth, while an N-point FFT processes the data after it is multiplied by a weighting function, partitioned, overlapped, and added together. For example, if a narrow window is desired for an incoming wideband ERT signal, a window can be formed to only multiply the first N datapoints of the buffer while the other 3N points are multiplied by zeros (or very small numbers), 402 , before partitioning, overlapping, adding, and passing through the N-point FFT. If a wide window is desired for a narrowband ERT signal, a window can be formed to multiply the entire 4N datapoints, 406 , of the buffer before partitioning, overlapping, adding, and passing through the N-point FFT. Yet other windows can be formed to cover 2N data points of the buffer and multiply the rest by zeros or very small numbers, such as that shown at 404 .
According to this embodiment a fixed size input buffer (e.g. 4N) and a fixed size FFT process (N-point FFT) is used to process a wide range of bandwidths. In effect, this process can reduce any bandwidth by as much as 4 fold. All it requires is to address a memory containing a new pre-calculated window function to multiply with the buffer entries. Data oversampling may be considered to prevent problems such as aliasing.
FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of the proposed method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. At block 501 a data collecting unit, such as a DCU, receives the signal transmitted by a data transmitting unit, such as an ERT. At block 502 the received signal is sampled. At block 503 the sampled data enters into an input buffer; for example an M×N-point input buffer, where N is the FFT process size and M is an integer. At block 504 the buffer data content is multiplied by a window (weighting) function which may contain (M−1)N, (M−2)N, . . . , or (M−M)N zeros or very small numbers reflecting the bandwidth. At block 505 the multiplied data is parsed into M groups of N-point data. At block 506 the N-point data groups are combined together, such as being added together in a manner that: the 1 st , (N+1) th , (2N+1) th , . . . , [(M−1)N+1)] th points of the buffered data are added together and 2 nd , (N+2) th , (2N+2) th , . . . , [(M−1)N+2)] th points are added together and 3 rd , (N+3) th , (2N+3) th , . . . , [(M−1)N+3)] th points are added together, up to and including N th , (N+N) th , (2N+N) th , . . . , [(M−1)N+N)] th points of the buffered data. And, at the block 507 , the result of combining the segments is mathematically transformed to another domain, such as with an FFT process.
It is important to recognize that the different aspects of the present invention apply to both fixed and mobile receivers, and that the mention of one does not exclude the other. An example of a fixed receiver is an AMR system mounted on an erected pole to facilitate the meter reading of its surrounding utility customers.
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense, as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of “including, but not limited to.” Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,” and words of similar import, when used in this application, shall refer to this application as a whole and not to any particular portions of this application. Where the context permits, words in the above Detailed Description using the singular or plural number may also include the plural or singular number respectively. When the claims use the word “or” in reference to a list of two or more items, that word covers all of the following interpretations of the word: any of the items in the list, all of the items in the list, and any combination of the items in the list.
The above detailed description of embodiments of the invention is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed above. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, the invention are described above for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the invention, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. Also, the teachings of the invention provided herein can be applied to other systems, not necessarily the system described above. The elements and acts of the various embodiments described above can be combined to provide further embodiments.
All of the above patents and applications and other references, including any that may be listed in accompanying filing papers, are incorporated herein by reference. Aspects of the invention can be modified, if necessary, to employ the systems, functions, and concepts of the various references described above to provide yet further embodiments of the invention.
Changes can be made to the invention in light of the above “Detailed Description.” While the above description details certain embodiments of the invention and describes the best mode contemplated, no matter how detailed the above appears in text, the invention can be practiced in many ways. Therefore, implementation details may vary considerably while still being encompassed by the invention disclosed herein. As noted above, particular terminology used when describing certain features or aspects of the invention should not be taken to imply that the terminology is being redefined herein to be restricted to any specific characteristics, features, or aspects of the invention with which that terminology is associated. In general, the terms used in the following claims should not be construed to limit the invention to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification, unless the above Detailed Description section explicitly defines such terms. Accordingly, the actual scope of the invention encompasses not only the disclosed embodiments, but also all equivalent ways of practicing or implementing the invention under the claims. For example the invention is not limited to AMR.
While certain aspects of the invention are presented below in certain claim forms, the inventors contemplate the various aspects of the invention in any number of claim forms. For example, while only one aspect of the invention is recited as embodied in a computer-readable medium, other aspects may likewise be embodied in a computer-readable medium. Accordingly, the inventors reserve the right to add additional claims after filing the application to pursue such additional claim forms for other aspects of the invention.
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The present disclosure introduces a simple method for an Automated Meter Reading (AMR) system for determining quantities of a consumed utility product including electric, gas, and water service, using wireless data transfer. To compensate for the frequency drifts of the transmitters, the embodiments of this invention, with minimum pre-processing of the received data, allow for on-the-fly adjustability of the receiver bandwidth by merely changing a pre-calculated weighting function. As such, it is possible to use a fixed size Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT), or in particular a fixed N-point Fast Fourier Transform, for signals of different bandwidths.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation-in-part application of copending application Ser. No. 328,818, filed Feb. 1, 1973, now abandoned and entitled "Premium Interactive Communication System."
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a wideband communication system for television signals which provides simultaneous two-way digital data communication between a central unit or distribution location and the various remote locations or subscriber units. The invention is particularly applicable to closed circuit and community or apartment antenna television systems, especially where automatic control and processing of for example, subscriber accounts and billing, subscriber requests and system monitoring or "polling" is desired. It is equally suitable for television antenna systems in, for example, hotels or hospitals where in addition to the distribution of television signals there is a requirement for automatic processing and accounting of patron service requests, room or patron status conditions and the like.
The first community antenna television systems were used in geographic areas where satisfactory television reception was not possible without the use of highly elevated or advantageously located directional and high gain antennas. The poor signal reception in these areas was usually due to adverse surrounding terrain resulting in signal shadow zones and/or excessive distance to the nearest television broadcast station. Because it was economically impractical for each television set owner in these fringe areas to install and maintain a suitable antenna system, a single advantageously located antenna array feeding a cable network for supplying each individual subscriber with a usable television signal came into use. In these early systems, the subscribers were usually limited in number as was the number of different television signals available for distribution; and as a result, the systems were simple in nature and the initial and recurring costs were minimal and subscriber fees and billing, if any, did not create problems.
With the increase in the number of television broadcasters and the greater increase in the number of television owners, distribution systems have become much more complex and costly. Illustrative of the present state of the art in these complex distribution systems are the patents to Face et. at. U.S. Pat. No. 3,668,307 and Moses U.S. Pat. No. 3,647,976. In addition, the realization that such systems have advantages in highly populated areas even where a substantial number of free television broadcast stations already exist results in systems which must serve many thousands of subscribers and distribute a considerable amount of program including special material requiring additional subscriber fees for its use or viewing. Such complex distribution systems require considerable supervision and control preferably as foolproof and automatic as possible and with a maximum of independence upon necessary subscriber actions.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a cable television system which distributes either or both of commercial broadcast or "free" program material and "special pay" or "premium" program material.
It is another object of the present invention to provide for two way digital communication between subscribers and the network central unit simultaneous with the distribution of program material.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a cable television signal distribution system which operation and functions are computer controlled and supervised.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a cable television distribution system which allows the subscriber to select at his discretion any of the several services provided by the system.
It is another object of the invention to provide a distribution system which performs accounting and billing functions for the type and amount of services utilized by each individual subscriber.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a cable distribution system which identifies subscribers in the system and accepts and facilitates commands or program requests from such subscribers.
Another object of the present invention is to provide each subscriber in the system with a specific time slot or group of time slots from which subscriber identification and message communication is possible without the need for special address communications.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a subscriber control unit which recognizes its particular time slot by the counting of time slots.
Still another object of the present invention is the utilization of a time format which is digitally clocked and referenced to the commercial television scanning frequencies.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a television system, the "pay" or "premium" program material of which is scrambled or encoded to prevent unauthorized subscribers from benefiting therefrom and to periodically rearrange the coding sequence to further guard against unauthorized use.
The complexity of a television distribution system depends to a great extent on the amount of automation and control desired. In small systems with a limited number of remote locations and a limited amount of program material, it would not be economically feasible to install a highly automated and complex system such as those of the aforementioned patents when such a complex system is not required initially even though the more sophisticated system might be advantageous at a later date because of the increase in the number of subscribers and/or available program material and services.
Therefore it is another object of the present invention to provide a cable television system, the configuration of which is readily adaptable to expansion of control and function as the need arises.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an initially small scale economical installation having two way communication capabilities and premium program encoding which may later by expanded to meet growing subscriber needs without obsoleting the initial installation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The foregoing as well as numerous other objects and advantages of the present invention are achieved by providing a distribution system comprising a network central station including a computer, computer interface, input-output equipment, and appropriate timing, encoding, and transmitting equipment for providing a plurality of down-stream television, data or other channels. The central station supplies these signals to a tree-organized wideband communication link such as a co-axial cable network which connects customer subscribers to the distribution system. Each subscriber's location comprises a subscriber control unit which interfaces the system with the subscriber's television set and perhaps other subscriber input-output equipment. The central unit may also include FM audio entertainment transmitters, FM data transmitters and receivers, and premium FM or television channel encoders. A clock timing generator is provided at the central unit to synchronize the entire distribution system at a commercial television scanning frequency related rate.
The present invention provides a two way cable television communication system which transmits video, audio, and digital data concurrently and provides a high speed time slot organized system which allows subscriber identification without the necessity of using digital identification preambles (addresses) for each subscriber.
It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to reduce the cost of a two way cable television system to its subscribers.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The aforementioned and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description thereof when considered in conjunction with the drawings wherein:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the overall system broadly and the timing and interfacing at the central unit in detail.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the network central unit.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an illustrative one of the subscriber control units.
FIG. 4 illustrates a preferred allocation of frequencies in the broadband communication link.
FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of the apparatus comprising addressing and other timing decoders in the subscriber unit.
FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram of the apparatus comprising control logic in the subscriber unit.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the alphanumeric electronics in an expanded subscriber unit.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
General System Description
Considering first FIG. 1, the overall system of the present invention is seen to comprise a mini-computer 11, the speed and storage capacity of which is tailored to the size and complexity of services to be offered in a specific installation. The computer communicates with typical input-output equipment 13 and by way of an interface unit 15 with the timing and encoding equipment of the central unit or so-called "head end" in a manner to be described in greater detail subsequently. The head end ultimately supplies a broad band of radio frequency signals to a trunk line 17 which distributes those signals by a tree-organized wideband communication link such as a co-axial cable to a plurality of subscriber units each of which comprises a subscriber control unit 19 and a standard television receiver 21. In addition to the television receiver, the subscriber may have coupled to his subscriber control unit, a standard FM radio, keyboard input, or virtually any other input-output device desired.
Each subscriber control unit 19 counts time intervals and recognizes its own unique time-slot for duplex data messages. This structuring allows mode time-sharing for one of many service functions. One can selectively enable special video and RF programming, special device control and message communications or partly line connections for video messages by way of a television set. Television frame related timing rates are used to accomplish a uniform locked network clocked system which is referenced at the central unit to provide synchronism for television raster related services. A locked digitally clocked time-slot sequence exists between the central unit and all of the subscriber units for an overall subscriber cycle time which is fixed, contiguous and repetitive. For example, 525 subscriber addresses exist in a standard television frame. Each subscriber control unit responds to a specific unique clock counted time-slot which is permanently set in the subscriber control unit and allows for the transmission and reception of brief duplex control messages of, for example, 16 bits during that subscriber's time-slot. For this example, the control bit rate would be 16 times the addressed clock rate of 15,734 cycles or 251.5 KHz. Each subscriber's address would thus correspond to a numbered horizontal raster line in one of, for example, 24 television frames to allow for 12,600 subscribers.
For downstream operation from the control unit the data may be Manchester encoded onto a phase shift keyed modulated radio frequency carrier, the frequency of which is harmonically related to the control data rate, the time-slot rate and the system frame rate. The Manchester encoded data form two equal energy side band spectrums about the virtual radio frequency pilot carrier and each subscriber terminal is provided with a phase locked receiver which tracks the virtual carrier to recover a 4.027 MHz clock signal which is divided down to the locked system clock rate of 251.5 KHz. The control data clock signal, address clock rate, and the field and frame rates may then be unambiguously obtained by binary divisions and data or system reset control of the binary counters. The digital modulation is separately extracted from the phase locked loop by side band demodulation and thus the data output is independent of the system clock rate and it is possible to run the data rate for digital terminal services at a higher rate than the 251.5 KHz system clock rate. This feature substantially enhances the system data handling capability.
The upstream transmitter encodes subscriber terminal data at the same clock rate of 251.5 KHz and the upstream radio frequency carrier is clocked by the downstream clock rate to locate it in the upstream spectrum. The upstream control and data information may be phase or frequency shift key modulated about the upstream pilot signal.
The cable network has many branches reaching into homes, complexes and various businesses and bi-directional signal distribution is accomplished by co-axial cable layouts of main trunks and feeder lines. Because of cable losses, the system may employ frequency selective line extender amplifiers to maintain uniform signal levels.
While the system operates on a synchronous basis related to the television synchronizing rate, the mini-computer 11 may be asynchronous therewith with the computer interface 15 providing buffering between the computer and the remainder of the system.
System Timing
The television synchronization related timing is organized so that a subscriber time-slot corresponds to one horizontal line of the television raster; however, it could also be organized to relate to any multiple or submultiple number of horizontal lines. With a one horizontal line time-slot, the subscriber time-slot is approximately 64 microseconds in length. Under the assumption of 24 frames for each complete addressing cycle, 12,600 subscribers may be identified and one of these subscriber time-slots may be reserved for resetting all of the subscriber address counters by an exclusive, for example, 16 bit message from the central unit.
Referring to FIG. 1 in greater detail, studio equipment or an incoming network program will provide a composite video signal on line 23 along with a horizontal sync reference signal on line 25 and a vertical sync reference signal on line 27. The horizontal sync reference signal is supplied to a time discriminator 24 which also receives a 15,734 Hz output signal from a phase locked loop. The loop comprises the time discriminator 24, a low pass filter 27, a voltage controlled oscillator 29 and the several dividers 31, 33, and 35 along with their necessary counter reset connections which are coupled to block 37. The voltage controlled oscillator 29 is controlled by the filtered time discriminator output or error signal and runs at a frequency which is 16 × 2 × 16 × 15,734 or actually 8.0558 MHz. The output of this voltage controlled oscillator when multiplied by 14 provides the 112 MHz downstream pilot frequency for the transmitter 39. A 0.5 MHz signal is provided from the first divider 31 for the Manchester encoding and phase shift keyed modulation of the pilot carrier by way of encoder 41. The next divide by 2 counter 33 yields the 251.5 KHz bit rate for the digital data operations and the signal may also be used to interface the duplex data into and out of the mini-computer 11 whose operations are asynchronous with the remainder of the system and which may be organized for parallel word operations. The next divide by 16 counter 35 provides an output for synchronizing the subscriber time-slot operations between the subscribers and the input synchronization reference signal.
The vertical sync reference appearing on line 27 is supplied to a frame field and master reset timing loop which operates in a manner similar to the previously discussed horizontal sync loop, however, without a voltage controlled oscillator. This loop operates to synchronize the interrelated timing requirements by programming of reset commands to the dividers 43 and 45.
A data multiplexer 47 receives digital data from the character data buffer 49, control data from the computer interface and various timing control signals to generate the downstream data output. This data is Manchester encoded in the encoder 41 for transmission to the subscribers. With an assumed 16 bit word message, the last time-slot in a subscriber cycle should contain a master reset message which sets all subscriber terminal counters to zero so that each can count up to its unique time-slot count. The first three 16 bit words coming from the program sequence generator 51 may convey the encoding sequences employed for commutation or scrambling of the controlled access video programming and the following successive 16 bit time-slot messages convey control and data communication to successive subscribers and, for example, may include control data derived from computer routines resulting from an actual request by that subscriber during a previous cycle.
The time-slotted subscriber cycles are contiguous and continue for as long as the network is active. When a control data message is sent to a subscriber during his time-slot, the subscriber unit is so equipped that the subscriber can respond concurrently during that same time-slot with, for example, a request data message. The contiguous data stream to all these subscribers is thus matched with a contiguous data stream arriving at the network central location from individual subscribers which is identified as upstream data.
The radio frequency combiner 53 is a frequency diplexer which combines multiple signal channels onto and from the cable. Incoming signals from this combiner are supplied to an FM receiver 55 which may, for example, receive a frequency shift keyed pilot carrier containing the upstream data. When the upstream signal is demodulated and decoded according to well known techniques in the data decoder 57, it is then distributed by way of the multiplexer circuit 59 which under control of the computer by way of computer interface 15 functions to route the upstream data to either the computer interface of the character data buffer 49 to be interfaced with further information systems such as display or additional input-output equipment.
Network Central Unit
A more general view of the central unit will be found in FIG. 2 wherein reference numerals from FIG. 1 have been carried over to identify substantially identical units within the equipment. The FM upstream receiver identified as 56 in FIG. 2 incorporates the functions of the data decoder 57 and multiplexer 59 of FIG. 1 for the sake of simplicity.
In FIG. 2, the free and commercial television channels, for example, as depicted in FIG. 4, are supplied to the radio frequency combiner 53 from the RF modulators 61 in known manner. For premium and restricted programming, premium baseband video, synchronizing signals, and sound are first modulated on individual intermediate frequency carriers in the IF modulators 63. There are, for example, three to nine secure IF channels illustrated in the block 63 with the encoding occurring in groups of three such channels. The intermediate frequency carriers from modulators 63 are commuted within each group of three and the commutated intermediate frequency carriers modulate three radio frequency modulators in the channel switching and RF modulators block 65. This scrambling may, for example, occur by providing a first television program on one of the channels for a certain number of fields, then commuting this program to a second channel for another certain number of fields after which the program is commuted to yet the third channel for another certain number of fields after which the sequence is repeated. Two other television programs would, of course, similarly be stepped through each of the communication channels so that a normal television receiver receiving signals on one of these channels would see a few frames of one program followed by a few frames of the second and of the third programs, none of which would be of sufficient duration to be intelligible. The scrambling sequence may be periodically changed by the head end computer.
The timing generator 67 uses the synchronizing signals from one of the premium program channels to reference all clocking and timing operations for the entire network including the synchronizing signals for the remaining premium and the free television signals. The output of the timing generator 67 controls the encoding scrambling rate, the subscriber addressing, the message bit rate and references the two data modulated pilot carrier frequencies.
The mini-computer 11 performs network management and control functions for all the subscribers as well as for the head end. This involves a closed loop cycle of subscriber status monitoring, internal bookkeeping and data processing, and management of subscriber initiated messages by means of a control message to each subscriber. Time sharing processes are employed to perform different functions at different times. In addition to the network control functions, the mini-computer 11 computes premium program billing according to time and a program rate schedule, maintains the required accounting records, tabulates network loading when a program viewing analysis is desired, determines access to restricted programming and lists the addresses and reactions from those subscribers watching programs where preference polling responses were requested. This can, of course, be co-ordinated by way of the operator input-output equipment 13.
The system has optional provision for the transmission for the transmission and reception of alphanumeric characters and in FIGS. 2 and 3 those blocks indicated in dotted lines such as the downstream and upstream character data buffers 49 are optional and may be employed when alphanumeric character transmission and display is desired.
Subscriber Control Unit
The subscriber control unit 19 of FIG. 1 is the interface device between the CATV cable network and a subscriber's terminal equipment which in the simplest embodiment will be merely the subscriber's television receiver, however, in special applications it may interface with or be a part of dedicated data handling equipment for any of several special applications. As illustrated in FIG. 3, a 12 button touch key control 69 would be the only required subscriber input device and his TV receiver would be the only subscriber output device. Optional additional equipment illustrated in FIG. 3 includes an alphanumeric keyboard input device 71 and a converter 73 for converting the seven TV super band channels illustrated in FIG. 4 to a frequency compatible with the television receiver.
The subscriber control unit illustrated in the block diagram of FIG. 3 has a phase shift keyed receiver 75 which operates as a coherent data receiver with a phase locked loop to recover the network clocking signal and to keep signal data in synchronism with the head end timing. The Manchester encoded data arriving from the network central unit is modulated on the 112 MHz pilot carrier and since this modulation is either a zero or a one, there is no actual signal at the carrier frequency and the data and clock signals exist totally in the two side bands about the absent carrier. The Manchester encoding process is a process where the basic information bit rate is converted to a signal at double that bit rate with, for example, a 1,0 pair representing a 1 and a 0,1 pair representing a 0 and is a digital data modulation technique which splits the data power spectrum equally among the upper and lower side bands thus allowing recovery of the virtual carrier. The phase locked loop receiver tracks the virtual carrier narrow band fashion for transmission reliability and its output can then be used to reconstitute the 251.5 KHz clock signal which is the reference or synchronous TV related network timing. The phase locked loop detector output recovers the 8 MHz synchronous clock signal on line 77 which after division by 32 provides the digital data clocking signal. The digital signal itself is separately recovered from the same phase detector by way of a low pass 1 megacycle filter, for example, and that signal is then Manchester decoded to 251.5 KHz to convey the downstream digital communication data on line 79.
In order to completely establish unambiguous communication from the network central unit, a master reset decoder 81 is employed in each subscriber control unit to reset all of the counters in that subscriber control unit upon the occurrence of a reset signal which as noted earlier, may be 16 consecutive ones in the last time-slot of a subscriber cycle. This master reset signal operates to initialize the counter chain to zero by way of the input lines marked with a similar R to the four counter stages 83, 85, 87, and 89 and the old-new response latch 91.
Each subscriber will be assigned a unique time-slot and except for special data communication applications no two subscribers will have this same time-slot address. Normally, each subscriber control unit will be preset to decode its time-slot, for example, by a number of switches or shorting jumpers in the decoder circuitry 93.
Referring to FIG. 5, the decoder circuitry 93 according to one embodiment is shown. The binary signal contents of the individual cells of counters 85, 87, and 89 specify the current time-slot which is equivalent to the subscriber unit address. When the binary signal contents of the counters reach a specified value, the unique time slot or address associated with the subscriber unit is determined. The binary logic signals of the individual cells of counter 85 are supplied to input terminals of logic AND gate 124 via lines 120 through 121; the binary logic signals of the individual cells of counter 87 are supplied to input terminals of logic AND gate 129; and the binary logic signals of the individual cells of counter 89 are applied to input terminals of logic AND gate 134. In order to change logic "0" signals to logic "1" signals for activation of AND gates 124, 129, and 134, inverting amplifiers 122 through 123, 127 to 128 and 132 to 133 can be employed. However, many counters have inverse signal terminals as well as direct signal terminals associated with individual counter cells, and the inverse signal terminals can be utilized in place of the inverting amplifiers. When the binary logic signals corresponding to the specified number determining the address is present in the counters 85, 87, and 89, logic "1" signals will appear at the output terminals of gates 124, 129, and 134. These logic "1" signals as well as a signal from the clock are applied to input terminals of logic AND gate 135. When the predetermined address is in counters 85, 87, and 89, a valid address signal is applied to an output terminal of logic AND gate 135, allowing data to be exchanged between the subscriber unit and the head end equipment.
The remaining apparatus of FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment in which several timing periods can be utilized for the exchange of information. Logic AND gate 140 has applied to input terminals binary logic signals from preselected cells of buffer 97. These signals are applied to gate 140 via lines 136 through 137 and as with the addressing apparatus inverting amplifier 138 through 139 can be employed to establish the presence of a logic "0" in a cell of buffer 97 at an input terminal of gate 140. Buffer 97 can, in some applications, have an inverse signal terminal available for each buffer cell, obviating the need for inverting amplifiers 138 through 139. When the contents of the preselected buffer cells have preselected binary signals, a logic "1" signal is applied to an output terminal of gate 140 setting latch 141. The setting of latch 141 causes a signal to be applied to register 142. Upon receiving the latch signal, register 142 loads in the individual cells the contents of preestablished cells of the buffer register 97 via lines 143 through 144. The contents of the register 142 can now be interpretted as a number. The output signal of latch 141 is also applied to an input terminal of logic AND gate 145. Another input terminal of gate 145 is coupled to the clock signal. The clock signal is also applied to counter 147, and the counter 147 increments one count for each clock pulse. Comparator 148 compares the contents of counter 147 with register 142. As long as the contents of the comparator and the register are not the same, a logic "0+ signal is applied to an output terminal coupled to an inverting amplifier 146. The output signal of the inverting amplifier 146 is applied to an input terminal of gate 145. A valid address signal is applied to an output terminal of gate 145 when a positive clock pulse, a latch signal, and a logic "1" signal is available from inverting amplifier 146. When the contents of register 142 are the same as the contents of counter 147, a logic "1" signal at the output terminal of the comparator resets latch 141 and register 142 and removes the valid address signal. As will be clear to those skilled in the art, a wide variety of apparatus can be employed to control the transfers of data from the head end apparatus to the subscriber unit in a manner similar to that described above.
In some special applications these switches might instead be a shift register which in addition to its normal preset address decoding could be signal controlled from the network central unit to line the subscriber control unit up with another subscriber control unit for long term controlled data communication. However, in normal operation decoder circuitry 93, which includes logic circuits with timing provided generally by the 251 KHz clock signal, supplies a valid address signal for the duration of a count in counters 85, 87, and 89 corresponding to the address of the subscriber control unit. That is, appropriate signals in counters 85, 87, and/or 89 are combined to produce a valid address signal. In summary, no address data is transmitted in the present system but rather every subscriber control unit is started counting by the master reset code and each identifies its own time-slot by having counted up to the prescribed predetermined value.
Gate 95 in FIG. 3 in response to a signal from the time-slot decoding circuitry 93, gates the 251 KHz clock signal to a pair of 16 bit data buffer registers 97 and 99 and basically identifies this particular subscriber control unit time-slot and causes the upstream data buffer 99 to transmit its contents by way of the frequency shift keyed transmitter 101 to the control unit and to accept the incoming information on line 79 into the downstream data buffer 97. The downstream message is further adapted to announce entry of a new control message into the buffer 97 when a change of service has been requested. This accomplishes a latched service operation and makes muting for time-slot borrowing possible.
The upstream data buffer 99 collects subscriber request and control monitoring data which is transmitted during the proper subscriber time-slot of each subscriber cycle. When the message goes upstream the first bit thereof indicates the data as a new request or as an old status indication. The data is shifted out of the register 99 by the valid address gated clock signal which may also turn the transmitter 101 on. The controls associated with the subscriber control unit normally consists of a twelve button touch key control 69.
The apparatus controlling the messages transferred from the subscriber unit to the head end apparatus resides in the control logic 105 shown in FIG. 6. By way of illustration, assume that there are three types of messages to be delivered to the head end apparatus, error data applied to input data lines 150 through 151 of control logic 105, vote request, i.e. status request data applied to input data lines 152 through 153 of control logic 105 and subscriber request data applied from touch key control 69 to input data lines 154 through 155 of control logic 105. The vote or status request lines are coupled to apparatus indicating the operating status of the subscriber unit. The error data lines are coupled to individual cells of the 16-bit downstream buffer register 97. The format of data being transferred by the head end equipment, determined by control logic 105 is as follows: Output lines 156 through 157 of control logic 105 apply binary logic signals to associated cells of buffer 99 reserved for identifying code data specifying the nature of the accompanying message data; output lines 158 through 159 of control logic 105 is applied binary signals to associated cells of buffer 99 at positions reserved for the message or information part of the transfer; and output lines 160 through 161 of control logic 105 apply binary signal to positions of buffer 99 reserved for error identification of information transferred from the subscriber unit to the head end unit. Upon determination by parity diagnostics 169 that an error has occurred in the transmission of information from the head end apparatus to the subscriber unit, a positive logic "1" signal is applied to logic AND gate 176. A positive signal is thereafter applied by gate 176 to an input terminal of inverting amplifier 163, an input terminal of logic AND gate 165, a first input terminal of encoding apparatus 168 and two input terminals of logic AND gates 170 through 171. Input terminals of gates 170 through 171 are coupled to input lines 150 through 151 respectively. A positive logic signal applied to gate 176 applies a negative logic signal to input terminals of logic AND gate 177 and logic AND gate 162 thereby disabling those gates. The application of a logic signal to gates 170 through 171 enables the application of error data carried by lines 150 through 151 to cell of buffer register 99 associated with output lines 158 through 159 and 160 through 161. The activation of the gate 176 by the parity diagnostic apparatus has the highest priority of the message types in the present embodiment. When the vote request latch identifies a status request of the operation of the subscriber unit by the head end apparatus, a positive logic signal is applied to an input terminal of logic AND gate 176. A second input terminal of gate 162 receives a positive logic signal from the output terminal of inverting amplifier 163 unless there is a positive logic signal at the output terminal of gate 176. When positive logic signals are applied to the input terminals of gate 177, then the output terminal of gate 177 applies a positive logic signal to a second input terminal of encoding apparatus 168, an input terminal of inverting amplifier 164, an input terminal of logic AND gate 166 and input terminals of logic AND gates 172 through 173 respectively. Other input terminals of gates 172 through 173 are coupled to input lines 152 through 153 to which status information is applied. A positive logic signal applied to the output terminal of gate 177 causes the status data signals of input lines 152 through 153 to be applied to the cells of buffer register associated with output line 158 through 159. In addition, these data signals are applied to parity generating apparatus 169 and the output terminals of parity apparatus 169 are coupled to output lines 160 through 161, which in turn are coupled to buffer register cells reserved for parity information. When the subscriber attempts to communicate with the head end apparatus via touch key control 69, a positive logic signal from control 69 is coupled, via logic AND gate 179, to an input terminal of logic AND gate 162. To prevent certain timing problems, gate 179 is activated only during a delay clock pulse, the clock pulse delayed by delay apparatus 178. When, in addition, the output terminals of gate 176 and gate 177 are negative logic signals, positive logic signals are applied to the remaining input terminals of gate 162 via inverting amplifier 163 and inverting amplifier 164, and a positive logic signal is applied to an output terminal of gate 162. A positive logic signal at the output terminal of gate 162 causes a positive logic signal to be applied to a third input terminal of encoding apparatus 168, an input terminal of gate 167 and input terminals of logic AND gates 174 through 175. The input terminal of encoding apparatus 168 activated by gate 176, 177, or 162, activates binary signal apparatus of 168 for applying signals to selected cells identifying the nature of the data in buffer 99. Other input terminals of gates 174 through 175 are coupled to input lines 154 through 155 which are in turn coupled to output terminals of key control 69. A positive logic signal at an output terminal of gate 162 causes binary signals from key control 69 to be applied to output lines 158 through 159 and ultimately to the message data cells of buffer register 99. In addition, the parity generating apparatus 169 produces appropriate parity bits for inclusion in the register cells associated with output lines 160 through 161. To prevent continuous repetition of information, the input clock pulses are applied to input terminals of gates 165, 166, and 167. The output terminals of gates 165, 166, and 167 return a binary signal to parity diagnostics apparatus 109, vote latch request 107, or key control 69, respectively, upon transmission of the data by the upstream buffer register 99 of the corresponding information the head end equipment. These binary signals indicate completion of the required data transmission. When the vote latch request and parity diagnostic signals are activated upon removal of the clock pulse from buffer register 97, no timing problems arise when the data is entered into the downstream buffer 97 once during every address cycle. For more frequent data reception by buffer 97, additional timing apparatus may be required to insure the integrity of the data transmitted from the upstream buffer register as will be clear to those skilled in the art.
When alphanumeric functions are included, this control panel may be replaced with the more complex 64 character control keyboard 71 in FIG. 7 to operate normal as well as alphanumeric services. The alphanumeric electronics 103 would then have to be added to the subscriber control unit. The control logic circuitry 105 which is analogous to but less complex than the alphanumeric electronics 103 will sense the operational status of the subscriber control unit such as an indication that the subscriber is viewing a premium program and will compose control functions for upstream request communications when the appropriate control keys are operated. The vote request latch and parity dignostics 107 and 109 allow the central unit to interrogate a subscriber unit during one subscriber cycle and receive a response to that interrogation during the next subscriber cycle.
The inclusion of the alphanumeric electronics and alphanumeric keyboard 71, the communication capability between the head end equipment and the subscriber unit is greatly enhanced. The alphanumeric electronics 103 includes a character generator 180, a memory 181, and a television field formatting and control apparatus 182. Signals from the head end equipment are entered in downstream data buffer register 97 and entered in television field formatting and control apparatus. The control apparatus 182 provides a consistent format to video scenes displaying the incoming information and converts the incoming data signals in a manner suitable for controlling character generator 180. Under control of the control apparatus, character generator 180, utilizing the data stored in memory 181 provides a video display of the information. Similarly, when the subscriber unit is used to enter data via alphanumeric keyboard 71, the control logic 105 enters the data in the upstream data buffer. Simultaneously, however, the alhanumeric data transmitted upstream can be stored in the memory. In that fashion, the communications from the head end equipment and the subscriber unit can be simultaneously displayed on the video display. In another embodiments, to expedite communication, the upstream data to be communicated to the head end equipment can be stored and edited until the message is complete. The contents of the memory can be transmitted continuously until the message is complete instead of utilizing the allotted address time slots.
The premium decoding converter 113 of FIG. 3 sequentially provides local oscillator signals of the appropriate frequency to track with a specified one of the premium programs. The sequence of frequencies required is provided by the sequence decode control unit 111 which as noted earlier may be periodically updated by a new code sequence transmitted from the control unit. This decoding sequence is initialy supplied to the subscriber control unit from the central unit in response to a request entered on the manual control 69 for that particular program.
Thus, while the present invention has been described with respect to a specific preferred embodiment, numerous modifications will suggest themselves to those of ordinary skill in the art, and accordingly the scope of the present invention is to be measured only by that of the appended claims.
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A cable television and communication system is disclosed which is suitable for community antenna television (CATV) closed circuit television (CCTV) and other types of signal distribution systems with service function applications such as for use in hotel, motel, apartment complexes, and the like. The system has the capability of distribution and subscriber reception of unencoded and encoded or limited access video and audio programs with simultaneous two way digital data communication. The subscriber units are interconnected by a tree-organized wideband communication link such as co-axial cable system with a network central unit. Subscriber unit identification control and data exchange is accomplished by the use of a high speed time-slot organized format with each subscriber being assigned a predetermined unique television synchronization related time-slot. The central unit utilizes a small digital computer which functions to provide network supervision and management of subscriber requests, accounting, billing and other processing such as viewing analysis. The system utilizes a modular configuration which allows for a low cost and simple initial installation capable of being later expanded to a more sophisticated version.
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REFERENCE TO PRIORITY DOCUMENT
This application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/548,791 entitled “Methods and Devices for Blocking Flow Through Collateral Pathways in the Lung”, filed Feb. 27, 2004. Priority of the filing date of Feb. 27, 2005 is hereby claimed, and the disclosure of the Provisional Patent Application is hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND
Various devices can be used to achieve the bronchial isolation of one or more selected regions of the lung. Pursuant to a lung region bronchial isolation process, at least one flow control device (also referred to as a bronchial isolation device) is implanted within one or more bronchial passageways that provide fluid flow to and from the lung region to thereby “isolate” the lung region. The lung region is isolated in that fluid flow to and from the lung region is regulated or blocked through the bronchial passageway(s) in which the device is implanted.
For example, the flow of fluid (gas or liquid) past the device in the inhalation direction can be prevented while allowing flow of fluid in the exhalation direction, or the flow of fluid past the implanted device in both the inhalation and exhalation directions can be prevented. The flow control devices can comprise, for example, one-way valves, two-way valves, occluders or blockers, ligating clips, glues, sealants, sclerosing agents, etc.
It should be appreciated that even with the implanted isolation devices properly deployed, air can in certain circumstances flow into the isolated lung region via a collateral pathway. This can result in the diseased region of the lung still receiving air even though the isolation devices were implanted into the direct pathways to the lung. Collateral flow can be, for example, air flow that flows between segments of a lung, or it can be, for example, air flow that flows between lobes of a lung, as described in more detail below.
Collateral flow into an isolated lung region can make it difficult to achieve a desired flow dynamic for the lung region. Moreover, it has been shown that as the disease progresses, the collateral flow throughout the lung can increase, which makes it even more difficult to properly isolate a diseased lung region by simply implanting flow control valves in the bronchial passageways that directly feed air to the diseased lung region.
Given that the lung can have collateral gas flow pathways in the lung that could keep the isolated portion of the lung inflated, it is desirable to occlude these collateral flow channels in order to allow the lung to collapse through absorption of the trapped gas, or by exhalation of the trapped gas out through implanted one-way or two-way valve bronchial isolation devices.
SUMMARY
Disclosed is a method of regulating fluid flow for a targeted lung region. The method comprises injecting a therapeutic agent into the targeted lung region. The therapeutic agent induces a reaction in lung tissue of the targeted lung region or in a collateral pathway to the lung region to reduce collateral fluid flow into the targeted lung region. In one aspect, the method additionally comprises deploying a bronchial isolation device in the direct pathway to regulate fluid flow to the targeted lung region through the direct pathway. The therapeutic agent can comprise, for example, a sclerosing agent that induces a reaction that causes sclerosis in the lung tissue.
Also disclosed is a method of regulating fluid flow for a targeted lung region. The method comprises reducing collateral fluid flow that flows through a collateral pathway to the targeted lung region. After reducing collateral flow to the targeted lung region, and direct fluid flow in a direct pathway is redirected. The direct pathway provides direct fluid flow to the targeted lung region.
Throughout this disclosure, reference is sometimes made to a “direct pathway” to a targeted lung region and to a “collateral pathway” to a targeted lung region. The term “direct pathway” refers to a bronchial passageway that branches directly or indirectly from the trachea and either (1) terminates in the targeted lung region to thereby directly provide air to the targeted lung region; or (2) branches into at least one other bronchial passageway that terminates in the targeted lung region to thereby directly provide air to the targeted lung region. The term “collateral pathway” refers to any pathway that provides air to the targeted lung region and that is not a direct pathway.
The term “direct” is used to refer to air flow that flows into or out of a targeted lung region via a direct pathway. Likewise, the term “collateral” is used to refer to fluid flow (such as air flow) that flows into or out of a targeted lung region via a collateral pathway.
The details of one or more embodiments are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows an anterior view of a pair of human lungs and a bronchial tree with a bronchial isolation device implanted in a bronchial passageway.
FIG. 2A shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a bronchial isolation device.
FIG. 2B shows a cross-sectional view of the device of FIG. 2A .
FIG. 3 illustrates an anterior view of a pair of human lungs and a bronchial tree.
FIG. 4 illustrates a lateral view of the right lung.
FIG. 5 illustrates a lateral view of the left lung.
FIG. 6 illustrates an anterior view of the trachea and a portion of the bronchial tree.
FIG. 7 shows an anterior view of a pair of human lungs and a bronchial tree with a catheter positioned in a bronchial passageway for injecting a therapeutic agent into a target region of the lung.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Disclosed herein are methods and devices for sealing collateral flow pathways into a target lung region and/or reducing or eliminating collateral flow into the target lung region, such as, for example, to achieve a desired fluid flow dynamic to a lung region during respiration and/or to induce collapse in one or more lung regions that are supplied air through one or more collateral pathways.
As described in more detail below, an identified region of the lung (referred to herein as the “targeted lung region”) is targeted for flow regulation. Collateral flow to the targeted lung region is then reduced or prevented pursuant to various methods and devices described herein. Various procedures for blocking collateral flow to the targeted lung region are described below.
Direct flow to the targeted lung region can optionally be reduced or prevented, such as by positioning a bronchial isolation device in a direct pathway to the targeted lung region to inhibit or completely block fluid flow through the direct pathway. As shown in FIG. 1 , in one exemplary embodiment, a bronchial isolation device 610 is optionally implanted into the lung. The device 610 is implanted into a bronchial passageway 15 that feeds air to a targeted lung region 20 . The bronchial isolation device 610 regulates airflow through the bronchial passageway 15 , such as by permitting fluid flow in one direction (e.g., the exhalation direction) while limiting or preventing fluid flow in another direction (e.g., the inhalation direction).
FIGS. 2A and 2B show an exemplary bronchial isolation device 610 that can be used to achieve one-way flow. The flow control element 610 includes a main body that defines an interior lumen 2010 through which fluid can flow along a flow path. The flow of fluid through the interior lumen 2010 is controlled by a valve member 2012 . The valve member 2012 in FIGS. 2A , 2 B is a one-way valve, although two-way valves can also be used, depending on the type of flow regulation desired.
With reference still to FIGS. 2A and 2B , the bronchial isolation device 610 has a general outer shape and contour that permits the flow control bronchial isolation device to fit entirely within a body passageway, such as within a bronchial passageway. The bronchial isolation device 610 includes an outer seal member 2015 that provides a seal with the internal walls of a body passageway when the bronchial isolation device is implanted into the body passageway. The seal member 2015 includes a series of radially-extending, circular flanges 2020 that surround the outer circumference of the bronchial isolation device 610 . The bronchial isolation device 610 also includes an anchor member 2018 that functions to anchor the bronchial isolation device 610 within a body passageway.
The following references describe exemplary bronchial isolation devices and delivery devices: U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,766 entitled “Body Fluid Flow Control Device”; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/797,910, entitled “Methods and Devices for Use in Performing Pulmonary Procedures”; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/270,792, entitled “Bronchial Flow Control Devices and Methods of Use”; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/448,154, entitled “Guidewire Delivery of Implantable Bronchial Isolation Devices in Accordance with Lung Treatment”; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/275,995, entitled “Bronchiopulmonary Occlusion Devices and Lung Volume Reduction Methods”. The foregoing references are all incorporated by reference in their entirety and are all assigned to Emphasys Medical, Inc., the assignee of the instant application. It should be appreciated that other types of bronchial isolation devices can be used.
U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/363,328, entitled “Methods and Devices for Inducing Collapse in Lung Regions Fed by Collateral Pathways” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/384,899 entitled “Methods and Devices for Inducing Collapse in Lung Regions Fed by Collateral Pathways”, which are both incorporated herein by reference, described various methods and devices for blocking collateral flow into portions of the lung targeted for collapse. Improvements on these methods and devices are described herein.
Exemplary Lung Regions
Throughout this disclosure, reference is made to the term “lung region”. As used herein, the term “lung region” refers to a defined division or portion of a lung. For purposes of example, lung regions are described herein with reference to human lungs, wherein some exemplary lung regions include lung lobes and lung segments. Thus, the term “lung region” as used herein can refer, for example, to a lung lobe or a lung segment. Such nomenclature conform to nomenclature for portions of the lungs that are known to those skilled in the art. However, it should be appreciated that the term “lung region” does not necessarily refer to a lung lobe or a lung segment, but can refer to some other defined division or portion of a human or non-human lung.
FIG. 3 shows an anterior view of a pair of human lungs 210 , 215 and a bronchial tree 220 that provides a fluid pathway into and out of the lungs 210 , 215 from a trachea 225 , as will be known to those skilled in the art. As used herein, the term “fluid” can refer to a gas, a liquid, or a combination of gas(es) and liquid(s). For clarity of illustration, FIG. 3 shows only a portion of the bronchial tree 220 , which is described in more detail below with reference to FIG. 6 .
Throughout this description, certain terms are used that refer to relative directions or locations along a path defined from an entryway into the patient's body (e.g., the mouth or nose) to the patient's lungs. The path of airflow into the lungs generally begins at the patient's mouth or nose, travels through the trachea into one or more bronchial passageways, and terminates at some point in the patient's lungs.
For example, FIG. 3 shows a path 202 that travels through the trachea 225 and through a bronchial passageway into a location in the right lung 210 . The term “proximal direction” refers to the direction along such a path 202 that points toward the patient's mouth or nose and away from the patient's lungs. In other words, the proximal direction is generally the same as the expiration direction when the patient breathes. The arrow 204 in FIG. 3 points in the proximal or expiratory direction. The term “distal direction” refers to the direction along such a path 202 that points toward the patient's lung and away from the mouth or nose. The distal direction is generally the same as the inhalation or inspiratory direction when the patient breathes. The arrow 206 in FIG. 3 points in the distal or inhalation direction.
The lungs include a right lung 210 and a left lung 215 . The right lung 210 includes lung regions comprised of three lobes, including a right upper lobe 230 , a right middle lobe 235 , and a right lower lobe 240 . The lobes 230 , 235 , 240 are separated by two interlobar fissures, including a right oblique fissure 226 and a right transverse fissure 228 . The right oblique fissure 226 separates the right lower lobe 240 from the right upper lobe 230 and from the right middle lobe 235 . The right transverse fissure 228 separates the right upper lobe 230 from the right middle lobe 235 .
As shown in FIG. 3 , the left lung 215 includes lung regions comprised of two lobes, including the left upper lobe 250 and the left lower lobe 255 . An interlobar fissure comprised of a left oblique fissure 245 of the left lung 215 separates the left upper lobe 250 from the left lower lobe 255 . The lobes 230 , 235 , 240 , 250 , 255 are directly supplied, air via respective lobar bronchi, as described in detail below.
FIG. 4 is a lateral view of the right lung 210 . The right lung 210 is subdivided into lung regions comprised of a plurality of bronchopulmonary segments. Each bronchopulmonary segment is directly supplied air by a corresponding segmental tertiary bronchus, as described below. The bronchopulmonary segments of the right lung 210 include a right apical segment 310 , a right posterior segment 320 , and a right anterior segment 330 , all of which are disposed in the right upper lobe 230 . The right lung bronchopulmonary segments further include a right lateral segment 340 and a right medial segment 350 , which are disposed in the right middle lobe 235 . The right lower lobe 240 includes bronchopulmonary segments comprised of a right superior segment 360 , a right medial basal segment (which cannot be seen from the lateral view and is not shown in FIG. 4 ), a right anterior basal segment 380 , a right lateral basal segment 390 , and a right posterior basal segment 395 .
FIG. 5 shows a lateral view of the left lung 215 , which is subdivided into lung regions comprised of a plurality of bronchopulmonary segments. The bronchopulmonary segments include a left apical segment 410 , a left posterior segment 420 , a left anterior segment 430 , a left superior segment 440 , and a left inferior segment 450 , which are disposed in the left lung upper lobe 250 . The lower lobe 255 of the left lung 215 includes bronchopulmonary segments comprised of a left superior segment 460 , a left medial basal segment (which cannot be seen from the lateral view and is not shown in FIG. 5 ), a left anterior basal segment 480 , a left lateral basal segment 490 , and a left posterior basal segment 495 .
FIG. 6 shows an anterior view of the trachea 225 and a portion of the bronchial tree 220 , which includes a network of bronchial passageways, as described below. The trachea 225 divides at a lower end into two bronchial passageways comprised of primary bronchi, including a right primary bronchus 510 that provides direct air flow to the right lung 210 , and a left primary bronchus 515 that provides direct air flow to the left lung 215 . Each primary bronchus 510 , 515 divides into a next generation of bronchial passageways comprised of a plurality of lobar bronchi. The right primary bronchus 510 divides into a right upper lobar bronchus 517 , a right middle lobar bronchus 520 , and a right lower lobar bronchus 422 . The left primary bronchus 515 divides into a left upper lobar bronchus 525 and a left lower lobar bronchus 530 .
Each lobar bronchus 517 , 520 , 522 , 525 , 530 directly feeds fluid to a respective lung lobe, as indicated by the respective names of the lobar bronchi. The lobar bronchi each divide into yet another generation of bronchial passageways comprised of segmental bronchi, which provide air flow to the bronchopulmonary segments discussed above.
As is known to those skilled in the art, a bronchial passageway defines an internal lumen through which fluid can flow to and from a lung or lung region. The diameter of the internal lumen for a specific bronchial passageway can vary based on the bronchial passageway's location in the bronchial tree (such as whether the bronchial passageway is a lobar bronchus or a segmental bronchus) and can also vary from patient to patient. However, the internal diameter of a bronchial passageway is generally in the range of 3 millimeters (mm) to 10 mm, although the internal diameter of a bronchial passageway can be outside of this range. For example, a bronchial passageway can have an internal diameter of well below 1 mm at locations deep within the lung. The internal diameter can also vary from inhalation to exhalation as the diameter increases during inhalation as the lungs expand, and decreases during exhalation as the lungs contract.
Blocking of Collateral Flow
When a portion of the lung is targeted for isolation, such as, for example, to collapse the targeted lung region or to modify the fluid (gas or liquid) flow into and out of the targeted lung region, the presence of collateral pathways can allow unregulated gas to flow into and out of the targeted region. These collateral pathways can exists between portions of the lung within the same lobe, or can exist between lobes. As mentioned above, in these situations it is desirable to stop flow through these collateral pathways in order to allow isolation of the targeted lung tissue.
Throughout this disclosure, reference is sometimes made to a “direct pathway” to a targeted lung region and to a “collateral pathway” to a targeted lung region. The term “direct pathway” refers to a bronchial passageway that branches directly or indirectly from the trachea and either (1) terminates in the targeted lung region to thereby directly provide air to the targeted lung region; or (2) branches into at least one other bronchial passageway that terminates in the targeted lung region to thereby directly provide air to the targeted lung region. The term “collateral pathway” refers to any pathway that provides air to the targeted lung region and that is not a direct pathway.
The term “direct” is used to refer to air flow that flows into or out of a targeted lung region via a direct pathway. Likewise, the term “collateral” is used to refer to fluid flow (such as air flow) that flows into or out of a targeted lung region via a collateral pathway. Thus, for example, “direct” flow is fluid flow (such as air flow) that enters or exits the targeted lung region via a direct pathway, and “collateral” flow is fluid flow (such as air flow) that enters or exits the targeted lung region via a collateral pathway. A collateral flow can be, for example, air flow that flows between segments of a lung, which is referred to as intralobar flow, or it can be, for example, air flow that flows between lobes of a lung, which is referred to as interlobar flow.
There are several procedures or components that can be used to block or otherwise alter collateral flow and/or direct flow pursuant to the methods described herein:
1. Bronchial isolation device(s);
2. A bulking agent or carrier;
3. A local anesthetic;
4. An inflammatory or sclerosing agent;
5. Suction.
Any of the aforementioned components or procedures can be used alone or in various combinations in order to inhibit or completely stop flow through collateral pathways and to inhibit or completely stop flow through direct pathways. The components are now described.
1. Bronchial Isolation Devices
As discussed, bronchial isolation devices can be one-way valves that allow flow in the exhalation direction only, occluders or plugs that prevent flow in either direction, or two-way valves that control flow in both directions.
As discussed with reference to FIGS. 1 , 2 A, and 2 B, the bronchial isolation device 610 can be implanted in a bronchial passageway to regulate the flow of fluid through the bronchial passageway. When implanted in a bronchial passageway, the bronchial isolation device 610 anchors within the bronchial passageway in a sealing fashion such that fluid in the bronchial passageway must pass through the flow control device in order to travel past the location where the flow control device is located.
The bronchial isolation device 610 has fluid flow regulation characteristics that can be varied based upon the design of the flow control device. For example, the bronchial isolation device 610 can be configured to either permit fluid flow in two directions (i.e., proximal and distal directions), permit fluid flow in only one direction (proximal or distal direction), completely restrict fluid flow in any direction through the flow control device, or any combination of the above. The bronchial isolation device can be configured such that when fluid flow is permitted, it is only permitted above a certain pressure, referred to as the cracking pressure. The bronchial isolation device 610 can also be configured such that a device, such as a catheter, can be manually inserted through the bronchial isolation device 610 to allow, for example, access to the distal side of the device after implantation.
2. Bulking Agents and Carriers
A therapeutic agent comprised of a bulking agent can be used to fill space (such as space within the targeted lung region and/or a collateral pathway to the targeted lung region) and thereby partially or entirely seal off collateral flow into the targeted lung region.
Various substances can be used as bulking agents and carriers. Some exemplary substances that can be used as bulking agents and carriers include hydrogel and autologous blood among others. A hydrogel is defined as a colloidal gel in which water is the dispersion medium, and a colloid is defined as a mixture with properties between those of a solution and fine suspension. Hydrogels can be used as implantable bulking agents as well as a carrier for other therapeutic agents as the hydrogel can be designed to be absorbed slowly by the body, thus releasing the therapeutic agent into surrounding tissue over time.
One particularly useful form of hydrogel is the Pluronic family of products produced by BASF Corp, which is located in Mt. Olive, N.J. 07828, USA. One such substance, Pluronic F-127, is a hydrogel that is a polymer of polyoxyethylene (PEO) and polyoxypropylene (PPO) with two 96-unit hydrophilic PEO chains surrounding one 69-unit hydrophobic PPO chain. The result is a non-ionic surfactant that, when placed in an aqueous solution, at or above room temperature converts from a liquid state to that of a non-fluid hydrogel. If it is implanted in the body, it can act as a temporary bulking agent that will be absorbed over time, or it can be combined with other therapeutic agents, and these agents will be released slowing into the body as the hydrogel is absorbed.
Hydrogel can be modified so that it becomes thermo-responsive in that it will have different viscosities at different temperature. SMART Hydrogel™, produced by Advanced Medical Solutions Ltd. (Road Three, Winsford Industrial Estate, Winsford, Cheshire CW7 3PD, United Kingdom), is a hydrogel that is a combination of Pluronic F-127 and polyacrylic acid. The result is a hydrogel that has a viscosity close to water at room temperature, and a thick gel-like viscosity at 37 deg C. (body temperature). This allows the hydrogel to be injected easily into a location in the body in its more liquid form, whereby it viscosities and forms a thick gel once it reaches the intended implant location and is raised to body temperature.
3. Local Anesthetic
A therapeutic agent comprised of a local anesthetic can be used to reduce or eliminate pain or irritation from the injection of foreign substances into the lung. Lidocaine is an exemplary local anesthetic. As described below, the local anesthetic can be combined with another component, such as the bulking agent or inflammatory or sclerosing agent to inhibit or completely stop flow through collateral pathways.
4. Inflammatory or Sclerosing Agent
A therapeutic agent comprised of an inflammatory or sclerosing agent can be used to temporarily or permanently close collateral pathways by causing the collateral pathways to swell closed. Inflammatory or sclerosing agents that can be effective in the lung include antibiotics such as tetracycline, doxycycline, minocycline, pneumococcus culture, etc.
5. Suction
The targeted lung region can be suctioned using a vacuum source through one or more suction catheters that are deployed at or near the targeted lung region. The suction catheter can be used to aspirate fluid from the targeted lung region by applying a suction to the proximal end of the catheter, and this suction is transferred to the distal region of the bronchial passageway through the internal lumen of the catheter.
The targeted lung region can be suctioned prior to injection of a therapeutic agent into the targeted lung region in order to remove fluid and either reduce the volume or collapse the targeted lung region. This reduction in volume or collapse of the targeted lung region serves to create space in the targeted lung region for injection of the therapeutic agent. As discussed below, suction can also be used after injection of the therapeutic agent, such as to suction the therapeutic agent from the targeted lung region. If a bronchial isolation device is implanted in the lung, the suction can be performed before the device is implanted or while the device is implanted, such as suctioning through the device. In this regard, the suction can be applied either distally or proximally of the implanted bronchial isolation device.
The suction can be applied either continuously or in a pulsatile manner, such as by using either a continuous or pulsatile vacuum source. In one embodiment, fluid can be aspirated from the targeted lung region using a very low vacuum source over a long period of time, such as one hour or more. In this case, the catheter may be inserted nasally and a water seal may control the vacuum source.
In one embodiment, pulsatile suction is defined as a vacuum source that varies in vacuum pressure from atmospheric pressure down to −10 cm H2O. The frequency of the pulse can be adjusted so that the collapsed bronchus has time to re-open at the trough of the suction wave prior to the next cycle. The frequency of the pulse can be fast enough such that the bronchus does not have time to collapse at the peak of the suction wave prior to the next cycle. The suction force can be regulated such that even at the peak suction, the negative pressure is not low enough to collapse the distal airways.
The frequency of the suction (either pulsatile or continuous) could be set to the patient's respiratory cycle such that negative pressure is applied only during inspiration. That is, the suction is synchronized with the patient's respiration such that continuous suction or a series of suction pulses are applied to the targeted lung region only while the patient is inhaling. This can allow the lung's tethering forces to be exerted thereby keeping the distal airways open.
One possible method of implementing pulsatile suction is to utilize a water manometer attached to a vacuum source. The vacuum regulator pipe in the water manometer can be manually or mechanically moved up and down at the desired frequency to the desired vacuum break point (0 to −10 cm). This is only an exemplary method of creating a pulsatile vacuum source and it should be appreciated that other methods can be used.
Bulking Agent Combined with Optional Bronchial Isolation Device
One way of blocking collateral flow into a targeted lung region is to inject a bulking agent (such as hydrogel) into the target lung region prior to isolating the targeted lung region with bronchial isolation devices. One method for implanting the bulking agent into the target region is to use a catheter.
FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a method wherein a bulking agent 705 is delivered to a targeted lung region using a delivery catheter 710 . The targeted lung region is located in the right middle lobe 135 of the right lung 110 . The delivery catheter 710 can be a conventional delivery catheter of the type known to those of skill in the art. The delivery catheter 710 is deployed in a bronchial passageway, such as in the segmental bronchi 715 , that leads to the targeted lung region. A bronchial isolation device 510 can optionally be deployed either before or after deployment of the delivery catheter 710 or need not be deployed at all. As mentioned, the targeted lung region can be suctioned prior to injection of the bulking agent.
Once the delivery catheter 710 is deployed in the targeted lung region, the bulking agent 705 can be delivered into the targeted lung region using the delivery catheter 710 . This can be accomplished by passing the bulking agent through an internal lumen in the delivery catheter so that the agent exits a hole in the distal end of the delivery catheter 710 into the targeted lung region. As shown in FIG. 7 , the distal end of the delivery catheter 710 can be sealed within the targeted lung region by inflating a balloon 720 that is disposed near the distal end of the catheter according to well-known methods. A balloon-tipped catheter is not necessary for use.
In order to track the dispersion of the bulking agent, or any other injected therapeutic agent, a small quantity of radiographic contrast can be mixed with the bulking agent prior to injecting the bulking agent. The extent and spread of the injection can then be monitored with fluoroscopy.
Prior to or after the bulking agent is injected, at least one bronchial isolation device can optionally implanted in the bronchial lumen(s) leading to the targeted lung region in order to restrict direct flow to the targeted tissue through the bronchial lumen, as described above. In this manner, the tissue is fully isolated. However, it should be appreciated that the bronchial isolation device is not required to be implanted in combination with use of the bulking agent. It should be appreciated that other methods of delivering the bulking agent to the target location are possible.
Sclerosing Agents Combined with Optional Bronchial Isolation Device
Rather than blocking flow with a bulking agent like hydrogel, a sclerosing agent can be injected into the targeted lung region to inflame and close off the collateral pathways. As with the bulking agent, one method for implanting the sclerosing agent into the target region is through the use of a catheter. A suitable catheter, such as a balloon catheter, is selected and inserted into a bronchial lumen leading to the target lung region. The sclerosing agent is then injected through the catheter until the targeted region is filled with sclerosing agent. If a balloon tipped catheter is used, the balloon is inflated in the target bronchial lumen prior to injection to prevent backflow of the sclerosing agent in the proximal direction during injection. As mentioned, the targeted lung region can be suctioned prior to injection of the sclerosing agent.
As discussed with respect to the bulking agent, a small quantity of radiographic contrast can be mixed with the agent in order to track the dispersion of the sclerosing agent, or any other injected therapeutic agent. In this manner, the extent and spread of the injection can be monitored with fluoroscopy.
It can sometimes be desirable in to remove the sclerosing agent from the targeted lung region after a predetermined time. The agent may be removed by applying suction to a proximal end of the catheter, which is left in the lung after the sclerosing agent has been injected.
Either prior to or after the sclerosing agent is injected, one or more bronchial isolation devices can optionally be implanted into the bronchial lumen leading to the targeted region in order to restrict direct flow to the target region through the bronchial pathway, as described above. In this manner, the tissue is fully isolated. However, it should be appreciated that the bronchial isolation device is not required to be implanted in combination with use of the sclerosing agent.
It should be appreciated that other methods of delivering the sclerosing agent to the target location are possible. The process of sclerosing or inflaming the tissue can be painful to the patient, so it can be beneficial to mix a local anesthetic with the sclerosing agent prior to injection.
Bulking and Sclerosing Agents with Optional Bronchial Isolation Device
One potential disadvantage of the previously-described method of using a sclerosing agent is that the sclerosing agent is exposed to the target lung tissue at full strength within a relatively quick period of time. If the sclerosing agent is suctioned out after a predetermined time, the effect of the sclerosing agent ceases. It would be desirable for the sclerosing agent to be released in a more controlled manner, such as over a period of time. This can be accomplished by combining the use of a sclerosing agent with a bulking agent.
The sclerosing agent may be released in a controlled manner as follows. The sclerosing agent is mixed with a substance having properties such that the substance is absorbed by the body over time. The substance can comprise a bulking agent (such as hydrogel) that is absorbed by the body over time. In this manner, the sclerosing agent is also released slowly over time into the surrounding tissue. In addition, the bulking agent can stop flow through the collateral pathways and prevent the sclerosing agent from being displaced from the injected location by flow through the collateral pathways.
Prior to or after the combination of the bulking agent and the sclerosing agent is injected, at least one bronchial isolation device can optionally implanted in the bronchial lumen(s) leading to the targeted lung region in order to restrict direct flow to the targeted tissue through the bronchial lumen, as described above. In this manner, the tissue is fully isolated. However, it should be appreciated that the bronchial isolation device is not required to be implanted in combination with use of the substance that combines the bulking agent and the sclerosing agent.
The combination of a bulking agent and a sclerosing agent may be injected into the lungs in the same way as was described above for the bulking agent. That is, a catheter, such as a balloon catheter, can be used to inject the combination of bulking agent and sclerosing agent into the target lung region. It should be appreciated that other methods of delivering the combination of bulking and sclerosing agent to the target location are possible. The process of sclerosing or inflaming the tissue can be painful to the patient, so it can be beneficial to mix a local anesthetic with the sclerosing agent and the bulking agent prior to injection.
A number of embodiments of the invention have been described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.
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Disclosed is a method of regulating fluid flow for a targeted lung region. The method comprises injecting a therapeutic agent into the targeted lung region. The therapeutic agent induces a reaction in lung tissue of the targeted lung region or in a collateral pathway to the lung region to reduce collateral fluid flow into the targeted lung region. In one aspect, the method additionally comprises deploying a bronchial isolation device in the direct pathway to regulate fluid flow to the targeted lung region through the direct pathway. The therapeutic agent can comprise, for example, a sclerosing agent that induces a reaction that causes sclerosis in the lung tissue.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a thermal printer and, more particularly, to a thermal printer having a carriage that is equipped with a thermal head and capable of reciprocating along the line to be printed.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A thermal printer has been developed in which print tape having a heat-fusible material is disposed between paper and a thermal head that is equipped with heater elements. As the thermal head is moved, the heater elements are selectively heated to melt the heat-fusible material in the tape. The molten material is then transferred to the paper. This printer has the advantage that during printing operation it generates less noise than other kinds of printers.
The conventional thermal printer is shown in FIGS. 9-14, of which FIG. 9 is a plan view of the printer, for showing the whole structure of the printer. In this figure, paper (not shown) is wound on a platen 1. A rubber member 2 is mounted in front of the platen 1, i.e., at the print position. A paper guide 3 acts to guide the paper wound on the platen 1. A thermal head 4 is disposed opposite to the rubber member 2, and has a plurality of heater elements. The head 4 is mounted on a carriage 5. Print tape 6 has a heat-fusible material that is to be transferred to the paper. The tape 6 is received in a tape cassette 7, which is detachably mounted to the carriage 5.
The carriage 5 is movably mounted to a carriage guide plate 8. Referring also to FIG. 10(a), the plate 8 is rotatably supported at locations 9. As shown in FIG. 10(a) and (b), a carriage guide shaft 10 firmly secured to the carriage 5 is guided by a groove 11. The plate 8, the guide shaft 10, and the groove 11 constitute a carriage guide mechanism that guides the carriage 5 along the front surface of the platen 1. A compression spring 12 urges the carriage 5 on the carriage guide plate 8, hence the thermal head 4, toward the rubber member 2.
Referring to FIG. 9, a wire 13 has its ends connected to both ends of the carriage 5. The wire 13 is wound on pulleys 14 and 15 that are disposed on the side of the carriage guide plate 8. The wire 13 is also wound on a driving pulley 16 having gears, for example, at its both sides. The wire 13, the pulleys 14, 15, and the driving pulley 16 constitute a carriage-moving means that moves the carriage 5 along the platen 1. The paper is pressed on a paper feed roller 17 which is secured to a paper feed shaft 18. The roller 17 and the shaft 18 constitute a paper feed means that transports the paper in the direction indicated by the arrow A in FIG. 9.
Referring still to FIG. 9, a stepper motor 19 has a motor gear 20 mounted on its output shaft. An idle gear 21 which is in mesh with the gear 20 is in mesh with the gear on one side of the driving pulley 16. A first intermittent gear 22 is in mesh with the gear on the other side of the pulley 16. A second intermittent gear 23 is in mesh with the first intermittent gear 22. A paper feed gear 24 engages with the second intermittent gear 23. A movable contact is mounted to a mount 25. A ratchet 26 is in mesh with the paper feed gear 24. Another ratchet 27 can come into and out of engagement with the ratchet 26. A ratchet spring 28 urges the ratchet 27 into engagement with the ratchet 26. One end of the spring 28 is made fixed by a washer 29. A knob 30 that is manually operated to move the ratchet 27 away from the ratchet 26. The knob 30 has a gear on its periphery, the gear being capable of engaging with a gear formed on the ratchet 27. The knob 30 is rotatably held to a lever 31.
The aforementioned motor gear 20, idle gear 21, driving pulley 16, first intermittent gear 22, second intermittent gear 23, and paper feed gear 24 constitute a gearing which operates the carriage-moving means and the paper feed means in an interlocked relation. That is, this gearing reciprocates the carriage 5, and moves the paper a certain amount in the direction indicated by the arrow B in FIG. 9 whenever the carriage 5 makes one reciprocation. The aforementioned ratchets 26, 27, and the knob 30 constitute a manual paper feed mechanism that permits one to manually move the paper backward, i.e., in the direction indicated by the arrow C in FIG. 9.
As shown in FIGS. 9 and 12, a driving gear 32 is mounted on the shaft extending from the gear 20 on the motor 19. This gear 32 is coupled to a contact gear 34 via an idler 33. The contact gear 34 is composed of a fixed gear 34a and an abutment gear 34b. The fixed gear 34a is in mesh with the driving gear 32. The abutment gear 34b is urged into abutment with the fixed gear 34a by a spring 35. The contact gear 34 is in mesh with a rack member 36 disposed opposite to the gear 34. The rack member 36 consists of two rows of teeth, one of which is an incomplete tooth portion 36a. This tooth portion 36a is missing teeth at its both ends, and is in mesh with the fixed gear 34a. The other row of teeth is a complete tooth portion 36b that is in mesh with the abutment gear 34b. The driving gear 32, the contact gear 34, the rack member 36, and other components constitute a cam operation means. A T-shaped protrusion 37 formed on the rack member 36 is reciprocable in a space 38d formed in a cam 38, which is composed of a lower portion 38a, a higher portion 38b, and an inclined portion 38c formed between them as shown in FIG. 11.
The cam 38 abuts on the shaft portion 40 of a receiving portion 39 extending from the support portion 9 of the carriage guide plate 8, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11. Accordingly, when the pin 40 protruding from the receiving portion 39 rides on the lower portion 38a of the cam 38 as shown in FIG. 11(a), the thermal head 4 is in contact with the platen 1. When the pin 40 rides on the higher portion 38b of the cam 38 as shown in FIG. 11(b), the thermal head 4 is urged away from the platen 1 against the action of the compression spring 12. Under this condition, the carriage 5 is moved, i.e., returned, by the aforementioned wire 13.
The driving gear 32 of the cam operation means is always driven by the motor 19. The stroke that the cam 38 or the rack member 36 travels is made constant by a stopper 41. Therefore, the rack member 36 is designed to consist of the two rows, i.e., the incomplete tooth portion 36a and the complete tooth portion 36b. The fixed gear 34a of the contact gear 34 is in mesh with the incomplete tooth portion 36a. In order that when the pin 40 is placed at any arbitrary position on the cam 38, i.e., when the contact gear 34 is placed at either end of the rack member 36, the driving force of the motor 19 be not directly transferred to either the rack member 36 or the cam 38, the fixed gear 34a is not in mesh with the rack member 36, and the abutment gear 34b is caused to run idle.
Further, in order to prevent the components from being adversely affected by the rapid change in the speed of the motor 19 as it is reversed, the protrusion 37 on the rack member 36 is situated in the space 38d in the cam 38, and a clearance is formed between the rack member 36 and the cam 38. As shown in FIG. 5, the wire 13 engages the carriage 5 in the manner described below. A clearance D is formed between an enlarged portion 13a formed on the wire 13 and a frame 5a that is formed on the carriage 5. Thus, the carriage 5 is not allowed to move until the platen 1 and the thermal head 4 completely assume their other arbitary states.
The mechanism for winding the print tape 6 is now described by referring to FIGS. 14 and 15. As shown in FIGS. 10 and 14, a winding rack 42 is mounted below the rubber member 2 and extends along the whole length of the region in which the carriage 5 can move. A winding gear 43 which can come into mesh with the winding rack 42 is mounted in the carriage 5. The gear 43 is connected to a winding bobbin unit 47 via a first intermediate gear 44, a second intermediate gear 45, and a third intermediate gear 46. The winding gear 43 can move slightly from the center of rotation of the first intermediate gear 44 toward the rack 42. A spring member 48 resiliently urges the winding gear 43 toward the rack 42. The gear 43 is made movable as described above to prevent the addendums of the rack 42 and of the gear 43 from becoming damaged when the gear 43 engages the rack 42. That is, the addendums of the gear 43 cease to be in contact with the rack 42 immediately after the gear 43 comes into mesh with the rack 42.
FIG. 15 is a front elevation of the aforementioned winding bobbin unit 47. As can be seen from this figure, a compression spring 51 is mounted between a winding bobbin 50 and a unit gear 49 that comes into mesh with the third intermediate gear 46. The gear 49 is pressed against a friction member 52 on a bobbin pulley 53 by the resilience of the spring 51, the friction member 52 being made of felt. The frictional resistance produced in this way permits the rotating force of the gear 49 to be transmitted to the bobbin pulley 53 to thereby rotate the bobbin 50. When the load applied to the winding bobbin unit 47 exceeds a certain value, the pulley 53 slips on the unit gear 49, so that the winding of the print tape is terminated.
In the conventional thermal printer constructed as described above, the winding rack 42 is fixed on the side of the platen 1 as shown in FIG. 10(a), and the carriage 5 that supports the winding gear 43 is rotated. Thus, the gear 43 can come into and out of mesh with the teeth of the rack 42. Since the angular range through which the thermal head can rotate relative to the platen is made large to afford a sufficient space, the angular range through which the carriage 5 can move is limited. For this reason, the module for the winding gear 43 or other gear cannot be made very large. Thus, the gear 43 may not come into mesh with the winding rack 42 if the rack 42 is slightly bent. Under this condition, the operation for winding the print tape is unstable.
FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the characteristic of the load that is applied to press the thermal head against the platen in the conventional thermal printer. In this diagram, point X indicates the load when the thermal head 4 is away from the platen 1, i.e., the head is up. Point Y indicates the load when the head 4 just comes into contact with the platen 1. Point Z indicates the load when the head 4 is pressed on the platen 1, i.e., the head is down. Point F indicates the force applied to the platen 1 by the head 4.
The mechanism for rotating the carriage 5 in the conventional thermal printer is designed as shown in FIG. 11, and therefore the tensile force of the compression spring 12 presses the head on the platen when the head is down. When the head is up, the spring 12 is stretched further and so the load needed for the stretch is considerably larger than the force applied to press the head on the platen. Consequently, the electric power consumed by the driving motor is large.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is the main object of the present invention to provide a thermal printer which is free of the foregoing difficulties with the prior art technique and which operates reliably in that it can wind print tape with certainty.
This object is achieved in accordance with the teachings of the present invention by a thermal printer comprising: a platen; a carriage capable of reciprocating along the line to be printed, the carriage angularly moving toward the platen when the line is to be printed, the carriage angularly moving away from the platen when no line is printed; a gear for winding print tape, the gear being rotatably mounted to the carriage; a winding rack capable of moving toward and away from the winding gear, the rack having a number of teeth arrayed along the line to be printed; and a rack driving means for causing the rack to move toward and away from the winding gear in association with the angular movement of the carriage; and wherein when the line is to be printed, the carriage is angularly moved toward the platen, and the rack driving means acts to move the winding rack toward the side of the winding gear to bring the teeth of the winding rack into mesh with the winding gear; and wherein when no line is printed, the carriage is angularly moved away from the platen, and the rack driving means moves the winding rack away from the winding gear to disengage the teeth of the winding rack from the winding gear.
Other objects and features of the invention will appear in the course of description that follows.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of main portions of a thermal printer according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a side elevation of main portions of the printer shown in FIG. 1, for showing the relation between the winding rack and the winding gear when the head is up;
FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2, but showing the relation when the head is down;
FIG. 4 is a side elevation of main portions of the printer shown in FIG. 1, for showing the relation between the winding rack and the carriage when the head is up;
FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4, but showing the relation when the head is down;
FIG. 6 is a side elevation of main portions of another thermal printer according to the invention, for showing the relation between the winding rack and the carriage;
FIGS. 7 and 8 are diagrams showing the characteristics of loads applied to press the thermal heads of the embodiments of the invention against their platens;
FIG. 9 is a plan view showing the whole structure of a conventional thermal printer;
FIG. 10(a) is a perspective view of the carriage and its surroundings of the printer shown in FIG. 9;
FIG. 10(b) is a cross-sectional view of the carriage and its surroundings of the printer shown in FIG. 9;
FIG. 11(a) is a fragmentary side elevation of the printer shown in FIG. 9, for showing the operation for lowering the thermal head;
FIG. 11(b) is a fragmentary side elevation of the printer shown in FIG. 9, for showing the operation for elevating the thermal head;
FIG. 12 is a plan view partially in cross section of the cam-driving mechanism of the printer shown in FIG. 9;
FIG. 13 is a fragmentary bottom view of the printer shown in FIG. 9, for showing portions by means of which the carriage is connected to a wire;
FIG. 14 is a schematic representation for illustrating the print tape winding mechanism of the printer shown in FIG. 9;
FIG. 15 is a front elevation of the winding bobbin unit of the printer shown in FIG. 9; and
FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the characteristic of the load applied by the conventional thermal head.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A thermal printer according to the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1-5. This printer includes a platen 1, a carriage 5, and a shaft 60 extending parallel to the platen 1. The carriage 5 is rotatably held to the shaft 60 so as to be slidable axially of the shaft. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a winding gear 61 is mounted at a certain position on the bottom of the carriage 5. This gear 61 is splined to a bobbin shaft 62, and is urged downwards at all times by a coiled spring 63. A winding bobbin unit including the bobbin shaft 62 has a slip mechanism that is substantially similar to that of the conventional printer. When a load exceeding a certain value is applied, the bobbin 64 is not allowed to rotate. A hook 65 facing downwards protrudes from the bottom of the carriage 5.
As shown in FIG. 1, a winding rack 66 of an L-shaped cross section is disposed parallel to the shaft 60. Protruding from both ends of the rack 66 are connector portions 67, through which the shaft 60 extends at their both ends. Thus, the rack 66 can rotate about the shaft 60. A number of teeth 66a which are formed on the front side of the rack 66 can come into mesh with the winding gear 61 (see FIG. 3). Also, the teeth 66a are capable of engaging the hook 65. A driving plate 68 is rotatably held to the shaft 60 in such a way that it overlaps one connector portion 67 of the winding rack 66. As shown in FIG. 1, a protrusion 69 which engages with the upper end of the connector portion 67 is formed on the end portion of the driving plate 68 which extends toward the winding rack 66. A tension spring 70 is mounted between the upper end of this end portion and the lower end of the rack 66 in a stretched manner. A pin 71 protrudes from the end portion of the plate 68 which extends on the opposite side to the rack 66. The front end of the pin 71 is fitted in a groove 73 formed in a cam 72.
Also shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 are a tape cassette 74 having print tape therein, paper 75 to be printed, a protrusion 76 that performs a pushing operation, and a carriage stopper 77.
FIGS. 2 and 4 show the condition in which the head is up. In this state, the pin 71 is at the end of the groove 73 that is closest to the center of rotation of the cam. Accordingly, the end of the driving plate 68 which is on the side of the winding rack 66 is at a position lower than the position assumed in the head-down condition shown in FIGS. 3 and 5. Under this condition of FIGS. 2 and 4, the connector portions 67 for the rack 66 are pushed down by the protrusion 69, so that the teeth 66a of the rack 66 face downwards. Thus, the front ends of the teeth 66a pushes the hook 65 downwardly, keeping the carriage 5 in such a condition that the thermal head 4 is away from the platen 1. The rack 66 disengages from the winding gear 61, because the teeth 66a face downwards. Therefore, when the carriage 5 reciprocates, the bobbin 64 will not turn, and the print tape will not be wound.
FIGS. 3-5 show the condition in which the head is down. When the head is up as mentioned above, if the cam 72 is rotated in a clockwise direction, the pin 71 moves along the groove 73 in the cam and slowly moves away from the center of rotation of the cam 72. This rotates the driving plate 68 about the shaft 60 in a clockwise direction. The winding rack 66 is also rotated in a clockwise direction by being pulled by the tension spring 70. Then, the rack teeth 66a move away from the hook 65 and come into mesh with the teeth of winding gear 61. Simultaneously, the upper surface of the rack 66 bears against the protrusion 76 formed on the bottom of the carriage 5.
As the cam 72 turns further, the driving plate 68 and the winding rack 66 further rotate clockwise, rotating the carriage 5 toward the platen 1. As a result, the thermal head 4 comes into abutting engagement with the rubber member 2 via the paper 75. If the rack 66 is rotating, and if the rack teeth 66a and the teeth of the winding gear 61 maintain in abutment with each other without coming into mesh with each other, then the rotation of the rack 66 pushes the gear 61 upwardly while compressing the coiled spring 63 until the teeth of the gear 61 reach the position at which they can mesh with the rack teeth 66a during the movement of the carriage 5. Then, the spring 63 pushes the gear 61 downwardly, so that the teeth of the gear 61 come into mesh with the teeth 66a. As a result, the gear 61 is caused to rotate.
The cam 72 turns further, and the driving plate 68 continue to rotate clockwise. However, the winding rack 66 is not allowed to rotate, because the thermal head 4 bears on the rubber member 2. Accordingly, after the rotation of the rack 66 is stopped, the driving plate 68 is rotated while the tension spring 70 is stretched. This force eventually presses the head 4 against the platen, rotating the cam 72. When the pin 71 arrives at the end of the cam groove 73 that lies farthest from the center of rotation, as shown in FIGS. 3-5, a desired force F is given to the head 4, pressing it against the platen.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the characteristic of the load applied to the thermal head of the thermal printer of this example to press the head against the platen from the head-up condition to the head-down condition. As can be seen from this diagram, the load is zero from the head-up condition (point X) until the thermal head 4 just comes into contact with the platen 1 (point Y). Then, the head is lowered, and load a is applied to stretch the tension spring 70 until the desired force F is obtained (point Z).
By pulling the carriage 5 while pressing the head 4 against the platen in this way, the winding gear 61 rotates on the teeth 66a of the winding rack 66. Then, the print tape in the tape cassette 74 is wound via the bobbin 64, corresponding to the distance traveled by the carriage 5.
In order to restore the printer to the head-up condition shown in FIGS. 2 and 4 from the head-down condition shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the cam 72 is rotated in the opposite direction, i.e., in a counterclockwise direction. Then, operations opposite to the foregoing are performed. These operations will not be described herein.
Referring next to FIG. 6, there is shown another thermal printer according to the invention which is similar to the printer described above except that it further includes an auxiliary spring 78 to rotate the winding rack 66 clockwise about the shaft 60, i.e., in the direction to press the thermal head 4 against the platen.
The load characteristic of this modified example of thermal printer is shown in FIG. 8. In this diagram, bent line p indicates the characteristic of the load associated with the tension spring 70, and bent line q indicates the characteristic of load associated with the auxiliary load 78. Where the auxiliary spring 78 is added as in this modified example, the desired force F can be obtained by simply applying a load that is substantially half the load a, provided that the tensile spring 70 and the auxiliary spring 78 are equal in tensile strength, because both springs 70 and 78 act to press the head against the platen. In this diagram, a indicates the maximum value of the load applied to the cam.
In the novel thermal printer described above, the gear for winding print tape can come into and out of engagement with the winding rack. Therefore, the modules for these gears can be made large. Consequently, the winding gear and the winding rack can come into mesh with each other, and the thermal printer operates reliably.
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A thermal printer having a reciprocable carriage on which a thermal head is carried. The printer further includes a rotatable gear for winding print tape, a toothed rack that can move toward and away from the winding gear, and a driving plate for reciprocating the rack in association with the rotation of the carriage. When characters are to be printed, the carriage is rotated to the platen, and the teeth of the rack are brought into mesh with the winding gear. When no characters are printed, the carriage is angularly moved away from the platen, and the teeth of the rack are disengaged from the winding gear.
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RELATED APPLICATION
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/077,522, filed on Jul. 2, 2008, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a small, enveloped DNA virus that causes both acute and chronic liver diseases. Chronic HBV infection, a serious health problem in many Asian countries, often results in cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Deletion mutations in the Pre-S region of the HBV genome are found to be associated with an increased risk of cirrhosis and HCC. See Chen et al., Gastroenterology 133:1466-1474 (2007) and Ito et al., J. Gastroenterol. 42:837-844 (2007). It has been suggested that such deletions help HBV escape from host immune surveillance and enhance its transforming capacity. See Wang et al., Hepatology, 41:761-770 (2005).
Thus, there is a need to develop a rapid and accurate method for detecting deletions in the HBV Pre-S region, thereby assessing a HBV carrier's risk of developing cirrhosis/HCC.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is based on the discovery of a number of novel oligonucleotides for detecting deletion mutations in the Pre-S region of the HBV genome.
Accordingly, one aspect of this invention features an isolated oligonucleotide having a nucleotide sequence selected from SEQ ID NOs:1-44. The oligonucleotide can have a length of 20-50 nt (i.e., any number between 20 and 50). In one example, the oligonucleotide includes a poly(T) tail of 5-17 nucleotides (8 nt, 10 nt, or 15 nt). The term “isolated oligonucleotide” used herein refers to an oligonucleotide substantially free from naturally associated molecules, i.e., the naturally associated molecules constituting at most 20% by dry weight of a preparation containing the oligonucleotide. Purity can be measured by any appropriate method, e.g., column chromatography, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and HPLC.
Another aspect of the invention relates to an oligonucleotide combination, i.e., combination (A), combination (B), or combination (C).
Oligonucleotide combination (A) contains at least 29 of the above-described oligonucleotides. Each of the 29 oligonucleotides includes a nucleotide sequence selected from SEQ ID NOs:2-30, any two of them including two different nucleotide sequences also selected from SEQ ID NOs:2-30. Preferably, this combination further contains an oligonucleotide that includes the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:1.
Oligonucleotide combination (B) contains at least 14 of the above-described oligonucleotides. Each of the 14 oligonucleotides includes a nucleotide sequence selected from SEQ ID NOs:31-44, any two of them including two different nucleotide sequences also selected from SEQ ID NOs:31-44. This combination can contain an additional oligonucleotide that includes the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:1.
Oligonucleotide combinations (A) and (B) can be merged to form oligonucleotide combination (C).
The oligonucleotides contained in combinations (A), (B), or (C) can be attached to a suitable support member to form a DNA chip.
Also within the scope of this invention is a method of using oligonucleotide combination (A), (B), or (C) for detecting a deletion(s) in the HBV Pre-S region, which includes subregions Pre-S1 and Pre-S2. Results thus obtained can be used to assess a HBV carrier's risk of developing cirrhosis or HCC. Namely, a patient who carries HBV with a deletion(s) in either the Pre-S1 or Pre-S2 region has an increased risk of developing cirrhosis or HCC relative to a HBV positive patient who carries wild-type HBV.
In one example, a test HBV DNA, obtained from a HBV-containing sample (e.g., cultured cells infected with HBV or a biosample of a HBV carrier), is hybridized with oligonucleotide combination (A) and the results thus obtained are compared with the results obtained from hybridizing the same oligonucleotide combination with wild-type HBV DNA to determine whether the test HBV DNA contains a deletion(s) in its Pre-S1 region.
In another example, a test HBV DNA, as described above, is hybridized with oligonucleotide combination (B) and the results thus obtained are compared with the results obtained from hybridizing the same oligonucleotide combination with wild-type HBV DNA to determine whether the test HBV DNA contains a deletion(s) in its Pre-S2 region.
In yet another example, a test HBV DNA is hybridized with oligonucleotide combination (C) and the results thus obtained are compared with the results obtained from hybridizing the same oligonucleotide combination with wild-type HBV DNA to determine whether the test HBV DNA contains a deletion(s) in its Pre-S region, including both Pre-S1 and Pre-S2 regions.
Combinations (A), (B), and (C) can also be used in the manufacture of kits for detecting a deletion(s) in the Pre-S region of HBV and for assessing a HBV-carrier's risk of developing cirrhosis and HCC.
The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the description below. Other features or advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following drawings and detailed description of an example, and also from the appended claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The drawings are first described.
FIG. 1 is a map of a DNA chip, indicating positions of the oligonucleotides immobilized on it. PC: positive control oligonucleotide (SEQ ID NO:1; see Table 3 below). The nucleotide sequences of the other oligonucleotides are listed in Tables 1 and 2 below.
FIG. 2 is a photograph showing microarray results obtained from hybridizing wild-type HBV DNA with a DNA chip. The oligonucleotides contained in the DNA chip and their positions thereon are shown in the map of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 3 is a photograph showing microarray results obtained from hybridizing HBV DNA bearing deletions in either the Pre-S1 or Pre-S2 region with the DNA chip described above. A: microarray results using HBV DNA bearing deletions in the Pre-S1 region. B: microarray results using HBV DNA bearing deletions in the Pre-S2 region.
FIG. 4 is a photograph showing microarray results obtained from hybridizing DNA samples prepared from two HBV positive patients with the DNA chip described above. A: microarray results obtained from Patient 1. B: microarray results obtained from Patient 2.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Disclosed herein are a number of oligonucleotide combinations for detecting a deletion(s) in the Pre-S region of HBV DNA.
The HBV Pre-S region, located at nt 2854 to 154 in the HBV genome, includes two subregions, Pre-S1 (nt 2854 to 3210) and Pre-S2 (nt 3211 to 154). See Animal Virus Genetics, pg 57-70; Academic Press, New York (1980). The length of the Pre-S region in various genotypes of wild-type HBV remains the same, even though polymorphisms have been identified at many nucleotide positions in this region. An exemplary nucleotide sequence of the wild-type HBV Pre-S region is shown below:
Nucleotide Sequence of Wild-Type HBV DNA Pre-S Region
(SEQ ID NO: 49)
atgggaggtt ggtcatcaaa acctcgcaaa ggcatgggga cgaatctttc
50
R1 R2
tgttcccaat cctctgggat tctttcccga tcatcagttg gaccctgcat
100
R3 R4
tcggagccaa ctcaaacaat ccagattggg acttcaaccc gtcaaggac
150
R5 R6
gactggccag cagccaacca agtaggagtg ggagcattcg ggccaaggct
200
R7
cacccctcca cacggcggta ttttggggtg gagccctcag gctcagggca
250
R8 R9
tattgaccac agtgtcaaca attcctcctc ctgcctccac caatcggcag
300
R10 R11
tcaggaaggc agcctactcc catctctcca cctctaagag acagtcatcc
350
R12
tcaggccatg cagtggaatt ccactgcctt ccaccaaact ctgcaggatc
400
R13 R14
ccagagtcag gggtctgtat cttcctgctg gtggctccag ttcaggaaca
450
R15 R16
gtaaaccctg ctccgaatat tgcctctcac atctcgtcaa tctccgcgag
500
R17
gactggggac cctgtgacga acatggagaa catcacatca ggattcctag
550
gacccctgct cgtgttacag gcggggtttt tcttgttgac aagaatcctc
600
acaataccgc agagtctaga ctcgtggtgg acttctctca attttctagg
650
gggatctccc gtgtgtcttg gccaaaattc gcagtcccca acctccaatc
700
actcaccaac ctcctgtcct ccaatttgtc ctggttatcg ctggatgtgt
750
ctgcggcgtt ttatcatatt cctcttcatc ctgctgctat gcctcatctt
800
cttattggtt cttctggatt atcaaggtat gttgcccgtt tgtcctctaa
850
ttccaggatc aacaacaacc agtacgggac catgcaaaac ctgcacgact
900
cctgctcaag gcaactctat gtttccctca tgttgctgta caaaacctac
950
ggatggaaat tgcacctgta ttcccatccc atcgtcctgg gctttcgcaa
1000
aatacctatg ggagtgggcc tcagtccgtt tctcttggct cagtttacta
1050
gtgccatttg ttcagtggtt cgtagggctt tcccccactg tttggctttc
1100
agctatatgg atgatgtggt attgggggcc aagtctgtac agcatcgtga
1150
gtccctttat accgctgtta ccaattttct tttgtctctg ggtatacatt
1200
taa
Oligonucleotide combination (A) described herein contains at least 29 oligonucleotides respectively including the nucleotide sequences of SEQ ID NOs:2-30. In one example, combination (A) contains the oligonucleotides shown in Table 1 below, and preferably, an additional oligonucleotide having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 (e.g., WH-PC listed in Table 3 below).
TABLE 1
Oligonucleotides Contained in An Exemplary
Oligonucleotide Combination (A)
Position in HBV
genome
SEQ ID
Oligos
(Target Region)
Nucleotide Sequence (5′ → 3″)
NO
WH-1
2854-2873 (R1)
TTTGATGACCAACCTCCCAT
SEQ ID
NO: 2
WH-2
2874-2893 (R2)
TCCCCATGCCTTTGCGAGGT
SEQ ID
NO: 3
WH-3
2894-2923 (R3)
ATCCCAGAGGATTGGGAACAGAAAGATTCG
SEQ ID
NO: 4
WH-3-1
2894-2923 (R3)
ATCCCAGGGGATTGGGGACAGAAAGATTTG
SEQ ID
NO: 5
WH-4
2924-2953 (R4)
ATGCAGGGTCCAACTGATGATCGGGAAAGA
SEQ ID
NO: 6
WH-4-1
2924-2953 (R4)
ATGCAGGGTCCAACTGRTGATCGGGRAAGA
SEQ ID
(R: A/G)
NO: 7
WH-5
2954-2983 (R5)
CCCAATCTGGATTGTTTGAGTTGGCTCCGA
SEQ ID
NO: 8
WH-5-1
2954-2983 (R5)
CCCAATCTGGATTTTCTGAGTTGGCTTTGA
SEQ ID
NO: 9
WH-6
2984-3013 (R6)
CTGGCCAGTCGTCCTTGACGGGGTTGAAGT
SEQ ID
NO: 10
WH-6-1
2984-3013 (R6)
CTGGCCADTGATCCTTGTTGGGGTTGAAGT
SEQ ID
(D: G/A/T)
NO: 11
WH-6-2
2984-3013 (R6)
CCGGCCAGTTGTCCTTGTGCGGGTTGAGGT
SEQ ID
NO: 12
WH-7
3014-3043 (R7)
CGAATGCTCCCACTCCTACTTGGTTGGCTG
SEQ ID
NO: 13
WH-7-1
3014-3043 (R7)
CGAATGCTCCCACTCCCACCTTGTTGGCGG
SEQ ID
NO: 14
WH-7-2
3014-3043 (R7)
CGAATGCTCCCRCTCCTACCTGRTTKGCCG
SEQ ID
(R: A/G; K: G/T)
NO: 15
WH-8
3044-3073 (R8)
TACCGCCGTGTGGAGGGGTGAGCCTTGGCC
SEQ ID
NO: 16
WH-8-1
3044-3073 (R8)
CACCGCCGTGTGGWGGGRTGAACCCTGGCC
SEQ ID
(W: A/T; R: A/G)
NO: 17
WH-8-2
3044-3073 (R8)
GTCCCCCATGGGGAGGGRTGAACCCTGGCC
SEQ ID
(R: A/G)
NO: 18
WH-9
3074-3103 (R9)
TGCCCTGAGCCTGAGGGCTCCACCCCAAAA
SEQ ID
NO: 19
WH-10
3104-3133 (R10)
GAGGAGGAATTGTTGACACTGTGGTCAATA
SEQ ID
NO: 20
WH-10-1
3104-3133 (R10)
GAGGAGGAGCTGCTGGCACAGTTGTGAGTA
SEQ ID
NO: 21
WH-10-1-1
3088-3117 (R10)
CACAGTTGTGAGTATGCCCTGAGCCTGAGG
SEQ ID
NO: 22
WH-10-1-2
3118-3147 (R10)
ATTGGTGGAGGCAGGAGGAGGAGCTGCTGG
SEQ ID
NO: 23
WH-10-2
3104-3133 (R10)
GAGGAGGNGCTRCTGGCACTGTTGTCARTA
SEQ ID
(N: A/T/C/G; R: A/G)
NO: 24
WH-10-2-1
3088-3117 (R10)
CACTGTTGTCARTATGCCCTGAGCCTGAGG
SEQ ID
(R: A/G)
NO: 25
WH-10-2-2
3118-3147 (R10)
ATTGGTGGAGGCAGGAGGAGGNGCTRCTGG
SEQ ID
(N: A/T/C/G; R: A/G)
NO: 26
WH-11
3134-3163 (R11)
GCCTTCCTGACTGCCGATTGGTGGAGGCAG
SEQ ID
NO: 27
WH-12
3164-3193 (R12)
CTCTTAGAGGTGGAGAGATGGGAGTAGGCT
SEQ ID
NO: 28
WH-12-1
3164-3193 (R12)
CTCTTAGAGGTGGAGATAAGGGAGTAGGCT
SEQ ID
NO: 29
WH-13
3194-0002 (R13)
AATTCCACTGCATGGCCTGAGGATGACTGT
SEQ ID
NO: 30
Oligonucleotide combination (B) contains at least 14 oligonucleotides respectively including the nucleotide sequences of SEQ ID NOs:31-44. In one example, this combination contains the oligonucleotides shown in Table 2 below, and preferably, an additional oligonucleotide having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 (e.g., WH-PC listed in Table 3 below).
TABLE 2
Oligonucleotides Contained in An Exemplary
Oligonucleotide Combination (B)
Position in HBV
SEQ ID
Oligos
genome
Nucleotide Sequence (5′ → 3″)
NO
WH-14
0003-0032 (R14)
GATCCTGCAGAGTTTGGTGGAAGGCAGTGG
SEQ ID
NO: 31
WH-14-1
0005-0031 (R14)
ATCTTGAAGAGTTTGGTGGAAAGTGGT
SEQ ID
NO: 32
WH-14-1-1
0003-0032 (R14)
GATCTTGAAGAGTTTGGTGGAAGGTGGTGG
SEQ ID
NO: 33
WH-14-1-2
0005-0031 (R14)
ATCTTGAAGAGTTTGGTGGAAGGTGGT
SEQ ID
NO: 34
WH-14-2
0005-0031 (R14)
GATCTTGCAGAGCTTGGTGGAATGTTGTGG
SEQ ID
NO: 35
WH-15
0033-0062 (R15)
CAGCAGGAAGATACAGACCCCTGACTCTGG
SEQ ID
NO: 36
WH-15-1
0035-0061 (R15)
AGCAGGAARGTACAGGGCCCTGACTCT
SEQ ID
(R: A/G)
NO: 37
WH-15-2
0033-0062 (R15)
CAGCAGGAAARTAYAGGCCCCTCACTCTGG
SEQ ID
(R: A/G; Y: T/C)
NO: 38
WH-16
0063-0092 (R16)
CAGGGTTTACTGTTCCTGAACTGGAGCCAC
SEQ ID
NO: 39
WH-16-1
0063-0092 (R16)
CAGGGCTCACTGTTCCTGAACTGGAGCCAC
SEQ ID
NO: 40
WH-16-2
0063-0092 (R16)
CAGGGTTTACTGTTCCKGAACTGGAGCCAC
SEQ ID
(K: G/T)
NO: 41
WH-17
0093-0122 (R17)
TTGACGAGATGTGAGAGGCAATATTCGGAG
SEQ ID
NO: 42
WH-17-1
0093-0122 (R17)
TTGACGATATGGYMGAGACAGTATTCTGAG
SEQ ID
(Y: T/C; M: C/A)
NO: 43
WH-17-2
0093-0122 (R17)
TTGACGATATGGGWGAGGCAGTAGTCGGAA
SEQ ID
(W: A/T)
NO: 44
Combinations (A) and (B) can be merged to form combination (C). In one example, combination (C) contains the oligonucleotides listed in both Tables 1 and 2 above, as well as WH-PC listed in Table 3 below.
Combinations (A), (B), or (C) described above can be used for detecting a deletion(s) in the Pre-S region of HBV via hybridization. More specifically, combination (A) is used for detecting a deletion(s) in the Pre-S1 region of HBV, combination (B) is used for detecting a deletion(s) in the Pre-S2 region, and combination (C) is used for detecting a deletion(s) in the whole Pre-S region. The oligonucleotides contained in these two combinations target regions R1-R17 (shown in SEQ ID NO: 49 above) in the Pre-S region as indicated in Tables 1 and 2 above. Each of the combinations include multiple oligonucleotides that target the same region (e.g., R10 or R14) where polymorphisms exist in different viral genotypes. Thus, the two combinations can be used for detecting Pre-S deletions in a HBV without first determining its particular genotype. When included in any of combinations (A), (B), and (C), WH-PC, having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, serves as a positive control.
All of the oligonucleotides described above can be made by conventional methods, e.g., chemical synthesis. Preferably, oligonucleotides of combination (A), (B), or (C) are immobilized onto the surface of a suitable support member (e.g., a polymer substrate) via a linker (e.g., a poly T tail) to form a DNA chip. The poly(T) linker, including 5-17 nt, can be located at either the 5′ or 3′ end of an oligonucleotide. The support member can be made of various materials, e.g., glass, plastic, nylon, or silicon.
The DNA chip mentioned above can be hybridized with a test HBV DNA sample under suitable hybridization conditions, such as hybridization at 48-55° C. (e.g., 50 or 55° C.) and washing with <0.5×SSC (e.g., 0.2×SSC, 0.1×SSC, or any equivalent wash buffer) at 23-28° C. In a preferable example, the test HBV DNA is prepared via PCR amplification with the primers listed in Table 3 below from a biosample (e.g., a serum or liver sample) of a HBV positive patient. When the PCR product yields a single band on an agrose gel, it can be used directly for the just-mentioned hybridization assay. When the PCR product yields multiple bands on an agrose gel, DNAs of each band can be eluted from the gel, cloned into a vector, and then subjected to another PCR reaction to generate HBV DNA suitable for the hybridization assay.
TABLE 3
Oligonucleotides Used as Positive Control and
PCR Primers
Position
in HBV
Nucleotide Sequence
Oligos
genome
(5′ → 3″)
SEQ ID NO
WH-PC
2818-2837
GCGGGTCACCATATTCTTGG
SEQ ID NO: 1
WH-1
0236-0255
GAGTCTAGACTCTGCGGTAT
SEQ ID NO: 45
Rev
WH-2
0180-0199
TAACACGAGCAGGGGTCCTA
SEQ ID NO: 46
Rev
The hybridization results thus obtained are then compared with results obtained from hybridizing the same DNA chip with a wild-type HBV DNA to determine whether the test HBV DNA contains a deletion(s) in its Pre-S region. For example, failure to hybridize to all of the oligonucleotides that target the same region (e.g., R8 or R14) indicates that the test HBV DNA contains a deletion(s) in that region.
Without further elaboration, it is believed that one skilled in the art can, based on the above description, utilize the present invention to its fullest extent. The following specific example is, therefore, to be constructed as merely illustrative, and not limitative of the remainder of the disclosure in any way whatsoever. All publications cited herein are incorporated by reference.
Determination of Deletions in HBV Pre-S1 and Pre-S2 Regions by Microarray Analysis
a. Preparation of an Oligo Microarray Chip for Determining Deletions in the Pre-S1 and Pre-S2 Regions of HBV
Each of the oligonucleotides listed in both Table 1 and Table 2 and oligonucleotide WH-PC listed in Table 3 was dissolved separately in a buffer containing glycerol, dimethyl sulfoxide, sodium EDTA, and bromophenol blue at a final concentration of 20 μM. All of these oligonucleotides were then spotted onto a positively charged nylon membrane by an Ezspot arrayer using a 400 μm diameter solid pin and exposed to a shortwave UV for 30 s to form a DNA microarray chip. FIG. 1 shows the positions of each of the oligonucleotides on the DNA chip.
b. Preparation of HBV DNA Samples for Microarray Analysis
HBV DNA samples obtained from HBV positive patients were prepared as follows. Serum samples were collected from these patients and DNAs were isolated from the samples by QIAamp MinElute Virus Spin following the instruction of the manufacturer. Briefly, 200 μl of each serum sample were mixed with 25 μl QIAGEN protease and 200 μl Buffer AL (containing 28 μg/ml of carrier RNAs). The mixture thus formed was incubated at 56° C. for 15 min in a heating block. After being mixed with 250 μl of ethanol (96-100%), the mixture was subjected to pulse-vortex for 15 sec, and then incubation at room temperature for 5 min. The lysate thus formed was carefully loaded onto a QIAamp MinElute column, which was centrifuged at 6000×g (8000 rpm) for 1 min., and the collection tube containing the filtrate was discarded. The column was washed twice with Buffer AW2 and ethanol, centrifuged at a full speed (20000×g; 14000 rpm) for 3 min to dry completely the membrane contained in the column. 20-150 μl of Buffer AVE or RNase-free water were added to the center of the membrane in the column. After being incubated at room temperature for 1 min, the column was centrifuged at a full speed (20000×g; 14000 rpm) for 1 min to collect a solution containing DNAs.
The DNAs thus obtained were used as PCR templates for preparing DNAs including the HBV Pre-S region, using the primers of W H -PC: 5′-GCGGGTCACCATATTCTTGG-3′ (forward primer; SEQ ID NO:1), and WH-1-Rev: 5′-GAGTCTAGACTCTGCGGTAT-3′ (SEQ ID NO:45), and WH-2 Rev.: 5′-TAACACGAGCAGGGGTCCTA-3′ (SEQ ID NO:46). See Table 3 above. Both primers were labeled with digoxigenin (DIG) at their 5′ ends. The PCR amplification was carried out under the following conditions: (a) initial denaturation at 95° C. for 3 min; (b) 35 cycles of denaturation at 95° C. for 1 min, annealing at 58° C. for 40 sec, and extension at 72° C. for 45 sec; and (c) final extension at 72° C. for 8 min. The PCR products were examined by agarose gel electrophoresis. If the DNA products yield a single band on the electrophoresis gel, they were analyzed via a microarray assay described below to examine for Pre-S a deletion(s). If two or more bands were produced, the PCR products were subjected to TA cloning and colony PCR as described below.
C. TA Cloning and Colony PCR
The PCR products prepared by the method described above were subjected to agarose gel electrophoresis and each DNA band on the gel was eluted from the gel. The eluted PCR products were ligated with a TA cloning vector in a ligation system containing 1 μl of 10× ligation buffer A, 1 μl of 10× ligation buffer B, 2 μl of TA vector, 5 μl of PCR product, and 1 μl of T4 DNA ligase. The ligation reaction was carried out at 22° C. for 15 min. The products thus obtained were transformed into host cells ( E. coli DH5α) and selected on Ampicillin-selective medium for positive transformants. The colonies of the positive transformants were picked up for colony PCR, using the M13 vector primers M13 F: 5′-GTTTTCCCAGTCACGAC-3 (SEQ ID NO:47), and M13 R: 5′-TCACACAGGAAACAGCTATGAC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:48). The PCR products were then re-amplified with the DIG-labeled W H -For and W H -Rev primers described in section b above, following the PCR reaction conditions also described therein.
d. Microarray Analysis
The microarray chip described in section a above was prehybridized for 2 hours in a hybridization solution containing 5×SSC, 1% blocking reagent, 0.1% N-lauroylsarcosine, 0.02% SDS). The digoxigenin-labeled PCR products described in section b above, corresponding to the HBV Pre-S region, were heated at 95° C. for 5 min and immediately cooled in an ice bath to denature the PCR products. Ten microliters of each denatured PCR product, diluted in 0.3 ml of the hybridization solution, were mixed with the prehybridized microarray chip and the hybridization reaction was carried out at 50° C. for 90 min. After washing away the nonhybridized DNA molecules, the microarray chip was washed four times with 0.1×SSC-0.2% SDS at 25° C., followed by incubation for 1 h in a blocking buffer (a Maleic acid buffer purchased from Roche). The blocking buffer was then removed and the microarray chip was incubated with a solution containing alkaline phosphatase-conjugated anti-DIG antibodies (1:1250 dilution) for 1 hr. After being washed three times (10 min each time) with a MAB washing solution that contains 0.1 M Maleic acid, 0.15 M NaCl, (pH 7.5), the chip was incubated for 5 min with a detection buffer (0.1 M Tris-HCl, 0.1 M NaCl, pH 9.5). A solution containing nitro blue tetrazolium chloride/5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl phosphate, an alkaline phosphate substrate, was incubated with the chip at 37° C. for 15 min without shaking. Afterwards, the chip was washed three times with distilled water, air-dried, and examined for positive signals (dark purple color) developed at positions where the PCR products hybridized with the oligonucleotides immobilized thereon.
The microarray results obtained from hybridizing a wild-type HBV DNA with the DNA chip described above are shown in FIG. 2 . The wild-type HBV DNA hybridizes to at least one oligonucleotide that targets each of regions R1-R17. As shown in FIG. 3 , a HBV DNA having deletions in the Pre-S1 region does not hybridize to any of the oligonucleotides that target regions R8 and R9 (see panel A), indicating that there are Pre-S1 deletions located within these two regions. Also shown in FIG. 3 , a HBV DNA having deletions in the Pre-S2 region does not hybridize to any of the oligonucleotides that target regions R14 and R15 (see panel B), indicating that the Pre-S2 deletions locate within these two regions.
HBV DNA samples, obtained from two HBV positive patients, were subjected to the microarray analysis described above. As shown in FIG. 4 , the HBV DNA obtained from Patient 1 does not hybridize to any of the oligonucleotides targeting regions R2 to R7 (see Panel A) and the HBV DNA from Patient 2 does not hybridize to any of the oligonucleotides targeting regions R16 and R17 (see Panel B). These results indicate that Patients 1 and 2 carry HBV with deletions in the Pre-S1 and Pre-S2 regions, respectively. The HBV DNAs from both Patient 1 and Patient 2 were subjected to DNA sequencing and the results thus obtained were consistent with those obtained from the microarray assay described above.
Other Embodiments
All of the features disclosed in this specification may be combined in any combination. Each feature disclosed in this specification may be replaced by an alternative feature serving the same, equivalent, or similar purpose. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is only an example of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.
From the above description, one skilled in the art can easily ascertain the essential characteristics of the present invention, and without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, can make various changes and modifications of the invention to adapt it to various usages and conditions. Thus, other embodiments are also within the claims.
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This invention provides combinations of novel oligonucleotides and their use in detecting a deletion(s) in the Pre-S region of HBV. Such a deletion(s) is associated with an increased risk of developing cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of, and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §120 on, application Ser. No. 13/668,390, filed Nov. 5, 2012, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 12/933,697, filed Sep. 21, 2010, now abandoned, which is a U.S. national phase application of PCT/JP2009/001323, filed Mar. 25, 2009, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 on Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-078159, filed on Mar. 25, 2008. Each of the above-identified priority applications is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
BACKGROUND
[0002] 1. Technical Field
[0003] The present invention relates to a liquid supply flow path device that connects a liquid ejecting apparatus body such as a printer to an external tank, and a liquid ejecting or recording apparatus using the same.
[0004] 2. Background Art
[0005] In the existing art, an ink jet type printer (hereinafter, referred to as “printer”) is widely known as a liquid ejecting or recording apparatus that ejects a liquid to a target. The printer has a recording head on a carriage that reciprocates, and printing is performed on a recording medium as a target by ejecting an ink (liquid) supplied from an ink cartridge (liquid receiver) to the recording head, from a nozzle formed in the recording head. As such printers, in the existing art, for example, there are known: printers of a type in which an ink cartridge is mounted on a carriage (so-called on-carriage type) as described in Patent Document 1; and printers of a type in which an ink cartridge is mounted at a fixing position on the printer which is different from a carriage (so called off-carriage type) as described in Patent Document 2.
[0006] Patent Document 1: JP-A-2004-262092
[0007] Patent Document 2: JP-A-2003-320680
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
Problems to be Solved by the Invention
[0008] Here, particularly in a printer of on-carriage type, the ink capacity of an ink cartridge is small because of a mounting space on a carriage. Thus, when a relatively large amount of printing is to be performed, it is necessary to frequently replace the ink cartridge. Therefore, when such a large amount of printing is performed, in addition to requiring a hand for replacement of the ink cartridge, there is a problem that the running cost increases. Even in off-carriage type, when a large amount of printing is to be performed, it is necessary to replace an ink cartridge, although less frequently than in on-carriage type. Particularly, in home-use ones among off-carriage type, the capacity of an ink cartridge is small, and hence the frequency of replacement becomes high.
[0009] For that reason, in the existing art, an external tank having a large capacity may be connected to a printer to modify the printer. When such a modification is made, in order to supply an ink from the external tank to the inside of the printer, an ink supply tube is led from the outside of the printer to the inside thereof.
[0010] However, the printer is covered with a casing cover for the purposes of sound insulation and design, and the ink supply tube only has to be forced to pass through a gap in the casing cover. When the ink supply tube is forcefully bent or the diameter of the ink supply tube is larger than the gap, the ink supply tube is folded or flattened, so that the ink supply tube is blocked and an ink cannot be supplied.
[0011] Further, in the case where the ink supply tube is passed through the gap in the casing cover that is openable and closable, when opening or closing the cover, a situation may occur where the ink supply tube is pinched and flattened so that the ink cannot be supplied from the external tank.
[0012] If the reason why the ink cannot be supplied is noticed quickly, correction can be made. However, if printing is continued without notice, blank ejection occurs at the ink nozzle, causing a breakdown of the printer body. After all, the printer manufacturer will deal with the breakdown of the printer and hence cannot leave such a situation as it is.
[0013] From such circumstances, embodiments of the invention arise.
SUMMARY
[0014] A recording apparatus according to embodiments of the invention comprises a printer body having a case, and in the interior of printer body is an ink nozzle; an opening and closing member movably affixed to an upper side of the printer body, the opening and closing member being configured to open and close; and an external tank located exterior to the printer body. The recording apparatus further comprises a tube, a portion of which is exterior to the printer body, which provides a liquid from the external tank to the ink nozzle. One or both of the printer body and the opening and closing member are configured to define a tube insertion part, which has a cutout portion or a finger engage portion. The tube extends into the printer body through the cutout portion or the finger engage portion.
[0015] The cutout portion or finger engage portion may be formed at a concave portion in the printer body.
[0016] The opening and closing member may comprise a scanner.
[0017] Other aspects of the invention together with a fuller understanding of the invention will become apparent and appreciated by referring to the following description and claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0018] FIG. 1(A) is an overall view of a liquid ejecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention; FIG. 1(B) is a side view showing a state where a scanner cover of a printer body shown in FIG. 1(A) is opened; and FIG. 1(C) is a side view showing a state where an upper casing cover of the printer body shown in FIG. 1(A) is opened.
[0019] FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing one mounting form of a liquid supply flow path device located between lower and upper casing covers.
[0020] FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing another mounting form of the liquid supply flow path device located between the lower and upper casing covers.
[0021] FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a liquid supply flow path device according to a first embodiment.
[0022] FIG. 5 is a plan view of the liquid supply flow path device according to the first embodiment.
[0023] FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the liquid supply flow path device according to the first embodiment.
[0024] FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of a liquid supply flow path device according to a second embodiment.
[0025] FIG. 8 is a schematic explanatory view showing a state where the liquid supply flow path device according to the second embodiment is bent in the mounting form of FIG. 2 .
[0026] FIG. 9 is a schematic explanatory view showing a state where the liquid supply flow path device according to the second embodiment is bent in the mounting form of FIG. 3 .
[0027] FIGS. 10(A) and 10(B) are schematic perspective views of a liquid supply flow path device according to a third embodiment.
[0028] FIGS. 11(A) and 11(B) are schematic explanatory views of a liquid supply flow path device according to a fourth embodiment.
[0029] FIGS. 12(A) and 12(B) are schematic explanatory views of a holding case into which a flexible tube used in the fourth embodiment is inserted.
[0030] FIG. 13 is a schematic explanatory view showing one example of a mounting state of a liquid supply flow path device within a liquid ejecting apparatus body.
REFERENCE NUMERALS
[0000]
10 liquid ejecting apparatus body
11 lower casing cover (outer wall cover)
11 A cutout portion
11 B inner wall cover
11 C step portion
12 upper casing cover
20 external tank
30 , 30 A to 30 D liquid supply flow path device
31 first flow path
32 second flow path
33 third flow path
34 upstream flow path
35 downstream flow path
40 flow path defining member
41 first plate-like member
41 A through hole
42 second plate-like member
42 A recess portion
43 third plate-like member
43 A through hole
44 upstream member
44 A recess portion
45 downstream member
45 A recess portion
50 thin plate-like member
60 first thin plate-like member
61 second thin plate-like member
62 , 63 partition member
70 A, 70 B metal pipe
80 flexible tube
82 , 84 holding case
90 A, 90 B ink reservoir
100 A, 100 B liquid delivery member
110 inner flow path
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0065] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in detail. Note that the embodiments described below do not unduly limit the contents of the invention defined in the claims, and not all structures described in the embodiments are necessarily essential for means of the invention for solving the problems.
[0066] (Outline of Liquid Ejecting Apparatus)
[0067] FIGS. 1(A) to 1(C) show an ink jet printer that is one embodiment of a liquid ejecting apparatus according to the invention. FIG. 1(A) is a front view showing an overall configuration of the ink jet printer. The printer includes: a printer body 10 ; an external tank 20 that is located outside the printer body 10 ; and an ink supply flow path device (liquid supply flow path device) 30 that supplies an ink, which is a liquid, from the external tank 20 to the inside of the printer body 10 . The external tank 20 is capable of sending the ink therein under pressure by water head difference or by external application of pressure. Alternatively, the ink within the external tank 20 may be sucked by a mechanism within the printer body 10 .
[0068] The printer body 10 includes, in its inside surrounded by a lower casing cover (first casing cover) 11 and an upper casing cover (second casing cover) 12 , a platen that supports paper, a carriage that reciprocates along a guide shaft parallel to the platen, a recording head (liquid ejecting head) that is mounted to the carriage, an ink cartridge that supplies an ink to the recording head, and the like. A scanner cover 13 is located on the upper casing cover 12 .
[0069] FIG. 1(B) is a side view showing a state where the scanner cover 13 is opened. While the scanner cover 13 is opened, a document is placed on a document base. When the scanner cover 13 is closed and a start button is pressed, scanning of the document is started, and printing is performed at the printer body 10 . The printer body 10 is a complex machine, and printing at the printer body 10 is not limited to a document read by a scanner and, for example, printing of information transmitted from a personal computer is also possible.
[0070] Further, FIG. 1(C) shows a state where the upper casing cover 12 is opened during maintenance. The ink supply flow path device 30 is introduced from the outside of the printer body 10 to the inside thereof through a gap between the lower casing cover 11 and the upper casing cover 12 . In the embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1(B) and 1(C) , a cutout portion 11 A is formed in a side of the lower casing cover 11 and an upper edge thereof is partially removed. The cutout portion 11 A is provided originally for securing a gap with the upper casing cover 12 such that a finger can engage the upper casing cover 12 when opening or closing the upper casing cover 12 .
[0071] In the embodiment, the ink supply flow path device 30 is introduced from the outside of the printer body 10 to the inside thereof through the largest gap between the lower and upper casing covers 11 and 12 , which is secured at the cutout portion 11 A. In this manner, by utilizing the gap previously formed in the printer body 10 , the ink supply flow path device 30 can be mounted to the printer body 10 without impairing the operability, the performance, and the appearance of the printer body 10 .
[0072] (Liquid Supply Flow Path Device)
[0073] Next, the ink supply flow path device (liquid supply flow path device) 30 will be described. FIGS. 2 and 3 show examples of an A-A cross section of FIG. 1(A) . FIG. 2 shows an example in which the ink supply flow path device 30 is located, for example, along the lower casing cover 11 through a gap between edge surfaces at which an upper edge of the lower casing cover 11 faces a lower edge of the upper casing cover 12 . In FIG. 3 , an inner wall cover 11 B that faces an inner side of the upper casing cover 12 , and a step portion 11 C that connects inner and outer wall covers, are provided at the upper edge of the lower casing cover (outer wall cover) 11 . In this case as well, the ink supply flow path device 30 is located, for example, along the lower casing cover (outer wall cover) 11 , the step portion 11 C, and the inner wall cover 11 B, through a gap between: the lower casing cover (outer wall cover) 11 , the step portion 11 C, and the inner wall cover 11 B; and the upper casing cover 12 .
[0074] In the case of FIG. 2 , for example, a channel-shaped (substantially U-shaped) flow path is essential for the ink supply flow path device 30 to be held by being located along the lower casing cover 11 and to extend beyond the lower casing cover 11 . On the other hand, in the case of FIG. 3 , a crank-shaped flow path is essential for the ink supply flow path device 30 to extend beyond the lower casing cover (outer wall cover) 11 , the step portion 11 C, and the inner wall cover 11 B along the lower casing cover (outer wall cover) 11 , the step portion 11 C, and the inner wall cover 11 B.
[0075] In either cases of FIGS. 2 and 3 , the ink supply flow path device 30 defines at least one flow path (a plurality of flow paths is possible) including: a first flow path 31 ; a second flow path 32 that communicates with one end of the first flow path 31 and extends along a direction intersecting the first flow path 31 , for example, perpendicular to the first flow path 31 ; and a third flow path 33 that communicates with another end of the second flow path 32 and extends in a direction intersecting the second flow path 32 , for example, perpendicular to the second flow path 32 . In either cases of FIGS. 2 and 3 , the ink supply flow path device 30 having such a shape is located along the lower casing cover 11 or the upper casing cover 12 through the gap between the lower casing cover 11 and the upper casing cover 12 , thereby supplying the ink from the outside of the printer body 10 to the inside thereof.
[0076] Particularly, when the second flow path 32 is located substantially horizontally, bubbles having a low specific gravity can be discharged to a space above the ink in the second flow path 32 to implement removal of the bubbles, and only the ink can be supplied due to the bubble trapping.
[0077] Preferably, the ink supply flow path device 30 includes a flow path formation member that has shape retention for a bent flow path that is bent in a channel shape or in a crank shape with a flow path (the second flow path 32 in the example of FIG. 2 ) located in the gap between the lower casing cover 11 and the upper casing cover 12 being a flat flow path in which a maximum flow path height is smaller than a flow path width. The flat flow path having a small flow path height is needed in order to be located in the gap between the lower and upper casing covers 11 and 12 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 , and the flow path width is made larger than the flow path height in order to increase the cross-sectional area of the flow path. The shape retention is a character to maintain a shape. Due to the shape retention, even when the upper casing cover 12 is opened or closed as in FIG. 1(C) , the flow path formation member can be prevented from being pinched between the lower and upper casing covers 11 and 12 . Note that it is only necessary for the channel-shaped flow path or crank-shaped flow path shown in FIG. 2 or 3 to at least have these characteristics. A flow path on the upstream side of the first flow path 31 (a flow path outside the printer body 10 ) and a flow path on the downstream side of the third flow path 33 (a flow path inside the printer body 10 ) are not located between the lower and upper casing covers 11 and 12 , and thus, besides the shape of the bent flat flow path described above, various shapes and characters can be used therefor.
[0078] Note that, in the case where contamination of bubbles and the like in a liquid to be supplied should be avoided as in the ink, the flow path formation member for forming the ink supply flow path device 30 preferably has a low permeability coefficient for oxygen and hydrogen. For the oxygen·hydrogen permeability coefficient, although depending on the shape of the flow path, in normal temperature environment, an oxygen permeability coefficient is 200 [cc·mm/m 2 ·day·atm] or less and more desirably 100 or less, and a water vapor permeability coefficient is 0.2 [g·mm/m 2 ·day] or less and more desirably 0.1 or less.
First Embodiment of Ink Supply Flow Path Device
[0079] Hereinafter, specific examples of the ink supply flow path device 30 having the channel-shaped flow path shown in FIG. 2 will be described. FIGS. 4 to 6 show an ink supply flow path device 30 A according to a first embodiment. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 6 , the ink supply flow path device 30 A includes, as a flow path formation member, a flow path defining member 40 and thin plate-like members 50 . The flow path defining member 40 is formed from a material having shape retention, such as a resin, a metal, an elastomer, a rubber, or the like. The thin plate-like members 50 can be formed from a resin film, an elastomer sheet, or the like. In order to weld the thin plate-like members 50 to the flow path defining member 40 , the flow path defining member 40 and the thin plate-like members 50 can be formed from the same type of resins or elastomers.
[0080] In order to form the channel-shaped flow path shown in FIG. 2 , the flow path defining member 40 includes first, second, and third plate-like members 41 , 42 , and 43 that are connected to each other. At both edges of the second plate-like member 42 , the first and third plate-like members 41 and 43 are connected to the second plate-like member so as to intersect the second plate-like member, for example, so as to be perpendicular to the second plate-like member.
[0081] The second flow path 32 is defined by a recess portion 42 A formed in the second plate-like member 42 and the thin plate-like member 50 that seals the opening of the recess portion 42 A. Note that, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 , an example is shown in which, for example, four second flow paths 31 are formed in the flow path defining member 40 , but the number can be set as appropriate depending on a type of the ink to be supplied and it is sufficient if at least one is formed.
[0082] The first flow path 31 is formed as a through hole 41 A that extends through the first plate-like member 41 to communicate with the recess portion 42 A of the second plate-like member 42 . Similarly, the third flow path 33 is formed as a through hole 43 A that extends through the third plate-like member 43 to communicate with the recess portion 42 A of the second plate-like member 42 .
[0083] The through holes 41 A and 43 A have rectangular cross sections in FIG. 5 , which are the same in shape as that of the second flow path 32 , but may have circular cross sections in view of processability. If so, the first and third flow paths 31 and 33 formed as the through holes 41 A and 43 A are not flat flow paths unlike the second flow path 32 . However, as shown in FIG. 2 , the first and third flow paths 31 and 33 are not located in the gap between the lower casing cover 11 and the upper casing cover 12 , and hence are not necessarily needed to be made to be flat flow paths.
[0084] The ink supply flow path device 30 A shown in FIGS. 4 to 6 can have an upstream plate-like member 44 on the upstream side of the first plate-like member 41 , and can further have a downstream plate-like member 45 on the downstream side of the second plate-like member 43 . The upstream plate-like member 44 has a recess portion 44 A that communicates with the through hole 41 A, and the downstream plate-like member 45 has a recess portion 45 A that communicates with the through hole 43 . Similarly to the recess portion 42 A, these recess portions 44 A and 45 A are also sealed by the thin plate-like members 50 to form an upstream flow path 34 and a downstream flow path 35 . However, the upstream plate-like member 44 and the downstream plate-like member 45 are not essential, and ink supply tubes connected to the first and third plate-like members 41 and 43 may be substituted therefor. This is because the upstream plate-like member 44 and the downstream plate-like member 45 are not located in the gap between the lower casing cover 11 and the upper casing cover 12 , so that there is no possibility that the upstream plate-like member 44 and the downstream plate-like member 45 will be pinched between the lower casing cover 11 and the upper casing cover 12 . Thus, in the case of using the substitutive tubes, the cross-sectional area of the flow path may be larger than that of the flat flow path of the ink supply flow path device 30 A. This is intended to reduce the flow path resistance for securing smooth ink supply. The above can similarly apply to later-described second to fourth embodiments.
[0085] The ink supply flow path device 30 A according to the first embodiment is located in the gap between the lower casing cover 11 and the upper casing cover 12 as in FIG. 2 . Moreover, the ink supply flow path device 30 A is held by the upper edge of the lower casing cover 11 being inserted into the recess portion of the channel-shaped ink supply flow path device 30 A.
[0086] In the ink supply flow path device 30 A, particularly, the second flow path 32 located in the gap between the lower casing cover 11 and the upper casing cover 12 is a flat flow path defined by the thin plate-like member 50 and has shape retention. Thus, even when the upper casing cover 12 is opened or closed as in FIG. 1(C) , the ink supply flow path device 30 A can stably supply the ink without the bent flat flow path being pinched between the lower casing cover 11 and the upper casing cover 12 . Therefore, blank ejection at the recording head is prevented and breakdowns of the printer body 10 can be reduced. In addition, bubble trapping can be achieved at the second flow path 32 .
Second Embodiment of Ink Supply Flow Path Device
[0087] FIGS. 7 and 8 shows an ink supply flow path device 30 B according to a second embodiment of the invention. The ink supply flow path device 30 B includes, as a flow path formation member, for example, first and second thin plate-like members 60 and 61 that are formed so as to be bent along the first, second, and third flow paths 31 , 32 , and 3 shown in FIG. 2 and are located so as to be spaced apart from and face each other for securing each flow path height of the first, second, and third flow paths 31 , 32 , and 33 ; and at least two partition members 62 and 63 that are formed so as to be bent along the first, second, and third flow paths 31 , 32 , and 33 , are located between the facing first and second thin plate-like members 60 and 61 , and are located so as to be spaced apart from and face each other for securing each flow path height of the first, second, and third flow paths 31 , 32 , and 33 . Note that, in order to form N (N is an integer equal to or more than 2) flow paths, it is only necessary to provide (N+1) partition members.
[0088] Here, various combinations of materials are considered for the first and second thin plate-like members 60 and 61 and the partition members 62 and 63 . The combinations of materials are divided roughly into two types. A first type has shape retention to maintain the bent shapes of the first and second thin plate-like members 60 and 61 , and a second type does not have the shape retention.
[0089] In the case of the first type, the first and second thin plate-like members 60 and 61 secure shape retention by being formed from a metal or a hard resin. For the materials of the partition members 62 and 63 in the first type, it is acceptable if they are materials that can provide a partitioning function when being sandwiched between the first and second thin plate-like members 60 and 61 , and examples thereof can include resins, metals, elastomers, rubbers, and the like.
[0090] In the case of the second type, the materials of the first and second thin plate-like members 60 and 61 can include materials that do not have shape retention themselves and have flexibility, e.g., resin films, elastomer sheets, rubber sheets, and the like. In this case, the first and second thin plate-like members 60 and 61 are located so as to be deformed and bent along the surfaces of the partition members 62 and 63 having shape retention. As the materials of the partition members 62 and 63 in the second type, for example, resins, metals, elastomers, rubbers, and the like can be also used.
[0091] The ink supply flow path device 30 B according to the second embodiment is also located in the gap between the lower casing cover 11 and the upper casing cover 12 as in FIG. 2 . Moreover, the ink supply flow path device 30 is held by the upper edge of the lower casing cover 11 being inserted into the recess portion of the channel-shaped ink supply flow path device 30 B.
[0092] In the ink supply flow path device 30 B, particularly, the second flow path 32 located in the gap between the lower casing cover 11 and the upper casing cover 12 is a flat flow path defined by the first and second thin plate-like members 60 and 61 , and the first and second thin plate-like members 60 and 61 and/or the partition members 62 and 63 have shape retention. Thus, even when the upper casing cover 12 is opened or closed as in FIG. 1(C) , the ink supply flow path device 30 B can stably supply the ink without the bent flat flow path being pinched between the lower casing cover 11 and the upper casing cover 12 . Therefore, blank ejection at the recording head is prevented and breakdowns of the printer body 10 can be reduced. In addition, bubble trapping can be achieved at the second flow path 32 .
[0093] Further, unlike the first embodiment, the ink supply flow path device 30 B according to the second embodiment does not have limitations on the bending direction. Thus, for example, when a crank-shaped flow path as shown in FIG. 3 is formed, the ink supply flow path device 30 B can deal with this case by being bent as shown in FIG. 9 .
Third Embodiment of Ink Supply Flow Path Device
[0094] FIGS. 10(A) and 10(B) show an ink supply flow path device 30 C according to a third embodiment. The ink supply flow path device 30 C is formed, as a flow path formation member, of a plurality of metal pipes 70 A or 70 B which are formed so as to be bent along the first, second, and third flow paths 31 , 32 , and 33 shown in FIG. 2 and define a plurality of flow paths, and the plurality of metal pipes are arranged in parallel. The metal pipes 70 A shown in FIG. 10(A) have circular flow paths, but the metal pipes 70 B shown in FIG. 10(B) may be used which have flat, elliptical flow paths in which flow path heights are smaller than flow path widths.
[0095] The ink supply flow path device 30 C according to the third embodiment is also located in the gap between the lower casing cover 11 and the upper casing cover 12 as in FIG. 2 . Moreover, the ink supply flow path device 30 is held by the upper edge of the lower casing cover 11 being inserted into the recess portion of the channel-shaped ink supply flow path device 30 C.
[0096] In the ink supply flow path device 30 C, particularly, in the case of FIG. 10(B) , the second flow path 32 located in the gap between the lower casing cover 11 and the upper casing cover 12 is a flat flow path and has shape retention. Thus, even when the upper casing cover 12 is opened or closed as in FIG. 1(C) , the ink supply flow path device 30 C can stably supply the ink without the bent flat flow path being pinched between the lower casing cover 11 and the upper casing cover 12 . Therefore, blank ejection at the recording head is prevented and breakdowns of the printer body 10 can be reduced. In addition, bubble trapping can be achieved at the second flow path 32 .
[0097] Further, in the ink supply flow path device 30 C according to the third embodiment as well, the metal pipes 70 A or 70 B can be optionally bent. Thus, for example, when a crank-shaped flow path as shown in FIG. 3 is formed, the ink supply flow path device 30 C can deal with this case.
Fourth Embodiment of Ink Supply Flow Path Device
[0098] FIGS. 11(A) and 11(B) show an ink supply flow path device 30 D according to a fourth embodiment. The ink supply flow path device 30 D includes, as a flow path formation member, at least one, for example, four flexible tubes 80 . The flexible tubes 80 are shrunk in a state before ink supply as shown in FIG. 11(A) . However, the flexible tubes 80 are deformed so as to expand as shown in FIG. 11(B) when the ink is supplied by application of pressure or by suction passes therethrough, thereby securing necessary flow path cross-sectional areas.
[0099] The flexible tubes 80 can be formed by partially sticking two facing films, elastomer sheets, rubber sheets, or the like together by means of welding or adhesion.
[0100] The ink supply flow path device 30 D can be optionally deformed into a channel shape as shown in FIG. 2 , a crank shape as shown in FIG. 3 , or the like. However, the flexible tubes 80 do not have shape retention themselves. Thus, for example, the flexible tubes 80 are inserted into a channel-shaped holding case 82 or a crank-shaped holding case 84 shown in FIG. 12(A) or 12 (B) to hold shape retention by these holding cases 82 and 84 , and can be located between the lower and upper casing covers 11 and 12 .
[0101] Further, in the ink supply flow path device 30 D, for example, the second flow path 32 located in the gap between the lower casing cover 11 and the upper casing cover 12 shown in FIG. 2 is secured as a flat flow path as shown in FIG. 11(B) . Thus, the ink supply flow path device 30 D can stably supply the ink without being pinched between the lower casing cover 11 and the upper casing cover 12 . Therefore, blank ejection at the recording head is prevented and breakdowns of the printer body 10 can be reduced. Even when being bent in a crank shape as shown in FIG. 3 , the first to third flow paths 31 to 33 can be secured as flat flow paths. In addition, bubble trapping can be achieved at the second flow path 32 .
[0102] (Mounting to Inside of Liquid Ejecting Apparatus)
[0103] FIG. 13 shows the inside of the printer body 10 shown in FIG. 1 . The printer body 10 has lower and upper casing covers 11 and 12 of the type of FIG. 3 . The ink supply flow path device 30 is inserted into the inside of the printer body 10 through the cutout portion 11 A of the lower casing cover 11 , and the first to third flow paths 31 to 33 are formed so as to be bent in a crank shape along the gap between the lower and upper casing covers 11 and 12 .
[0104] A flow path 35 on the downstream side of the third flow path 33 is connected to ink reservoirs 90 A, 90 B, . . . each of which is provided for each ink color. The mounting location of the ink reservoirs 90 A and 90 B is where an ink cartridge of off-carriage type is originally located. The ink cartridge does not have a structure in which an ink can be supplied from the outside thereto, and thus the ink reservoirs 90 A and 90 B are provided as a substitute therefor.
[0105] The ink reservoirs 90 A and 90 B are formed in a sac-like shape from a flexible film or the like, such as a resin film and/or an aluminum thin film, and have a damper ability. The ink reservoirs 90 A and 90 B can introduce the ink within the external tank 20 into the recording head by being connected to the recording head through: ink delivery members (liquid delivery members) 100 A and 100 B provided on the printer body 10 side; and an inner flow path 110 branched for each ink. Even in the printer body 10 of on-carriage type, the ink reservoirs 90 A and 90 B similarly may be provided. Alternatively, in both types, as a substitute for the ink reservoirs 90 a and 90 b, the ink supply flow path device 30 may be connected to an adapter that has a structure to be connected to an inner tube within the printer body 10 .
[0106] Note that, although each embodiment has been described in detail, it should be readily understood by a person skilled in the art that many modifications that do not substantially depart from the new matter and the effects of the invention are possible. Therefore, all of such modified examples are included within the scope of the invention. For example, any term described at least once together with a broader or synonymous different term in the specification or the drawing, may be replaced by the different term at any places in the specification or the drawing.
[0107] Further, application of the liquid supply flow path device of the invention is not limited to the ink jet recoding apparatus. The liquid supply flow path device of the invention is applicable to various liquid ejecting apparatuses having: a liquid ejecting head that ejecting a very small amount of a droplet; and the like. Note that the droplet means a state of a liquid ejected from the liquid ejecting apparatus, and is intended to include a granule state, an a tear-like state, and a tailing filiform state.
[0108] Specific examples of the liquid ejecting apparatus include, for example, apparatuses having a color material ejecting head and used for manufacturing color filters for liquid crystal displays and the like; apparatuses having an electrode material (conductive paste) ejecting head and used for forming electrodes for organic EL displays, field emission displays (FEDs), and the like; apparatuses having a bioorganic substance ejecting head and used for manufacturing biochips; apparatuses having a sample ejecting head as a precise pipette; textile printing apparatuses; and microdispensers.
[0109] Further, in the invention, the liquid may be any material as long as it can be ejected by the liquid ejecting apparatus. A typical example of the liquid is the ink as described in the above embodiments. Here, the ink is intended to include various liquid compositions such as common water-based and oil-based inks, gel inks, and hot-melt inks. The liquid may be a material, such as liquid crystal, other than materials used for printing characters and images. In addition, in the invention, the liquid may be, in addition to a liquid as one state of a material, a liquid that is mixed with a solid material such as pigments and metal particles.
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A recording apparatus comprises a printer body having a case. An ink nozzle is in the interior of the printer body. An opening and closing member is movably affixed to an upper side of the printer body and is configured to open and close. An external tank is located exterior to the printer body. A tube, a portion of which is exterior to the printer body, provides a liquid from the external tank to the ink nozzle. One or both of the printer body and the opening and closing member are configured to define a tube insertion part, which has a cutout portion or a finger engage portion. The tube extends into the printer body through the cutout portion or the finger engage portion.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The invention comprises a stabbing guide apparatus that facilitates connection of a first drill pipe to a second drill pipe. Specifically, the apparatus provides an internal coupling region which enables the male and female ends of a drill pipe to form a connection without damaging the ends of the drill pipe. The apparatus easily attaches to the first drill pipe, guides a second drill pipe into a position for attachment to the first drill pipe and easily detaches from two drill pipes after the first and second drill pipes form a connection.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Drill pipe extends down into oil and gas formation beneath an oil or gas drilling rig floor. Drill pipe provides a conduit for the flow of oil or gas from an oil or gas formation well below the rig floor to a collection device. To achieve sufficient depth of drill pipe into a formation, drill pipes are connected together as they are lowered into a formation. Effective and strong drill pipe connections allow oil and gas to flow safely for collection and delivery to market; therefore, drill pipe joints need to be connected without damage thereto.
[0003] A variety of stabbing guides are currently used to manipulate and orient a second drill pipe into a position to connect to a first drill pipe, which extends into the oil or gas formation. Current stabbing guides comprise an outer surface and an inner surface, a front portion a back portion and two side portions. Stabbing guides are typically cylindrical and vertically divided into two segments. A hinge mechanism on the back portion is typically used for attaching the two segments of the stabbing guide together. The stabbing guide's outer front surface has a mechanical latching mechanism comprising a buckle or bolt, which is physically manipulated by a user to lock the two segments together for securing the two segments of the stabbing guide to the top of a first drill pipe disposed on the rig floor. The top portion of the stabbing guide is then used to direct the attachment of a second drill pipe to first drill pipe.
[0004] Often the stabbing guide's hinges, located on the outer surface, become unusable due to the action of rust, ice or mud build up, and routine wear. Similarly, the latching mechanism, also located on the outer surface of the guide, becomes damaged through repetitive use, rust and ice and mud build-up. As a result, the stabbing guide must be repaired or replaced
[0005] Current stabbing guides often require the latching system to be mechanically undone and unlatched as the second drill pipe inserts into and connects with the first drill pipe during the connection process. If the currently-used stabbing guides are not mechanically unlatched during the connection process, the stabbing guide can be torn apart and damaged, and will need to be replaced. Further, damaged stabbing guides can cause damage to the ends of drill pipe. Any damage to the ends of drill pipe and/or the threads located there mandates removal and replacement of the damaged drill pipe because of environmental or safety risks. Removal and replacement of drill pipe is costly in terms of time and money.
[0006] Thus, there is a long felt need for alternatives to conventional stabbing guides having outer hinges and conventional outer mechanical latching mechanisms.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] Accordingly, it is an object of embodiments of the present invention to provide an easily attachable and detachable magnetic-latch stabbing guide for connecting a first drill pipe to a second drill pipe. The invention disclosed herein facilitates connection between the first drill pipe passing through a rig floor and a second, maneuverable drill pipe by easily attaching to the top of the first drill pipe. The current invention guides the second drill pipe for an effective drill pipe connection and easily detached from the two joined drill pipes once union of the two drill pipes is made. There is no need to physically manipulate a mechanical latching mechanism.
[0008] Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
[0009] To achieve the foregoing and other objects, and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the invention includes a magnetic-latch stabbing guide to connect a first drill pipe to a second drill pipe, the magnetic-latch stabbing guide comprises a top portion, a bottom portion, a front portion, and a back portion, the top portion of the magnetic-latch stabbing guide further comprising a funnel-shaped portion opening to the outside of the top portion, a neck portion underneath the funnel-shaped portion, a shoulder portion underneath and in contact with the neck portion, and a female coupling opening to the outside of the bottom portion and in contact with the shoulder portion, the stabbing guide being vertically divided in the front portion and vertically divided in the back portion, thereby forming a first guide segment and a second guide segment, the front portion comprises a first magnet disposed in the first guide segment and a second magnet disposed in the second guide segment, the first magnet disposed and aligned to attract the second magnet, said back portion comprising a hinge in contact with said first segment and said second segment.
[0010] In another embodiment, the present invention comprises a magnetic-latch stabbing guide for attaching a female end of a first drill pipe to a male end of a second drill pipe, the male end having a proximal portion having a circumference and attached to a tapered distal end having a small circumference, said stabbing guide comprises a top portion, a bottom portion, a front portion, and a back portion, the top portion of the magnetic-latch stabbing guide further comprising a funnel-shaped portion opening to the outside of the top portion, a neck portion underneath the funnel-shaped portion, a shoulder portion underneath and in contact with the neck portion, and a female coupling opening to the outside of the bottom portion and in contact with the shoulder portion, the stabbing guide being vertically divided in the front portion and vertically divided in the back portion, thereby forming a first guide segment and a second guide segment, the front portion comprises a first magnet disposed in the first guide segment and a second magnet disposed in the second guide segment, the first magnet disposed and aligned to attract the second magnet, said back portion comprising a hinge in contact with said first segment and said second segment, said neck portion having a neck portion inner circumference greater than the small circumference of the tapered distal end and the neck portion inner circumference smaller than the circumference of the proximal potion of the second drill pipe.
[0011] Benefits and advantages of the present invention include, but are not limited to, providing a magnetic-latch stabbing guide apparatus, which guides drill pipes together for connection in a safe, quick and effective manner. The magnetic-latch stabbing guide is easy to use and can function in a variety of terrain, and accommodate a wide variety weather conditions and oil field wear and tear. The magnetic latch provides for quick, easy, safe and non-destructive detachment of the stabbing guide from the joined drill pipes.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] The invention can be best understood by those having ordinary skill in the art by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
[0013] FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of the front of one embodiment of the present invention showing the magnetic-latch stabbing guide in closed position.
[0014] FIG. 2 illustrates a perspective view of the front of one embodiment of the present invention showing the magnetic-latch stabbing guide in open position.
[0015] FIG. 3 illustrates a perspective view of the front of one embodiment of the present invention wherein the magnetic-latch stabbing guide is between a first drill pipe's female end and a second drill pipe's male end and ready for attaching the two drill pipes.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0016] Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Throughout the following detailed description, the same reference characters refer to the same or similar elements in all figures.
[0017] FIG. 1 depicts a perspective view of the front of one embodiment of the present invention showing the magnetic-latch stabbing guide 1 in closed position. In one embodiment and as shown in FIG. 1 , the magnetic-latch stabbing guide 1 comprises a cylindrical apparatus having a top portion 2 and bottom portion 3 . At the guide top portion 2 , a funnel-shaped portion 6 is shown. The funnel-shaped portion has a large opening 12 disposed at the very top of the funnel-shaped portion 6 . The funnel-shaped portion inner surface 14 connects the large funnel-shaped portion opening 12 to a smaller funnel-shaped portion opening 13 . The magnetic-latch stabbing guide 1 further comprises a funnel-shaped portion outer surface 15 on the outside of the magnetic-latch stabbing guide 1 .
[0018] As depicted in FIG. 1 , the funnel-shaped portion 6 has a smaller funnel-shaped portion opening 13 in contact with the neck portion 7 , specifically at the neck portion top section 18 . The neck portion 7 has a neck portion inner surface 16 and neck portion outer surface 17 . The neck portion inner surface 16 has a neck portion inner circumference 19 , which is concentric with the large funnel-shaped portion opening 12 . The neck portion bottom section 20 is in contact with and perpendicular to the shoulder portion 8 . The shoulder portion inner surface 21 connects the neck portion bottom section 20 to the female coupling inner surface 23 of the female coupling 9 . The female coupling 9 has a female coupling inner circumference 24 , which accommodates a first drill pipe by completely enclosing the top female portion of the drill pipe, not depicted in FIG. 1 . The female coupling inner surface 24 is aligned concentric with the neck portion inner surface 19 and perpendicular to the shoulder portion inner surface 21 .
[0019] FIG. 1 further depicts the female coupling outer surface 22 located at the guide bottom portion 3 in contact with the neck portion outer surface 17 , which is in contact with the funnel-shaped portion outer surface 15 at the guide top portion 2 . Thus, the magnetic-latch stabbing guide 1 is horizontally layered from guide top portion 2 to guide bottom portion 3 , with the funnel-shaped portion 6 at the top followed by the neck portion 7 , which is followed by the shoulder portion 8 then female coupling 9 .
[0020] FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of the stabbing guide 1 in a closed position. The magnetic-latch stabbing guide 1 is vertically divided at the guide front portion 4 and the guide back portion 5 . The vertical division is depicted with solid lines 36 on the visible surfaces of the magnetic-latch stabbing guide 1 and dashed lines 37 on non-visible surfaces from this perspective. The vertical division of the magnetic-latch stabbing guide 1 separates the stabbing guide into a first guide segment 10 and a second guide segment 11 .
[0021] FIG. 1 further depicts a hinge 29 in contact with the first guide segment 10 and second guide segment 11 . An attached embedded hinge provides that that the two guide segments remain in proximity to and aligned with each other when the magnetic-latch stabbing guide 1 is open.
[0022] In one embodiment of the invention, the hinge 29 comprises a nylon encapsulated hinge. A nylon encapsulated hinge has significant advantages over metallic and mechanical hinges in the field because of its ease of use, it accumulates less ice and mud, and it does not rust.
[0023] In one embodiment of the present invention, the hinge 29 is at least partially embedded in both the first guide segment 10 and the second guide segment 11 . The hinge may be embedded between the outer surface 15 and inner funnel-shaped portion surface 14 . In another embodiment of the present invention, the hinge 29 may be embedded between the outer neck portion surface 17 and the inner neck portion surface 16 . In yet another embodiment of the present invention the hinge 29 may be embedded between the female coupling inner surface 23 and the female coupling outer surface 22 .
[0024] FIG. 1 depicts the first guide segment 10 in proximity to the second guide segment 11 . The first guide segment 10 comprises a first magnet 27 at least partially embedded in the first guide segment 10 . A second magnet 28 is at least partially embedded in the second guide segment 11 . Both magnets are embedded in the front portion 4 of their perspective segments and serve to magnetically close and latch the two segments together. First magnet 27 is embedded, disposed and orientated within the first guide segment 10 to attract magnetically the second magnet 28 , which is disposed and embedded in second guide segment 11 .
[0025] The magnetic-latch stabbing guide is comprised of any material chosen from any of polyurethane, rubber, latex, alloy, plastic, carbon, carbon fiber and polymeric materials. In at least one embodiment of the stabbing guide, any of the funnel-shaped portion, the neck portion, the shoulder portion and female coupling are integrally formed.
[0026] FIG. 1 further depicts the guide comprising a first handle 31 and a second handle 32 . The first handle 31 is attached to the first guide segment 10 and disposed between the guide front portion 4 and the guide back portion 5 . The second handle 32 is attached to the second guide segment 11 and disposed between the guide front portion 4 and the guide back portion 5 . As a means of attachment of the handles to the guide segments, the first guide handle 31 and the second guide handle 32 may be partially embedded or screwed into the first guide segment 10 and the second guide segment 11 , respectively.
[0027] FIG. 1 further depicts the funnel-shaped portion inner surface 14 disposed at the guide top portion 2 . In use, the second drill pipe first contacts the funnel-shaped portion inner surface 14 as it is lowered into position for attachment and union with the first drill pipe. The second drill pipe is further lowered and guided into the neck portion inner surface 16 . The neck portion inner surface 16 comprises a predetermined circumference 19 which accommodates insertion of the second drill pipe.
[0028] Turning to FIG. 2 , a perspective view of the front of one embodiment of the present invention is depicted. The magnetic-latch stabbing guide 1 is depicted in an open position. The first magnet 27 is disposed in the first guide segment 10 between the female coupling inner surface 23 and the female coupling outer surface 22 . Similarly, the second magnet 28 is disposed in the second guide segment 11 between the female coupling inner surface 23 and the female coupling outer surface 22 . As shown in FIG. 2 , the first magnet 27 and second magnet 28 are disposed such that when the magnetic-latch stabbing guide 1 is in a closed position, the magnets will be close together and in alignment such that the magnets can lock the stabbing guide segments together.
[0029] FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 depict the first magnet 27 and second magnet 28 embedded in the guide bottom portion. In another embodiment the magnets are embedded between the funnel-shaped portion inner surface 14 and funnel-shaped portion outer surface 15 . In yet another embodiment, the magnets are embedded between the neck portion inner surface 16 and the neck portion outer surface 17 .
[0030] FIG. 2 also shows the hinge 29 disposed in the guide back portion 5 and partially encapsulated in both the first guide segment 10 and second guide segment 11 . In FIG. 2 , the encapsulation of the hinge 29 is demonstrated by dotted lines.
[0031] The shoulder portion 8 and its shoulder portion inner surface 21 are further depicted in FIG. 2 . In use, the top portion of first drill pipe abuts against the shoulder portion inner surface 21 . The female coupling inner surface 23 contacts the top of the drill pipe. In a preferred embodiment, the contact between the outer surface of the rig or casing pipe and the female coupling inner surface 23 would secure the magnetic-latch stabbing guide 1 in a fixed position such that there was little or no motion of the magnetic-latch stabbing guide 1 when the second drill pipe contacts the inner funnel-shaped portion surface 14 .
[0032] FIG. 3 depicts a rig floor 33 having a vertically extended first drill pipe 34 and a second drill pipe 40 above the magnetic-latch stabbing guide 1 . In use, first drill pipe 34 is lowered into the magnetic-latch stabbing guide 1 for connection of the two drill pipes.
[0033] In one embodiment, the female portion 41 of the first drill pipe 34 comprises a tapered and threaded inner portion 42 to accommodate attachment to the tapered and threaded male portion 43 of the second drill pipe 40 via the narrow distal end 44 and a proximal portion 45 . The narrow distal end 44 of the male portion 43 has a circumference which is smaller than the neck portion inner circumference 19 . The proximal portion 45 of the tapered male portion 43 of the second drill pipe 40 has a circumference which is greater than the circumference of the neck portion inner circumference 19 . As the proximal portion 45 is threaded into and enters the female portion 41 of the first drill pipe 34 , an internal force is exerted on the magnetic-latch stabbing guide causing the first magnet 27 to separate from second magnet 28 . Thus, the magnetic-latch stabbing guide 1 opens and detaches from the connected first and second drill pipes.
[0034] The ability of the magnetic latch to open and separate the stabbing guide as the second drill pipe 40 is inserted into the first drill pipe 34 is a distinct advantage the present invention has over current stabbing guides. The magnetic-latch stabbing guide requires no physical manipulation of latching mechanisms. Thus, the opportunity for human error and injury and property damage is greatly diminished.
[0035] It is believed that the apparatus of the present invention and many of its attendant advantages will be understood from the foregoing description. It is also believed that it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction, and arrangement of the components without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention and without sacrificing its material advantages. The forms described are merely exemplary and explanatory embodiments thereof. It is the intention of the following claims to encompass and include such changes.
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A magnetic-latch stabbing guide apparatus is presented enabling a first drill pipe to connect with a second drill pipe. The magnetic-latch stabbing guide easily attached to the first drill pipe and facilitates connection between the first drill pipe and the second drill pipe. During the connection process, the magnetic-latch stabbing guide easily detaches from the two drill pipes without physical manipulation of the magnetic-latch stabbing guide.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is based on U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/475,727, entitled High Power, Current Amplified, Tunable Post Accelerated Split Cavity Microwave Oscillator, filed on Jun. 4, 2003, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The invention relates to microwave generation and more particularly to a resonant frequency (RF) generator that operates at low impedance, amplifies the current to increase the RF output power, allows tuning the frequency of the apparatus, and a method to allow operation as an amplifier
2. Background Art
The efficient generation of microwaves from modulated electron beams requires electron beam velocity spectrums with low ratios of perpendicular energy to axial energy. Devices which violate this criteria pay a large price in terms of efficiency. For example, the virtual cathode oscillator (D. J. Sullivan, “High Power Microwave Generation using a Relativistic Electron Beam in a Waveguide Tube,” U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,220, 17 Aug. 1982) has a very high ratio of E-perpendicular/E-parallel at the nominal axial location of the virtual cathode, potentially exceeding unity. Due to challenges in extracting usable RF power from such beams the practical efficiency of this device, a few percent typically, is poor, and no efficient means of harnessing the high modulated currents, often exceeding a few 10s kA at voltages of order 500 kV, has been developed.
A highly efficient device for modulating electron beams is known as the Split Cavity Oscillator, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,248. While this device has a high ratio of E-perpendicular/E-parallel at its exit port, this ratio is substantially reduced with acceleration, of the modulated electron beam to voltages of order MV. Post-acceleration of a spatially modulated electron beam, as a means to lock in a spatial modulation while substantially increasing axial kinetic energy and thus reducing E-perpendicular/E-parallel, has been used for many years. As far back as 1940 Haeff and Nergaard described post-acceleration in their Inductive Output Amplifier device, as shown in “A wide-band inductive-output amplifier,” A. V. Haeff and L. S. Nergaard, Proc. of the IRE, vol. 28, pp. 126–130, March 1940. With post-acceleration, the SCO modulated beam kinetic energy can be converted to RF electromagnetic fields quite efficiently, exceeding 50%. However, virtual cathode formation limits the attainable current, due to space charge limitations in the modulating cavity of the device.
The operation of the prior art transit time oscillator (TTO), split cavity oscillator (SCO), and post accelerated split cavity oscillator (PASCO) are next briefly described in order to enable a distinction between previous techniques and the new methods described in the present invention.
The geometry of the TTO microwave oscillator is depicted in FIG. 1 . Its operation relies on the interaction of a direct current (DC) electron beam 10 and the field of a cavity formed by a cylindrical pill box with perfectly conducting walls. The DC electron beam is often produced by a thermionic or field emission cathode 12 . The geometry of the cavity is such that the time of flight 18 across the cavity 20 and the interaction of the beam 10 with the oscillating axial electric field associated with the cavity's axially symmetric mode 22 produce a spatially modulated electron beam 14 . The spatially modulated electron beam 14 is converted to an electromagnetic wave 16 ; this conversion process is depicted symbolically in FIG. 1 since the details of the extraction/conversion process vary depending on the device and/or application. The operation of the TTO is described in detail in “The Split Cavity Oscillator: a high power e-beam modulator and microwave source,” B. Marder, et al., pg. 312, IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci., vol. 20, 1992. This device is an extremely inefficient oscillator, a problem that is addressed by the SCO.
The geometry of the SCO microwave oscillator is depicted in FIG. 2 . Its operation also relies on the interaction of a direct current (DC) electron beam 40 and the field of a cavity 41 . In this case the cavity 42 is formed by a cylindrical pill box cavity with an intermediate electrically conducting septum 44 (placed exactly midway across the pill box) that extends part ways across the interior of the cavity 42 , as shown in FIG. 2 . Distinct from the operation of the TTO, the SCO operates according to a well known energy instability that exists between the electron beam 40 and the cavity 42 , and an externally applied field is not required, as described in “The Split Cavity Oscillator: a high power e-beam modulator and microwave source,” B. Marder, et al., pg. 312, IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci., vol. 20, 1992. Again, the DC electron beam 40 is often produced by a highly inefficient thermionic or field emission cathode 46 . As with the TTO, the geometry of the SCO cavity is such that the time of flight across the cavity 48 and the interaction of the beam with the Pi-mode of the cavity's oscillating electric field cavity produce a spatially modulated electron beam 50 . The SCO geometry and resulting electromagnetic field mode structure permits the axial length 48 of the cavity to be much shorter than the axial length of the TTO oscillator 18 . Finally, the spatially modulated electron beam 50 is converted to an electromagnetic wave 52 as depicted symbolically in FIG. 2 . Note that cathode 46 must produce the entire charge of electron beam 40 , and consequently, operation at high powers requires that cathode 46 be capable of producing high current densities at high voltages. This often results in short cathode lifetimes, and pulse shortening due to gap closure caused by plasma drift across the anode-cathode gap, as shown in “Results of research on overcoming pulse shortening of GW class HPM sources,” K. Hendricks, et al., pg. 81, Digest of Technical Papers, International Workshop on High Power Microwave Generation and Pulse Shortening, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1997. The main disadvantage of the SCO is the large axial velocity spread, and the substantial unwanted perpendicular velocities of the electrons that exit the cavity, leading to poor beam-to-RF power conversion efficiencies. The SCO is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,248. However, this prior art patent describes an apparatus with a very specific geometry (cylindrical pill box with an electrically conducting septum placed exactly midway along the axial length of the cavity) that operates at a single frequency. No capability to adjust the frequency of operation of the device is disclosed or implied in the prior art patent.
The geometry of the PASCO microwave oscillator is depicted in FIG. 3 . Its operation to produce a spatially modulated electron beam 60 is equivalent to the SCO described above. However, once the spatially modulated electron beam 60 is produced, the PASCO uses an accelerating screen or grid 62 at a high relative potential, typically 100's of kV or more, to accelerate the electron beam to relativistic velocities 64 , i.e., close to the speed of light. This greatly reduces the relative axial velocity spread intrinsic to the SCO and represents a major improvement for potential high power and high efficiency operation. The relativistic spatially modulated electron beam 64 is then converted to an electromagnetic wave 66 as depicted in FIG. 3 . This technique results in a more tightly velocity-modulated beam, while maintaining excellent spatial bunching allowing more efficient beam-to-RF extraction. The main disadvantages of the PASCO are: (1) the device has an inherent limitation on total current due to space charge depression in the modulating cavity, which ultimately can lead to virtual cathode formation, but at more modest current levels, reduces modulation efficiency; and (2) the PASCO is a fixed frequency device, in that there is no ability to tune its frequency while maintaining axisymmetry.
Post-acceleration of an electron beam for high power and high efficiency operation is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,168. However, this patent describes methods that were well known prior to the patent's application date. As an example, post-acceleration of an electron beam was described by Haeff and Nergaard, “A wide-band inductive-output amplifier,” A. V. Haeff and L. S. Nergaard, Proc. of the IRE, vol. 28, pp. 126–130, March 1940. Furthermore, post-acceleration of an electron beam was described by Preist and Shrader, “The Klystrode—an unusual transmitting tube with potential for UHF,” D. H. Preist and M. B. Shrader, Proc. of the IEEE, vol. 70, no. 11, pp. 1318–1325, November 1982.
The present invention, a Current Amplified, Tunable, Post Accelerated, Modulator (CATPAM) apparatus uses techniques of the well known transit time oscillator (TTO) as described in “Interchange of energy between an electron beam and an oscillating electric field,” J. Marcum, Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 17, January, 1946, a split cavity oscillator (SCO) shown in ‘The Split Cavity Oscillator: a high power e-beam modulator and microwave source,” B. Marder, et al., pg. 312, IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci., vol. 20, 1992, and the post accelerated split cavity oscillator (PASCO) (the PASCO is also known as the Reltron described in “Super RELTRON theory and experiments,” R. Miller, et al., pg. 332, IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci., vol. 20, 1992, in conjunction with unique techniques to operate at low impedance, amplify the current to increase the RF output power, tune the frequency of the device, and a method to allow operation as an amplifier, as opposed to just an oscillator. The disclosed apparatus spatially modulates a direct current (DC) electron beam using instabilities associated with device geometry and transit time effects; or, it directly generates a spatially modulated electron beam using laser-induced electron emission. It then amplifies the resulting electron beam (current), accelerates the spatially modulated beam to relativistic velocities, and converts the kinetic energy of the spatially modulated relativistic electron beam to electromagnetic fields at microwave frequencies. In addition, methods are disclosed that allow the device to be tuned to a desired operating frequency while maintaining nominal axisymmetry. None of the prior art teaches or implies these novel features.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION (DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION)
Disclosed is a CATPAM RF generator device that allows for substantial levels of frequency tunability, without the need to break vacuum, while maintaining axisymmetry, and retains all the advantages of the PASCO devices as discussed in the Background Art section of the specification. Additionally, the use of a transmissive electron multiplier allows substantially higher current operation compared with PASCO, reducing the impedance and output power by the multiplication factor. Finally, the use of a RF-modulated laser to generate a seed current permits the use of the device as an amplifier, and greatly increases the output RF pulse width of the device.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide the ability to tune the frequency of the output microwave signal of the apparatus when it is operated as an oscillator.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a technique to amplify, or multiply, the electron beam current of the CATPAM, or other, device which creates a modulated electron beam. This method increases the microwave output power of the device, enhances the low impedance properties and efficiency of the device.
Another object of the present invention to provide a method for amplifying electron beams from an arbitrary device which has previously created a modulated electron beam current.
Yet another object of the present invention is the provision of a RF-modulated, laser-induced emission of electrons from a cathode.
An advantage of the present invention is that it increases the microwave output power of the apparatus, enhances the low impedance properties and efficiency of the apparatus.
Yet another advantage of the present invention is the allowance of the CATPAM to operate without a field emission cathode and without a RF modulator, and helps the CATPAM achieve greater operational efficiency in less volume and with less weight than otherwise would be the case.
Another advantage of the present invention is the ability of the CATPAM apparatus to operate as an amplifier.
Other objects, advantages and novel features, and further scope of applicability of the present invention will be set forth in part in the detailed description to follow, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and form a part of the specification, illustrate several embodiments of the present invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. The drawings are only for the purpose of illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. In the drawings:
FIG. 1 depicts the geometry of the prior art Transit Time Oscillator.
FIG. 2 depicts the geometry of the prior art Split Cavity Oscillator.
FIG. 3 shows the geometry of the prior art Post Accelerated Split Cavity Oscillator.
FIG. 4 illustrates the geometry of the preferred Current Amplified, Post Accelerated Modulator, with frequency tuning method no. 1.
FIG. 5 depicts the geometry of the preferred Current Amplified, Post Accelerated Modulator, with frequency tuning method no. 2.
FIG. 6 gives details of the geometry of the preferred Current Amplified, Post Accelerated Modulator, with frequency tuning method no. 3.
FIG. 7 depicts the geometry of the preferred Current Amplified, Post Accelerated Modulator, with frequency tuning method no. 4.
FIG. 8 illustrates the geometry of the preferred Current Amplified, Post Accelerated Modulator, with frequency tuning method no. 2.
FIG. 9 shows the conceptual geometry of the current amplification process of the Current Amplified, Post Accelerated Modulator.
FIG. 10 depicts the geometry of the preferred Current Amplified, Tunable, Post-Accelerated Modulator, with laser-induced electron emission from the cathode illustrated. The laser is pulsed at an RF frequency, so the electrons that are emitted from the surface of the cathode constitute a spatially-modulated electron beam, obviating the need for a modulating cavity.
FIG. 11 graphically provides details of the laser-induced electron emission from the cathode of the Current Amplified, Tunable, Post-Accelerated Modulator. The laser is pulsed at an RF frequency, so the electrons that are emitted from the surface of the cathode constitute a spatially-modulated electron beam, obviating the need for a modulating cavity.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Best Modes for Carrying Out the Invention
Disclosed is a Current Amplified, Tunable, Post Accelerated, Modulator (CATPAM) that is frequency tunable, high power capable, highly efficient in operation, and exhibits low impedance operation. The CATPAM can operate either as an oscillator or an amplifier, depending on the particular configuration.
The geometry of the CATPAM microwave oscillator, without current amplification, and with the first of four frequency tuning schemes, is depicted in FIG. 4 (please note that current amplification is not indicated in this figure). As shown, its operation relies on the interaction of a direct current (DC) electron beam 100 and the field of a closed rectangular pill box cavity 101 that contains an intermediate conducting septum 104 that extends partly across the interior centerline 106 of cavity 102 . Again, DC electron beam 100 is often produced by a highly inefficient thermionic or field emission cathode 108 . As with the TTO, the geometry of the modulating cavity 102 is such that the time of flight across the cavity 110 and the interaction of the beam 100 with the oscillating electric field 101 in cavity 102 produce a spatially modulated electron beam 112 . The modulator geometry and resulting electromagnetic field mode structure promotes an instability that generates an oscillating electromagnetic field 101 at the frequency of the modulator's cavity mode. The interaction of the electron beam 100 with the cavity's electromagnetic field and the time of flight across the cavity 110 generate a spatially bunched electron beam 112 on the output side of the cavity 116 . Spatially modulated electron beam 112 is subsequently accelerated by an accelerating grid 118 to a relativistic velocity producing a relativistic spatially modulated electron beam 120 and converted to an electromagnetic wave 122 ; this process is depicted symbolically in FIG. 4 since the details of the extraction/conversion process vary depending on the device and/or application. It is well known that the spatial modulation frequency of the modulator cavity is governed by the resonant frequency of the cavity. As shown in FIG. 4 , included is a tuning annulus 124 for tuning (changing) the resonant frequency of cavity 102 , and consequently tuning the spatial modulation of the electron beam 112 . This, in turn, allows one to tune the output frequency of the electromagnetic signal that is ultimately extracted from the apparatus. The width of the tuning annulus 126 , adjustable from outside of the apparatus (not shown) governs the resonant frequency of cavity 102 and the resulting electromagnetic signal that is ultimately extracted from the apparatus. Tuning annulus 124 is introduced into cavity 102 from the interior wall 128 of rectangular pill box cavity 102 , as indicated in FIG. 4 .
The geometry of the CATPAM microwave oscillator, without current amplification and the second of four frequency tuning schemes is depicted in FIG. 5 . Its operation relies on the interaction of a direct current (DC) electron beam 200 and cavity 202 in the same manner as described above, though frequency tuning of the device is accomplished in a different manner. As shown in FIG. 5 , a second embodiment for a tuning annulus 204 is shown to tune (change) the resonant frequency of the modulator's cavity 202 , and consequently tune the spatial modulation of the electron beam 206 . Tuning annulus 204 is introduced into cavity 202 from the center septum 208 of rectangular pill box cavity 202 , as indicated in FIG. 5 . Again, the width of the tuning annulus 210 , adjustable from outside of the device (not shown in the figure) governs the resonant frequency of the cavity and the resulting electromagnetic signal that is ultimately extracted from the device.
The geometry of the CATPAM microwave oscillator, without current amplification and the third of four frequency tuning schemes is depicted in FIG. 6 . Its operation relies on the interaction of a direct current (DC) electron beam 300 and cavity 302 in the same manner as described above, though frequency tuning of the device is accomplished in a different manner. As shown in FIG. 6 , a dielectric material 304 with a relative dielectric constant greater than unity (ε r >1) is disposed in the internal volume of cavity 302 . In an alternative embodiment, plasma which has a dielectric constant less than unity (ε r <1) can be disposed in portions of cavity 302 (not shown). The presence of dielectric material 304 depresses the resonant frequency of cavity 302 , and in turn, reduces (or with plasma, increases) the frequency of the electromagnetic signal that is ultimately extracted from the apparatus. Also included is a tuning annulus 306 used to tune (change) the resonant frequency of cavity 302 , and consequently tune the spatial modulation of electron beam 312 . Tuning annulus 306 is introduced into cavity 302 from the center septum 308 of the rectangular pill box cavity 302 , as indicated in FIG. 6 . Again, the width of the tuning annulus 310 , adjustable from outside of the device (not shown in the figure) governs the resonant frequency of cavity 302 and permits the tuning of the resulting electromagnetic signal 314 that is ultimately extracted from the apparatus.
The geometry of the CATPAM microwave oscillator, without current amplification and the fourth of four frequency tuning schemes is depicted in FIG. 7 . Its operation relies on the interaction of a direct current (DC) electron beam 400 and cavity 402 in the same manner as described above, though frequency tuning of the apparatus is accomplished in a different manner, in yet another alternative embodiment. As shown in FIG. 7 , a tuning annulus 404 is provided that extends from the wall 406 of pill box cavity 402 and a second annulus 408 that is introduced into cavity 402 from a center septum 410 of rectangular pill box cavity 402 . In this configuration, tuning (changing) the resonant frequency of the cavity, and consequently tuning the spatial modulation of electron beam 412 is accomplished. The widths 414 , 416 of each tuning annulus 404 , 408 work in concert to govern the resonant frequency of cavity 402 and permit the tuning of the resulting electromagnetic signal 430 that is ultimately extracted from the apparatus.
The geometry of the CATPAM microwave oscillator, with current amplification and the second of four frequency tuning schemes is depicted in FIG. 8 . Note that current amplification is possible with any of the tuning schemes, as described above. The invention utilizes current multiplication of a seed beam 601 , which is achieved by allowing an energetic electron beam to impact a thin foil surface 602 with high electric field on its downstream side. The foil is sufficiently thin and of such materials that the forward directed secondary electron cascade process, initiated by the seed beam, results in more electrons being ejected from the downstream surface than are incident on the front surface, per unit area, as described in “Reflection and transmission secondary emission from silicon,” R. Martinelli, Applied Physics Letters, pp. 313–314, vol. 17, no. 8, 15 Oct. 1970 and “The application of semiconductors with negative electron affinity surfaces to electron emission devices,” Proc. of IEEE, vol. 62, no. 10, pp. 1339–1360, October 1974. The output secondary electron cascade from the exit surface of the foil can be accelerated subsequently by an accelerating grid 608 for further multiplication in a similar manner with a similar foil 606 , and so forth, yielding multiplication factors limited primarily by space charge and beam propagation effects, with the neglect of foil heating. The transmissive, electron multiplier foils as described are also beneficial in mitigating both space charge and beam propagation effects, due their shorting of the radially directed electric field as described in, “Image-field focusing of intense relativistic electron beams in vacuum,” R. J. Adler, Particle Accelerators, vol. 12, pp. 39–44, 1982. Because the foil is sufficiently thin, and exit fields sufficiently intense, the multiplication process can occur on a small fraction of an RF period, even for frequencies as high as many GHz. Thus, any pre-existing modulation of the electron beam is well-preserved during the multiplication process. A large electric field on the final foil, provided by a large accelerating voltage 608 , even to fractional or multi-MV levels, can produce high flowing powers in the electron beam; these can be converted into extracted microwave power 620 using a variety of traditional methods, including tuned cavities driving one or more rectangular waveguides, or transmission lines, for example. Without foil current enhancement, the apparatus is limited to modulated currents of approximately 1 kA, for voltages up to approximately 200 kV. With foil enhanced current multiplication, multiplicatively higher currents will be obtainable with CATPAM. The particular nature of electron multiplication is indicated in FIG. 9 in which it is shown that a single electron 600 strikes the transmissive electron multiplier 602 , and three (for explanatory purposes) electrons are emitted on the other side 604 . This process is repeated onto further transmissive electron multipliers 606 until the desired current level is achieved. The resulting high current, spatially modulated electron beam 607 is subsequently accelerated by the high voltage of the accelerating screen 608 which yields a high current, relativistic, spatially modulated electron beam 610 . This configuration provides a method to operate a high current, high power microwave generator using an initial low value of seed current. This technique, in principle, allows for multiplicatively higher currents and current densities than would be available from PASCO or SCO devices. Both self-excited oscillator and amplifier configurations using the current multiplication method can be envisaged.
To eliminate the modulating cavity (thereby saving weight and volume) the scheme whereby a spatially modulated electron beam is directly produced is illustrated in FIG. 10 . Note the absence of a modulating cavity in FIG. 10 . There, an intense, temporally-modulated laser light 700 , temporally modulated at RF frequencies, is depicted. A detail drawing of the laser-cathode interaction is depicted in FIG. 11 . FIG. 11 shows a laser 701 , which illuminates the cathode; laser light 702 is oscillating at light frequencies, but is modulated (turned on and off) on an RF time scale 704 . The laser initiates the emission of a small number of electrons 706 , a seed current. The small seed current generated in this fashion is subsequently amplified in the manner described previously. Traditional field emission cathode oscillators are typically limited to high power operation in the microsecond regime due to gap closure caused by unwanted plasma generated in the electron generation process. Since the CATPAM oscillator can operate with a small seed current that is subsequently multiplied as described above, the generation of high power RF pulses can occur over much longer times. Production of modulated electron beams on a time scale of order fractional to several microseconds is foreseen.
Although the invention has been described in detail with particular reference to these preferred embodiments, other embodiments can achieve the same results. Variations and modifications of the present invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art and it is intended to cover in the appended claims all such modifications and equivalents. The entire disclosures of all references, applications, patents, and publications cited above, are hereby incorporated by reference.
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Generating and frequency tuning of modulated high current electron beams and a specific efficient, high current, frequency-tunable device for generating intense radio frequency (RF), microwave electromagnetic fields in a rectangular waveguide. Current multiplication of a modulated seed electron beam is created by an energetic electron beam impacting a thin foil surface. The transmissive-electron-multiplier foils also mitigate both space charge expansion and improve beam propagation effects, by shorting of the radially directed electric field at the axial location of the foil(s). Foil thinness and intensity of the exit fields provide for a multiplication process occurring in a fraction of an RF period. Also included are both a self-excited microwave generator and an amplifier, using a temporally modulated laser to generate a modulated seed electron beam that is amplified. Methods to tune the oscillator are described that allow tunability over a full waveguide band.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] This invention relates generally to cable raceways for the distribution of electrical and data/telecommunication cables in buildings and, more particularly to systems for securing said cable raceways against intrusion and tampering.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] Cable raceways are structures that distribute electrical and data/telecommunication wiring in office buildings, warehouses, stores and other similar facilities where electrical and data/telecommunication wiring is desired. In some applications, for example, in government buildings or other heightened security environments, it is desirous to provide a Protective Distribution System (PDS) where the cable raceway distribution system is secured against intrusion and/or tampering.
[0005] One conventional method for securing cable raceway distribution systems is to glue or epoxy covers over access openings in raceway distribution systems, where access is necessary during installation, thereby preventing future access to the electrical and data/telecommunication wiring within the cable raceway. However, securing a cable raceway in this manner is disadvantageous in that it prevents future access, even if authorized, in the event that changes need to be made to the distribution system. Therefore, it is desirous to provide an improved system for securing access openings in cable raceway distribution systems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] According to the present invention, a system for securing an access opening of a cable raceway using a single padlock or other suitable locking device includes a cover having a securing wall and opposed first and second sidewalls, which form a channel for accommodating at least a portion of the cable raceway. The securing wall may cover the access opening when the cover is engaged with the cable raceway. First and second insert bars may engage the first and second sidewalls and a lock bar may engage the first and second insert bars and may be locked in an engaged position by the padlock or other suitable locking device to prevent the first and second insert bars from being disengaged with the cover and to secure the cover about the cable raceway, thereby preventing access and tampering through the access opening.
[0007] The first and second sidewalls may be substantially perpendicular to the securing wall and may include slots for engaging the first and second insert bars. In some embodiments, the slots may be formed on tabs of the first and second sidewalls.
[0008] The first and second insert bars may include position stops, which may be projections, formed at one end thereof. The first and second insert bars may include slots for engaging the lock bar formed at ends opposite the position stops.
[0009] The lock bar may include a position stop formed at one end thereof and a hole for accommodating a shackle portion of the padlock at an end opposite the position stop. In some embodiments, the position stop may include at least one projection.
[0010] The system of the present invention advantageously allows for authorized access to the cable raceway through the access opening, while still allowing the access opening to be secured against intrusion and/or tampering when access is not required. Additionally, unlike the glue used to secure a cover to a cable raceway according to the prior art, all of the locking components of the system of the present invention are visible from the external of the cable raceway. Thus, any tampering with or damage to the system of the present invention will advantageously be evident from outside of the cable raceway. Additionally, the system advantageously reduces the cost associated with securing access openings against intrusion and/or tampering by allowing each access opening to be secured with the single padlock or other suitable locking device.
[0011] These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in light of the following detailed description of non-limiting embodiments, with reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] FIG. 1 is an exploded front perspective view of a system for securing an access opening of a cable raceway according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0013] FIG. 2 is a front view of a flat pattern of a cover of the system of FIG. 1 according to some embodiments of the present invention;
[0014] FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of the system of FIG. 1 ;
[0015] FIG. 4 is a rear perspective view of the system of FIG. 1 ; and
[0016] FIG. 5 is a rear perspective view of the system of FIG. 1 securing an access opening at a junction point of a raceway distribution system.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0017] Referring to FIG. 1 , a system 10 for securing an access opening 12 of a cable raceway 14 of a cable raceway distribution system is shown. The system 10 includes a cover 18 , a first insert bar 20 , a second insert bar 22 and a lock bar 24 , which are configured to interface about a portion 26 of the cable raceway 14 that includes the access opening 12 to secure the access opening 12 against intrusion and/or tampering.
[0018] The cover 18 includes a securing wall 28 , a first sidewall 30 and a second sidewall 32 that form a channel 34 for accommodating the portion 26 of the cable raceway 14 that includes the access opening 12 . The first sidewall 30 extends from a first end 36 of the securing wall 28 at a first radius 37 and the second sidewall 32 extends from a second end 38 of the securing wall 28 that is opposite the first side 36 at a second radius 39 , thereby forming the channel 34 between the first sidewall 30 and the second sidewall 32 . In some embodiments, the first sidewall 30 and the second sidewall 32 may be substantially perpendicular to the securing wall 28 . However, in other embodiments, the first sidewall 30 and second sidewall 32 may extend away from the securing wall 28 at some angle other than ninety degrees to accommodate cable raceways 14 of differing shape and size.
[0019] The first sidewall 30 includes a plurality of slots 40 formed therethrough proximate to an end 42 of the first sidewall 30 distal from securing wall 28 . The slots 40 may be formed on tabs 44 or may simply be formed through the body of the first sidewall 30 if tabs 44 are not included in the cover 18 .
[0020] The second sidewall 32 includes a plurality of slots 46 formed therethrough proximate to an end 48 of the second sidewall 32 distal from securing wall 28 . Like the slots 40 , the slots 46 may be formed on tabs 50 or may simply be formed through the body of the second sidewall 32 if tabs 50 are not included in the cover 18 . Preferably, the slots 46 of the second sidewall 32 are substantially identical to and substantially align with the slots 40 of the first sidewall 30 to allow the first insert bar 20 and the second insert bar 22 to be slidably engaged therein, as will be discussed in greater detail below.
[0021] Referring to FIG. 2 , in some embodiments, the cover 18 may be formed from a single sheet of metal that is then bent and shaped at the first end 36 to form the first radius 37 (shown in FIG. 1 ) and at the second end 38 to form the second radius 39 (shown in FIG. 1 ) to properly position the first sidewall 30 and the second sidewall 32 relative to the securing wall 28 .
[0022] Referring back to FIG. 1 , the first insert bar 20 and the second insert bar 22 are preferably substantially identical, each including an elongated body 52 with a position stop 54 formed at one end thereof. Each elongated body 52 has a slot 56 formed therethrough at an end 58 opposite the position stop 54 and has a cross-sectional shape that is substantially the same and sized slightly smaller than the slots 40 of the first sidewall 30 and the slots 46 of the second sidewall 32 such that each elongated body 52 may slidably engage in the slots 40 and the slots 46 . For example, as seen in FIG. 1 , the slots 40 , the slots 46 and the cross-sectional shape of the elongated body 52 are all rectangular. The position stop 54 includes one or more projections 60 that extend outward from the elongated body 52 to prevent the first insert bar 20 and the second insert bar 22 from passing entirely through the slots 40 and the slots 46 when the elongated body 52 is slidably engaged therein.
[0023] The lock bar 24 includes an elongated body 62 with a position stop 64 formed at one end thereof and a hole 66 for accommodating a shackle portion of a padlock or other suitable locking device at the opposite end 68 . The elongated body 62 has a cross-sectional shape that is substantially the same and sized slightly smaller than the slots 56 of the first insert bar 20 and the second insert bar 22 such that the elongated body 62 may slidably engage in the slots 56 . For example, as seen in FIG. 1 , the slots 56 and the cross-sectional shape of the elongated body 62 are rectangular. The position stop 64 includes one or more projections 70 that extend outward from the elongated body 62 to prevent the lock bar 24 from passing entirely through the slots 56 when the elongated body 52 is slidably engaged therein.
[0024] Referring to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 , in order to install the system 10 to the cable raceway 14 over an access opening 12 (shown in FIG. 1 ), the cover 18 is slid onto the portion 26 of the cable raceway 14 that includes the access opening 12 (shown in FIG. 1 ), with the first sidewall 30 and the second sidewall 32 slidably engaging the cable raceway 14 and the securing wall 28 covering the access opening 12 (shown in FIG. 1 ). The first sidewall 30 and the second sidewall 32 are configured so that the portions containing the slots 40 and the slots 46 , such as tabs 44 and tabs 50 , extend beyond the cable raceway 14 . Preferably, an end of each slot 40 and 46 most proximate the securing wall 28 is positioned just beyond a rear wall 72 of the cable raceway 14 when the cover 18 is fully engaged with the cable raceway 14 .
[0025] The elongated body 52 of the first insert bar 20 may then be slid into one slot 40 of the first sidewall 30 and through the substantially aligned slot 46 of the second sidewall 32 until the position stop 54 of the first insert bar 20 contact the first sidewall 30 . Similarly, the elongated body 52 of the second insert bar 22 may be slid into a second slot 40 of the first sidewall 30 and through the substantially aligned slot 46 of the second sidewall 32 until the position stops 54 of the second insert bar 22 contact the first sidewall 30 . The first insert bar 20 and the second insert bar 22 are configured so that the ends 58 containing the slots 56 extend beyond the cable raceway second sidewall 32 . Preferably, an end of each slot 56 most proximate the second sidewall 32 is positioned just beyond the second sidewall 32 when the position stops 54 are fully engaged with the first sidewall 30 .
[0026] Referring to FIG. 4 , the elongated body 62 of the lock bar 24 may then be slid into the slot 56 of the first insert bar 20 and then through the slot 56 of the second insert bar 22 until the position stop 64 of the lock bar 24 contact the first insert bar 20 . The lock bar 24 is configured so that the hole 66 at the end 68 extends beyond the second insert bar 22 . Preferably, an edge of the hole 66 is positioned just beyond the second insert bar 22 when the position stop 64 is fully engaged with the first insert bar 20 .
[0027] The shackle portion of the padlock may then be passed through the hole 66 and the padlock may be locked to prevent the lock bar 24 from being removed from the slots 56 of the first insert bar 20 and the second insert bar 22 . Locking the lock bar 24 in the slots 56 prevents the first insert bar 20 and the second insert bar 22 from being removed from the slots 40 and 46 of the cover 18 , which, in turn, prevents the cover 18 from being tampered with or removed from the portion 26 of the cable raceway 14 . Thus, when the padlock is locked on the lock bar 24 , the securing wall 28 (shown in FIG. 1 ) remains positioned over the access opening 12 (shown in FIG. 1 ) to secure the access opening 12 (shown in FIG. 1 ) against intrusion and/or tampering. Advantageously, the system 10 of the present invention may be employed at essentially any access opening 12 (shown in FIG. 1 ) in the raceway distribution system in the manner described above.
[0028] Referring to FIG. 5 , in some embodiments, the system 10 may be implemented to secure the access opening 12 (shown in FIG. 1 ) at a junction point 74 of the cable raceway 14 where wiring is fed into and/or out of the cable raceway 14 . For example, the wiring may be fed from a second cable raceway (not shown) of the raceway distribution system that is arranged perpendicular to the cable raceway 14 . Advantageously, the first insert bar 20 , second insert bar 22 and lock bar 24 of the system 10 are arranged about the periphery of the junction point 74 so as not to interfere therewith.
[0029] Referring back to FIG. 1 , the system 10 of the present invention advantageously allows for authorized access to the cable raceway 14 through the access opening 12 by allowing authorized personnel to unlock the padlock or other suitable locking device, e.g. with the appropriate key or combination, thereby allowing the lock bar 24 to be removed from the slots 56 , which, in turn, allows the first insert bar 20 and second insert bar 24 to be removed from the slots 40 and 46 and allows the cover 18 to be removed from the cable raceway 14 . Once access is no longer required, the access opening 12 may be re-secured against intrusion and/or tampering in substantially the same manner discussed above.
[0030] Additionally, unlike the glue used to secure a cover to a cable raceway according to the prior art, all of the locking components of the system 10 of the present invention are visible from the external of the cable raceway 14 . Thus, any tampering with or damage to the system 10 of the present invention will advantageously be evident from outside of the cable raceway 14 . The system 10 of the present invention is also advantageous in that it reduces the cost associated with securing access openings 12 against intrusion by allowing each access opening 12 to be secured with a single padlock or other suitable locking device.
[0031] Although this invention has been shown and described with respect to the detailed embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail thereof may be made without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention. For example, although the various slots 40 , 46 and 56 are shown as being substantially rectangular, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the slots 40 , 46 and 56 could be formed in various other shapes to provide similar or enhanced functionality. Similarly, although the hole 66 of the lock bar 24 is shown as being substantially circular, the hole 66 could instead be formed in as some other shape, such as a square, without altering the functionality of the present invention.
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A system for securing an access opening of a cable raceway using a single padlock includes a cover having a securing wall and opposed first and second sidewalls, which form a channel for accommodating at least a portion of the cable raceway with the securing wall covering the access opening. First and second insert bars engage the first and second sidewalls and a lock bar engages the first and second insert bars and may be locked in an engaged position to prevent the first and second insert bars from being disengaged with the cover and to secure the cover about the cable raceway preventing access to the access opening.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to the U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/462,790 entitled “GaN GROWTH ON Si USING ZnO BUFFER LAYER” filed Apr. 14, 2003, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
[0002] Not applicable.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0003] The invention relates to the field of thin film based devices, and more specifically, to a method of improving the quality of the thin film which has poor lattice matching with the substrate onto which it is to be deposited.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0004] Gallium nitride (GaN) and its related alloys have been under intense research in recent years due to their promising applications in electronic and optoelectronic devices. Particular examples of potential optoelectronic devices include blue light emitting and laser diodes, and UV photodetectors. Their large bandgap and high electron saturation velocity also make them excellent candidates for applications in high temperature and high-speed power electronics.
[0005] Due to the high equilibrium pressure of nitrogen at growth temperatures, it is extremely difficult to obtain GaN bulk crystals. Owing to the lack of feasible bulk growth methods, GaN is commonly deposited epitaxially on substrates such as SiC and sapphire (Al 2 O 3 ). However, a current problem with the manufacture of GaN thin films is that there is no readily available suitable substrate material which exhibits close lattice matching and close matching of thermal expansion coefficients. Presently, (0001) oriented sapphire is the most frequently used substrate for GaN epitaxial growth due to its low price, availability of large-area wafers with good crystallinity and stability at high temperatures. The lattice mismatch between GaN and sapphire is over 13%. Such huge mismatch in the lattice constants causes poor crystal quality if GaN films were to be grown directly on the sapphire, due to stress formation and a high density of defects, including such defects as microtwins, stacking faults and deep-levels. Typically, these GaN thin films exhibit wide X-ray rocking curve, rough surface morphology, high intrinsic electron concentration and significant yellow luminescence.
[0006] Silicon substrates have been considered for use as substrates for growth of GaN films. Silicon substrates for GaN growth is attractive given its low cost, large diameter, high crystal and surface quality, controllable electrical conductivity, and high thermal conductivity. The use of Si wafers promises easy integration of GaN based optoelectronic devices with Si based electronic devices. GaN-based devices have been demonstrated on Si. The direct growth of GaN on substrates such as Si, however, has resulted in substantial diffusion of Si into the GaN film, relatively high dislocation density (˜10 10 cm −2 ) and cracking of the GaN film. GaN is also known to poorly nucleate on Si substrate, leading to an island-like GaN structure and poor surface morphology. Thus, the quality of GaN films grown on silicon has been far inferior to that of films grown on other commonly used substrates such as sapphire or silicon carbide. Moreover, the growth conditions that have been used for GaN on Si are not compatible with standard silicon processes (e.g. the growth temperature is too high).
[0007] Numerous different buffer layers have been disclosed for insertion between the substrate and the GaN layer to relieve lattice strain and thus improve GaN crystal quality. ZnO has previously been tested as a buffer layer for Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy (HVPE) growth of GaN on sapphire. GaN growth on ZnO/Si structures has also been reported. In general, the use of a ZnO buffer layer produced good quality GaN on both Si and sapphire substrates, even though ZnO is known to be thermally unstable at the high growth temperature of GaN. For ZnO/Si, no continuous two-dimensional GaN layer could be obtained without first growing a low temperature GaN buffer layer to prevent the thermal decomposition of ZnO. HVPE grown GaN films on ZnO/sapphire without this low temperature GaN buffer layer exhibited cracks and peeling when thick (about 200 nm, or more) ZnO buffer layer were grown. It was suggested that the thermal decomposition of ZnO led to the growth of poor quality GaN.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] A layered group III-N article includes a silicon single crystal substrate, a single crystal zinc oxide (ZnO) buffer layer disposed on and in contact with the substrate, and a single crystal group III-N layer disposed on the ZnO buffer layer. The group III-N layer can comprise GaN and is preferably an epitaxial layer. The thickness of the ZnO layer can be less than 200 angstroms, such as 100 angstroms, or less than 100 angstroms.
[0009] As used herein, the term “single crystal” as applied to both the ZnO comprising buffer layer and the group III-nitride layer refers to a layer which provides a full width half maximum (FWHM) X-ray ω-scan rocking curve of no more than 200 arc-min, more preferably less than 120 arc-min, and most preferably less than 70 arc-min.
[0010] A light-emitting diode (LED) includes a silicon (111) single crystal substrate, a zinc oxide (ZnO) comprising layer on the substrate, a single crystal group III-nitride semiconductor epitaxial layer disposed on the ZnO layer, and an active layer on the group III-nitride layer. The ZnO layer can be a single crystal. The group III-nitride layer can comprise GaN. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, one terminal of said LED is contacted through the silicon substrate. The LED can further comprise a first and second cladding layer sandwiching the active layer. The active layer can comprise In x Ga 1-x N, wherein 0≦X≦1, or related variants.
[0011] A method for forming group III-N based articles includes the steps of providing a single crystal silicon substrate, and depositing a zinc oxide (ZnO) layer on the substrate. In one embodiment, the zinc oxide (ZnO) layer is deposited by a process comprising pulsed laser deposition.
[0012] A single crystal group III-N layer is then deposited on the ZnO layer, wherein at least a portion of the group III-N deposition step is performed at a temperature of less than 600° C. The step of depositing the group III-N layer can comprise depositing a seed layer at a temperature of no more than 600° C., followed by a step of depositing another portion of the group III-N layer at a temperature of more than 600° C. In a preferred embodiment, the surface of the ZnO layer is treated with a gallium comprising gas, such as triethyl gallium, before beginning the step of depositing the group III-N layer.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0013] A fuller understanding of the present invention and the features and benefits thereof will be accomplished upon review of the following detailed description together with the accompanying drawings, in which:
[0014] [0014]FIG. 1( a ) shows a prior art GaN LED.
[0015] [0015]FIG. 1( b ) shows a GaN LED according to an embodiment of the invention.
[0016] FIGS. 2 ( a ) and ( b ) are low resolution X-ray diffraction (LRXRD) spectra obtained for ZnO on Si(100) and Si(111), respectively, both indicating that single crystal ZnO(0001) was grown.
[0017] [0017]FIG. 3( a ) and ( b ) are AFM images demonstrating almost identical film roughness with a RMS surface roughness of approximately 4.7 nm for ZnO on both Si(100) and Si(111), respectively.
[0018] [0018]FIG. 4( a ) and ( b ) are LRXRD spectra of GaN on bare Si and ZnO/Si, respectively.
[0019] [0019]FIG. 5( a ) and ( b ) are AFM images for a GaN surface on base Si and ZnO/Si, respectively, demonstrating that surface roughness decreases significantly when a ZnO buffer layer is included.
[0020] [0020]FIG. 6 is a SIMS depth profile demonstrating no detectable ZnO at the GaN/Si interface when ZnO was exposed to NH 3 at 850° C. during GaN deposition.
[0021] [0021]FIG. 7 is a SIMS depth profile demonstrating the presence of a ZnO layer beneath a GaN layer when the GaN layer is grown at 600° C.
[0022] [0022]FIG. 8( a ) and ( b ) show the room temperature photoluminescence (PL) of GaN/ZnO/Si and GaN/Si, respectively evidencing p-doping of the GaN layer by Zn provided by the ZnO layer.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0023] A layered group III-N article includes a silicon single crystal substrate, a single crystal zinc oxide (ZnO) buffer layer disposed on and in contact with the substrate, and a single crystal group III-N layer disposed on the ZnO buffer layer. The group III-N layer is an epitaxial layer and preferably comprises GaN. The thickness of the ZnO layer can be 200 angstroms, or less. For example, the ZnO thickness can be 100 angstroms. However, ZnO buffer layers which are at least 200 angstroms have been found to produce better crystal quality. The ZnO layer can be doped. For example, Al, B or Ga can be used to n-type dope the ZnO layer.
[0024] The ZnO buffer layer and GaN deposition processes described herein were found to improve the quality of GaN grown on Si substrates. However, the invention can be used with other substrates as well as other group III-N species.
[0025] It has been found that exposure of the ZnO buffer layer to NH 3 used in a conventional GaN deposition at temperature of about 600° C., or higher, results in the decomposition of ZnO and the resulting poor nucleation of group III-N layers, such as GaN. In one embodiment, at least the initial GaN layer is deposited at a temperature of less than 600° C., such as 560° C. In a related embodiment, a GaN seed layer, such as a 5 to 10 nm thick seed layer, is first deposited at a temperature of less than about 600° C., followed by a higher temperature deposition process for the remainder of the GaN layer. Use of a seed layer for at least the initial portion of the GaN deposition process, has been found to substantially avoid NH 3 induced decomposition of ZnO and subsequent poor nucleation of GaN. Following the deposition of an initial GaN “seed layer”, the remainder of the GaN layer can be deposited at a higher temperature, such as at least 850° C. to obtain improved GaN crystal quality. The seed layer is generally 5-10 nm thick. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the ZnO surface is first treated with a gallium comprising reactant (such as triethyl gallium; TEGa) before turning on the NH 3 , such as for 30 seconds before initiating the flow of NH 3 during the GaN deposition step.
[0026] ZnO films can be deposited by a variety of methods. Preferably, a process comprising pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is used fro ZnO deposition. The group III-N layer can also be deposited by a variety of methods. Preferably, MOCVD is used to grow the group III-N film, such as GaN. However, the invention is not limited to these specific processes. In addition, one or more layers can be disposed between the GaN layer and the ZnO layer.
[0027] The invention can be used to form a variety of discrete or integrated devices, such as diodes, transistors, optical and optoelectronic devices or integrated circuits including the same.
[0028] The ZnO buffer layer is a semiconducting layer. Combined with a silicon substrate, the ZnO buffer layer permits formation of simplified processing as compared to prior art processes, such as demonstrated below for a GaN-based LED.
[0029] [0029]FIG. 1( a ) shows a prior art GaN-based LED 100 on a sapphire substrate 105 . A buffer layer 110 is disposed between the substrate 105 and an n-GaN layer 115 . An n-Al x Ga 1-x N cladding layer 120 is shown on the GaN layer 115 . An In x Ga 1-x N active layer 125 is disposed on Al x G 1-x N layer 120 . An Al x G 1-x N cladding layer 130 is disposed on the In x G 1-x N later 125 . A p-GaN layer 135 is disposed on the AlxGayN cladding layer 130 . p-electrode 140 provides contact to p-GaN layer 135 . Since the sapphire substrate 105 is electrically insulating, even though buffer layer 110 may be semiconducting or conducting, a contact to n-GaN layer 115 via n-electrode 145 requires etching a contact through layers 135 , 130 , 125 and 120 . The etching process required significant added processing cost and process complexity as compared to LED 150 shown in FIG. 1( b ).
[0030] [0030]FIG. 1( b ) show an LED 150 on a silicon substrate 155 , according to an embodiment of the invention. A semiconducting buffer layer 160 , such as a ZnO layer is disposed between substrate 155 and n-GaN layer 165 . An n-Al x Ga 1-x N cladding layer 170 is shown on the GaN layer 165 . An In x G 1-x N active layer 175 is disposed on Al x G 1-x N layer 170 . An Al x G 1-x N cladding layer 180 is disposed on the In x Ga 1-x N later 175 . A p-GaN layer 185 is disposed on the Al x Ga 1-x N cladding layer 180 . Contact to p-GaN layer 185 is provided by p-electrode 190 . Since the silicon substrate 155 and buffer layer 160 are both at least semiconducting, n-electrode contact layer 195 can be disposed on silicon substrate 155 , such as via a backside contact. Thus, the etching process discussed relative to LED 100 shown in FIG. 1( a ) is not required. This arrangement can significantly reduce processing cost and process complexity, and likely improve performance, as compared to LED 100 shown in FIG. 1( a ).
EXAMPLES
[0031] It should be understood that the examples and embodiments described herein are for illustrative purposes only and that various modifications or changes in light thereof will be suggested to persons skilled in the art and are to be included within the spirit and purview of this application. The invention can take other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof.
[0032] ZnO buffer layers were deposited on Si(100) and Si(111) by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD). The Si substrates were first degreased with trichloroethylene (TCE), acetone, methanol and warm water for 3 min each and then treated with a buffer oxide etch (BOE) solution to remove the native oxide layer before they were loaded into the PLD system. A commercially available ZnO-target was used and the samples were annealed in an oxygen atmosphere after growth. Typical growth conditions for PLD growth of ZnO on Si are listed in Table 1.
TABLE 1 PLD growth conditions of ZnO on Si Growth Conditions Substrate temperature (° C.) 600 O 2 ambient pressure (mTorr) 3.6 Target type ZnO KrF Excimer Laser Laser fluence range 700 (λ 248 nm) (mJ/cm 2 ) Repetition rate (Hz) 5 Pulse duration (ns) 25 Post Growth Annealing Cooling rate (° C./min) −5 O 2 ambient pressure (Torr) 300 UV lamp UV off @ 300° C.
[0033] GaN films were then deposited on ZnO/Si in a low pressure, horizontal, cold wall MOCVD system using triethyl gallium (TEGa) and NH 3 as precursors and nitrogen as a carrier gas. The growth temperature was varied from 600° to 850° C. and the growth pressure was fixed at 100 Torr. The low growth temperature was used to prevent, or at least substantially reduce, the thermal decomposition of ZnO buffer layer. The flow rates of TEGa and NH 3 were 50 and 1600 sccm, respectively, to provide a V/III ratio of 3500. The resulting crystal orientation and surface morphology of PLD grown ZnO were found to not be affected by Si substrate orientation.
[0034] [0034]FIG. 2( a ) and ( b ) are LRXRD spectra obtained for ZnO on Si(100) and Si(111), respectively, both indicating that single crystal ZnO(0001) was grown. FIG. 3( a ) and ( b ) are AFM images demonstrating almost identical film roughness with a RMS surface roughness of approximately 4.7 nm for ZnO on both Si(100) and Si(111), respectively.
[0035] The use of a ZnO buffer layer was found to improve the structural quality and surface morphology of MOCVD GaN films grown thereon. FIGS. 4 ( a ) and ( b ) compare LRXRD spectra of GaN on bare Si and ZnO/Si, respectively. The intensity of GaN(0002) reflection from GaN/ZnO/Si shown in FIG. 4( b ) is much higher than that of GaN/Si shown in FIG. 3( a ).
[0036] FIGS. 5 ( a ) and ( b ) show the GaN surface roughness on bare silicon and on ZnO/Si, respectively. FIGS. 5 ( a ) and ( b ) demonstrate that GaN surface roughness decreases significantly when a ZnO buffer layer was employed compared to a bare Si substrate. It is noted that both samples were grown in the same run.
[0037] The thermal stability of ZnO as a buffer layer for GaN growth was also examined. Thermodynamically, the equilibrium oxygen partial pressure above ZnO at 850° C. is about 10 −23 atm. The decomposition of a ZnO film on Si was observed to be negligible when annealed at 850° C. and 100 Torr in a nitrogen atmosphere for 5 min. When the same film was exposed to NH 3 at 850° C. for 5 min, decomposition of ZnO was noticeable, which leads to poor nucleation of GaN. FIG. 6 is a SIMS depth profile of this sample subjected to NH 3 at 850° C. for 5 min which demonstrates the removal of ZnO and as a result no detectable ZnO remaining at the Si/ZnO/GaN interface following NH 3 exposure which explains the poor nucleation of GaN observed.
[0038] The best surface morphology of GaN was obtained with a ZnO layer of about 65 nm thick, although thicker ZnO layers (e.g. 200 nm) have been found to produce no detectable cracking or peeling from the Si surface. FIG. 7 is SIMS data showing no evidence of ZnO removal when a GaN seed layer is first grown at 600° C.
[0039] FIGS. 8 ( a ) and ( b ) show the room temperature photoluminescence (PL) of an article comprising GaN/ZnO/Si and GaN/Si, respectively. PL was performed exciting the sample a with 325 nm He-Cd laser, 6.9 mW, slit width 0.100 nm. The intensity of the band-edge emission peak at 3.41 eV shown in FIG. 8( b ) is high and comparable to GaN grown on sapphire. The defect related yellow band emission is not evident in either FIG. 8( a ) or ( b ). The shift in the PL spectrum in FIG. 8( a ) as compared to the PL spectrum shown in FIG. 8( b ) resulting from the inclusion of the ZnO buffer indicates that zinc from the ZnO buffer layer p-doped the GaN layer during GaN deposition.
[0040] It should be understood that the examples and embodiments described herein are for illustrative purposes only and that various modifications or changes in light thereof will be suggested to persons skilled in the art and are to be included within the spirit and purview of this application. The invention can take other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof.
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A method for forming group III-N articles includes the steps of providing a single crystal silicon substrate, depositing a zinc oxide (ZnO) layer on the substrate, and depositing a single crystal group III-N layer on the ZnO layer. At least a portion of the group III-N layer is deposited at a temperature of less than 600° C.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a case, more particularly to a case accommodating a stick-shaped cosmetic, such as a lipstick, allowing the cosmetic to be extruded little by little.
2. Description of the Related Art
A stick-shaped cosmetic such as a lipliner, a lipstick, a concealer, an eyeliner, or the like is usually enclosed in a case, is extruded from the case for use, and is drawn to be enclosed again in the case after use.
Various structures of stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion cases suitable for use in such a manner have been proposed. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. HO3-71121 discloses a stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case comprising an external cylinder, an internal cylinder rotatably fitted in the external cylinder with the tip of the internal cylinder protruding from the external cylinder, and a holder for holding a stick-shaped cosmetic which is disposed inside the internal cylinder to be allowed to move axially but not allowed to rotate circumferentially, and a converter. incorporated in the external cylinder, the internal cylinder, and the holder for converting the relative rotation between the external cylinder and the internal cylinder into the axial movement of the holder. In the stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case, by relatively rotating the external cylinder and the internal cylinder, the holder is moved in the axial direction in the internal cylinder, thereby extruding and drawing the stick-shaped cosmetic from/into the internal cylinder. The stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case of this type does not allow the stick-shaped cosmetic to be replaced with another one. Therefore, when the stick-shaped cosmetic is consumed, the stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case should be disposed of.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. HO3-31232 discloses a stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case of such a type to allow the stick-shaped cosmetic to be replaced with another one.
The extrusion case has a stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge (hereinafter, referred to as "cartridge") which is removably fitted in an external cylinder, and an extrusion rod enclosed in the external cylinder, wherein the rotation of the cartridge fitted in the external cylinder relative to the external cylinder moves the extrusion rod in the axial direction in the external cylinder. The cartridge has a housing cylinder which is provided with a through hole penetrating in the axial direction, the cross section of which is substantially constant and into which a holder holding the stick-shaped cosmetic is fitted movably in the axial direction. The through hole has a portion, the diameter of which is slightly large (hereinafter, referred to as a "large-diameter portion"), at the lower end of the housing cylinder. The housing cylinder is provided with a spring for biasing the holder downwardly ( in such a direction as to make the holder close to the case body), an end of which is engaged with the large-diameter portion. To prevent the holder and the spring from coming off the housing cylinder, a cap for preventing the falling is attached to the large-diameter portion of the housing cylinder.
Therefore, the components of the cartridge are assembled not to fall apart even individually handling the cartridge. For example when the stick-shaped cosmetic in the stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case is consumed or when a stick-shaped cosmetic of another color is desired to use, the cartridge fitted in the external cylinder can be replaced with another cartridge.
It should be noted that, in the stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case, the extrusion rod moves upwardly by rotating the external cylinder relative to the cartridge in the clockwise direction, with the result that the extrusion rod presses the holder upwardly against the biasing force of the spring to extrude the stick-shaped cosmetic from the housing cylinder. On the other hand, the extrusion rod moves downwardly by rotating the external cylinder relative to the cartridge in the anti-clockwise direction, with the result that the holder moves downward following the extrusion rod because of the biasing force of the spring to draw the stick-shaped cosmetic into the housing cylinder.
However, the cap must be attached to the housing cylinder for preventing the holder and the spring from coming off the housing cylinder. This increases the number of the components of the stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case.
In the cartridge, the stick-shaped cosmetic is fixed to the holder by rigidly fixing the base of the stick-shaped cosmetic to the holder. Therefore, when the stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case is exerted with external impact, the impact is directly transmitted to the stick-shaped cosmetic so that the cosmetic might be damaged.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to reduce the number of components of an stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge and the number of components of a stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case.
It is another object of the present invention to block impact transmission to a stick-shaped cosmetic held by the holder as possible.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge allowing easy handling.
1. A first aspect of the present invention is a stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge comprising a housing cylinder, a holder, and a spring.
The housing cylinder is formed in a hollow cylindrical configuration with a through hole penetrating in the axial direction. The housing cylinder comprises a stepped portion formed on the way of the through hole, a large-diameter hole portion from the stepped portion to the distal end (upper side) thereof, and a small-diameter hole portion from the stepped portion to the base end (lower side) thereof.
The holder has a holding portion for holding the base of a stick-shaped cosmetic and a shaft portion projecting outward (downward) from a bottom portion of the holding portion. The holding portion is inserted into the large-diameter hole portion of the housing cylinder in such a manner that the holding portion is movable in the axial direction and engages the stepped portion of the housing cylinder in the lowermost position so as to restrict its downward movable range. The shaft portion is formed in such a manner as to enter in the small-diameter hole portion of the housing cylinder when the holding portion engages the stepped portion of the housing cylinder.
The spring is disposed with one end thereof engaging the shaft portion of the holder and the other end thereof engaging the small-diameter hole portion of the housing cylinder so as to bias the holding portion of the holder in such a direction as to make the holding portion close to the stepped portion of housing cylinder.
The cartridge mentioned above does not need a cap for preventing the falling at the base end (lower end) of the housing cylinder, thereby reducing the number of components of the cartridge and facilitating the handling of the cartridge.
In the stick-like cosmetic cartridge of the invention, the following construction can be applied.
(1) the holding portion of the holder comprises a bottom plate and a pair of holding pieces standing on the bottom plate to face each other, and the holding pieces hold the base of the stick-shaped cosmetic therebetween by applying elasticity thereof. As the stick-shaped cosmetic is elastically held in this way, external impact exerted to the holder and the stick-shaped cosmetic can be absorbed, thereby preventing damage of the stick-shaped cosmetic.
(2) The small-diameter hole portion of the housing cylinder is provided with a stepped portion to have a larger diameter at the base end side of the housing cylinder, the shaft portion of the holder is provided with a stopping projection formed on an outer surface thereof, and the one end of the spring engages the stopping projection of the holder and the other end engages the stepped portion of the small-diameter hole portion of the housing cylinder.
2. A second aspect of the present invention is a stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case comprising a case body, a housing cylinder, a holder, a spring, an extrusion rod, and a transformation mechanism.
The case body is formed in a hollow cylindrical configuration with at least one open end.
The housing cylinder is formed in a hollow cylindrical configuration with a through hole penetrating in the axial direction. The housing cylinder comprises a stepped portion formed on the way of the through hole, a large-diameter hole portion from the stepped portion to the distal end (upper side) thereof, and a small-diameter hole portion from the stepped portion to the base end (lower side) thereof. A base portion (lower portion) of the housing is inserted into the case body and a distal portion (upper portion) thereof projects outward (upward) through the open end of the case body in such a manner that the housing cylinder is permitted to rotate relative to the case body and not permitted to move in the axial direction.
The holder has a holding portion for holding the base of a stick-shaped cosmetic and a shaft portion projecting outward (downward) from a bottom portion of the holding portion. The holding portion is inserted into the large-diameter hole portion of the housing cylinder in such a manner that the holding portion is movable in the axial direction and engages the stepped portion of the housing cylinder in the lowermost position so as to restrict its downward movable range. The shaft portion is formed in such a manner as to enter in the small-diameter hole portion of the housing cylinder when the holding portion is in a position where engaging the stepped portion of the housing cylinder.
The spring is disposed with one end thereof engaging the shaft portion of the holder and the other end thereof engaging the small-diameter hole portion of the housing cylinder so as to bias the holding portion of the holder in such a direction as to make the holding portion close to the stepped portion of housing cylinder.
The extrusion rod is accommodated in the case body, a distal portion of the extrusion rod is inserted into the small-diameter hole portion of the housing cylinder through an opening at the base side (lower side) of the housing cylinder in such a manner that the extrusion rod is movable in the axial direction relative to the case body and the housing cylinder. The extrusion rod extrudes the shaft portion of the holder against the biasing force of the spring when the extrusion rod moves toward the large-diameter hole portion of the housing cylinder.
The transformation mechanism is disposed for transforming the relative rotation between the case body and the housing cylinder into the axial movement of the extrusion rod relative to the housing cylinder. The transformation mechanism may be any mechanism as far as it has the aforementioned function.
In the stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case, by relatively rotating the case body and the housing cylinder, the extrusion rod moves in the axial direction. The extrusion rod pushes the holder upward against the biasing force of the spring when the extrusion rod moves in a direction (upward) toward the housing cylinder, thereby extruding the stick-shaped cosmetic from the housing cylinder. Conversely, when the extrusion rod moves in such a direction (downward) as to be apart from the housing cylinder, the holder also moves downward following the extrusion rod since the holder is biased downward by the spring, thereby drawing the stick-shaped cosmetic inside the housing cylinder.
The cartridge mentioned above does not need a cap for preventing the falling at the base end (lower end) of the housing cylinder which was conventionally necessary, thereby reducing the number of components of the cartridge and facilitating the handling of the cartridge.
In the stick-like cosmetic cartridge of the invention, the following construction can be applied.
(1) The cross section of the large-diameter hole portion of the housing cylinder, the cross section of the holding portion of the holder, and the cross section of the stick-shaped cosmetic are formed in non-circular configurations which are similar to each other. This prevents the holder and the stick-shaped cosmetic from rotating relative to the housing cylinder. The term "non-circular" means any configuration but true circle, such as an oval, a triangle, and a rectangle.
(2) Fixed to the base of the housing cylinder is a short cylinder having a through hole through which the extrusion rod is inserted, and the transformation mechanism comprises a helical groove formed inside the case body, an engaging protrusion formed in the extrusion rod which engages the groove of the case body and slides along the groove, protrusions formed on an outer surface of the extrusion rod and elongated in the axial direction, and protrusions formed in an inner surface of the through hole of the short cylinder which engages the protrusion of the extrusion rod to prevent the relative rotation between the short cylinder and the extrusion rod and to permit the relative linear movement between the short cylinder and the extrusion rod.
(3) The housing cylinder, the holder, the spring, and the short cylinder mentioned above (2) are previously assembled together in the housing cylinder to constitute a stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge, the stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge is attachable and removable to/from the case body in which the extrusion rod is previously installed.
(4) Disposed between the case body and the short cylinder mentioned above (2) is a frictional ring made of elastic material in a ring-like configuration through which the extrusion rod is inserted. The frictional ring causes a suitable frictional resistance during the case body and the housing cylinder rotate relative to each other, thereby preventing the undesirable rotation between the case body and the housing cylinder and facilitating the control in the length of the extruded stick-shaped cosmetic for use.
(5) The frictional ring mentioned above is disposed between the case body and the short cylinder in the elastically compressed state, thereby preventing the rotation of the stick-shaped cosmetic during the user is putting the cosmetic on her lip or the like.
3. A third aspect of the present invention is a stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case comprising a case body, a rotating cylinder, a housing cylinder, a holder, a spring, an extrusion rod, and a transformation mechanism.
The case body is formed in a hollow cylindrical configuration with at least one open end.
The rotating cylinder is formed in a hollow cylindrical configuration with at least one open end. The rotating cylinder is installed into the case body with the open end thereof being disposed in the same direction as the open end of the case body in such a manner that the rotating cylinder is permitted to rotate relative to the case body and not permitted to move in the axial direction.
The housing cylinder is formed in a hollow cylindrical configuration with a through hole penetrating in the axial direction. The housing cylinder comprises a stepped portion formed on the way of the through hole, a large-diameter hole portion from the stepped portion to the distal end (upper side) thereof, and a small-diameter hole portion from the stepped portion to the base end (lower side) thereof. A base portion (lower portion) of the housing is inserted into the rotating cylinder and a distal portion (upper portion) thereof projects outward (upward) through the open end of the rotating cylinder in such a manner that the housing cylinder is permitted to rotate relative to the rotating cylinder and not permitted to move in the axial direction.
The holder has a holding portion for holding the base of a stick-shaped cosmetic and a shaft portion projecting outward (downward) from a bottom portion of the holding portion. The holding portion is inserted into the large-diameter hole portion of the housing cylinder in such a manner that the holding portion is movable in the axial direction and engages the stepped portion of the housing cylinder in the lowermost position so as to restrict its downward movable range. The shaft portion is formed in such a manner as to enter in the small-diameter hole portion of the housing cylinder when the holding portion is in a position where engaging the stepped portion of the housing cylinder.
The spring is disposed with one end thereof engaging the shaft portion of the holder and the other end thereof engaging the small-diameter hole portion of the housing cylinder so as to bias the holding portion of the holder in such a direction as to make the holding portion close to the stepped portion of housing cylinder.
The extrusion rod is accommodated in the rotating cylinder, a distal portion of the extrusion rod is inserted into the small-diameter hole portion of the housing cylinder through an opening at the base side (lower side) of the housing cylinder in such a manner that the extrusion rod is movable in the axial direction relative to the rotating cylinder and the housing cylinder. The extrusion rod extrudes the shaft portion of the holder against the biasing force of the spring when the extrusion rod moves toward the large-diameter hole portion of the housing cylinder.
The transformation mechanism is disposed for transforming the relative rotation between the case body and the housing cylinder into the axial movement of the extrusion rod relative to the housing cylinder. The transformation mechanism may be any mechanism as far as it has the aforementioned function.
In the stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case, by relatively rotating the case body and the housing cylinder, the case body and the rotating cylinder rotate relative to each other so that the extrusion rod moves in the axial direction. The extrusion rod pushes the holder upward against the biasing force of the spring when the extrusion rod moves in a direction (upward) toward the housing cylinder, thereby extruding the stick-shaped cosmetic from the housing cylinder. Conversely, when the extrusion rod moves in such a direction (downward) as to be apart from the housing cylinder, the holder also moves downward following the extrusion rod since the holder is biased downward by the spring, thereby drawing the stick-shaped cosmetic inside the housing cylinder.
The cartridge mentioned above does not need a cap for preventing the falling at the base end (lower end) of the housing cylinder which was conventionally necessary, thereby reducing the number of components of the cartridge and facilitating the handling of the cartridge.
In the stick-like cosmetic cartridge of the invention, the following construction can be applied.
(1) The cross section of the large-diameter hole portion of the housing cylinder, the cross section of the holding portion of the holder, and the cross section of the stick-shaped cosmetic are formed in non-circular configurations which are similar to each other. This prevents the holder and the stick-shaped cosmetic from rotating relative to the housing cylinder. The term "non-circular" means any configuration but true circle, such as an oval, a triangle, and a rectangle.
(2) the transformation mechanism comprises a helical groove formed inside the case body, a guide slot formed in the rotating cylinder and elongated in the axial direction, and an engaging protrusion radially protruding outward from an outer surface of the extrusion rod and penetrating through the guide slot of the rotating cylinder so that a distal end thereof engages the groove of the case body and slides along the groove.
(3) the holder and the spring are previously assembled in the housing cylinder to constitute a stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge, the stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge is attachable and removable to/from the case body in which the rotating cylinder and the extrusion rod are previously installed.
(4) Disposed between the case body and the rotating cylinder is a frictional ring made of elastic material. The frictional ring causes a suitable frictional resistance during the case body and the rotating cylinder rotate relative to each other, thereby preventing the undesirable rotation between the case body and the housing cylinder and facilitating the control in the length of the extruded stick-shaped cosmetic for use.
It should be noted that, in the stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge according to any one of the first, second, and third inventions, the stick-shaped cosmetic may be a lipliner, a lipstick, a concealer, an eyeliner, or the like.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 is a front view showing a stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case according to a first embodiment of the present invention in the extruded state, the right half being broken away in a section;
FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case of the first embodiment;
FIG. 3 is a front view showing a stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the right half being broken away in a section;
FIG. 4 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view showing components of the stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge and an extrusion rod of the first embodiment;
FIG. 5 is a front view showing a housing cylinder of the stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge according to the first embodiment, the right half being broken away in a section;
FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line A--A in FIG. 5;
FIG. 7 is a plan view of the housing cylinder of the stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge according to the first embodiment;
FIG. 8 is a front view showing a holder of the stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge according to the first embodiment, the right half being broken away in a section;
FIG. 9 is a right-side view of the holder of the stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge according to the first embodiment;
FIG. 10 is a plan view of the holder of the stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge according to the first embodiment;
FIG. 11 is a front view of the stick-shaped cosmetic in the stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge according to the first embodiment;
FIG. 12 is a right-side view of the stick-shaped cosmetic in the stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge according to the first embodiment;
FIG. 13 is a plan view of the stick-shaped cosmetic in the stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge according to the first embodiment;
FIG. 14 is a vertical sectional view of a frictional ring of the stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case according to the first embodiment;
FIG. 15 is a front view showing a stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case according to a second embodiment of the present invention in the extruded state, the right half being broken away in a section;
FIG. 16 is a longitudinal sectional view of the stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case of the second embodiment;
FIG. 17 is a front view showing a stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the right half being broken away in a section;
FIG. 18 is a perspective view of a holder and a stick-shaped cosmetic in the stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge according to the second embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 19 is a front view showing a stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case according to a third embodiment of the present invention in the extruded state, the right half being broken away in a section;
FIG. 20 is a longitudinal sectional view of the stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case of the third embodiment;
FIG. 21 is a longitudinal sectional view of a stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge according to the third embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 22 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a case body and a extrusion rod of the stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge according to the third embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 23 is a front view showing a stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention in the extruded state, the right half being broken away in a section;
FIG. 24 is a longitudinal sectional view of the stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case of the fourth embodiment;
FIG. 25 is a longitudinal sectional view of a stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 26 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a part of a case body and an extrusion rod of the stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 27 is a longitudinal sectional view of a spring of the stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention; and
FIG. 28 is a perspective view showing a holder and a stick-shaped cosmetic in the stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to attached drawings.
First Embodiment!
A first embodiment of a stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge and a stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case with the cartridge according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1 through FIG. 14.
As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a stick-shaped cosmetic case (hereinafter, referred to "the case") 1 comprises a case body 10, an extrusion rod 20 fixed inside the case body 10 in such a manner that the extrusion rod is movable in the axial direction, a stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge (hereinafter, referred to "the cartridge") 30 removably attached to the case body 10, and a cap 100 permitted to be attached and removed to/from the case body 10.
The case body 10 comprises an external cylinder 11 made of metal in an open cylindrical shape with a bottom, a supporting cylinder 12 made of resin fixed to an upper open end of the external cylinder 11, and an internal cylinder 15 made of resin fixed to the inner lower part of the external cylinder 11.
The supporting cylinder 12 is a hollow cylinder with both open ends and is inserted into the external cylinder 11 and fixed to the external cylinder 11 with an upper portion thereof protruding from the upper edge of the external cylinder 11. The supporting cylinder 12 is provided with a plurality of slits formed in the lower portion thereof circumferentially at predetermined intervals, which linearly extend upward from the bottom end. The slits divide the lower portion of the supporting cylinder 12 into a plurality of elastic strips 13. Each elastic strip 13 is provided with a projection 14 projecting radially from an inner surface of the lower end thereof.
The internal cylinder 15 is a hollow cylinder with both open ends and comprises a narrowed portion 16 formed on the upper end portion thereof and internal threads (helical grooves) 17 formed in the inner surface below the narrowed portion 16.
The extrusion rod 20 is attached inside the internal cylinder 15. The extrusion rod 20 is made of resin and comprises a large-diameter portion 21 at the lower end thereof and a stem 22 extending upward from the large-diameter portion 21. The large-diameter portion 21 is provided with external threads (engaging protrusions) 23 formed in the outer surface thereof, which engage the internal threads 17 of the internal cylinder 15. The tip of the stem 22 project upward through the narrowed portion 16 of the internal cylinder 15. The stem 22 is provided with a plurality of axially-elongated protrusions 24 formed on the outer surface thereof at predetermined intervals circumferentially.
The cartridge 30 is removably attached to the supporting cylinder 12 of the case body 10. FIG. 3 is a front view of the cartridge 30 with the right half being broken away in a longitudinal section. The cartridge 30 comprises a housing cylinder 40, a holder 50 inserted into the housing cylinder 40 to be permitted to move in the axial direction, a spring 60 disposed between the housing cylinder 40 and the holder 50, and a bottom cap 70 fixed to the lower end of the housing cylinder 40.
The housing cylinder 40 is a hollow cylinder made of resin with both open ends. The housing cylinder 40 is provided with a stepped portion 41 at substantially the middle thereof in the longitudinal direction to make an upper portion having larger diameter than that of a lower portion thereof. The upper portion than the stepped portion 41 is a non-circular portion 42 and the lower portion than the stepped portion 41 is a circular portion 43.
The non-circular portion 42 is formed in such a manner that near the stepped portion 41, it has a substantially circular cross section, and the upper and farther away from the stepped portion 41, it has a flatter oval cross section, as shown in FIG. 5 through FIG. 7. The non-circular portion 42 has a large-diameter hole portion 44 having an oval cross section, penetrating the non-circular portion 42 in the axial direction. The cross section and dimensions of the large-diameter hole portion 44 are constant over the entire length of the large-diameter hole portion 44.
The circular portion 43 is formed in such a manner as to have a circular cross section of substantially the same outer diameter over the entire length thereof. The circular portion 43 has a sliding portion 45 near the stepped portion 41 which has a slightly larger diameter than the other portion. The circular portion 43 is provided with ring-like grooves 46a, 46b spaced apart from each other in the vertical direction and each formed in the outer surface of the lower end portion thereof.
When the circular portion 43 of the housing cylinder 40 is inserted into the supporting cylinder 12 of the case body 10, the stepped portion 41 comes in contact with the upper end of the supporting cylinder 12, the sliding portion 45 rotatably engages the supporting cylinder 12, and the projections 14 of the elastic strips 13 of the supporting cylinder 12 engage the upper groove 46a, thereby preventing the axial movement of the cartridge 30. In this way, the cartridge 30 is attached to the supporting cylinder 12. Therefore, the cartridge 30 is attached to the case body 10 in such a manner to be permitted to rotate but not permitted to move in the axial direction relative to the case body 10.
The circular portion 43 has a small-diameter hole portion 47 having a circular cross section, which is formed inside thereof along the axial direction. The small-diameter hole portion 47 is disposed coaxially with the large-diameter hole portion 44 of the non-circular portion 42 and communicates with the large-diameter hole portion 44. A stepped portion 44a is formed on the boundaries between the large-diameter hole portion 44 and the small-diameter hole portion 47.
The circular portion 43 is provided with a hole 48, of which diameter is slightly larger than that of the small-diameter hole portion 47, inside the lower end thereof and a stopping stepped portion 48a formed between the small-diameter hole portion 47 and the hole 48.
The holder 50 inserted into the housing cylinder 40 is made of resin and comprises a holding portion 51 and a shaft portion 52, as shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9. As shown in FIG. 10, the holding portion 51 has a bottom plate 53 formed in oval in its top view, and a pair of plate-like holding pieces 54 standing on the bottom plate 53 at the both sides in the longitudinal direction to face each other. The bottom plate 53 is formed in a configuration similar to the cross section of the large-diameter hole portion 44 but of which diameter is smaller than that of the large-diameter hole portion 44 so that the holder can move in the axial direction inside the large-diameter hole portion 44. The holding pieces 54 is each provided with two projections 55 extending in the axial direction formed on the opposite face thereof.
The shaft portion 52 has a circular cross section and comprises a large-diameter shaft portion 56 at the upper side and a small-diameter shaft portion 57 at the lower side thereof. The small-diameter shaft portion 57 is provided with stopping projections 58, spaced apart from each other circumferentially at a degree of 180*, on the outer surface thereof.
The holder 50 holds a stick-shaped cosmetic 90 attached therein. As shown in FIG. 11 through FIG. 13, the stick-shaped cosmetic 90 has the same oval cross section as that of the bottom plate 53 of the holder 50 in size and configuration and comprises engaging concavities 91, 91 formed in the lower end portion thereof on the both sides in the longitudinal direction of the oval section. The engaging concavities 91, 91 are allowed to engage the holding pieces 54, 54 of the holder 50.
That is, the holding pieces 54, 54 hold the bottom of the stick-shaped cosmetic 90 therebetween through the engaging concavities 91, 91 so that the holder 50 elastically holds the stick-shaped cosmetic 90. As the stick-shaped cosmetic 90 is elastically held in such a manner, external impact exerted to the holder 50 and the stick-shaped cosmetic 90 can be absorbed, thereby preventing damage of the stick-shaped cosmetic 90.
The holder 50 is biased by the spring 60 beneath the housing cylinder 40. The spring 60 is fitted, with an upper end (one end) thereof engaging the stopping projection 58 of the holder 50 and a lower end (the other end) engaging the stopping stepped portion 48a of the housing cylinder 40 as shown in FIG. 4, so as to bias the holder 50 beneath the housing cylinder 40 whereby the bottom plate 53 of the holder 50 is normally seated in the stepped portion 44a of the housing cylinder 40 as shown in FIG. 2. At this point, the shaft portion 52 of the holder 50 is accommodated in the small-diameter hole portion 47 of the housing cylinder 40 entirely.
In the cartridge 30 as structured above, even individually handling the cartridge 30 out of the case body 10, the holder 50 never comes off the housing cylinder 40. This operation does not relate to the presence or absence of a bottom cap 70.
The bottom cap (short cylinder) 70 made of resin is attached to the lower end of the housing cylinder 40. The bottom cap 70 is provided with a through hole 71 extending in the axial direction, through which the stem 22 of the extrusion rod 20 can be inserted.
As shown in FIG. 4, the through hole 71 is provided with a plurality of protrusions 72 which extend in the axial direction and are circumferentially disposed at predetermined intervals. The protrusions 72 engage the protrusions 24 disposed on the extrusion rod 20 so as to prevent the relative rotation between the bottom cap 70 and the extrusion stem 20.
Where the cartridge 30 is installed in the case body 10, the bottom cap 70 is pierced with the upper portion of the stem 22 of the extrusion rod 20 which is thus inserted into the small-diameter hole portion 47 of the housing cylinder 40. The stem 22 and the shaft portion 52 of the holder 50 are sized in such a manner as to have a slight space between the upper end of the stem 22 and the lower end of the shaft portion 52.
In this state, the internal cylinder 15 and the bottom cap 70 are spaced each other so that a frictional ring 80 is disposed in the space therebetween. The frictional ring 80 is made of synthetic rubber in a ring-like shape having a section as shown in FIG. 14 and have a central hole through which the extrusion rod 20 is inserted.
The frictional ring 80 is held between the internal cylinder 15 and the bottom cap 70 in a state compressed in the axial direction so that the frictional ring 80 always biases the internal cylinder 15 and the bottom cap 70 by the elastic resiliency thereof.
In the case 1 in which the cartridge 30 as structured above is installed, the housing cylinder 40 of the cartridge 30 is permitted to rotate relative to the case body 10 and prevented from moving in the axial direction, and the extrusion rod 20 is prevented from rotating relative to the housing cylinder 40 and permitted to move in the axial direction. Therefore, as the case body 10 and the housing cylinder 40 are rotated relative to each other, the extrusion rod 20 rotates relative to the internal cylinder 15 of the case body 10 so that the extrusion rod 20 moves in the axial direction because of the propelling action by the combination of the internal threads 17 of the internal cylinder 15 and the external threads 23.
As the extrusion rod 20 is moved relative to the case body 10 by rotating the case body 10 relative to the housing cylinder 40 in the clockwise direction, the extrusion rod 20 comes into contact with the shaft portion 52 of the holder 50 so that the shaft portion 52 is pushed upward against the biasing force of the spring 60 and the stick-shaped cosmetic 90 thereby extrudes through the housing cylinder 40 (see FIG. 1). In this case, the holder 50 never rotates relative to the housing cylinder 40.
On the other hand, as the extrusion rod 20 is moved downward relative to the case body 10 by rotating the case body 10 relative to the housing cylinder 40 in the anti-clockwise direction, the holder 50 also moves downward following the extrusion rod 20 since the holder 50 is biased downward by the spring 60, thereby drawing the stick-shaped cosmetic 90 inside the housing cylinder 40.
During the relative rotation between the case body 10 and the housing cylinder 40, suitable frictional force is developed between the frictional ring 80 and the internal cylinder 15, the bottom cap 70, or the extrusion rod 20, thereby preventing the undesirable rotation of the case body 10 relative to the housing cylinder 40 and facilitating the control in the length of the extruded stick-shaped cosmetic 90 for use.
Furthermore, since the frictional ring 80 is always in contact with the internal cylinder 15 and the bottom cap 70, the frictional ring 80 functions to prevent the relative rotation between the internal cylinder 15 and the bottom cap 70 due to the frictional force between them, thereby preventing the rotation of the stick-shaped cosmetic 90 held by the holder 50 during the user is putting the cosmetic on her lip or the like.
In this embodiment, the internal threads 17 of the case body 10, the external threads 23 of the extrusion rod 20, the protrusions 24 of the extrusion rod 20, and the extrusions 72 of the bottom cap 70 of the cartridge 30 constitute together a transformation mechanism which transforms the relative rotation between the case body 10 and the housing cylinder 40 into the axial movement of the extrusion rod 20 relative to the housing cylinder 40.
Second Embodiment!
Hereinafter, a second embodiment of a cartridge 30 and a case 1 with the cartridge 30 according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 15 through FIG. 18. Since the basic construction of the case 1 of the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, the same components are marked with the same reference numerals as the first embodiment, respectively, so that the description will be omitted but the difference from the first embodiment described below.
In the second embodiment, the frictional ring 80 is formed in a ring-like shape having a circular section and is in contact with the internal cylinder 15 and the extrusion rod 20 but not in contact with the bottom cap 70.
Third Embodiment!
Hereinafter, a third embodiment of a cartridge 30 and a case 1 with the cartridge 30 according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 19 through FIG. 22. Since the basic constitution of the case 1 of the third embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, the same components are marked with the same reference numerals as the first embodiment, respectively, so that the description will be omitted but the differences from the first embodiment described below.
The case body 10 does not have the internal cylinder 15 and the external cylinder 11 is provided with an internal threads 17 formed on the lower inner surface thereof into which the external threads 23 of the extrusion rod 20 screw. The supporting cylinder 12 has a lower portion 12a of a smaller diameter and is provided with two windows 12b facing each other above the lower portion 12a. The supporting cylinder 12 is also provided with slits 12c silted from the both side edges of the windows 12b so as to form elastic strips 12d between the slits 12c. Each elastic strip 12d has a protrusion 12e formed on the inner surface thereof which engages a ring-like groove 46a of the housing cylinder 40 in the cartridge 30. Therefore, the cartridge 30 is installed in such a manner to be rotatable relative to the supporting cylinder 12 and prevented from moving in the axial direction.
The frictional ring 80 is formed in a ring-like shape having a circular section and is disposed between the lower portion 12a of the supporting cylinder 12 and the bottom cap 70 in the supporting cylinder 12. The tip end of the housing cylinder 40 of the cartridge 30 is cut obliquely.
Fourth Embodiment!
Hereinafter, a fourth embodiment of a cartridge 30 and a case 1 with the cartridge 30 according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 23 through FIG. 28. The same components of the fourth embodiment as that of the first embodiment are marked with the same reference numerals, respectively, so that the description will be omitted but the differences from the first embodiment described below.
The case body 10 of the fourth embodiment does not have the supporting cylinder 12 and has a rotating cylinder 110, instead of the supporting cylinder 12, disposed inside the external cylinder 11 in such a manner that the rotating cylinder 110 is rotatable relative to the external cylinder 11. The rotating cylinder 110 comprises a large-diameter portion 111 formed in a hollow cylinder with an open upper end, a small-diameter shaft portion 112 extending downward from the large-diameter portion 111, and a stepped portion 113 formed between the large-diameter portion 111 and the shaft portion 112.
In the internal cylinder 15 according to the fourth embodiment, the narrowed portion 16 is disposed in the lower portion of the internal cylinder 15 and is provided with a helical groove 17a instead of the internal threads 17. The shaft portion 112 of the rotating cylinder 110 rotatably penetrates the internal cylinder 15 with the lower end 112a thereof projecting from the narrowed portion 16 and with the stepped portion 113 thereof being in contact with the upper end of the internal cylinder 15. The frictional ring 80 having a circular section is engaged to the outer periphery of the lower end 112a so that the frictional ring 80 is stopped at the lower end of the internal cylinder 15, thereby preventing the rotating cylinder 110 from coming off the internal cylinder 15.
The shaft portion 112 of the rotating cylinder 110 is provided with a vertical hole 114 inside thereof extending from the end at the large-diameter portion 111 side closer to the lower end thereof in the axial direction, and a long narrow guide slot 115 formed in the outer surface thereof, communicating with the vertical hole 114 and extending in the axial direction.
The extrusion rod 20 is accommodated in the vertical hole 114 of the shaft portion 112, with the upper portion of the extrusion rod 20 projecting inside the large-diameter portion 111, in such a manner that the extrusion rod 20 is permitted to move in the axial direction. The extrusion rod 20 according to the fourth embodiment is provided with an engaging projection 25 formed on the lower end thereof and projecting radially outward which penetrates the guide slot 115 to engage the helical groove 17a of the internal cylinder 15.
Therefore, by relatively rotating the rotating cylinder 110 and the internal cylinder 15 (i.e. the rotating cylinder 110 and the external cylinder 11), the engaging projection 25 of the extrusion rod 20 slides along the helical groove 17a, with the result that the extrusion rod 20 moves within the rotating cylinder 110 in the axial direction.
The large-diameter portion 111 of the rotating cylinder 110 is provided with elastic strips 117 which are spaced apart from each other circumferentially at a degree of 180* and formed by slits 116 cut in U-like shape in the outer surface thereof. Each elastic strip 117 is provided with a projection 118 formed on the inner surface thereof, slightly projecting inwardly.
The cartridge 30 according to the fourth embodiment has a stopping protrusion 43a formed in a ring-like shape on the outer surface of the circular portion 43 of the housing cylinder 40 as shown in FIG. 25. The cartridge 30 is not provided with the bottom cap 70. The tip end of the housing cylinder 40 is cut obliquely.
The cartridge 30 is installed in such a manner not to be rotatable relative to the rotating cylinder 110 and prevented from moving in the axial direction by engaging the circular portion 43 of the housing cylinder 40 into the rotating cylinder 110 of the case body 10 and engaging the stopping protrusion 43a with the projections 118.
In the case 1, by relatively rotating the housing cylinder 40 and the case body 10, the rotating cylinder 110 and the external cylinder 11 rotate relatively to each other, with the result that the extrusion rod 20 moves upward within the rotating cylinder 110 in the axial direction as described above and the stick-shaped cosmetic 90 held by the holder 50 thereby also moves upward.
According to the fourth embodiment, the helical groove 17a of the case body, the engaging projection 25 of the extrusion rod 20, and the guide slot 115 of the rotating cylinder 110 constitute together a transformation mechanism which transforms the relative rotation between the case body 10 and the housing cylinder 40 into the axial movement of the extrusion rod 20 relative to the housing cylinder 40.
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The present invention provides a stick-shaped cosmetic extrusion case in which a stick-shaped cosmetic cartridge is removably attached to a case body so that a stick-shaped cosmetic can be replaced by replacing the cartridge with another one. The stick-shaped cosmetic accommodated in the cartridge is extruded through the case body by rotating the cartridge attached to the case body relative to the case body. The cartridge includes a housing cylinder, a holder, and a spring. The holder holds the stick-shaped cosmetic, and is accommodated in a through hole formed in the housing cylinder. The holder is biased by the spring to retain the stick-shaped cosmetic within the through hole. The holder has a holding portion for holding the base of the stick-shaped cosmetic and a shaft portion projecting downwardly from the bottom of the holding portion. The holding portion is inserted into a large-diameter hole portion of the housing cylinder, is axially movable, and engages a stepped portion of the housing cylinder when located at the lowermost position, thereby restricting its downward movement. The shaft portion is designed to enter into a small-diameter hole portion of the housing cylinder when the holding portion engages the stepped portion of the housing cylinder. The spring biases the holding portion of the holder toward the stepped portion of the housing cylinder with one end thereof engaging the shaft portion of the holder and the other end engaging the small-diameter hole portion of the housing cylinder.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims foreign priority to European Patent Application No. 08019499.6 filed Nov. 7, 2008 which is hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Technical Field
[0003] The present invention relates to an entrance barrier comprising a barrier element movable between an open and a closed position, driving means, by which the barrier element can be driven from one position to the other respectively, a control unit, by which the driving means are controllable, and a sensor unit connected to the control unit. The invention also relates to a barrier element for the entrance barrier and to a method for operating the entrance barrier.
[0004] 2. Discussion
[0005] Entrance barriers of the above-described type are used in the prior art for a variety of applications, for instance for controlling the entrance or access to areas which are protected and/or subject to a charge. Entrance barriers are frequently used for instance in public transport, airports, especially in security checks, and also in public buildings such as swimming pools or sports facilities. They serve among others to grant access only to authorized persons or to grant only single access of persons.
[0006] In a security check for instance, an entrance barrier is provided in the form of two mutually opposite door wings which are driven for swiveling and which are automatically swung to an open position when an authorized person desires access and wants to pass the entrance barrier. To this end, the person inserts an access authorization card in a checking station capable of verifying authorization, and if the authorization is valid, the control unit connected to the checking station controls the driving means to move the door wings of the swing doors to the open position, whereupon the individual is allowed to pass the open entrance barrier. After passing the entrance barrier, the door wings are automatically closed again. Passage of the entrance barrier is detected by the sensor unit, and a corresponding signal is transmitted to the control unit. After passage of the entrance barrier, the barrier element is moved to the closed position. A light barrier is used as a sensor unit, which substantially enables a selective detection of a current position of a person. But this detection is insufficient, because the substantially linear detection area of the light barrier is very small. It is not possible to detect a person outside of the detection area. An additional drawback is that the light barrier delivers false detection values caused by the influence of ambient light. This may cause faulty control by the control unit.
[0007] To avoid that a person is hurt by the movement of the door wings, the energy transmittable from the driving means to the door wings is limited. If a person is still present in the movement range of a door wing during the opening or closing movement of this door wing, because the person has changed his/her direction of movement or stopped moving, the door wing will hit the person and stop its movement due to the limited energy, so that the person is hurt as little as possible. Accordingly, the entrance barrier provides passive safety. On the other hand, the mere contact between the person and the door wing may cause painful collisions, if not even injuries, especially if the person carries pieces of luggage. Moreover, this concept of passive safety puts limitations to the design of the door wings, particularly with regard to the weight, size and speed of movements. It is precisely this area where a light barrier cannot be installed, because the light barrier would interfere with the intended function of the door wing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] The invention is therefore based on the object of providing a possibility to further improve the safety of individuals in the area of entrance barriers beyond the mere passive safety of the entrance barrier.
[0009] As a solution of this object the invention proposes that the sensor unit includes a capacitive sensor. With the capacitive sensor it is possible to detect the presence of individuals especially in the movement range of the barrier element. The barrier element may be provided for example in the form of a swing door or also a pair of swing doors or a sliding door, a turnstile, a barrier, combinations thereof or the like. The barrier element can have a one-piece or a multi-piece design and thus comprise for example a single-wing or multi-wing swing door. The capacitive sensor is preferably so designed that it produces an electric field which extends to an adjacent space and particularly to the space adjacent to the entrance barrier, and so that it detects changes.
[0000] Normally, the effects of this type of sensor are as follows:
1. Insulators in the plate capacitor
[0010] By introducing a dielectric (insulator) into a charged capacitor, the electric field is weakened due to the polarization. The plate voltage drops, because no charge can flow to the capacitor. The capacitance of the capacitor increases.
[0000] 2. Electrically conducting ungrounded materials in the plate capacitor
[0011] By introducing an electrically conducting object into a charged capacitor, the field is weakened due to the influence effect. The field lines are shortened due to the inserted conductor. Graphically imagined, the result is a reduction of the plate spacing. The capacitance of the capacitor increases.
[0000] 3 . Electrically conducting grounded object in the plate capacitor (Shadowing mode)
[0012] If a grounded electrically conducting body (human/animal) is present in the plate capacitor, the measurable capacitance becomes smaller. A part of the influenced charge carriers is discharged through the “electrode of the body”. A precondition for this measuring principle is a ground reference of the supply voltage.
[0013] In the specific embodiment herein described, method 3 is applied, though the remaining two methods can also be applied, provided that for example a galvanically floating measuring voltage is available.
[0014] It is known that the electric field is changed by a dielectrically permeable body, but also by a conducting body which includes among others also a human being, an animal or any other living thing. If the body is a dielectrically permeable body, the field is weakened and thus the capacitance of the sensor increases. Grounded electrically conducting bodies, for example a human being or an animal, cause the capacitance to decrease. The change of capacitance can be detected by an appropriate evaluation circuit and can be provided in the form of suitable signals for additional purposes. Preferably, the sensor covers a region of a space comprising at least the movement range of the barrier element. The sensor can be arranged in a stationary fashion for example on the entrance barrier. Its dimensions are preferably adapted to the barrier element and/or to the dielectrically permeable body to be detected, so that a reliable detection of the body can be guaranteed. The detection of the capacitance of the sensor can take place for example by means of charge or discharge pulses, frequency changes and/or the like. So it is possible for example to adjust a measuring frequency, rate of change of a measuring pulse or the like according to the needs. Preferably, the capacitive sensor is installed remotely from additional dielectrically permeable or electrically conducting components, so that any interference with such components can be avoided as far as possible. Additionally, compensation circuits and/or functions can be provided, to be able to neglect or compensate disturbing dielectrically permeable or electrically conducting components with regard to the evaluation of the sensor. The sensor can have a segmented structure for example, so that it is capable of sensing differently large bodies with different accuracy. Such additional information which is obtained can be used also for control purposes, by activating for example the barrier element only if particular individual sensors of the segmented sensor have been activated. Of course, the operation signal for the sensor can be adapted to dielectrically permeable or electrically conducting bodies to be detected, in order to improve the detection. The capacitive sensor is connected to the sensor unit that evaluates the signals from the sensor and transmits on its part a corresponding signal to the control unit. The control unit evaluates this signal and initiates if necessary appropriate control of the driving means for the barrier element.
[0015] Preferably, the sensor is arranged on the barrier element. In this way it can be achieved that the sensor preferably covers the range in which the barrier element is movable. It is thus possible to use a sensor having a directional effect, so that the detection of a body can be further improved. Moreover, separate means for the arrangement of the sensor can be saved.
[0016] The sensor may have its own evaluation circuit that applies a corresponding operation signal to the sensor and evaluates a corresponding measuring signal from the sensor as a response signal. The evaluation circuit can be connected to the control unit. The evaluation signal is capable of transmitting a signal which corresponds to the detected measuring value to the control unit and/or to a remote center.
[0017] Preferably, the sensor is at least partly formed by an electrically conducting part. The electrically conducting part can be formed by an electrically conducting material such as metal, an electrolyte or the like. But an electrically conducting plastic material, an electrically conducting ceramic material or the like can also be provided in order to form the electrically conducting part. Moreover, a design in the form of a composite material is also conceivable, in which an electrically conducting layer is applied to an insulating material. The electrically conducting part can be connected to the evaluation circuit via one more lines. If the sensor is arranged on the barrier element, the conducting part can comprise the entire barrier element or also only parts thereof. Moreover, auxiliary electrodes can be provided, by which the electric field of the sensor can be influenced in a desired manner, in order to still further improve the detection of the body. It can be provided for instance that the sensor includes adjacent partial sensors to which differently high electric voltages of preferably the same polarity are applied. In this way it is possible for example to achieve a directional effect.
[0018] To reduce the influence of external ambient conditions on the sensor and to simultaneously avoid the risk of individuals being injured by electricity, the sensor is preferably electrically insulated. To this end, the conductive part can be coated for example with an insulating varnish or provided with an insulating coating, preferably from an insulating plastic material or the like. Parasitic currents into the sensor can be reduced.
[0019] Further, the sensor may include an open conductor loop and/or a conductor surface. The conductor loop or the conductor surface is made from an electrically conducting material, preferably from a material exhibiting good electrical conductivity such as copper, aluminum, brass or the like. The conductor surface or conductor loop is electrically connected to the evaluation circuit. The conductor loop can be formed as a spiral, especially an
[0020] Archimedean spiral, on the barrier element. In the same manner as the conductor surface, the conductor loop can be circular, ellipsoid or also angular, e.g. rectangular, polygonal or the like. Preferably, the conductor loop or conductor surface lies in a geometrically plane surface, for example a surface of the barrier element, such as for example a door wing of a swing door or the like. The conductor surface may have a texture, in order to achieve a more favorable field effect. The conductor surface may include different surface sections electrically connected to each other. The detection of the body can be further improved.
[0021] According to a further embodiment, the entrance barrier can comprise at least two barrier elements, especially two barrier elements that are jointly movable. The barrier elements can be arranged oppositely to each other in the passage way of the entrance barrier and can comprise common or also separate driving means. The driving means can be formed for example by electric drive units such as electric motors or the like. But they can also be hydraulic and/or pneumatic. The common drive unit can also be implemented by a transmission capable of jointly driving the barrier elements. In the case of sliding doors, it can be provided for instance that for opening the passageway two mutually opposite sliding doors are operated by the drive unit(s) in such way that the sliding doors are removed from the passageway. In the case of swing doors, it can be provided that the swing doors are simultaneously swung to the open position. Of course, the barrier element can also be designed in a multi-part fashion, for instance by a swing door being simultaneously constructed as a folding door, thus allowing to reduce the space which is engaged by the barrier element. Thus it is possible to adapt the entrance barrier in a variety of ways to the respective requirements.
[0022] A barrier element for the entrance barrier is also described herein. The sensor for example can be formed as one piece with the barrier element, thus not only reducing the number of components, but also increasing reliability, since the sensor can be protected by the barrier element. To this end, the barrier element itself can comprise electrically conducting parts, conductor loops and/or conductor surfaces which are incorporated in the barrier element. The barrier element can have recesses which receive the sensor and which are subsequently closed by a suitable material. It is also possible for the sensor being formed by a layer on the barrier element which is applied for example by vapor deposition or any other technique capable of forming layers on a surface of the barrier element. Additionally, protective layers can be applied to protect both the sensor and the barrier element against external influences.
[0023] According to a further development, the barrier element can be constructed in a two-part or multi-part fashion. This enables a compact construction of the barrier element, especially in its closed position, so that all in all a very compact entrance barrier can be achieved. For this purpose, the barrier element can be segmented in the fashion of a folding door or the like.
[0024] A method for operating an entrance barrier is also disclosed, wherein a barrier element is moved between an open and a closed position by driving means. The driving means are controlled by a control unit detecting the presence of a body, especially of a dielectrically permeable and/or electrically conducting body in a space within the range of the barrier element by means of a capacitive sensor, and transmitting the output from the sensor to the control unit. Preferably, the sensor is capable of detecting a movement of the body.
[0025] Accordingly, the capacitive sensor detects whether a dielectric body, especially an individual, is present in the space near the barrier element, particularly in an area into which the barrier element is moved. The result is preferably transmitted to the control unit and can serve as a basis for the control of the driving means. A dielectrically permeable body is a body having a relative dielectric permeability greater than 1, particularly greater than 10, preferably greater than 15. The bodies which can be detected here can be dielectrically permeable bodies (insulators) or electrically conducting bodies. Accordingly, these bodies can also be living things, particularly animals and people. But such a detectable body can also be an object having a relative dielectric permeability greater than 1, for example plastic materials, ceramic materials, ferrites, combinations thereof and combinations with other materials and/or the like, but also electrically conducting bodies such as metal suitcases for example.
[0026] The capacitive sensor can be fixed relative to the barrier element, but it can also be arranged on the barrier element itself. Preferably, the capacitive sensor has a directional effect, so that the sensitivity can be increased in a desired area. Preferably, the sensitivity is increased in an area where the barrier element is moved between the two positions. For this purpose, the sensor itself can be made up from several individual partial sensors allowing a corresponding directional effect to be achieved. Moreover, by suitably designing the sensor, interference immunity with regard to electromagnetic tolerance can be improved. To this end, the sensor can be textured for example in the form of branching patterns or the like.
[0027] The method of the invention further provides that the driving means are deactivated by the control unit. Deactivation preferably takes place if a body is detected in the area of the barrier element which impedes the movement of the barrier element. By deactivating the driving means, the energy of a collision between the barrier element and the body can be reduced. In the case of moving bodies, it is also possible to achieve that a collision with the barrier element is associated with a lower energy absorption, since the barrier element is preferably freely movable during the collision, which means that the drive unit does not deliver additional energy during the collision. It is merely the energy of a differential pulse that has to be absorbed correspondingly by the body element and the barrier element. Thus damage to bodies, especially injury to an individual or an animal, can be clearly reduced.
[0028] According to a further development it is proposed that an access authorization is verified. The body can be provided with an authorization in the form of a bar code, a readable transponder or the like, with an authorization code being read and verified. If the authorization is approved, the driving means for moving the barrier element to the open position can be operated. If the authorization is not valid, the driving means is kept deactivated and the barrier element remains in its closed position. In the closed position, the barrier element is preferably locked, thus preventing unauthorized opening by external manipulation.
[0029] A further embodiment provides that the passage of a body is traced and/or recorded. Thus it is possible to retrace the passage of the body through the passage way of the entrance barrier. Accordingly, it can be provided that after the body has passed through the passage way, the barrier element is automatically moved to the closed position. Preferably, this movement shall take place only after the body has left the range of movement of the barrier element, in order to avoid a collision. For this purpose, the sensor can be evaluated continuously and/or in a time-discrete manner at correspondingly short intervals, in order to determine the position of the body in the entrance barrier. The values that have been determined with regard to the position of the body can be recorded for establishing for example a movement profile and/or for making a classification of the body. It can be achieved that for example several individuals inside the entrance barrier can be identified. Additionally, it is possible to detect and if necessary report unauthorized passage of several individuals, if the entrance barrier is designed for single passage.
[0030] Further, the position of the barrier element can be monitored by means of the sensor. The sensor can be constructed for example in a two-part fashion, one part of the sensor being attached to the barrier element and a second part being fixed in a different position on the entrance barrier. In the multi-part design of the entrance barrier, for example in the case of double-wing doors, the sensor can also be arranged on the door wings or on the several parts of the barrier element. Thus the position of the barrier element can be monitored, and the driving means can be controlled in a suitable manner. This embodiment further enables the detection even of intermediate positions between the open and closed positions. Accordingly, it can be provided for the barrier element to assume intermediate positions in a controlled manner. Preferably, the barrier element is also lockable in these intermediate positions, so that it cannot be moved by exerting external forces.
[0031] According to a further development it is proposed that several sensors are used, particularly sensors of adjacent entrance barriers, which are evaluated in a time multiplex mode. This makes it possible to decouple the sensors with regard to their interaction. This embodiment also enables the reduction of the evaluation circuit, since preferably only one evaluation circuit is provided which is coupled to the individual sensors on a time multiplex basis by means of a multiplexer.
[0032] A further advantageous embodiment provides that the sensor is synchronized automatically. By the synchronization of the sensor, disturbing influences, parasitic capacitances and the like can be considered, so that the sensor is capable of delivering a reliably evaluable signal substantially independently of possible changes of boundary conditions such as air humidity, temperature and/or the like. Preferably, the synchronization takes place automatically, so that any manual operations can be saved. For this purpose, corresponding measuring means can be provided for detecting changes of the boundary conditions which can be considered in the evaluation. It can also be provided that a corresponding operation signal for the sensor is adapted in dependence of the boundary conditions, in order to effect a corresponding synchronization.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0033] Further advantages and features will become apparent from the following description of an example. In the description similar parts are identified by the same reference numbers. Further, concerning features and functions which are similar, reference is made to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 . The drawings are schematic drawings and merely serve to explain the following embodiments in which:
[0034] FIG. 1 illustrates an entrance barrier according to the invention comprising a barrier element having two mutually oppositely arranged swinging door wings with capacitive sensors;
[0035] FIG. 2 is a basic circuit diagram of an evaluation circuit for the capacitive sensors according to FIG. 1 , and
[0036] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating changes of capacitance during the movement of the barrier elements over time (grounded body).
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0037] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a gate 10 as an entrance barrier typically used in security areas on airports. The gate 10 comprises two door wings 12 , 14 as barrier elements which are movable between an open and a closed position and which are arranged in a ground passage area (not further illustrated) of gate 10 . Grounding is generally not required for the invention. But the following embodiment is nevertheless based on the functional principle (shadowing mode) described at the beginning as the 3rd effect, for which reason grounding is provided in the present case.
[0038] FIG. 1 shows the closed position. The door wings 12 , 14 can be driven by two drive units in the form of electric motors 16 , 18 as driving means, wherein the door wings 12 , 14 are capable of being driven from one position to the other position respectively. The drive unit 16 is capable of moving door wing 12 , whereas the drive unit 18 is capable of moving door wing 14 . The drive units 16 , 18 can be controlled via a control unit 20 .
[0039] The door wings 12 , 14 include two capacitive sensors 22 , 24 , each of the sensors 22 , 24 being formed by a pair of open conductor loops 26 , 28 , 30 , 32 . The open conductor loops 26 , 28 , 30 , 32 are formed as one piece with the door wings 12 , 14 by being applied as a conductive layer to the surface of the door wings 12 , 14 using a suitable manufacturing technique. In the present case, the door wings 12 , 14 are made of safety glass to which the open conductor loops 26 , 28 , 30 , 32 are applied by evaporation. In the present case, the sensor 22 is formed by the open conductor loops 26 , 28 , and the sensor 24 is formed by the open conductor loops 30 , 32 . Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 1 , each of the two sensors 22 , 24 is arranged with one half on one of the door wings 12 , 14 . For contacting purposes, the open conductor loops 26 , 28 , 30 , 32 are extended to the hinge area of the door wings 12 , 14 , where they are contacted by means of corresponding electrical lines (not further identified), in order to connect the open conductor loops 26 , 28 , 30 , 32 to an evaluation circuit 36 as a sensor unit ( FIG. 2 ).
[0040] FIG. 2 is a basic circuit diagram of the evaluation circuit 36 to which the sensors 22 , 24 are connected by their open conductor loops 26 , 28 , 30 , 32 . For this purpose, the evaluation circuit 36 comprises connectors 38 , 40 , 42 , 44 to which the open conductor loops 26 , 28 , 30 , 32 are connected, as shown in FIG. 2 . Internally in the evaluation circuit 36 , the connectors 38 , 40 , 42 , 44 are guided to a multiplexer 50 which reciprocally and alternately connects the sensors 22 , 24 in a time division multiplex mode to the additional component groups necessary for the operation and evaluation of the sensors 22 , 24 .
[0041] Reference number 52 designates a generator which produces an alternating voltage signal having a predetermined slew rate. This signal is also fed to the multiplexer 50 , through which the alternating voltage signal is alternately applied to the connector 40 or 44 . The two connectors 38 , 40 are connected alternately and in the same rhythm to a signal evaluation unit 54 by means of the multiplexer 50 . The signal evaluation unit 54 evaluates and prepares the signals for further processing. The output signal from the signal evaluation unit 54 is applied to the positive input of two comparators 60 , 62 comparing this signal with reference signals from the reference signal generators I and II 56 , 58 . The outputs of the comparators 60 , 62 are applied to the connectors 46 , 48 of the evaluation unit 36 . To the connectors 46 , 48 the control unit 20 is connected via connection lines which are not further identified.
[0042] Together with the multiplexer 50 also the reference signal generators I and II 56 , 58 are clocked, so that only a respective one of the comparators I and II 60 , 62 , of which the associated sensor 22 , 24 is being evaluated, delivers an output signal.
[0043] From the view of the evaluation circuit 36 , the two open connector loops 26 , 28 of the sensor 22 and the two open connector loops 30 , 32 of the sensor 24 constitute variable capacitors, of which the capacitance shall be measured. Therefore, during operation, an electric field is generated between the two door wings 12 , 14 which is substantially invariable in the stationary case and simulates for the evaluation circuit 36 a pre-determinable quiescence capacitance of the sensor 22 , 24 . Now, if a dielectrically permeable body moves in a space 34 in the range of the door wings 12 , 14 , the stationary electric field changes, thus causing a change of capacitance which can be detected by the evaluation circuit 36 . As soon as a sufficient change of the capacitance is detected, the signal evaluation unit 54 produces a signal exceeding the respective reference signal from the reference signal generators I and II 56 , 58 , whereupon the corresponding active comparator I respectively II 60 , 62 outputs a respective output signal to its corresponding connector 46 , 48 . This signal is transmitted for additional control purposes to the control unit 20 connected to the connectors 46 , 48 .
[0044] Also the opening or closing of the door wings 12 , 14 is detected, because this also causes a change of the capacitance of the sensors 22 , 24 .
[0045] Accordingly, the invention allows the movement of a body, particularly the movement of an individual in the space 34 in the range of the door wings 12 , 14 to be detected and transmitted to the control unit 20 . The evaluation circuit 34 can be integrated in the control unit 20 .
[0046] If a movement of a body in the space 34 is detected, the drive units 16 , 18 are deactivated by the control unit 20 . This enables the door wings 12 , 14 being freely movable, so that an individual present in the swiveling area of the door wings 12 , 14 is able to push the door wings 12 , 14 away, without being hurt. An alternative provides that the drive units are abruptly braked and fixed.
[0047] In the present embodiment it is further provided that the drive units 16 , 18 before being deactivated are transferred to a rest position, so that the door wings 12 , 14 do not continue to move. The drive units 16 , 18 are decoupled only after the rest position has been assumed. This avoids that the continued swiveling movement of one of the door wings 12 , 14 may cause a collision with the body or with the individual. Accordingly, the doors remain in their current position of swiveling and can be moved manually. Moreover, it can be provided that the drive units remain in the braked (blocked) condition and are transferred to a defined end or central position, after the individual has left or the body has been removed from swiveling area.
[0048] It is not shown that the entrance barrier 10 includes a verification unit to which an authorization card is inserted by the individual which desires to pass. If the authorization is verified as valid, the door wings 12 , 14 are moved to the open position by the control unit 20 and the drive units 16 , 18 . In the open position of the door wings 12 , 14 , passage of the individual which desires to pass is detected by the sensors 22 , 24 . As soon as the individual has passed the entrance barrier 10 and has left the space 34 in the range of the door wings 12 , 14 , the entrance barrier 10 is automatically closed by the control unit 20 and the drive units 16 , 18 , by moving the door wings 12 , 14 to the closed position. Further, the passage of the individual is traced and recorded. This makes it possible to establish a personalized passage profile. Thus an authorization profile can be established, so that a personalized authorization can be verified using the passage profile. Any discrepancy can be informed to a central office or the like.
[0049] The sensors 22 , 24 simultaneously allow monitoring the position of the door wings 12 , 14 relative to each other. This makes it possible to monitor the opening or closing movements of the door wings 12 , 14 substantially continuously or in a time-discrete manner. This construction also allows the door wings 12 , 14 to be moved to pre-determinable intermediate positions.
[0050] To ensure that adjacent entrance barriers 10 influence each other as less as possible, it can be provided that the sensors 22 , 24 of the adjacent entrance barriers 10 are operated and evaluated in a time multiplex mode, so that mutual influencing can be avoided. For this purpose, a higher-level control unit can be provided which correspondingly controls the control unit 20 and the evaluation unit 36 . It can be provided for example that the activation changes in a 100 ms cycle. The evaluation circuit 36 is directly or indirectly connected electrically to earth.
[0051] The reference values of the reference signal generators I and II 56 , 58 can be adjustable or programmable. Moreover, it can be provided that the reference signals are correspondingly adjustable by means of the control unit 20 . The reference values can be adjusted for example in dependence of the respective position of the barrier elements 12 , 14 . But also the evaluation circuit 36 can itself include means for updating the reference signals, in order to be able to compensate boundary conditions like air humidity or the like. A particular advantage is that in the present embodiment the sensors 22 , 24 are automatically synchronized. This automatic synchronization can take place for example through additional evaluations of the detected signals, especially of the signal from the signal evaluation unit 54 . In this case, an additional differentiation can be made for example, which allows to detect fast changes compared to slow changes of temperature, air humidity or the like.
[0052] FIG. 3 shows a diagram for the time line of a change of capacitance as it occurs for example during the intended operation of gate 10 . The time is used as the abscissa and the capacitance is used as the ordinate. A solid curve 64 represents the measured capacitance during an opening and a subsequent closing operation of the door wings 12 , 14 . As can be seen from FIG. 3 , in the time range between t 1 and t 2 , the door wings 12 , 14 are moved to the open position. This results in a decrease of the capacitance, which can be detected by means of the evaluation circuit 36 . In the time range between t 2 and t 3 , the gate 10 is in the position for passage, in which the door wings 12 , 14 are maintained in the open position. In the time range t 3 to t 4 , the door wings 12 , 14 are returned to the closed position. This results in an increase of the capacitance of the sensors 22 , 24 , which can be detected by means of the evaluation circuit 36 . It can be clearly seen that the current position of the door wings 12 , 14 can be determined from the change of the capacitance.
[0053] A broken curve 66 in FIG. 3 represents the opening and closing of the door wings 12 , 14 as previously described by way of the solid curve, wherein in the present case an individual enters the space 34 . It can be clearly seen that in the time range of t 1 to t 2 , the capacitance clearly decreases more strongly and faster during the opening operation of the door wing 12 , 14 than this would be the case without the influence of the individual. In the open position in the time range t 2 to t 3 , the capacitance first is the same as that represented by the solid curve 64 . Only when the individual passes the door wings 12 , 14 , a change of the capacitance can again be recognized (reference number 68 ), which resumes the value represented by the solid curve 66 after the individual has passed and with the door wings 12 , 14 in the open position. In the range t 3 to t 4 , the door wings are moved to the closed position, the influence of an individual being recognizable in addition by a decrease of the capacitance. Only after the individual has left the space 34 , the capacitance resumes the value as that which is represented by the solid curve.
[0054] The illustrated measurement curve shows the behavior of a measurement setup which reacts to negative changes of the capacitance. (Grounded electrically conducting body, ground-related measuring voltage) For the time range t 3 to t 4 , the limit of recognizability is plotted by way of the upper broken curve 70 . The system reacts to negative changes of the capacitance. But during the time range of t 3 to t 4 , the capacitance increases continuously. If a body enters the measuring area during the time range of t 3 to t 4 , the value of the increase of the capacitance caused by the closing operation of the door wing must be exceeded by a higher negative value of a body present in the swiveling area, in order that the measuring circuit recognizes a body as such. The measuring sensibility is dulled by this effect in the time range of t 3 to t 4 . Changes of the capacitance in the region between the solid curve 64 and the broken curve 70 are not recognized by the system.
[0055] The embodiment illustrated in the figures merely serves to explain the present invention and is not in any way limiting to the invention. Of course, the invention can not only be used in entrance barriers, but of course also in other access or access controlling systems, for example in sports facilities, security areas in enterprises, but also in agriculture, for the sorting of cattle or the like. It should be noted that a stationary electric field can also be a stationary alternating electric field with a predetermined frequency and amplitude.
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The present invention relates to an entrance barrier comprising a barrier element movable between an open and a closed position, driving means, by which the barrier element can driven from one position to the other position respectively, a control unit, by which the driving means are controllable, and a sensor unit connected to the control unit. The invention also relates to a barrier element for the entrance barrier and to method for operating the entrance barrier. To provide a possibility of further improving the safety of persons in the area of entrance barriers beyond the mere passive safety of the entrance barrier, the invention proposes for the sensor unit to include a capacitive sensor.
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PRIORITY CLAIM
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/568,623, filed Nov. 3, 2006, which is a National Stage of International Application No. PCT/EP2005/004369 filed Apr. 22, 2005, which claims priority to European Patent Application No. 04010644.5, filed May 5, 2004, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference thereto.
BACKGROUND
The invention relates to a device for loading capsules intended for the feeding of machines, dispensers, display units or other devices for the dispensing of such capsules and/or for the preparation of food products based on these capsules, such as coffee machines or other machines.
In the food field, the use of systems for preparing food products based on capsules, such as drinks dispensers, is expanding rapidly due to the many advantages that these systems generally bring. Such systems may be drinks dispensers, for example, which work by using capsules containing a base for preparing a drink. The consumer may prepare a drink for himself by using these capsules simply, rapidly and most of the time with a minimum of intervention on his part for preparation and/or cleaning.
These capsules may be, for example, dosed packages of extremely varied configuration, size and/or nature. These may be capsules made of plastic film, filter paper, aluminium or composite laminate and may be in the form of a lens, a beaker or other forms.
In most of the known systems, the capsules are supplied in closed packs such as cardboard boxes or flexible or rigid plastic packs that are separate from the machines themselves. The user takes a capsule from the chosen pack and inserts the capsule into the preparation machine which carries out the preparation such as by dissolving, extracting or percolating the product contained in the capsule with a diluent such as water.
In certain cases, there are capsule dispensers associated with or yet integrated into the preparation machines. Specifically there is a requirement for building stocks of capsules in order to ensure supplies with a minimum of interruption and offer the consumer a choice. The capsules may further be available on demand as in the form of a display unit or a dispenser, with or without payment system, in which the consumer has access to the capsule which he can then take from the dispenser then insert in a machine for preparing the food speciality, for example, for preparing a hot or cold drink.
It may further involve a device which is directly integrated into the machine for preparing the food product and, in this case, the capsule is selected directly and the. product is prepared in the same machine without direct contact between the capsule and the consumer. The capsule is then picked up by mechanical means to be transported from the storage zone to the preparation means such as an extraction or dissolving chamber for example, where the product contained in the capsule may be extracted or dissolved.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,595,106 relates to a magazine for capsules used to store several capsules stacked one upon the other. The capsules may thus be removed from the magazine on demand via an opening made in the base of the magazine. A drawback arises in that, to reload the magazine, the capsules must be inserted into the magazine individually in a slot provided for this purpose. The reloading process is therefore long and not very practical. This system therefore does not lend itself very well to receiving large series of capsules and to an overcomplex automation of the system.
Patent application EP 1 247 481 A1 sets forth a drinks extraction device comprising an integrated capsule loading system. Such a system is particularly practical because it can be used to automatically feed an extraction system with capsules to be extracted by means of a turntable positioned in direct relation with the extraction system. Such a device comprises packs in the form of detachable tubes for storing capsules which match with tubular supports mounted on a rotating base. However, loading the packs into the tubular supports poses a problem.
SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a capsule loading device which responds to the requirements and problems of the prior art.
Thus, one object of the device of the invention is to allow the loading of capsules into a machine of any kind, such as a capsule dispenser and/or a food product preparation machine, such as a drinks dispenser, which is easy and quick to use. One object is thus to reduce the loading time and to make loading more practical. Another object is to be able to also allow the removal or exchange of capsules stacked in the storage reserve at any time and without scattering the capsules or without dropping them.
To achieve these objectives and others, the invention relates to a capsule loading device to form a reserve of stacked capsules, in particular, capsules suitable for being dispensed in an order beginning from the bottom of the capsule reserve. The device thus comprises a detachable tube containing stacked capsules furnished with an opening for the capsules to pass through the tube and means of aligning the tube allowing the tube to be aligned with a capsule receiving zone for the capsules to descend by gravity into this zone. The invention consists in providing alignment means which comprise retention means configured to retain the capsules in their stack, at least partially in the tube, when the tube is moved with its opening oriented downwards, towards the position in which the tube is aligned with the reception zone.
Such a configuration thus makes it possible to feed capsules into a reception zone of any kind, from an open tube without risking scattering the capsules or wrongly ordering the latter in the reception zone. The loading process is thus simplified and quick. The tube may also thus be of a simple and cost-effective design.
According to one aspect of the invention, the capsule retention means comprise a retention surface which is juxtaposed relative to the opening of the tube to support the capsules when the tube is tilted, from a position in which the opening of the tube is in a position facing upwards or substantially horizontal to a position of alignment in which the opening of the tube is facing downwards and aligned with the reception zone allowing the capsules to pass into the reception zone.
Such a retention surface is preferably a surface having an arced shape which allows for the tilting movement of the tube in the loading operation before the placing in alignment.
Thus, preferably the retention surface terminates in a passage arranged substantially horizontally which delimits the entrance of the reception zone. Such a passage allows the capsules to communicate with the reception zone. Such a zone may be a nondetachable portion of tube forming a housing for the buffer storage of capsules or yet a zone for dispensing capsules or other items.
Preferably, the tilting of the tube is guided so as to facilitate the operation of loading without disordering, losing or scattering the capsules and thereby to ensure the alignment. For this, the alignment means comprise means for guiding the tube in tilting that are configured in association with the retention surface to keep the stack of capsules constantly pressing on the said surface. The guidance then takes place so that the capsules are constantly retained before the tube is aligned with the reception zone. Thus, the means for guiding in tilting are preferably configured to cause the tube to pivot about an axis of rotation. The tilting takes place then by rotating the tube about this axis of rotation. The axis of rotation may be placed in a position relative to the tube which is substantially to the rear of the opening and which virtually traverses the latter. In this manner, the opening moves in an arc of a circle corresponding substantially to the shape of the retention surface. This axis is preferably substantially in intersection with the central axis of the tube or slightly offset in order to move all the points of the opening substantially the same distance relative to the axis and facilitate the alignment with the reception zone, particularly when the. latter is of a shape complementing that of the tube, such as of circular shape, for example. Thus, the retention surface is preferably an arced surface having as its centre the axis of rotation of the guidance means in tilting. The arced surface has a radius which is -a function of the geometry of the capsules to be retained. Notably, the size of the radius must be such that the capsules preferably rest against the retention surface, on their central portion, rather than on their edges; this is so in order to avoid a deformation of the edges, where the pinching usually occurs between the jaws of the extraction system and hence the seal during the preparation of the drink in the coffee or other machine. Furthermore, the radius must not be too big in order to keep a relatively compact device.
Structurally, the guidance means in tilting preferably comprise a tube support into which the tube is inserted. Thus, it is easy to achieve the pre-positioning of the tube in its support in order then to carry out the tilt loading. The support is then mounted rotatably about the axis of rotation on a base of the alignment means which may be formed of two lateral wings positioned either side of the retention surface. In order to allow a free pivoting through a sufficient angle to pass from the position for inserting the tube into the support to an alignment position, the support is in the shape of a ring terminating in edges, oriented towards the retention means, which have a shape of sinusoidal revolution. Such a shape allows the support and the tube attached thereto to rotate freely, through a sufficient angle without blockage, to a position of alignment and allows the capsule stack to be brought sufficiently close to the retention surface while preventing jams. Other constructions are possible, but the latter has the advantage of being of relatively simple and reliable design and prevents jams.
The tube may be attached in the tube support by attachment means housed in the tube support and interacting with complementary attachment means of the tube. Such means may be of any type such as screw means or clipping means or socket means such as bayonet systems or equivalent systems.
In a preferred embodiment, the tube support has bearing means in collar form which press against the retention surface when the tube is in the position of alignment with the reception zone. Thus, no complex alignment means is necessary other than an appropriate arrangement of surfaces making it possible to achieve a correct alignment for the capsules to pass into the reception zone.
In a preferential embodiment, the reception zone comprises a tube portion forming a buffer zone to receive capsules.
Complementary bearing means may be provided in the position of alignment of the opening with the reception zone. These means may take the form of a surface complementary to the surface of the tube and protruding onto a portion of the length of the tube and in a manner juxtaposed to the tube when the latter is in the position of alignment with the reception zone.
The tube may take the form of a detachable, discardable or recyclable pack, able to house a series of capsules, which comprises rapid connection means suitable for connecting the tube to the alignment means. These rapid connection means are present at the rear of the periphery of the tube opening. In this manner, the tube may be connected firmly to the alignment means. These means may also serve to connect a cap being used to block off the opening during transport and before loading. This may involve screw or other means as previously described. When a pack is involved, the tube is advantageously formed of one piece in blow-moulded plastic such as PET or other plastic that may be formed according to the same technology. The tube is preferably transparent in order to inform the user on the degree to which the device is filled with capsules. The reception zone may also be at least partly transparent for the same reason.
These features and their advantages and others possible will be better understood in the light of the following description and the following drawings:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a capsule loading device according to the invention in the position of alignment corresponding to the storage of the capsules.
FIG. 2 is a view in perspective and in section showing the capsules stacked in the device in the position of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 3 is an exploded view in perspective of the device.
FIG. 4 is a view in section of the device in the position of insertion of the detachable tube to carry out the reloading of capsules in the device.
FIG. 5 is a plan view in section showing the means of retaining the capsules in the intermediate position when the tube is tilted.
FIG. 6 is a view in perspective and in section of the device in another intermediate position.
FIG. 7 is a view in perspective and in section of the device in the alignment position.
FIG. 8 is a view in perspective of a different embodiment of the device of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The loading device 1 according to the invention is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 in the position of alignment and is represented in an exploded view in FIG. 3 . The device consists of a detachable tube 2 serving as a reserve for a series of capsules 3 and alignment means 4 with a reception zone 5 . Capsules 8 are stored in a stack in the tube.
The term “capsule” means any type of portioned and packaged food products. It may involve portions of coffee, tea, powdered chocolate, plant extracts, milk, cream or a substitute, soups, culinary products or their combinations. The pack may use materials of different kinds such as plastics, metals, papers or cards, and materials that are composites of these materials. The shape of the capsules may be variable. They may be lens, parallelepipedal, oblong, goblet shaped or other shapes.
The term “tube” should be interpreted broadly and includes any type of container of various shapes. It is preferable however to provide a tube which comprises—a bottom 20 , a body 21 of sufficient length to allow the storage of a sufficient number of capsules, a cap 22 removably closing off an opening opposite the bottom, which is necessary for the removal of the capsules and connection means 23 allowing a connection of the tube to the alignment means, as will be described in greater detail hereinafter. The tube has a shape which is suited to the cross section of the capsules. Thus, when the capsules are of circular shape, as is shown, the tube itself has a circular cross section. However, many other shapes of capsules/tube may be envisaged without departing from the scope of the invention.
The tube may be a discardable or recyclable pack formed in a plastic, cellulose or composite material. The tube may be made by any appropriate technique such as moulding, cutting-bending-bonding or other. Preferably, the main portion of the tube, excluding the cap, consists of a plastic that can be blow-moulded. For this, the tube is produced by making a preform in plastic by extrusion or moulding in a mould conferring the size and shape of the preform. Then, the preform is drawn and blow-moulded in a second mould of a size and shape corresponding to the final shape of the tube. The preform may be drawn by mechanical stretching by means of a blowing iron then by blow-moulding by means of a pressurized gas or by blow-moulding only. The advantage of such a technology lies in the possibility of producing a thin, transparent or translucent reloading tube with precise dimensions allowing it to fit correctly in the alignment means. Finally, such a technology is also economical when applied to long production runs.
According to the invention, the alignment means 4 comprise means 6 of retaining the capsules in the form of a retention surface 60 arranged so as to retain the capsules when the tube is tilted from a position in which the opening of the tube is substantially horizontal or oriented upwards to a position in which the opening is then oriented downwards in a position of alignment as is shown in FIG. 2 ; then allowing the said capsules to pass through the reception zone.
The alignment means preferably also comprise guidance means 7 in tilting serving to guide the tube during the tilting of the latter into the alignment position. These means are arranged in association with the retention means 6 so that the stack of capsules may press against the retention surface 60 at the moment of the tilting of the tube.
The guidance means in tilting 7 comprise a tube support 70 comprising connection means 71 complementing the connection means 23 of the tube. The connection means 23 , 71 may be of any type possible such as an arrangement with screws or a mechanical socket fit of the bayonet type or any equivalent means. The tube support preferably has a shape in which the tube can be inserted or nested in order to produce a firm fit. It comprises edges 72 delimiting an opening with a cross section allowing the capsules to pass through. The support is mounted rotatably about an axis of rotation X on a base 61 of the retention means comprising two opposite lateral wings 610 , 611 . The lateral wings extend either side of the retention surface 60 and comprise openings allowing the connection of the tube support 70 along the axis X. The tube support may be mounted permanently on the base or mounted detachably. In the latter case, the tube support 70 may be mounted on the tube 2 also detachably or permanently.
The retention surface 60 and the tube support 70 have particular shapes making it possible to provide a rotation of the tube and of the support along the said retention surface through a sufficient angle to the alignment position. Thus, the retention surface is preferably an arced surface whose centre has as its axis, the axis X. The tube support has an edge 72 , oriented on the side of the retention surface, which, in its form of revolution, has a sinusoidal edge. Such a form provides an optimal closeness of the tube support edge along the retention surface 60 when the tube is tilted rotatably; this permanently closes the tube support and prevents any possibility of the capsules slipping over the sides. Specifically, the capsule stack easily tends to tilt to one side or the other and any opening could create a passage beneath the capsules and lead to some of them blocking the system.
The tube support also has a collar 73 oriented on the side of the retention means 6 having the function of serving as an abutment means when the tube and its support reach the position of alignment with the reception zone. The collar is extended laterally by side lugs 74 , 75 which support the pivoting attachment means having the function of connecting to the lateral wings 610 , 611 of the retention means. Naturally, the abutment means and the surfaces to which the attachments means attach may take other shapes while providing the same function without for all that departing from the scope of the invention.
It may be pointed out that the guidance means in tilting 7 are optional although extremely useful for ensuring a fast and problem-free loading. These means could in effect be dispensed with and the tilting could be provided manually by simply pressing the tube against the retention surface 60 . In this case, provision must be made for the tube to have an opening whose edges are also of sinusoidal shape, or for the adaptation of a tube support whose edges have this same shape. In the latter case, the tube support does not require means of rotation that are attached to the retention means 6 since the tilting movement is carried out by manual guidance while keeping the opening along the retention surface 60 .
The retention means are extended upwards by bearing means 9 on which the tube in the alignment position can bear. Such means may, for example, be a half-portion of tube of a shape complementing the external half-surface of the tube. Bearing means of different configuration may be envisaged such as rods, strips, grid or other means.
The reception zone 5 for the capsules is situated below the retention means; in the extension of the retention surface 60 . The reception zone may be a zone for storing a certain number of capsules. Thus, it may comprise a tube portion forming a buffer zone capable of receiving a certain number of capsules. In this way, when a tube 2 is removed, the device may contain capsules capable of being dispensed or transferred. The edges of the tube portion 5 are cut away in order to match the shape of the edges of the tube support 70 to allow a clean junction of the surfaces, particularly of the internal surfaces, and thus prevent any capsules getting stuck when discharged into the reception zone. There may be housed beneath the tube portion 5 a capsule selection device having the function of individually releasing the capsules (not shown). A preferential embodiment of a device is described in European application No. 04010645.2 filed on 5 May 2004 and entitled: “Device for selecting capsules contained in a stack” and its entire content is here incorporated by reference.
In the illustrated embodiment, the tube portion is formed of two half-tubes 50 , 51 connected by mechanical means of connection such as clipping elements. The half-tube 51 for example may be formed in a single piece of injected plastic with the retention means 6 and the bearing means 9 , for reasons of economy and ease of assembly.
Instead of a tube portion, the reception zone may be replaced by other buffer means or mechanical means of stopping and/or of transferring the capsules.
The operating principle of the loading device according to the invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 7 .
A new refill of capsules in the form of a tubular pack 2 , previously described, containing a series of capsules is inserted into the alignment means 4 after the cap 22 has been removed in order to free the opening 24 of the tube 2 . The tube is thus connected to the tube support 70 by means of the connection means 23 , 71 . The connection may be achieved by screwing, for example, the tube onto the tube support which is held in position on the base by the complementary pivot junctions 74 , 75 , 610 , 611 . As shown in FIG. 4 , the tube support is then oriented downwards so as to orient the tube with its opening upwards and prevent the capsules being accidentally spilled before the reloading. An uncontrolled spill into the tube portion 5 may result in an incorrect positioning of the capsules that may lead to the blockage of the downstream systems of the device, particularly, of the selection device.
Once the coupling between the tube and the tube support has been achieved, the tube 2 may be tilted from top to bottom about the axis of rotation X on which the tube support 70 is mounted as shown in FIG. 5 . The tilting movement has the effect of orienting the tube opening downwards and causing the capsules 8 to descend until they make contact with the first capsule on the stack on the retention surface 60 of the retention means. The stack is then kept in place in the tube during the rotary movement ( FIGS. 5 and 6 ).
The tube support abuts against the retention surface 60 when the tube is correctly aligned with the lower tube portion. During the alignment, the tube opening is moved in coaxial manner with the passage 52 of the reception zone and the capsules may descend by gravity through the said passage.
The embodiment in FIG. 8 represents a variant of the device of the invention in which the tube 2 comprises a portion of the guidance means in tilting which are connected in detachable manner to the alignment means 4 . In particular, the tube 2 and the tube support 70 are rendered fixedly attached. The tube support comprises pivot means, such as a pair of lugs 750 , which is coupled detachably into the reception means such as slots 612 , 613 . The slots are of open shape so that the lugs may be inserted while the tube opening is oriented upwards. Once the lugs are in place in the slots, the tube and its support may be tilted while keeping the lugs in the slots until the tube is aligned with the reception zone.
The invention has been described by way of preferred examples. However, it is understood that the invention may comprise many variants or equivalents within the capabilities of those skilled in the art.
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Device for facilitating the loading of capsules into a machine for dispensing capsules or for preparing drinks based on these capsules comprising: a detachable tube, containing stacked capsules furnished with an opening for the capsules to pass through the tube, means of aligning the tube allowing the tube to be aligned through a capsule receiving zone for the capsules to descend by gravity into this zone. The alignment means comprise means for retaining the capsules in their stack when the tube is moved with its opening oriented downwards, in the direction of the position in which the tube is aligned with the reception zone.
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The present application is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 08/555,244 filed Nov. 8, 1995 entitled "Method to Enhance the Performance of Polymers and Copolymers of Acrylamide as Flocculants and Retention Aids", now abandoned.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is in the technical field of separating solids from an aqueous slurry containing the solids, and more particularly the separation of solids from a papermill furnish in the manufacture of paper. The process of the instant invention is advantageously employed in the dewatering of waste streams, mineral tailings, the clarification of water, the removal of oily waste from water and more particularly an improved method of making paper.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the manufacture of paper, an aqueous cellulosic suspension or slurry is formed into a paper sheet. The cellulosic slurry is generally diluted to a consistency (percent dry weight of solids in the slurry) of less than 1%, and often below 0.5% ahead of the paper machine, while the finished sheet must have less the 6 weight percent water. Hence the dewatering and retention aspects of paper making are extremely important to the efficiency and cost of the manufacture.
More specifically, the slurry is an aqueous suspension containing cellulosic material and in some cases selected mineral pigments. This slurry is generally diluted to a consistency (percent dry weight of solids in the slurry) of less than 1%, and often below 0.5% ahead of the paper machine. Associated with papermaking slurries, called furnishes, is a large variation in the size and shape of the particles present. These particles may range in size from less than one micrometer for many mineral pigments or fillers, up to several millimeters in their largest dimension for fibers. The initial dewatering of a paper furnish typically takes place by the ejection of the cellulosic furnish onto or between filter fabric(s), called the wire. The openings in these wires are typically on the order of 200 mesh, which corresponds to a hole size capable of passing particles with a diameter of 76 micrometers. If no forces of attraction exist between particles, the mineral pigments would very easily pass through the wire and would not be retained in the sheet, compromising the benefits for which the mineral pigments were added. Thus, under normal papermaking circumstances, many components of the furnish that are small enough to pass through the openings in the wire will require modification if they are to remain in the sheet.
As the fibers form a mat on the wire, they generate their own filter medium and many of the smaller particles in the furnish may be trapped by simple filtration in the fiber mat, particularly if the sheet is thick, i.e. high basis weight. However, even if the basis weight is high, a significant fraction of the small particulate material may not be adequately retained. When basis weights are low or machine turbulence prevents mat formation, the filtration mechanism of small particle retention is extremely inadequate. Under papermaking circumstances when the filtration mechanism is inadequate, chemical treatments generally called retention aids are required to modify the interparticle interactions thereby resulting in coagulation and/or flocculation of the particles.
Retention of small particulate components leads to numerous benefits for the papermaker. Mineral fillers like clay and calcium carbonate are often less expensive than fibers, and substitution of such fillers for fiber provides a way for the papermaker to reduce the raw material costs. Retention of fillers and fiber fines is also necessary to achieve the sheet properties needed for a given end use. Such properties might include sheet opacity, brightness, and appropriate ink interactions. Because the small particles have large surface areas for a given mass, significant amounts of additives such as dyes or sizing agents can be attached to them making retention of the fines necessary for effective utilization of such additives.
Filler particles and fiber fines which are not retained initially, or in the so called first pass, are to a large extent recycled via the white water system back into the furnish, increasing the fraction of small particles present in the furnish over time. This result is often unsatisfactory for several reasons. Some important and expensive materials lose their effectiveness upon recycling in the white water system, and their retention in the first pass is needed for performance or sheet properties. Examples of such materials are titanium dioxide and alkaline sizing agents. Although the total amount of fines in the sheet may be increased in this way, their distribution in the sheet will tend to be very uneven frequently resulting in two-sided phenomena of the paper. In addition, the concentration of unretained materials in a papermachine's white water system can contribute to deposit problems and related runnability problems which result in lost or slowed production and poor product quality. These problems are remedied by using effective retention aids, resulting in a machine with improved runnability, more efficient use of fiber and filler raw materials, and less waste to the mill's waste treatment facility.
Greater retention of fines, fillers, and other slurry components permits, for a given grade of paper, a reduction in the cellulosic fiber content of such paper. As pulps of lower quality are employed to reduce paper making costs, the retention aspect of paper making becomes even more important because the fines content of such lower quality pulps is greater generally than that of pulps of higher quality. Greater retention also decreases the amount of such substances lost to the white water and hence reduces the amount of material wastes, the cost of waste disposal and the adverse environmental effects therefrom. It is desirable to reduce the amount of material employed in a paper making process for a given purpose, without diminishing the result sought. Such add-on reductions may realize both a material cost savings and handling and processing benefits.
Another phenomena of primary interest in papermaking is dewatering. The dewatering method of the least cost in the process is gravity drainage, and thereafter more expensive methods are used, for instance vacuum, pressing, felt blanket blotting and pressing, evaporation and the like, and in practice a combination of such methods are employed to dewater, or dry, the sheet to the desired water content. Since gravity drainage is both the first dewatering method employed and the least expensive, improvement in the efficiency of drainage will decrease the amount of water required to be removed by other methods and hence improve the overall efficiency of dewatering and reduce the cost thereof.
Dewatering generally, and particularly dewatering by drainage, is believed to be improved when the pores of the paper web are less plugged, and it is believed that retention of small particles by adsorption to the fibers in comparison to retention by filtration reduces such pore plugging.
Another important characteristic of a given paper making process is the formation of the paper sheet produced. Formation is determined by the variance in light transmission within a paper sheet, and a high variance is indicative of poor formation. As retention increases to a high level, for instance a retention level of 80 or 90%, the formation parameter generally abruptly declines from good formation to poor formation.
In order to improve retention and drainage in papermaking a flocculant is introduced to induce flocculation. Flocculation describes a number of possible strategies which result in agglomeration of these previously mentioned mall particles. Different degrees of flocculation is required at each stage of operation in pulp and paper mills. At the forming wire on the paper machine, paper is formed by the rapid dewatering of the paper making slurry. This slurry is generally comprised of fibers, fines, mineral fillers and other additives. Under normal conditions, more than 50% of components of the slurry are small enough to pass through the forming wire. In order to retain the smaller components within the structure of the sheet having a low degree of two-sidedness, polymeric retention aids are being used. Such retention aids operate by flocculating of the components of the slurry before the slurry is consolidated as the sheet in the consecutive dewatering stages. The proper level of flocculation is necessary to provide the required retention and drainage rate while not significantly degrading the sheet uniformity-formation.
Various characteristics of the slurry, such as pH, hardness, ionic strength, cationic demand, may affect the performance of a flocculant in a given application. The choice of flocculant involves consideration of the type of charge, charge density, molecular weight, type of monomers and is particularly dependent upon the water chemistry of the mill system being treated.
Hydrolyzable aluminum salts are used extensively as coagulants in papermaking. Because of the acid generated by the aluminum hydrolysis, the pH of machines using alum is depressed, and the process is referred to as "acid papermaking". The aluminum species possessing the greatest coagulating ability are formed in the pH range of 4 to 6. Polyaluminum chlorides are also effective coagulants. Being partially neutralized, they do not depress the pH to the extent that alum does and are generally more applicable over a wider pH range.
In a single polymer program, a flocculant, typically a cationic polymer, is the only material added. Another method of improving the flocculation of cellulosic fines, mineral fillers and other furnish components on the fiber mat is the dual polymer program, also referred to as a coagulant/flocculant system, added ahead of the paper machine. In such a system there is first added a coagulant, for instance a low molecular weight synthetic cationic polymer or cationic starch to the furnish, followed by the addition of a flocculant. Such flocculants generally are a high molecular weight synthetic polymers which bind the particles into larger agglomerates. The presence of such large agglomerates in the furnish as the fiber mat of the paper sheet is being formed increases retention. The agglomerates are filtered out of the water onto the fiber web, whereas unagglomerated particles would to a great extent pass through such paper web.
In systems containing high concentrations of anionic polymeric/oligomeric substances, the performance of cationic polymers is often detrimentally affected. These anionic substances may be of inorganic or organic origin. Silicates used as hydrogen peroxide stabilizers in pulping, bleaching, and de-inking processes and species extracted from the wood like polygalacturonic acids and lignin derivatives are the most typical examples of components of anionic detrimental substances, also called "anionic trash". Nonionic and anionic polymers are affected by these substances to a much lower degree than cationic polymers.
An example of a papermaking program which utilizes a nonionic flocculent is disclosed by Linhart et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,359 as a process to increase drainage rate and the retention of fillers, fines and pigments which comprises adding to the pulp slurry an effective amount of a high molecular weight water-soluble polymer of an N-substituted vinylamide. It is well known that vinylamides, in the presence of acid, can hydrolyze to yield a substance which contains cationic moiety. Cationic moieties are very effective at inducing flocculation in papermaking slurries as well as inducing flocculation in these system.
The Linhart et al. reference does not show that a combination of resin and nonionic homopolymer acrylamide may be utilized advantageously. Poly(acrylamide) is only used as a control in these examples.
Upon reference to Table 4 of the '359 patent, it is apparent that cationic polyacrylamide and resin in combination do not provide any added performance over polymer alone. For polymer I, drainage time decreases by 1 unit, from 89 to 88. Optical transparency increases from 53 to 57, a change of 4 units. Both of these changes are within experimental error, and thus do not illustrate any advantage of adding polymer and resin together. One skilled in the art reading this reference and analyzing this set of data would not pursue such a combination, based on the lack of increased efficiency demonstrated by Table 4.
Upon reference to Table 5, it is apparent that the use of nonionic polyacrylamide does not lead to any increase in efficiency. If the polymer and resin combination is compared to phenol alone, drainage is decreased from 139 to 138, a change of only one unit. The optical transparency decreased from 35 to 31, a change of four units. Both of these results are within experimental error, and actually teach that the addition of resin and polymer do not provide any advantages over the addition solely of resin. Furthermore, the optical transparency data would suggest that the resin/polyacrylamide combination negatively impacts retention as evidenced by a decrease in optical transparency. However, this interpretation also does not consider the inherent error associated with the experimental method. Therefore, one skilled in the art analyzing Table 5, would not be taught that non-ionic polymer/resin combinations increase efficiency.
Therefore an examination of the data of Tables 4 or 5 of the Linhart et al. reference would not lead one skilled in the art to believe that there would be any inherent advantage to a combination of polymer and resin, when the polymer is a cationic or non-ionic polyacrylamide, for this reference illustrates no effect. One skilled in the art upon reading the Linhart reference would therefore not pursue the use of a combination when attempting to ameliorate the operation of the papermaking systems described by the instant invention.
Another example of a dual polymer system utilizing a nonionic flocculant is the polyethylene oxide (PEO) and cofactor program. PEO is an effective retention aid for newsprint and other mechanical pulp furnishes. Known cofactors include kraft lignin, sulfonated kraft lignin, naphthalene sulfonate, tannin extract, and water-soluble phenol-formaldehyde resins. A recent EPO patent application (Echt, EP 621 369 A1, 1995), discloses using poly(p-vinyl phenol) as a cofactor.
The method disclosed in the Carrard et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,236 describes the use of poly(ethylene oxide), referred to as PEO, having a molecular weight in excess of 1,000,000 with water soluble phenol-formaldehyde or naphthol-formaldehyde resins or sulphur resins. The Carrard et al reference also discusses the use of other polymers in conjunction with the above mentioned two-component program. Such polymers include polyamide amine, polyalkylene imine, polyamine (all cationic) and polyacrylic-polyacrylamide copolymer (anionic).
In the APPITA Annual General Conference report, 83-90, 1995, an improvement in the performance of PEO/phenolic enhancer programs was discussed. The improvement was the result of adding cationic polyacrylamide to PEO/phenolic enhancer programs. The synergy exists between the PEO/resin combination and the cationic polyacrylamide.
However, there are problems associated with the use of PEO as a retention aid. PEO is expensive when compared to many synthetic flocculants. Also, PEO chains are susceptible to degradation which results in lowering the molecular weight and thus flocculation efficiency. Degradation can be caused by either shear forces or extended storage. In addition, PEO is susceptible to oxidizing agents that may be present in the furnish.
In an attempt to circumvent these difficulties, Huinig Xiao and R. Pelton, reported synthesis of a nonionic copolymer of acrylamide and poly(ethylene-glycol) methacrylate. This copolymer contains pendant PEG chains intended to impart PEO like character and thus activity, as claimed by Xiao and Pelton, via interaction with resole-type phenolic enhancer to form the three dimensional structures responsible for its good performance as a retention polymer. However, Xiao and Pelton did not report any beneficial effect from the use of phenolic enhancer on flocculation performance of polyacrylamide homopolymers. This information has been presented in PCT/CA94/00021.
Furthermore, flocculation can be beneficial in applications other than wet-end papermaking. Among these are applications such as saveall clarification. The save-all is used to separate solids which are agglomerated in the white water and keep such solids within the paper making system. Proper operation of the save-all is very important for economical use of cellulosic raw materials, fines and other additives. It is also important to minimize the environmental impact of the effluent stream with lower suspended solids, lower COD and BOD values and reduced amounts of solid waste materials.
Clarifiers, dissolved air floatation units (DAF), are used to separate the suspended and colloidal solids from the waste water streams from paper mills, pulp mills, and de-inking facilities. Effective solids removal allows for an increase in the recycling of water used in the system, thereby reducing the consumption of fresh water.
Flocculation is also used in sludge dewatering presses. The presses are used to concentrate the solid waste materials. The appropriate operation of such presses reduces the costs and other problems associated with the disposal of solid waste materials and lowers the environmental impact of such materials.
The most significant flocculation applications include alum and derivatives of aluminum, single cationic polymer programs, dual polymer programs, and microparticle programs.
The present invention departs from previously disclosed claims regarding papermaking as well as other applications where separation of solids from aqueous liquids is important. This patent discloses the novel use of a phenolic enhancer to be added to a papermaking slurry either before or after a period of high shear. The phenolic enhancer can also be added either before or after a flocculant. The flocculants used may be either anionic or nonionic. A synergistic interaction is observed when the phenolic enhancer and the flocculant are added in the disclosed manner. This unique combination of components as well as their mode of addition constitute the novel, surprising and unexpected invention not obvious to one skilled in the art disclosed herein. This invention allows improved levels of retention, formation, uniform porosity, and overall dewatering in the papermaking process. Furthermore, this process is responsible for improved flocculation. While the invention has been, and will be described particularly in reference to the manufacture of paper those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the method using the phenolic enhancer and water soluble polymeric flocculant will be applicable to a wide variety of processes in which solids are separated from aqueous liquids, or conversely when aqueous liquids are separated from solids. The improved separation techniques taught herein can be beneficially applied to applications other than pulp and paper systems, for example, where ever solid/liquid separation or emulsion breaking are performed. Examples of such applications are municipal and industrial sludge dewatering, clarification or raw waters, the dewatering of aqueous mineral slurries, the removal of oils and greases from waste waters and the like.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A method for increasing the flocculation of solid components of a paper making furnish in a paper making system which comprises the steps of adding to a paper making furnish from about 0.003 to about 1.0% by weight based on total solids in the furnish of a phenolic enhancer. An anionic or nonionic flocculant is added to the furnish in the amount of from about 0.003 to about 0.5% by weight based on total solids in the furnish either before or after the phenolic additive. The flocculation of solid components of the paper making furnish is increased wherein improved levels of retention, formation, uniform porosity, and overall dewatering are obtained. As used herein the term furnish is meant to describe the aqueous mixture of cellulosic fiber, fillers, and other paper making components which are formed into a cellulosic sheet by the removal of water.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention clearly shows surprising improvement in flocculation activity when certain anionic and nonionic acrylamide flocculants are used in tandem with select enhancers. Specifically, the present invention shows the use of phenol-formaldehyde resins and tannins as enhancers in retention programs.
The invention is a method for improving the retention of fillers and fibers and improving drainage in the formation of a cellulosic sheet. This method, which is often performed on a papermachine comprises the steps of adding to a paper making furnish from about 0.003 to about 1.0% by weight based on total solids in the furnish of phenolic enhancer and ananionic or nonionic acrylamide flocculant in the amount of from about 0.003 to about 0.5% by weight based on total solids in the furnish. Either the enhancer or the flocculant may be added first although laboratory experiments appear to indicate better results when the phenolic enhancer is added as the first component to the slurry or furnish.
The dosage of the flocculant is preferably from about 0.003 to about 0.5% by weight based on total solids in the slurry, more preferably from about 0.007 to about 0.2 % and most preferably from about 0.02 to about 0.1%. The dosage of phenolic enhancer is preferably from about 0.003 to about 1.0% by weight based on total solids in the slurry, more preferably from about 0.007 to about 0.5% and most preferably from about 0.02to about 0.3%.
In either aspect, a detrimental substances controlling additive such as bentonite, talc or mixtures thereof may be added anywhere to the system. A preferred addition point for the additive is the thick stock pulp before dilution with white water. This application results in increased cleanliness of the paper making operation which otherwise experiences hydrophobic deposition affecting both the productivity and the quality of paper.
In some cases a cationic coagulant must be added to the slurry. The dosage of coagulant is preferably from about 0.001 to about 4% by weight based on total solids in the slurry, more preferably from about 0.01 to about 2% and most preferably from about 0.02 to about 1%. The addition point of the coagulant can be either before or after either the enhancer and/or the flocculant.
In addition, either aspect may be applied to paper mill slurry selected from the group consisting of fine paper, board, and newsprint paper mill slurries. The slurries include those that are wood-containing, wood-free, virgin, recycled and mixtures thereof. The phenolic enhancer is selected from a group consisting of phenol-formaldehyde resins, tannin extracts, naphthol-formaldehyde condensates, poly(para-vinyl phenol), and mixtures thereof. As utilized herein, the term phenolic enhancer is meant to encompass substituted versions of the above enhancer materials where the substituted functionality includes but is not limited to moieties such as carboxylates, sulfonates and phosphonates. Tannin extracts, as the term is utilized herein refer to naturally occurring polyphenolic substances that are present in the organic extracts of bark of some wood species.
Another aspect of the invention is a method for increasing retention and drainage of a paper making furnish in a paper making machine which comprises the steps of adding to a paper making furnish from about 0.003 to about 1.0% by weight based on total solids in the furnish of phenolic enhancer. Anionic or nonionic acrylamide flocculant is then added to the furnish in the amount of from about 0.003 to about 0.5% by weight based on total solids in the furnish.
Another aspect of the invention is a method for increasing retention and drainage of a paper making furnish in a paper making machine which comprises the steps of adding to a paper making furnish from about 0.003 to about 0.5% by weight based on total solids in the furnish of an anionic or nonionic acrylamide flocculant. Phenolic enhancer is then added to the furnish in the amount of from about 0.003 to about 1.0% by weight based on total solids in the furnish.
The dosage of the anionic or nonionic acrylamide flocculant is preferably from about 0.003 to about 0.5% by weight based on total solids in the furnish, more preferably from about 0.007 to about 0.2% and most preferably from about 0.02 to about 0.1%. The dosage of phenolic enhancer is preferably from about 0.003 to about 1.0% by weight based on total solids in the furnish, more preferably from about 0.007 to about 0.5% and most preferably from about 0.02 to about 0.3%.
In either aspect, the detrimental substances controlling additive such as talc and/or bentonite may be added anywhere to the system. Their preferred addition point is the thick stock pulp before dilution with white water. This application results in increased cleanliness of the paper making operation which otherwise experiences hydrophobic deposition affecting both the productivity and the quality of paper.
In some cases a cationic coagulant must be added to the slurry. The dosage of coagulant is preferably from about 0.001 to about 4% by weight based on total solids in the slurry, more preferably from about 0.01 to about 2% and most preferably from about 0.02 to about 1%. The addition point of the coagulant can be either before or after either the enhancer and/or the flocculant.
In addition, either aspect may be applied to paper making furnish selected from the group consisting of fine paper, board, and newsprint paper making furnishes. The methods also apply more generally to any slurries obtained from the following processes: water clarification, sludge dewatering and dissolved air flotation. The furnishes include those that are wood-containing, wood-free, virgin, recycled and mixtures thereof. Phenolic enhancer is selected from a group consisting of phenol-formaldehyde resins, tannin extracts, naphthol-formaldehyde condensates, poly(para-vinyl phenol), and mixtures thereof.
The high molecular weight anionic polymers used in this application of this invention are preferably water-soluble vinyl copolymers of acrylamide or (meth)acrylamide with following monomers: acrylic acid, 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonate (AMPS) and mixture thereof. The anionic high molecular weight flocculants may also be either hydrolyzed acrylamide polymers or copolymers of acrylamide or its homologues, such as methacrylamide, with acrylic acid or its homologues, such as methacrylic acid, or with monomers, such as maleic acid, itaconic acid, vinyl sulfonic acid, AMPS, or other sulfonate containing monomers. The anionic polymers may be sulfonate or phosphonate containing polymers which have been synthesized by modifying acrylamide polymers in such a way as to obtain sulfonate or phosphonate substitutions, or mixtures thereof. The most preferred high molecular weight anionic flocculants are acrylic acid/acrylamide copolymers, and sulfonate containing polymers such as 2-acrylamide-2-methylpropane sulfonate/acrylamide copolymer (AMPS), acrylamido methane sulfonate acrylamide (AMS), acrylamido ethane sulfonate/acrylamide (AES) and 2-hydroxy-3-acrylamide propane sulfonate/acrylamide (HAPS).
The dosage of the anionic flocculant is preferably from about 0.003 to about 0.5% by weight based on total solids in the furnish, more preferably from about 0.007 to about 0.2% and most preferably from about 0.02 to about 0.1%. The dosage of phenolic enhancer is preferably from about 0.003 to about 1.0% by weight based on total solids in the furnish, more preferably from about 0.007 to about 0.5% and most preferably from about 0.02 to about 0.3%.
It is preferred that the flocculants have a molecular weight of at least about 500,000 to about 30,000,000. A more preferred molecular weight is at least about 1,000,000 to about 30,000,000 with the best results observed when molecular weight is between about 5,000,000 to about 30,000,000. The anionic content of copolymers can range from about 0 to about 100 mole % of the copolymer, with best results observed the range of about 0.1 to about 30 mole % of anionic charge. These high molecular weight flocculants may be used in the solid form, as an aqueous solution, as water-in-oil emulsion or as dispersion in water.
Other additives may be charged to the cellulosic slurry without any substantial interference with the activity of the present invention. Such other additives include for instance sizing agents, such as alum and rosin, pitch control agents, extenders such as anilex, biocides and the like.
The nonionic flocculants useful in the practicing of this invention can be formed from at least one of the monomers chosen from the group consisting of acrylamide, methacrylamide, and N-tertiary butyl acrylamide, among others.
The dosage of the nonionic flocculant is preferably from about 0.003 to about 0.5% by weight based on total solids in the furnish, more preferably from about 0.007 to about 0.2% and most preferably from about 0.02 to about 0.1%. The dosage of phenolic enhancer is preferably from about 0.003 to about 1.0% by weight based on total solids in the furnish, more preferably from about 0.007 to about 0.5% and most preferably from about 0.02 to about 0.3%.
It is preferred that these flocculants have a molecular weight of at least about 500,000 to about 30,000,000. A more preferred molecular weight is at least about 1,000,000 to about 30,000,000 with the best results observed when molecular weight is between about 5,000,000 to about 30,000,000. These high molecular weight flocculants may be used in the solid form, as an aqueous solution, as water-in-oil emulsion or as dispersion in water.
Other additives may be charged to the cellulosic slurry without any substantial interference with the activity of the present invention. Such other additives include for instance sizing agents, such as alum and rosin, pitch control agents, extenders such as anilex, biocides and the like.
The process as disclosed in the application are believed to be applicable to all grades and types of paper products that contain the fillers described herein, and further applicable for use on all types of pulps including, without limitation, chemical pulps, including sulfate and sulfite pulps form both hardwood and softwood, and mechanical pulps including but not limited to thermo-mechanical and groundwood.
The increased flocculation properties of this invention can be applied to applications other than pulp and paper systems, for example, where ever solid/liquid separation or emulsion breaking are performed. Examples of such applications are municipal sludge dewatering, clarification and dewatering of aqueous mineral slurries.
The part of the invention is a method for increasing flocculation for applications such as sludge dewatering and clarification. comprises the steps of adding to a slurry from about 0.003 to about 1.0% by weight based on total solids in the slurry of phenolic enhancer. Anionic, cationic or nonionic acrylamide flocculant is then added to the slurry in the amount of from about 0.003 to about 0.5% by weight based on total solids in the slurry.
Another aspect of the invention is a method for increasing flocculation for applications such as sludge dewatering and clarification which comprises the steps of adding to a slurry from about 0.003 to about 0.5% by weight based on total solids in the slurry of an anionic, cationic or nonionic acrylamide flocculant. Phenolic enhancer is then added to the slurry in the amount of from about 0.003 to about 1.0% by weight based on total solids in the slurry.
The dosage of the flocculant is preferably from about 0.003 to about 0.5% by weight based on total solids in the slurry, more preferably from about 0.007 to about 0.2% and most preferably from about 0.02 to about 0.1%. The dosage of phenolic enhancer is preferably from about 0.003 to about 1.0% by weight based on total solids in the slurry, more preferably from about 0.007 to about 0.5% and most preferably from about 0.02 to about 0.3% on the same basis.
In some cases a cationic coagulant must be added to the slurry. The dosage of coagulant is preferably from about 0.001 to about 4% by weight based on total solids in the slurry, more preferably from about 0.01 to about 2% and most preferably from about 0.02 to about 1%. The addition point of the coagulant can be either before or after either the enhancer and/or the flocculant.
The phenolic enhancer is selected from a group consisting of phenol-formaldehyde resins, tannin extracts, naphthol-formaldehyde condensates, poly(para-vinyl phenol), and mixtures thereof.
The high molecular weight anionic polymers used in this application of this invention are preferably water-soluble vinyl copolymers of acrylamide or (meth)acrylamide with following monomers: acrylic acid, 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonate (AMPS) and mixture thereof. The anionic high molecular weight flocculants may also be either hydrolyzed acrylamide polymers or copolymers of acrylamide or its homologues, such as methacrylamide, with acrylic acid or its homologues, such as methacrylic acid, or with monomers, such as maleic acid, itaconic acid, vinyl sulfonic acid, AMPS, or other sulfonate containing monomers. The anionic polymers may be sulfonate or phosphonate containing polymers which have been synthesized by modifying acrylamide polymers in such a way as to obtain sulfonate or phosphonate substitutions, or mixtures thereof. The most preferred high molecular weight anionic flocculants are acrylic acid/acrylamide copolymers, and sulfonate containing polymers such as 2-acrylamide-2-methylpropane sulfonate/acrylamide copolymer (AMPS), acrylamido methane sulfonate acrylamide (AMS), acrylamido ethane sulfonate/acrylamide (AES) and 2-hydroxy-3-acrylamide propane sulfonate/acrylamide (HAPS).
The dosage of the anionic flocculant for this part of the invention is preferably from about 0.003 to about 0.5% by weight based on total solids in the furnish, more preferably from about 0.007 to about 0.2% and most preferably from about 0.02 to about 0.1%. The dosage of phenolic enhancer is preferably from about 0.003 to about 1.0% by weight based on total solids in the furnish, more preferably from about 0.007 to about 0.5% and most preferably from about 0.02 to about 0.3%.
It is preferred that the anionic flocculants for this part of the invention have a molecular weight of at least about 500,000 to about 30,000,000. A more preferred molecular weight is at least about 1,000,000 to about 30,000,000 with the best results observed when molecular weight is between about 5,000,000 to about 30,000,000. The anionic content of copolymers can range from about 0 to about 100 mole % of the copolymer, with best results observed the range of about 0.1 to about 30 mole % of an anionic charge. These high molecular weight flocculants may be used in the solid form, as an aqueous solution, as water-in-oil emulsion or as dispersion in water.
The nonionic flocculants useful in the practicing this part of the invention can be formed from at least one of the monomers chosen from the group consisting of acrylamide, methacrylamide, and N-tertiary butyl acrylamide, among others.
The dosage of the nonionic flocculant is for this application of the invention is preferably from about 0.003 to about 0.5% by weight based on total solids in the furnish, more preferably from about 0.007 to about 0.2% and most preferably from about 0.02 to about 0.1%. The dosage of phenolic enhancer is preferably from about 0.003 to about 1.0% by weight based on total solids in the furnish, more preferably from about 0.007 to about 0.5% and most preferably from about 0.02 to about 0.3%.
It is preferred that the nonionic flocculants used in this application of the invention have a molecular weight of at least about 500,000 to about 30,000,000. A more preferred molecular weight is at least about 1,000,000 to about 30,000,000 with the best results observed when molecular weight is between about 5,000,000 to about 30,000,000. These high molecular weight flocculants may be used in the solid form, as an aqueous solution, as water-in-oil emulsion or as dispersion in water.
The cationic flocculants used in the application of this part of the invention are any water-soluble copolymer of acrylamide or methacrylamide which carries or is capable of carrying the cationic charge when dissolved in water, whether or not this charge-carrying capacity is dependent upon pH. The cationic copolymers include the following examples which are not meant to be limiting on this invention: copolymers of (meth)acrylamide with dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEM), dimethylaminoethyl acrylate (DMAEA), diethylaminoethyl acrylate (DEAEA), diethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DEAEM) or their quaternary ammonium forms made with dimethyl sulfate or methyl chloride, Mannich reaction modified polyacrylamides, diallylcyclohexylamine hydrochloride (DACHA HCl), diallyldimethylammonium chloride (DADMAC), methacrylamidopropyltrimethylammonium chloride (MAPTAC) and allyl amine (ALA).
The dosage of the cationic flocculent for this part of the invention is preferably from about 0.003 to about 0.5% by weight based on total solids in the furnish, more preferably from about 0.007 to about 0.2% and most preferably from about 0.02 to about 0.1%. The dosage of phenolic enhancer is preferably from about 0.003 to about 1.0% by weight based on total solids in the furnish, more preferably from about 0.007 to about 0.5% and most preferably from about 0.02 to about 0.3%.
It is preferred that the cationic flocculants for this part of the invention have a molecular weight of at least about 500,000 to about 30,000,000. A more preferred molecular weight is at least about 1,000,000 to about 30,000,000 with the best results observed when molecular weight is between about 5,000,000 to about 30,000,000. The anionic content of copolymers can range from about 0 to about 100 mole % of the copolymer, with best results observed the range of about 0.1 to about 30 mole % of an anionic charge. These high molecular weight flocculants may be used in the solid form, as an aqueous solution, as water-in-oil emulsion or as dispersion in water.
The coagulants useful in this invention are typically cationic polymers having a low molecular weight of at least about 1,000 and less than about 500,000. More preferably, the molecular weights range from about 2,000 to about 200,000.
Examples of polymers used as coagulants include copolymers formed from diallyldimethylammonium chloride and monomers selected from the group consisting of quaternized dimethylaminoethylacrylates, quaternized dimethylaminomethacrylates, vinyltrimethoxysilane, acrylamide, diallyldimethylaminoalky(meth)acrylate, diallyldimethylaminoalkyl)meth)acrylamide and mixtures thereof. In addition, polymers that can be used include polyethylene imines, polyamines, polycyanodiamide formaldehydes, poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride), poly(diallyldimethylaminoalkyl(meth)acrylates), poly(diallyldimethylaminoalkyl(meth)acrylamides, condensation polymers of dimethyl amine and epichlorohydrin as well as copolymers formed from acrylamide and/or diallyldimethylaminoalkyl(meth)acrylates and diallyldimethylaminoalkyl(meth)acrylamides, condensation polymers of ammonia and ethylene dichloride or copolymers formed from acrylamido N,N-dimethyl piperazine quaternary salt and acrylamide.
Polymeric coagulants applicable to this invention may also include poly(vinylamines) such as those formed from at least one monomer selected from the group consisting of amidine vinylformamide, vinyl alcohol, vinyl acetate, vinyl pyrrolidinone, polymerized with the esters, amides nitrites or salts of (meth)acrylic acid. Additionally, the coagulant may be an inorganic material such as alum. Procedures used include:
1. Britt Jar for evaluation of FPR (first pass retention), FPAR (first pass ash retention) and SD (suction drainage).
First Pass Retention (FPR) is a measure of a degree of incorporation of solids into the formed sheet. It is calculated from the consistency of the paper making slurry CS and consistency of white water C. resulting during the sheet formation:
FPR=((C.sub.s -C.sub.ww)/C.sub.s)×100%
First Pass Ash retention (FPAR) is a measure of the degree of incorporation of filler into the formed sheet. It is calculated from the filler consistencies in the initial paper making slurry C fs and filler consistency of white water C fww resulting during the sheet formation:
FPAR=((C.sub.fs -C.sub.fww)/C.sub.fs)×100%
Suction drainage (SD) is a time required to filter a sample of white water through the standard filter paper such as Whatman 41. SD has been found to be a good indication of retention and specific filtration resistance, as a lower SD value indicates a greater efficiency SD is used as a quick test indicating the polymer performance.
The Britt Jar test is an industry-approved laboratory evaluation of FPR and FPAR. The Britt Jar consists of a baffled container, an impeller, a screen through which drainage occurs (typically 200-70 mesh) and a valve. It is used to duplicate paper machine shear conditions. A sample of stock having a known consistency is placed in the Britt Jar while the impeller is in operation. The stock is then treated with diluted solutions of retention polymers in a sequence which best reflects paper machine addition points. At the end of experiment, a sample of white water, typically 100 ml, is collected under dynamic conditions. Dynamic conditions during the drainage should prevent mat formation.
Consistency of the stock used for the experiments was between 0.2 and 0.7%. In this range retention values are found to be independent of stock consistency. Polymers used in all the experiments were diluted to 1% for coagulants and phenolic enhancerphenolic enhancer, and 0.1% for flocculants. The Britt Jar impeller was operated at approximately 800 revolutions per minute.
The Britt Jar test is used to duplicate paper machine retention aimed at the effect of colloidal factors on retention rather than hydromechanical factors, ie, attraction or repulsion forces rather than physical entrapment of fines and mechanical entanglement of fibers. Thus measured retention values do not contain the factor related to filtration and represent true chemical retention component.
Each test was conducted by placing the stock in the upper chamber and then subjecting the stock to the following sequences as outlined:
Single and Dual polymer program:
0 seconds--add stock
5 seconds--add coagulant (for dual polymer programs only)
10 seconds--add flocculant
15 seconds--start collecting white water sample
Experiments with phenolic enhancer:
0 seconds--add stock
5 seconds--add coagulant (optional)
10 seconds--add phenolic enhancer
15 seconds--add flocculant
20 seconds--start collecting the white water sample
A 100 ml sample of white water collected from each test was filtered through the Whatman 41 filter paper and the time required for first dry spot to appear on the filter paper was measured, providing the SD for that sample. Consistency of white water C ww and filler consistency of white water C fww were then measured after drying and ashing the filter pad. These values were then used to calculate FPR and FPAR.
2. Alchem Drainage Test for evaluation of performance of phenolic enhancer
The Alchem Drainage Tester is used to study the static free drainage and retention of paper stocks. The improved drainage expected with is examined using this test. Alchem Drainage Tester is a baffled plastic cylinder equipped with a 50 mesh screen. A sample of stock is first treated in the Britt Jar, mimicking the sequence of the addition of additives and the application shear in the paper machine. At the end of each test, the sample is, without draining, transferred to the Alchem Drainage Tester. After the stopper closing the tester is released, the volume of the filtrate collected during a 5 second period is measured.
3. Jar Test used for evaluation of performance of studied programs in Save-all and Clarifier applications.
The jar test used for water clarification to establish chemical dosages required for settling out solids in the event a clarifier is not in operation was completed on various samples.
This test is performed using a gang stirrer. A 500 ml sample of the stock is placed in a beaker and is being treated with the solutions of polymers in a manner reflecting actual application. After the agitator is turned off, a sample of supernatant is collected and its turbidity measured.
The turbidity of collected white water is an indication of retention. The turbidity of the filtrate is inversely proportional to retention performance. The lower the turbidity value, the higher the retention of filler and/or fines. The turbidity values were determined using a Hach Turbidimeter.
4. Sludge Dewatering Test:
Equipment to perform this test consists of a screen from a sludge press, a metal ring, a large funnel, and a volumetric cylinder. A sample of the sludge is treated in the beaker with the appropriate dosage of polymer. The total dosage of polymers should be delivered in the 50 ml volume so the total volume of sludge is unchanged. Sludge is being treated in the beaker and mixed by pouring from one beaker to another. 3-6 such cycles should be done depending on the plant conditions. Treated sample of sludge is then transferred into the ring placed on the screen over the funnel and volumetric cylinder. The volume drained at the end of 5, 10 and 20 second concurrent time periods beginning from the time of transfer is measured.
The test for sludge dewatering allows comparisons between different treatment programs and their abilities to dewater a specific sludge sample. This test may also be used to indicate floc stability.
Sludge dewatering is the removal of water from wastewater treatment solids (sludge) in quantities greater than is achieved by thickening. The dewatering can be done using mechanical processes or land application. Sludge dewatering involves the removal of free water and capillary water from the sludge. Free water drains easily from the solid particles present since no adhesive or capillary forces need to be overcome. Capillary water can be separated from solids by overcoming adhesive or capillary forces and is typically removed in pressure sections. Chemical sludge conditioning is practiced ahead of dewatering to build floc particles size for increased water removal.
The following examples are presented to describe preferred embodiments and utilities of the invention and are not meant to limit the invention unless otherwise stated in the claims appended hereto.
EXAMPLES
Unless otherwise specified, the phenolic enhancer utilized in each of these examples was a phenol formaldehyde resin.
Example 1
Table 1 presents data gathered from experiments with newsprint furnish. The furnish was prepared using thick stock thermomechanical pulp (TMP) sample with about 20% (precipitated calcium carbonate) PCC as a filler. The thick stock sample was diluted to the testing consistency with tap water. The pH of the stock was about 7, although results using kaolin clays at pHs about 5.5 were similar. In Table 1, the dosage of flocculant is 3 kg/t and the dosage of phenol-formaldehyde resin (PFR) is 3 kg/t. The dosages cited in refers to the dosage of the product.
The nonionic flocculant was a non-ionic latex inverse emulsion homopolymer acrylamide having total solids of 27.2% and an RSV of 30.0 dl/g commercially available from Nalco Chemical Company in Naperville, Ill. The phenolic enhancer was received as a 41.5% solids from Borden Chemical Co. in Sheboygan, Wis. The phenolic enhancer was added prior to the flocculent. Clearly, the addition the phenolic enhancer improves the suction drainage, the total retention and the ash retention.
TABLE 1______________________________________The effect of phenol enhancer on retention and drainage in anewsprint TMP furnish SD (s) FPR (%) FPAR (%)______________________________________Flocculant.sup.1 only 51 57 8Phenolic Enhancer.sup.2 /Flocculant.sup.1 23 72 42______________________________________ .sup.1 = poly(acrylamide) .sup.2 = phenolformaldehyde resin
Example 2
Table 2 present data gathered from experiments with newsprint furnish. The furnish was prepared using thick stock TMP sample with about 20% PCC as a filler. The thick stock sample was diluted to the testing consistency with tap water. The pH of the stock as about 7, although results using kaolin clays at pHs about 5.5 were similar. In Table 2, the dosage of flocculant is 3 kg/t the dosage of phenolic enhancer is 3 kg/t, and the dosage of coagulant is 2kg/t.
The flocculant was a medium charge anionic latex inverse emulsion acrylamide/acrylic acid copolymer having total solids of 29% and an RSV of 32.0 dl/g commercially available from Nalco Chemical Company in Naperville, Ill. The coagulant was a high-charge condensation polymer formed from epichlorohydrin and dimethylamine having total solids of 47% and an IV of 0.15 dl/g commercially available from Nalco Chemical Company in Naperville, Ill. The phenolic enhancer was received as a 41.5% solids from Borden Chemical Co. in Sheboygan, Wis. The phenolic enhancer was added before the flocculant. The addition the phenolic enhancer in combination with the flocculant improves the suction drainage. Clearly, upon introduction of a coagulant into the flocculant/enhancer treatment an improvement in total retention and ash retention is observed.
TABLE 2______________________________________The effect of phenol enhancer on retention and drainage in anewsprint TMP furnish SD (s) FPR (%) FPAR (%)______________________________________Flocculant.sup.1 only 37 60 22Phenolic Enhancer.sup.2 /Flocculant.sup.1 27 62 24Coagulant.sup.3 /Flocculant.sup.1 11 66 34Coagulant/Phenolic Enhancer.sup.2 / 11 72 50Flocculant.sup.1______________________________________ .sup.1 = poly(acrylamide/acrylic acid) .sup.2 = phenolformaldehyde resin .sup.3 = epichlorohydrin/dimethylamine condensation polymer
Example 3
Table 3 shows data gathered from experiments with fine paper furnish. The stock sample used was taken from a fine paper mill. Additional PCC was added to increase the filler level. While PCC was used, any other filler typically used in paper making processes could be used As used herein, the values presented are Suction Drainage (SD), First Pass Retention (FPR) and First Pass Ash Retention (FPAR).
In Table 3, the dosage of flocculant is 3 kg/t and the dosage of phenol-formaldehyde resin (PFR) is 3 kg/t.
The nonionic flocculant was a latex inverse emulsion homopolymer acrylamide having total solids of 27.2% and an RSV of 30.0 dl/g commercially available from Nalco Chemical Company in Naperville, Ill. The phenolic enhancer, was received as a 41.5% solids from Borden Chemical Co. in Sheboygan, Wis. The phenolic enhancer was added prior to flocculant addition. Clearly, the addition the phenolic enhancer improves the suction drainage, the total retention and the ash retention.
TABLE 3______________________________________The effect of phenolic enhancer on retention and drainage in afine paper furnish SD (s) FPR (%) FPAR (%)______________________________________Flocculant.sup.1 only 91 82 49Phenolic Enhancer.sup.2 /Flocculant.sup.1 33 94 83______________________________________ .sup.1 = poly(acrylamide) .sup.2 = phenolformaldehyde resin
Example 4
Table 4 shows data gathered from experiments with a recycled board furnish. The values presented are Suction Drainage (SD), First Pass Retention (FPR) and First Pass Ash Retention (FPAR). In Table 4, the dosage of flocculent is 3 kg/t and the dosage of phenol-formaldehyde resin (PFR) is 3 kg/t.
The nonionic flocculant was a latex inverse emulsion homopolymer acrylamide having total solids of 27.2% and an RSV of 30.0 dl/g commercially available from Nalco Chemical Company in Naperville, Ill. The phenolic enhancer, was received as a 41.5% solids from Borden Chemical Co. in Sheboygan, Wis. The phenolic enhancer was added prior to flocculant addition. Clearly, the addition of the phenolic enhancer dramatically improves the suction drainage, the total retention and the ash retention.
TABLE 4______________________________________The effect of phenolic enhancer on retention and drainagein recycled board furnish SD (s) FPR (%) FPAR (%)______________________________________Flocculant.sup.1 only 81 77 38Phenolic Enhancer.sup.2 /Flocculant.sup.1 8 93 84______________________________________ .sup.1 = poly(acrylamide) .sup.2 = phenolformaldehyde resin
Example 5
Table 5-6 presents data gathered from experiments with newsprint furnish. Table 5 presents the total retention results for these experiments while table 6 displays the results of ash retention for the described experiments. The furnish was prepared using thick stock TMP sample with about 20% PCC as a filler. The thick stock sample was diluted to the testing consistency with tap water. The pH of the stock as about 7, although results using kaolin clays at pHs about 5.5 were similar. In Tables 5-6, the dosage of flocculant is 1 kg/t, the dosage of tannin extract 4 kg/t, and the dosage of coagulant is 1 kg/t.
The nonionic flocculant was a latex inverse emulsion homopolymer acrylamide having total solids of 27.2% and an RSV of 30.0 dl/g commercially available from Nalco Chemical Company in Naperville, Ill. The coagulant was a high-charge condensation polymer formed from epichlorohydrin and dimethylamine having total solids of 47% and an IV of 0.15 dl/g commercially available from Nalco Chemical Company in Naperville, Ill. The tannin extract is a 15% actives product available from Nalco Chemical Company in Naperville, Ill. The tannin extract was added prior to flocculant addition. The addition the tannin extract in combination with the flocculant improves the total retention and the ash retention, displayed in Tables 5-6 respectively. Furthermore, clearly upon introduction of a coagulant into the flocculant/enhancer treatment a further improvement in total retention and ash retention is observed as evidenced from the data in Tables 5-6, respectively.
TABLE 5______________________________________The effect of tannin extract on the FPR in a newsprint TMP furnish Coagulant.sup.3 /Tannin.sup.2 / Flocculant.sup.1 Tannin.sup.2 /Flocculant.sup.1 Flocculant.sup.1______________________________________FPR 54 79 87______________________________________ .sup.1 = poly(acrylamide), 3 kg/t .sup.2 = tannin extract .sup.3 = condensation polymer of epichlorohydrin and dimethylamine
TABLE 6______________________________________The effect of tannin extract on FPAR in a newsprint TMPfurnish containing 19% PCC Coagulant.sup.3 /Tannin.sup.2 / Flocculant.sup.1 Tannin.sup.2 /Flocculant.sup.1 Flocculant.sup.1______________________________________FPAR 14 67 81______________________________________ .sup.1 = poly(acrylamide), 3 kg/t .sup.2 = phenol formaldehyde resin .sup.3 = condensation polymer of epichlorohydrine and dimethylamine
Example 7
Table 7 presents data gathered from experiments with newsprint furnish. The furnish was prepared using thick stock TMP sample with about 20% PCC as a filler. The thick stock sample was diluted to the testing consistency with tap water. The pH of the stock as about 7, although results using kaolin clays at pHs about 5.5 were similar. In Table 7, the dosage of flocculant is 3 kg/t, the dosage of phenolic enhancer is 3 kg/t, and the dosage of coagulant is 2kg/t.
The nonionic flocculant was a latex inverse emulsion homopolymer acrylamide having total solids of 27.2% and an RSV of 30.0 dl/g commercially available from Nalco Chemical Company in Naperville, Ill. The coagulant was a high-charge epichlorohydrin-dimethyamine polymer having total solids of 47% and an IV of 0.15 dl/g commercially available from Nalco Chemical Company in Naperville, Ill. The phenolic enhancer, was received as a 41.5% solids from Borden Chemical Co. in Sheboygan, Wis. The phenolic enhancer was added before the flocculant. The order of addition was coagulant, phenolic enhancer and then flocculant. The addition the phenolic enhancer in combination with the flocculant improves the suction drainage, total retention and ash retention. Furthermore, clearly upon introduction of a coagulant into the flocculant/enhancer treatment a further improvement in suction drainage, total retention, and ash retention is observed.
TABLE 7______________________________________The effect of coagulant on phenolic enhancer performance in anewsprint TMP furnish SD (s) FPR (%) FPAR (%)______________________________________Flocculant.sup.1 only 51 57 8Phenolic Enhancer.sup.2 /Flocculant.sup.1 23 72 42Coagulant.sup.3 /Flocculant.sup.1 33 58 11Coagulant.sup.3 /Phenolic Enhancer.sup.2 / 11 77 58Flocculant.sup.1______________________________________ .sup.1 = poly(acrylamide) .sup.2 = phenol formaldehyde resin .sup.3 = epichlorohydrin/dimethylamine condensation polymer
Example 8
Table 8 present data gathered from experiments with a peroxide bleached newsprint furnish. The thick stock sample was diluted to the testing consistency with tap water. The pH of the stock as about 7. In Table 8, the dosage of flocculant is 0.5 kg/t, the dosage of phenolic enhancer (phenol formaldehyde resin) is 4 kg/t.
The nonionic flocculant was a latex inverse emulsion homopolymer acrylamide having total solids of 27.2% and an RSV of 30.0 dl/g commercially available from Nalco Chemical Company in Naperville, Ill. The coagulant was the inorganic coagulant alum available from Nalco Chemical Company in Naperville, Ill. The phenolic enhancer, was received as a 41.5% solids from Borden Chemical Co. in Sheboygan, Wis. The order of addition was coagulant, phenolic enhancer, and then flocculant. Clearly, the addition of alum improves the total retention of the phenolic enhancer nonionic polymer treatment.
TABLE 8______________________________________Effect of Inorganic Coagulant on Britt Jar first pass retentionInorganic Coagulant Dose (kg/t) First Pass Retention (%)______________________________________No Program 63 0 7510 7815 86______________________________________
Example 9
Table 9 presents data gathered from experiments with a peroxide bleached newsprint furnish. The thick stock sample was diluted to the testing consistency with tap water. The pH of the stock as about 7.In Table 9, the dosage of flocculant is 0.5 kg/t the dosage of phenolic enhancer (phenol formaldehyde resin) is 4 kg/t.
The nonionic flocculant was a latex inverse emulsion homopolymer acrylamide having total solids of 27.2% and an RSV of 30.0 dl/g commercially available from Nalco Chemical Company in Naperville, Ill. The coagulant was a high-charge condensation polymer of epichlorohydrin and dimethylamine having total solids of 47% and an IV of 0.15 dl/g commercially available from Nalco Chemical Company in Naperville, Ill. The phenolic enhancer, was received as a 41.5% solids from Borden Chemical Co. in Sheboygan, Wis. The order of addition was coagulant, phenolic enhancer, and then flocculant. Clearly, the addition of organic coagulant improves the total retention of the phenolic enhancer nonionic polymer treatment.
TABLE 9______________________________________Effect of Organic Coagulant on Britt Jar first pass retentionOrganic Coagulant Dose (kg/t) First Pass Retention (%)______________________________________No Program 630 772 834 86______________________________________
Example 10
Tables 10-11 presents data gathered from experiments with another peroxide bleached newsprint furnish. The thick stock sample was diluted to the testing consistency with tap water. The pH of the stock as about 7. The furnish was filled with 20% clay. In Table 9, the dosage of flocculant is 0.5 kg/t, the dosage of phenolic enhancer is 4 kg/t.
The nonionic flocculant was a latex inverse emulsion homopolymer acrylamide having total solids of 27.2% and an RSV of 30.0 dl/g commercially available from Nalco Chemical Company in Naperville, Ill. The coagulant was a high-charge condensation polymer formed from epichlorohydrindimethylamine having total solids of 47% and an IV of 0.15 dl/g commercially available from Nalco Chemical Company in Naperville, Ill. The phenolic enhancer (phenol formaldehyde resin), was received as a 41.5% solids from Borden Chemical Co. in Sheboygan, Wis. The order of addition was coagulant, phenolic enhancer, and then flocculant. Clearly, the addition of organic coagulant improves the total retention as well as the ash retention of the phenolic enhancer nonionic polymer treatment as shown in Tables 10-11, respectively.
TABLE 10______________________________________Effect of Organic Coagulant on Britt Jar first pass retentionOrganic Coagulant Dose (kg/t) First Pass Retention (%)______________________________________No Program 630 772 834 86______________________________________
TABLE 11______________________________________Effect of Organic Coagulant on Britt Jar first pass ash retentionOrganic Coagulant Dose (kg/t) First Pass Retention (%)______________________________________No Program 460 476 6012 82______________________________________
Example 11
A sample of recycled board was used in determining the performance of low charge cationic flocculants and nonionic flocculant in the presence of phenol-formaldehyde resin for clarifier applications. The results are recorded in Table 12. The dosages of flocculant and phenolic enhancer are 4 ppm. The test has been previously defined.
The nonionic flocculant was a latex inverse emulsion homopolymer acrylamide having total solids of 27.2% and an RSV of 30.0 dl/g commercially available from Nalco Chemical Company in Naperville, Ill. The low charge cationic flocculant tested was a copolymer of acrylamide and dimethylaminoethylacrylate methyl chloride quaternary salt having total solids of 36% and an RSV of 19 dl/g commercially available from Nalco Chemical Company in Naperville, Ill. The phenolic enhancer (phenol formaldehyde resin), was received as a 41.5% solids from Borden Chemical Co. in Sheboygan, Wis. The order of addition was phenolic enhancer and then flocculant. Clearly, the addition of phenolic enhancer improves the clarity obtained using either the nonionic or low-charge cationic flocculant treatments alone.
TABLE 12______________________________________The effect of phenolic enhancer on performance in waterclarifier applications Turbidity Turbidity (no coagulant) (added coagulant)______________________________________Flocculant only 103 88Phenolic Enhancers/Flocculant 87 67______________________________________
Example 12
A sample from a recycled board mill was used in determining the performance of nonionic flocculant in the presence of phenol-formaldehyde resin for sludge dewatering applications. The results are recorded in Table 13. The dosages of flocculant and phenolic enhancer are 2 kg/t. The test has been previously defined.
The nonionic flocculant was a latex inverse emulsion homopolymer acrylamide having total solids of 27.2% and an RSV of 30.0 dl/g commercially available from Nalco Chemical Company in Naperville, Ill. The phenolic enhancer, was received as a 41.5% solids from Borden Chemical Co. in Sheboygan, Wis. The order of addition was phenolic enhancer and then flocculant. Clearly, the addition of phenolic enhancer dramatically improves the dewatering rate obtained using the nonionic flocculant treatment alone.
TABLE 13______________________________________The effect of phenolic enhancer on sludge dewatering applicationin a recycled board mill 5-sec 10-sec 15-sec Drainage Drainage Drainage volume (ml) volume (ml) volume (ml)______________________________________Flocculant only 85 110 145Phenolic enhancer/flocculant 155 215 295______________________________________
Example 13
A sample of saveall stock from a fine paper fill was used in determining the performance of a high-charge cationic flocculants in the presence of phenol-formaldehyde resin for saveall clarifier applications. The results are recorded in Table 14. The dosages of flocculant is 4ppm and phenolic enhancer dose is 2 ppm. The test has been previously defined.
The high-charge cationic flocculant tested was a copolymer of dimethylaminoethylacrylate methyl chloride quaternary salt having total solids of 36% and an RSV of 18 dl/g commercially available from Nalco Chemical Company in Naperville, Ill. The phenolic enhancer, was received as a 41.5% solids from Borden Chemical Co. in Sheboygan, Wis. The order of addition was phenolic enhancer and then flocculant. Clearly, the addition of phenolic enhancer improves the clarity obtained using the high-charge cationic flocculant treatments alone.
TABLE 14______________________________________The effect of phenolic enhancer on performance in save-all stockfrom a fine paper mill (Turbidity)Turbidity (NTU)______________________________________Flocculant only 57Phenolic Enhancer/Flocculant 27______________________________________
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 for increasing the separation of solids from an aqueous slurry containing such solids is disclosed. The separation process is particularly useful in the separation of the solid components of a papermill furnish from water in the manufacture of paper. The method comprises the steps of adding to a paper mill slurry from about 0.003 to about 1.0% by weight based on total solids in the slurry of a phenolic enhancer and a nonionic (meth)acrylamide homopolymer methacrylamide, or anionic or cationic flocculant is added to the slurry in an amount of from about 0.003 to about 0.5% by weight based on total solids in the slurry. Addition order is non-critical. The flocculation of solid components of the paper mill slurry is increased leading to improved retention of filler and fiber on the sheet and increased drainage of water from the cellulosic sheet produced. The method is also applicable to the treatment of waste waters, mineral tailings, oily waste waters, municipal and industrial wastes, and the like.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to devices for storing a liquid chemical substance which is used as a reactant in a chemical process, as well as to apparatus containing such a device.
In many industrial chemical processes, a processing chemical is stored in a container in a liquid state and the supply of processing chemical in the container is gradually exhausted as the liquid is converted to a vapor and expelled from the container.
According to one technique currently employed for converting such a processing chemical to a vapor, a fill gas is introduced into the container via an inlet opening at the top of the container. This fill gas creates a high pressure region above the processing chemical. The container is also provided with an outlet line having an outlet pipe which is immersed in the processing chemical and which leads, via a filter and appropriate valves, to a flow control device, such as a liquid mass flow controller. The flow control device delivers the processing chemical to a vaporizer, together with a carrier gas. Within the vaporizer, the carrier gas mixes with the processing chemical to produce a vapor which is then delivered to the processing station. The processing station may be composed of a process chamber whose interior is maintained at a low pressure that acts to draw the vapor from the vaporizer.
In apparatus of the type described above, both the vaporizer and the flow control device normally contain orifices of very small size, in the range of 0.001 to 0.030 inch diameter. These orifices can be easily clogged or blocked by particles contained in the processing chemical. These particles may be present in the processing chemical when it is initially supplied to the apparatus, or can be created by reactions occurring between the processing chemical and the fill gas. Such particles can also be constituted by precipitates resulting from normal decomposition or aging of the processing chemical, or can result from corrosion of the components through which the processing chemical flows. Since such particles would rapidly clog or block or restrict orifices in the flow control device and/or the vaporizer, the filter upstream of the flow control device is often an important component of such apparatus.
However, since the purpose of the filter is to trap particles, the filter itself gradually becomes clogged and after a certain period of use, the filter usually must be replaced. In current state-of-the-art apparatus, filter replacement is associated with a number of serious drawbacks and difficulties.
For example, in order to replace the filter, the apparatus is typically shut down, not only to allow removal of the used filter and installation of a fresh filter, but also because filter replacement is usually accompanied by a relatively lengthy purging operation during which associated carrier lines are re-filled with the desired composition of carrier gas and chemical.
Furthermore, the types of processing chemicals employed in such apparatus are generally highly corrosive and/or toxic. Therefore, the process of removing a used filter is complicated by the need to assure operator safety. Handling and disposal of used filters therefore presents special safety issues and adds to the cost of operating the apparatus.
The problems posed by the removal, handling and disposal of these used filters are generally greater than similar problems associated with the replacement of a container whose supply of processing chemical has been exhausted. Such containers are normally equipped with inlet and outlet valves that must be closed before a used container can be removed. Therefore, although removal of a used container and installation of a fresh container must be effected in a careful manner, the safety problems associated therewith are typically less severe than those associated with removal of a filter.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a portion of conventional apparatus in which such a filter is provided. This apparatus includes a container 2, of a type commonly referred to as an ampule, which is a sealed container supplied with a quantity of a chemical substance 4 in the liquid state. The upper portion of the interior of container 6 defines a head space 6 which is coupled, via an inlet opening in the lid, or top wall, of container 2, to an inlet line containing a manual valve 10. The inlet line will be connected to conduct a fill gas which is introduced into head space 6 in order to place liquid 4 under pressure. An outlet pipe 12 extends into container 6 via an outlet port located in the top wall of container 2. Pipe 12 has an inlet end which is immersed in liquid 4, typically at a level close to the bottom of container 2. Liquid chemical substance 4 is delivered to a vaporizer via pipe 12, manual valve 16, pneumatically-controlled valves 18 and 20, and filter 22. Valves 10 and 16 are typically secured to container 2 in a manner to be removed together with container 2 at the time of container replacement. Couplings 62 and 64 may be decoupled to permit removal of container 2 and valves 10 and 16. Prior to removal, valves 10 and 16 are closed and couplers 62 and 64 are purged by means of purge gas and vacuum lines 23a, 23b and 23c.
The flow path which includes valves 18 and 20 and filter 22 is further bridged by a bypass valve 24 which permits the filter 22 to be bypassed if necessary to maintain operation while the filter is replaced. The bypass line of valve 24 may similarly have a filter (not shown) to filter the flow while the other filter is being replaced. Prior to replacement of filter 22, valves 18 and 20 may be closed. The filter 22 may then be purged by passing a purge gas through the filter from a purge gas line 26a coupled to the filter. The purge gas and chemical residue is withdrawn through a vacuum line 26b.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to simplify the removal of the filter provided to prevent flow of particles to the flow control device and vaporizer of apparatus of the type described above.
Another object of the invention is to reduce the time required to replace such a filter.
A further object of the invention is to reduce operator exposure to hazardous chemicals during such replacement.
Still another object of the invention is to substantially reduce the time required to effect replacement of such a filter.
The above and other objects are achieved, according to the present invention, by a storage device containing a quantity of a liquid chemical substance which is used as a reactant in a chemical process, the device comprising:
a closed container holding the quantity of substance and having a wall provided with an inlet opening and an outlet opening;
an inlet valve coupled to the inlet opening, the inlet valve being closeable to block the inlet opening;
an outlet valve carried by the container and coupled to the outlet opening, the outlet valve being closeable to block the outlet opening; and
a filter interposed between the quantity of liquid and the outlet valve.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a portion of an apparatus according to the prior art.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating one embodiment of apparatus including a storage device according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a simplified elevational, cross-sectional view of one embodiment of a storage device according to the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 2 illustrates a conventional vapor generating system equipped with a storage device 28 according to the invention. Those components which are identical to components shown in FIG. 1 are identified by the same reference numeral.
In the apparatus shown in FIG. 2, the storage device 28 includes an ampule 30 containing a body of liquid 4, above which is provided head space 6, in the same manner as in the structure shown in FIG. 1. Also as shown in FIG. 1, an inlet line at the top of ampule 30 is connected to manual valve 10. Fill gas is supplied to head space 6 via a flow line which contains valve 10, as well as a further pneumatically controllable valve 32, a one-way valve 34 and a regulator 36.
In the device according to this illustrated embodiment of the invention, filter 22 is disposed between outlet pipe 12 and manual control valve 16 to provide a self-contained filter and container unit. As explained in greater detail below, such an arrangement facilitates removal and replacement of the filter at the same time as the container to provide improved safety and efficiency.
The outlet line further includes valve 18 and a flow control device in the form of liquid mass flow controller 40. The liquid processing chemical is delivered to a vaporizer 42 via a further valve 44.
A carrier gas is also delivered to vaporizer 42 via a flow path which includes two control valves 50 and 52 and a mass flow controller 54. Within vaporizer 42, the carrier gas is mixed with the liquid chemical and the mixture is conducted to a heated section 58, a vapor being formed in vaporizer 42 and heated section 58. The resulting vapor is then delivered to a process chamber.
FIG. 2 further shows, at 22', one typical location for filter 22 according to the prior art.
The apparatus shown in FIG. 2 can form part of, for example, a chemical vapor deposition system which uses, as the liquid chemical 4, a product such as that sold under the trade name Cupraselect. A vapor containing this chemical is delivered, from vaporizer 42 and heated section 58, to a chemical vapor deposition chamber where a layer, or film, of copper is deposited on a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer. In this case, the carrier gas may be, for example, helium.
When filter 22 has the location shown in FIG. 2, it can be permanently fitted to ampule 30, together with valves 10 and 16. A suitable separable fitting or coupling 62 is provided between valves 16 and 18 and an identical separable coupling 64 is provided between valves 10 and 32. One part of each coupling may be permanently secured to an associated valve.
When the level of liquid chemical 4 within ampule 3 decreases to a point at which ampule 30 must be replaced by a fresh ampule, valves 10, 16, 18 and 32 are closed and the couplings 62 and 64 purged of the chemical by use of purge gas and vacuum lines 23a, 23b and 23c. For example, valve 66a of purge gas line 23a is opened as is valve 66b of purge gas line 23b to admit a flow of purge gas to couplings 62 and 64. Thereafter, valve 66a may be closed while valve 66c of vacuum line 23c is opened to draw the purge gas and residual chemical from couplings 62 and 64. This process may be repeated as necessary to purge the couplings.
Once the couplings have been satisfactorily purged, the valves 66a, 66b and 66c are all closed. Thereafter, the two parts of each fitting 62, 64 are separated from one another and the container unit 28 composed of valves 10 and 16, filter 22 and ampule 30 is removed for disposal or transport to a refilling facility.
A fresh container unit 28 containing a filled ampule 30 and a clean filter 22 is then attached to the system at couplings 62 and 64. Thus, it is seen that by replacing container unit 28, the filter 22 may, in accordance with the present invention, be automatically replaced at the same time as the ampule 30, thereby obviating the need for a separate filter changing operation.
If ampule 30 is to be refilled rather than disposed of, such refilling operation will typically be accompanied by replacement or cleaning of filter 22 of container unit 28 at the same time. Such cleaning or replacement of the filter 22 can be accomplished safely at a facility which is designed to perform a refilling operation.
FIG. 3 is an elevational, pictorial view showing the components of a container unit 28a according to an alternative embodiment of the invention, the unit having been removed from the apparatus of FIG. 2. The inlet of filter 22 is secured to the outlet end of outlet pipe 12a at the top of ampule 30a. Filter 22 may be fully enclosed in a protective housing 68 which may be integrally formed with walls of the ampule 30a or fastened to the ampule walls by welding or other suitable leakage resistant fasteners or couplers. The outlet of filter 22 is coupled to a second outlet pipe 70 which passes through an appropriate sealed aperture in the filter housing 68 to the inlet of the outlet line control valve 16. The outlet of control valve 16 is in turn coupled by a third outlet pipe 72 to one part 62a of coupling 62. In a similar manner, the inlet of inlet control valve 10 is coupled by an inlet pipe 74 to one part 64a of coupling 64. The outlet of inlet control valve 10 is coupled by a second inlet pipe 76 to an ampule inlet in the walls of the ampule 30.
It is preferred that the container unit 28a depicted in FIG. 3 be constructed so that the various components including the filter 22, filter housing 68, inlet and outlet pipes 70, 72, 74 and 76, control valves 10 and 16 and coupling parts 62a, 64a, are all structurally supported by the ampule 30a and securely connected to the ampule 30a to facilitate handling and transport of the container unit 28a as a unit. For example, the ampule 30a, filter 22, filter housing 68, inlet and outlet pipes 70, 72, 74 and 76, control valves 10 and 16 and coupling parts 62a, 64a, may be welded or otherwise permanently fastened or coupled together as a unit as shown to ensure that the container unit 28a is disconnected from the system only by disconnecting the couplings 62a and 64a from their counterparts of the couplings 62 and 64, respectively. Alternatively, releasable couplers may be used to assemble the components of container unit 28a but preferably such couplers should be significantly more difficult to disconnect than the coupling parts 62a and 64a from their counterpart coupling parts to reduce the chance of improper or unauthorized disassembly of the container unit 28a.
Because filter 22 is mounted atop ampule 30a, valve 10 and coupling part 64a can be disposed at a lower elevation above the top of ampule 30 than are valve 16 and coupling part 62a. This difference in height provides a safety feature in that it will deter incorrect installation of the unit in the chemical processing system in which the inlet and outlet lines are inadvertently reversed.
It should be readily apparent that the invention can utilize any known type of chemical container and filter. It is presently proposed to construct a prototype using, as ampule 30 or 30a, an ampule marketed under the designation Sschumacher BK1200 SSA or BK1200 SSG, together with a filter marketed by the SWAGELOK Company, under the product designation NUPRO, model type SS-4 FWS-VCR-05, this being a 0.5 micron filter. For fabrication of this prototype, valve 16, which is a manual valve, and which is initially fitted to the ampule, will be removed and the filter 22 will be mounted on the top surface of ampule 30 between that top surface and manual valve 16.
However, it is to be understood that the specific products mentioned above are identified only be way of non-limiting example and are intended simply to provide all appropriate information presently known about the intended initial implementation of the invention.
It will be appreciated that the invention offers a number of advantages, one significant advantage being that the only system down time or loss of filtering will be that associated with replacement of an ampule, so that no additional down time will be associated with replacement of the filter. In addition, the purge routines required when changing an ampule, which routines will take place with the valves closed, will be sufficient to satisfy any purging previously required by the filter itself. Replacement of the filter does not require any special actions on the part of an operator at the processing installation and that operator will not be subjected to any additional risks of exposure to hazardous chemicals as a result of a separate filter replacement operation. All handling and disposal of the filter itself can be performed by the supplier of filled ampules, who can be expected to be properly equipped to safely handle and dispose of the filter or its contents.
If disruption of the flow of the chemical is to be avoided during replacement of a container unit 28 or 28a, the system may be provided two such container units in parallel. As a result, when one container unit needs to be replaced, the flow path can be switched to permit the other container unit to provide the chemical while the first container unit is replaced, and vice-versa.
While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from this invention in its broader aspects and, therefore, the aim in the appended claims is to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.
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A storage device containing a quantity of a liquid chemical substance which is used as a reactant in a chemical process, the device being composed of: a closed container holding the quantity of substance and having a wall provided with an inlet opening and an outlet opening; an inlet valve coupled to said inlet opening, the inlet valve being closeable to block said inlet opening; an outlet valve coupled to the outlet opening, the outlet valve being closeable to block the outlet opening; and a filter interposed between the quantity of liquid and said outlet valve.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
The circle mounting and circle assembly, and the mounting of the circle drive means, which are shown and described generally in this application, are described in detail and claimed in applicant's copending U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 663,594, filed Mar. 3, 1976, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,669.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Motor graders have a longitudinal main frame which has a dirigible wheel assembly at its forward end, an operator's cab at its rearward end portion, and a traction chassis for the motor and power train behind the cab. The motor grader blade is suspended from the main frame by means of a circle draw bar and a circle. The circle draw bar has its front end connected to the front of the main frame by a ball and socket connection, while the rearward portion of the circle draw bar is suspended from the main frame by hydraulic cylinder and piston means which permit the draw bar to swing in a vertical plane about its front end.
The circle is munted on the rearward portion of the circle draw bar for rotation about a vertical axis, and there is a driving interconnection between a motor on the circle draw bar and a ring gear on the circle to effect such rotary motion of the circle.
The grader blade is mounted upon the circle so that rotation of the circle changes the angle of the blade with reference to the path of travel of the grader, while swinging the circle draw bar in a vertical plane about its forward end changes the vertical position of the grader blade with reference to the ground.
In addition, the grader blade is mounted on a horizontal axis so that it may be tipped with respect to the circle by hydraulic cylinder and piston means to change the angle of attack of the blade.
Different types of circle draw bar and circle structures are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,497,778, 3,421,589, and 3,470,967. A type of grader structure in which the grader is towed behind a tractor instead of being at the front of a long grader vehicle, but which has a similar grader blade mounting, is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,498,044.
Typical grading operations place enormous stresses upon the circle draw bar, the circle and related parts of a motor grader. In operation the grader blade produces both vertical and lateral stresses in the entire system, and the direction and magnitude of those stresses varies depending upon the particular type of work being performed. Accordingly, it is difficult to engineer a grader blade mounting system which has adequate stress resistance without using excessively heavy components that increase grader cost and energy requirements.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved circle draw bar for a motor grader blade support system.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved motor grader circle draw bar which achieves a high degree of uniformity of stress through the length of the draw bar, both relative to vertical forces and to lateral forces.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a motor grader circle draw bar which combines increased strength with relatively light weight.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a circle draw bar which consists of a box-like beam and an enlarged carrying portion of box-like cross section which is separately fabricated and then integrally welded to the beam so as to simplify necessary machining of the carrying portion which can be carried out before the carrying portion is welded to the beam.
The invention is disclosed as applied to a motor grader of the general type seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,470,967, which is owned by applicant's assignee. However, it is apparent that the improved circle draw bar structure would also offer enhanced performance in a grader of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,498,044.
THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a motor grader embodying the invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a sub-assembly consisting of a circle draw bar, a circle, and a grader blade in which the circle draw bar embodies the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan view illustrating the beam of a circle draw bar embodying the invention, and illustrating the adjacent forward part of the draw bar carrying portion, with parts broken away from clarity;
FIG. 4 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the circle draw bar with a part of the near side wall broken away to show internal construction;
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view on an enlarged scale taken substantially as indicated along the line 5--5 of FIG. 3;
FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view on an enlarged scale taken substantially as indicated along the line 6--6 of FIG. 3; and
FIG. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially as indicated along the line 7--7 of FIG. 3.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring first to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a motor grader, indicated generally at 10, includes a longitudinal main frame 11 the front end 11a of which is supported upon a dirigible front wheel assembly 12, and the rear end of which constitutes part of a traction chassis, indicated generally at 13, on which is mounted a power plant, indicated generally at 14. An operator's cab, indicated generally at 15, is on the rear portion of the main frame, forward of the traction chassis. A grader blade subassembly, indicated generally at 16, consists generally of a circle mounting bar, indicated generally at 17, which in the illustrated apparatus is a draw bar; a circle structure, indicated generally at 18; and a grader blade and blade mounting, indicated generally at 19.
The circle draw bar 17 is best seen in FIG. 2 to include a forward portion in the form of a box-like beam, indicated generally at 20, and a rearward carrying portion, indicated generally at 21, the forward part 22 of which is also generally box-like to match the rear end of the beam 20. Behind the box-like part 22 of the carrying portion 21 said carrying portion has a section 23 the depth of which is great enough that it forms a housing extending below the circle 18. The housing section 23 contains cavities 23a (FIG. 3) to receive drive means, indicated generally at 24, which operate through an internal ring gear (not shown) that is integral with the circle 18 for rotating the circle about a vertical axis. The housing section 23 of the circle draw bar merges into a nearly semi-annular upright wall 25 which is part of an internal housing for the circle 18, and integral with the wall 25 is a horizontal top wall 26. An integral flange member 27 overlies the more inward portion of the circle. Removable means (not shown) underlies the housing section 23 and the flange member 27 to support the circle structure 18.
The subassembly 16 is mounted under the main frame 11 by means of a front mounting element and rear mounting elements which engage with cooperating elements carried upon the main frame. At the front end 20a of the circle draw bar is a ball 28 which forms part of a ball and socket connection (not shown) by means of which the front of the circle draw bar is connected for universal movement on the front end 11a of the main frame. At the back end of the housing section 23 of the rearward circle draw bar portion 21 is a pair of aligned, laterally extending upright plates 29 which are provided with balls 30 that make ball and socket connections with fittings (not shown) on the lower ends of a pair of hydraulic cylinder and piston untis 31 which are carried upon the main frame 11. Thus, operation of the hydraulic cylinder units 31 swings the circle draw bar 17 about the ball and socket connection including the ball 28, which in this respect provides a horizontal pivot axis. A ball 30a on one of the webs 29 provides for a ball and socket connection with a side-shift cylinder (now shown) which shifts the draw bar sideways, with the ball 28 providing a vertical pivot axis.
Referring now particularly to FIGS. 3 to 6, the beam 20 is seen to consist of a one-piece bottom wall 32, a top wall 33 formed from two plates 33a and 33b, and side walls 34 and 35 which give it a box-like configuration; and the width of the beam increases uniformly from its front, or connecting end 20a to a transverse plane L--L which is close to the forward extremity of the carrying portion 21 of the circle draw bar. To the rear of the plane L--L the width of the beam 20 increases at a more rapid rate providing a flared beam rear portion 36.
The sides 36a of the flared beam rear portion 36 are gently curved, avoiding any sharp "break" in the contour which tends to produce early fatigue failure in this area of the structure which is subjected to very heavy stress in use. From the vicinity of the plane L--L at a line on the longitudinal, vertical median plane of the beam the rear edges of the bottom and top walls 32 and 33 extend diagonally outwardly and rearwardly as seen at 37 in FIG. 3 to the extremities where they join the side walls 34 and 35 at the rear of the flared portion 36. Thus, the rear end of the beam 20 has a shallow V conformity. The longitudinal edges of the bottom wall 32 and the side edges of the top wall plates 33a and 33b are joined to the side walls 34 and 35 by plug welds such as the welds 32a and 33c seen in FIG. 5.
The beam 20 also has a vertical web 38 on its longitudinal median plane and transverse webs 39 and 40 which are in planes normal to the longitudinal web 38 and which are alike except for their lengths. As seen in FIGS. 5 and 6, all of said webs are connected to the one-piece bottom plate 32 by welds such as 38b and 40b.
Just forward of the plane L--L is a transverse web 41 which consists of two plates which extend diagonally rearwardly from the plate 38 to the sides 34 and 35 of the beam, with the lateral extremities of the web 41 being slightly forward of said plane L--L. Said plates are also joined to the bottom plate by welds.
All of the webs 38, 39, 40 and 41 are provided with elongate openings, such as the openings 38a and 40a seen in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, in order that said webs may be of minimum weight consistent with requisite structural strength. Furthermore, the transverse webs 39, 40 and 41 have their upper ends welded to transverse bars such as the bar 42 seen in FIG. 6, for a strong connection between the transverse webs and the top wall. The web 38 is notched to receive the bar 42.
The top wall plates 33a and 33b have adjacent margins which are seen in FIG. 5 to overlap the longitudinal web 38 so that a weld 38c may join the plates 33a and 33b to each other and to the longitudinal web. The top wall plates 33a and 33b have elongate openings in register with the bars 42 that form the upper ends of the transverse webs 39, 40 and 41; and said webs 39, 40 and 41 are joined to the top plate by respective welds 43, 44 and 45 which are formed in said elongate openings. There are no such openings in the bottom plate 32 so as to avoid transverse surface welds in said plate where they would be placed in tension by loads on the draw bar. The welds 43, 44 and 45 in the top plate are put only in compression by loads on the draw bar.
The box-like front part 22 of the carrying portion 21 of the circle draw bar consists of a bottom plate 46 and a top plate 47, together with side plates 48 and 49. The top plate 47 is fabricated of two sections 47a and 47b the adjacent edges of which overlap a longitudinal median web 50 and are joined to each other and to said web by a weld 51. The bottom and top walls 46 and 47 have forward extremities 52 which mate with the rear extremities 37 of the beam bottom and top walls 32 and 33; and forward plates 53 of the rearward carrying portion 21 are overlapped by the rear extremities 37 and the front extremities 52 so that said extremities and said plates may be joined together by a top weld 54 and a bottom weld 55 which are continuous with welds 56 that join the beam side wall 34 with the carrying portion side wall 48 and that join the beam side wall 35 with the carrying portion side wall 49.
As seen in FIGS. 3 and 7, the plates 53 extend along the forward extremity 52 of the bottom plate 46 and have bends 53a at the adjacent ends of the beam side walls 34 and 35 and the side walls 48 and 49, and said plates 53 have rearward portions 53b which extend along the inner surfaces of said side walls 48 and 49. Welds 53c and 53d join the plates 53 to the bottom plate 46 and to the web 50, respectively, so that they are a part of a subassembly consisting of the rearward carrying portion 21 of the circle draw bar 17.
The beam 20 has been described as a box-like structure with longitudinal and transverse internal webs. Structurally, it can also be regarded as an I-beam consisting of the members 32, 33 and 38, with the sides of the I-beam being closed by the side plates 34 and 35.
Referring again to FIG. 3, the ball 28 pivots around a center C. A line of dashes extending from said center C to the sidewall 34 at the line L--L represents one side T of an isosceles triangle the base of which is the line L--L. A dash dot line P from the point C to the side wall 34 in the vicinity of the transverse line L is a parabolic curve (one side of a parabola) from C to the intersection of L13 L with 34. It is seen that the side wall 34 falls between the line T and the line P. This is a significant structural feature in providing relatively equal distribution of stress throughout the length of the beam 20, whether that stress is due to vertical forces or transverse forces, or a combination of both, exerted on the beam. The ideal shape for producing equal distribution of stress due to vertical forces between the line L--L and the center C is a triangle one side of which follows the line T. Optimum equal distribution of stress due to lateral forces between the line L--L and the point C is achieved by a parabolic shape. Placing the beam side walls 34 and 35 between the line T and the line P compromises between optimum distribution of stress due to vertical forces and optimum distribution of stress due to lateral forces; thus providing a circle draw bar structure which is highly effective in distributing stress, due to either type of loading, along the length of the draw bar.
Fabricating the circle draw bar 17 in two parts which are later joined by welding greatly reduces the difficulties in forming the carrying portion 21 of the circle draw bar as compared with the problems that would exist if the draw bar were initially unitary. The cavities 23a must have sidewalls provided with openings for driving connections between the drive means 24 and the circle ring gear; and this and other parts of the carrying portion 21 require machining operations which could only be performed on large and expensive equipment if the circle draw bar were not initially fabricated in two parts which are welded together as a final assembly step. The shallow V conformity of the abutting margins 37 and 52 provides extended welds which do not, however, pass the transverse line L--L; and the flaring portion 36 of the beam 20 is structurally comparable to carrying the sidewalls 34 and 35 straight to the juncture with the margins 52, and then welding in top and bottom gussets. However, the resulting structure is much stronger and more rigid than it would be if made with gussets.
The foregoing detailed description is given for clearness of understanding only and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, as modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.
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Motor graders have a longitudinal main frame which carries a circle mounting bar that pivots on a horizontal axis at a connecting end and that has a carrying portion remote from its connecting end. A circle rotates on a vertical axis on the mounting bar carrying portion, and a grader blade is mounted on the circle. The present improved circle mounting bar is a box-like beam with internal vertical webs, and the beam increases in width from its connecting end toward a carrying portion of box-like cross section which is a separate part integrally welded to the beam. The shape of the beam in plan is intermediate between an isosceles triangle with its apex at the connecting end and a parabola with its apex at said end so as to give optimum uniformity of stress, throughout the length of the mounting bar, to both vertical and lateral forces.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a Continuation-In-Part of my earlier copending application Ser. No. 570,666 filed on Apr. 23, 1975 and now abandoned.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to the bleaching of wood pulp. More specifically, the present invention relates to the sensing of residual caustic concentration in a paper pulp bleaching system and the exercise of control over the flow of caustic into a pulp bleach plant flow system.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
Since the objective of caustic treatment of paper pulp flowing chlorination and washing is to neutralize any residual chlorine and hydrolyze chlorinated lignin radicals for wash removal, the prior art control practice over caustic addition to the pump flow stream has been to add caustic as a function of either the chlorine addition flow rate or of the chlorine residual at some point along the chlorine retention flow path.
If metered as a function of chlorine addition, the caustic flow control system represents a feed-forward control over the caustic flow stream wherein caustic is added to the pulp slurry flow stream in some direct proportion to the quantity of chlorine added to the same approximate flow segment within the slurry stream. This system however, fails to acknowledge variables that are characteristically unique to successive flow segments of the continuous slurry flow stream. Such variables may comprise species differences in the wood furnish and the degree of digestion as represented by the pulp "K" Number. Other variables in the degree of chlorine reaction with a given slurry flow segment may include retention time (flow rate), temperature, consistency and pH characteristics. Such variables result in percentage variations of chlorinated lignin respective to successive slurry flow segments. Consequently, the quality of caustic necessary to both neutralize residual chlorine and hydrolyze chlorinated lignin will vary as a more complex function of the chlorine quantity applied.
U.S. Patent Application B Ser. No. 300,004 describes a paper pulp bleaching plant wherein caustic is combined with the slurry flow stream as a function of the chlorine residual at some fixed point in the chlorination system. Although the pulp "K" Number is also a function of the caustic demand determination, the system is extremely complex in the total quantity of instrumentation and telemetering required for a quantitative conclusion.
Such cumbersome and ungainly control techniques over the continuous metering of caustic into the pulp slurry flow stream as described above have resulted from a lack of means to directly and reliably measure caustic effectiveness on the slurry. Although probe cells such as the oxidation reduction potential (ORP) device described by T. C. Burnett, Pulp and Paper Magazine of Canada, Vol, 71, No. 14, July 17, 1970, pg. 57-62 may be used to measure caustic residual within a limited concentration range, beyond this range the instrument reverses polarity and proceeds irradically. Usually, at less than 8 grams of residual caustic (as Na 2 O) per 100 liters of solution (points) and less than 9.3 pH, conditions critical to a control range which spans from 100.00 points residual and 11.0 pH to 0.0 points residual and 7.0 pH, ORP cell signals become false and unreliable.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to teach a method and apparatus for reliably measuring the concentration of caustic residual in a pulp slurry flow stream.
A further object of the present invention is to teach a relatively simple caustic flow control system regulated by residual caustic concentration sensors.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention arises from the discovery that in a reactive system comprising a caustic solution, the concentration of residual or unreacted caustic may be objectively measured as a function of the voltage differential between respective poles of an electrolytic cell in which the caustic solution is the electrolyte and metallic walls of a container for said solution is one of the poles. The other pole of the cell is fabricated from a different metal appropriately removed from the container metal reference on the electromotive series scale.
As applied to the bleaching of paper pulp wherein the caustic compound is usually sodium hydroxide and the container wall material is a ferrous metal, it is convenient to utilize the container material as one pole with the other pole material selected from metals removed from iron on electromotive series.
In those locations in the causticized pulp flow stream where a high degree of reactivity is proceeding due to high temperature and caustic residual concentration, the container vessel walls will usually be fabricated from a stainless steel such as type 304. In this case, it is convenient to use a large mass, lead-tin alloy for the cell cathode.
In flow stream locations where the reactivity is more modest, such as at the end of the causticizing plant stream, a small mass of commercially pure platinum serves as a suitable anode. Being iron, the container wall serves as an infinite area cathode which never needs replacement or cleaning maintenance.
The electric potential difference between the respective cathodes and anodes is a function of the caustic residual of the solution. Consequently, a voltmeter may be calibrated directly in units of caustic residual concentration such as grams of Na 2 O per 100 liters of solution.
Additionally, the cell voltage may be used to regulate a caustic flow control system. In this embodiment of the invention, cell voltage signals are detected from sensors disposed approximately within 1 minute and 30 to 60 minutes, respectively, down stream of the caustic injection point. Consistent therewith, the late flow stream sensor signal is compared to a manual set-point reference signal to drive a first error signal which is cascaded against the early flow stream sensor to produce a second error signal. A motorized valve control over the flow of caustic to the pulp flow stream is regulated by the second error signal.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
Relative to the several figures of the drawing wherein like reference characters designate the same or similar element.
FIG. 1 is a flow schematic of a causticizing section in a paper pulp bleaching system.
FIG. 2 is a detailed schematic of an embodiment of the present sensor invention suitable for application in a high temperature and caustic concentration environment wherein the vessel wall is fabricated from stainless steel.
FIG. 3 is a detailed schematic of an embodiment of the present sensor invention suitable for application in a more moderate temperature and concentration environment wherein the vessel wall is fabricated from carbon steel.
FIG. 4 is a graph of changes in caustic residual relative to time in a pulp bleach flow system as reported by sensors of the present invention and an ORP sensor for comparison.
FIG. 5 is another graph of changes in caustic residual relative to a different time interim for the same pulp bleach system and sensors of FIG. 4.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The macro-flow scheme of the present invention is illustrated schematically by FIG. 1 wherein chlorinated pulp is delivered through conduit 10 to one or more chlorine washers 20 where the fibers are grossly separated from the chlorinated aqueous solution carrier and flushed with fresh water.
The washed and reslurried fibers are further pumped through conduit 11 to a steam mixing apparatus 21. In transit to the steam mixer 21, caustic, usually in the form of sodium hydroxide drawn from a storage vessel 23 through conduit 16 and flow controlled by a motor valve 17, is injected into the conduit stream 11.
Steam mixer 21 is a mechanical agitation device which tumbles and stirs the pulp and caustic into homogeneous mixture while steam from injectors 18 raise the temperature thereof to an effective reaction level, usually in excess of 170° F.
A short delivery conduit 12 connects the steam mixer 21 to a large, caustic retention vessel 13 which holds the caustic-pulp slurry in transit for a residence time of approximately 30 to 60 minutes.
From the caustic retention vessel 13, the slurry is pumped via conduit 14 to one or more caustic wash vessels 22 similar to the chlorine washers 20.
From the caustic washers 22, the reslurried pulp is delivered by conduit 15 to the next process step in the bleach system which may be a calcium hypochlorite or chlorine dioxide treatment.
Relative to the present invention, the electrochemical sensor 30 is a short residence time caustic residual monitor disposed in the connective conduit 12 between the steam mixer 21 and the caustic retention vessel 13 in the manner illustrated by FIG. 2. In this embodiment, a two pound electrochemical probe cathode 30 alloyed from substantially 50 percent tin and 50 percent lead was found to have a very satisfactory useful life of several months in the 180° f, 10.0 + pH environment of the hot, caustic slurry. This probe is positioned directly in the slurry flow stream through an aperture in the ferro-metallic wall of conduit 12. An electrically insulating grommet 33 seals the aperture around the probe 30 and electrically isolates it from the reference potential of the conduit wall.
A purge water flow of 10 to 20 gpm will improve the reliability and consistency of signal emissions from the probe 30 by continuously cleaning it of stock accumulations.
Under the electrolytic cell conditions described, an electromotive potential difference in the proximity of 300 millivolts may be detected between the probe 30 and the 304 type stainless steel walls of conduit 12. This potential difference will vary as a function of the unreacted, sodium hydroxide residual found in the aqueous solution slurry vehicle at this point in the flow stream. Consequently, this potential difference between probe 30 and the conduit 12 wall may be relied upon as an objective indication of caustic demand by the system. Moreover, due to the short, approximately one minute, available reaction time between the moment of caustic combination with the slurry to the moment of sensor 30 measurement, the voltage differential between the sensor cathode and conduit 12 wall may be used to control short duration, high amplitude disturbances in the caustic demand. Such flow control takes the form of signal 31 transmission of the sensor 30 potential difference measurement to a remote setpoint controller 32 which compares the signal 31 magnitude to a reference signal 51. The magnitude of difference between signals 31 and 51 represents a set-point difference which controller 32 uses to generate an error signal 52 which is transmitted to an electro-pneumatic converter 53 which appropriately corrects the setting of flow control valve 17.
Electrochemicl sensor 40 is a long residence time caustic residual monitor disposed about 30 to 60 minutes downstream of the caustic injection point in a conveniently remote location in the caustic flow stream which, as illustrated by FIG. 3 of the present embodiment, is in the supply bin of the caustic washer 22. At this point, the flow stream has cooled considerably and the predominance of originally available caustic has been reacted. Accordingly, the degree of solublized caustic residual is substantially reduced. Under these circumstances, the anode of sensor 40 comprises an approximately 1.5 square inch surface area sheet of commercially pure platinum. The 317 stainless steel ferrometallic wall of the washer 22 vessel represents a cathode of relatively infinite area. An approximately 300 millivolt potential difference may be expected across the plates of this electrolytic cell, also.
As in the case of sensor 30, the electromotive potential of sensor 40 is a function of the solublized caustic residual concentration. Accordingly as a signal 41, this potential may be directed to a controller 42 for comparison to a manually determined set point signal 50. The magnitude of difference between signals 41 and 50 is utilized by controller 42 to generate an error signal 51 which is used as a set-point or reference signal for the controller 32.
The aforedescribed sensor signal management will be recognized as a simple cascade control over the caustic flow valve 17 wherein the late stream sensor 40 detects long term, low amplitude departures of the caustic residual concentration from desired norms. When the controller modified error signal 51 resulting from the late stream sensor 40 is applied as a comparative set-point for the signal 31 from early stream sensor 30, a stable but moderately shifting reference is provided for signal 31 comparison.
To illustrate the sensory reliability of the present invention in comparison to caustic residual monitoring by a platinum/silver ORP sensor, such an ORP sensor was placed in operation alongside of the platinum sensor 40 of the present invention in the washer vat 2. The charts of FIGS. 4 and 5 represent the voltaic responses from the several sensors in the flow stream. Relative to both FIGS. 4 and 5, graph A records the response from sensor 30 located immediately downstream of the mixer 21. Graph B records the response from sensor 40 in the washer vat 22 and graph C records the ORP sensor response.
In flow stream transit time, curves B and C lag curve A by approximately 30 minutes so that an upset in the caustic residual detected by sensor 30 is not reported by sensor 40 or the ORP device until 30 minutes later.
No data could be taken from an ORP sensor at the mixer 21 since the reactive conditions at this point are so extreme, such a sensor is incapacitated immediately.
Relative to the events recorded by FIG. 4, at time 2 hours the solution residual at the washer 22 was 14.0 points (grams Na 2 O per 100 liters solution) and 9.6 pH. At time 2.7 hours, the caustic residual began to fall as represented by the sharp negative slope of curve B. Shortly thereafter, at about time 3.0 hours, the ORP sensor responded accordingly as represented by the accelerating positive slope of curve C. The fact that the charted responses of sensor 40 and the ORP device are opposite is irrelevant since the ORP signal could have been inverted to ± similar to that of the invention.
The important point to be observed from the charted responses of curves B and C over this time interim is that they correspond with a generally inverse proportionality.
By time 5.0 hours, the caustic residual of the pulp solution at the washer vat has risen back to 10.0 points and the pH was 9.4.
At time 5.15 hours sudden dimunition in caustic residual occurred in the system at sensor 30 as indicated in curve A. Thirty minutes later, at time 5.65 hours, such dimunition is detected by the sensor 40 as indicated by the sharp downturn of curve B. Residual diminishment at sensor 40 continues until time 5.8 hours when the curve B peaks and starts back up. Caustic residual in the washer 22 solution at time 5.8 hours was measured as 2.0 points and 8.8 pH.
Throughout the period of washer residual diminishment from time 5.65 to 5.8 hours, the ORP sensor has remained stable and non-responsive. At time 5.8 l hours however, curve C starts a strong positive slope. At the same moment (time 5.8 hours) that the sensor 40 indicates the start of an increasing residual concentration, the ORP sensor indicates a decreasing concentration. Such reverse behavior of the ORP sensor continues until time 5.9 hours when the positive slope of curve C peaks and starts down as curve B continues to rise.
At time 6.2 hours of FIG. 4, the washer solution was measured to have a 22 point residual and 10.1 pH.
At time 6.25 hours, the system was deliberately upset by a complete interruption of caustic supply from the conduit 16. This event is recorded by the sharp negative slope of curve A beginning at that time and continuing until time 6.33 whereupon the caustic flow is resumed and the residual at the mixer 21 begins to rise. Response from the present invention sensor 40 continues to follow the upset event with a generally direct, but amplified, proportionality and at time 6.7 hours begins to fall rapidly until a low point is reached at time 6.9 hours. The washer 22 solution residual at time 6.9 hours was measured as 0.0 points and the pH as 7.6.
Correspondingly, curve C begins a sharp negative slope at time 6.6 hours which continues until time 6.75 hours whereupon it reverses and starts to rise until time 7.25 hours. At time 7.3 hours, curve C crosses the locus of curve B and begins another negative slope increment.
From the foregoing description of FIG. 4 it will be seen that the ORP sensor response to caustic residual changes is inconsistent. At times the response follows an inversely proportional correlation. At other times the correlation is directly proportional. Such erratic behavior and response reversal is intolerable for continuous process control. Manifestly, therefore, the ORP sensor is unsuitable for continuous bleach system control.
FIG. 5 illustrates a second occasion of response reversals of an ORP sensor under circumstances similar to those described above. From time 1.0 to time 6.6 hours, curve B and C follow a general inverse proportionality. At time 6.25 hours, the caustic supply to the flow stream was terminated as shown by the abrupt decline in residual concentration recorded by curve A.
When the caustic supply was terminated, solution at the washer 22 carried a 10.0 point residual and 9.8 pH.
Nearly 30 minutes later, the cessation of caustic supply is detected by the sensor 40 as reflected by the sharp, negative slope of curve B starting at time 6.7. Simultaneously, the ORP curve C responds but with a negative slope of short deviation having a direct proportionality relation to the B curve response.
Had the response pattern of curve C established up to time 6.7 hours been followed, a sustained, sharply positive slope locus should have occurred.
At time 7.0 hours, the washer solution residual was measured at 0.0 points and 7.2 pH. Such is indicated by the inverse peak of curve B at that time.
In the meantime, curve C provides very little response of any kind. Such apparent incapacitation seems to continue until time 8.3 hours when the curve responded with an inverse proportionality to an increase in caustic supply which originally entered the flow stream at time 8.0 hours.
At time 8.2 hours the washer 22 solution was measured to have 2.0 points residual and 9.2 pH. Another measurement at time 8.6 hours showed a residual of 30.0 points and 10.5 pH. At time 8.9 hours, the washer solution carried 22.0 points residual and 10.2 pH.
To be of any value and utility in controlling the causticizing segment of the pulp bleaching process, a sensor must respond with consistent proportionality, either direct or inverse, over a solution condition range that spans from 11 pH and 100 grams Na 2 O per 100 liters (points) to 7 pH and 0 points residual.
Consequently, as exemplified by the FIGS. 4 and 5 data, an ORP sensor is unacceptable for such service.
General experience indicates that an ORP sensor goes erratic at solution conditions of less than 9.3 pH and less than 8 points residual. However, such specifications are not to be taken as operational limits but represent the estimated average of field experience. Moreover, no attempt has been undertaken to analyze the cause and effect of ORP sensor reversals or incapacitation since it is sufficient for the present objective of caustic control to a paper pulp bleach system to know that the device is unreliable for the purpose intended under normal industrial conditions of operation.
While specific metals and alloys have been described as poles for the caustic residual sensors described herein, it should be understood that numerous other combinations of metals may be effectively used. Relative to the electromotive series which comprises a listing of metals arranged in decreasing order of tendency to pass into ionic form by yielding electrons, any two metals having adequate electromotive differential in the caustic electrolyte for detection may be used for detection. Preferably, however, the vessel will be used as an infinite area anode or cathode. Since such vessels are normally fabricated of ferrous metals, the opposite pole may be selected from those metals further removed on the electromotive series relative to iron. Suitable examples may include zinc, nickel, tin, lead, copper, platinum, silver and gold. This listing, however, is not exhaustive when it is appreciated, as represented by the early flow stream sensor cathode, that suitable alloys comprising additional metals may be compounded for the objective purpose.
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In a paper pulp bleach plant, the concentration of residual caustic in solution with the pulp slurry may be measured as a function of the voltage across cathode and anode poles of an electrolytic cell comprising the pulp slurry solution as the electrolyte and ferro-metallic walls of the slurry container as the cathode or anode pole. The opposite cell pole is selected from a group of metals and alloys thereof discretely removed from iron in the electromotive series, the specific pole metal or alloy within the group being selected on the basis of resistance to chemical reactivity at the point of pole placement in the pulp flow stream. Control over the flow of caustic into the slurry flow stream may be exerted in response to an error signal generated from cascade management of the voltage emissions from two such cells positioned early and late, respectively, in the pulp flow stream respective to the caustic injection point.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/168,534 filed Dec. 2, 1999.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] This invention relates to a clear candle and to a novel composition for its preparation.
[0003] A conventional candle is made from beeswax and/or petroleum paraffin to which fragrance can be added. More recently, hydrocarbon gels, gelling agents with oil, and polyamide gelling agents have been disclosed as candle base materials.
[0004] Polyamide candles have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,615,289, 3,645,705, and 3,819,342). A low molecular weight, ester-terminated polyamide blended with a liquid hydrocarbon to form a transparent composition having gel consistency and also useful as a candle bese material was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,783,657. However, the results show a sticky surface and low resistance to shear stresses.
[0005] U.S. Pat. No. 5,882,363 has taught the use of certain polyamide resins in combination with one or more 12-hydroxystearic acid ester solvents. In this case, the mechanical properties are better, but the burning presents a poor performance, with the formation of black pools and drowning of the wick. There remains a need for an improved candle composition to obtain better burning, no stickiness and improved mechanical properties.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] In accordance with this invention, there is provided, in order to overcome the disadvantages and drawbacks of the prior art summarized above, a clear transparent candle comprising a wick and a novel clear transparent combustible candle composition comprising 30-55 parts by weight of at least one polyamide resin, 5-45 parts by weight of at least one aliphatic acid alkyl ester having 16 to 40 carbon atoms total in the acid and alcohol moieties thereof; 10 to 30 parts of at least one unsaturated alcohol having 11 to 24 carbon atoms; 10 to 30 parts of at least one polyether diol ester; 5 to 15 parts by weight of at least one drying agent selected from the group consisting of saturated alcohols having 14 to 22 carbon atoms, fatty acid amides, and fatty acid bis-amides, 0 to 5 parts by weight of at least one emulsifier, 0 to 10 parts by weight of at least one fragrance and 0 to 1 part by weight of at least one preservative. In the proportions indicated, the components of the composition cooperate in solubilizing and compatibilizing one another and thus afford a rigid and clean burning candle that is clear and transparent and dry to the touch.
[0007] A candle according to the invention can he presented as a stand alone candle (a so-called “pillar” candle) or as a candle in a container.
[0008] In a pillar candle according to the invention, the novel clear transparent combustible candle composition preferably comprises 40-55 parts by weight of at least one polyamide resin, 5-30 parts by weight of at least one aliphatic acid alkyl ester having 16 to 40 carbon atoms total in the acid and alcohol moieties thereof; 10 to 30 parts of at least one unsaturated alcohol having 11 to 20 carbon atoms; 10 to 20 parts of at least one polyether diol ester; 5 to 15 parts by weight of at least one drying agent selected from the group consisting of saturated alcohols having 14 to 22 carbon atoms, fatty acid amides, and fatty acid bis-amides, 0 to 3 parts by weight of at least one emulsifier, 0 to 10 parts by weight of at least one fragrance and 0 to 1 part by weight of at least one preservative.
[0009] In a container candle according to the invention, the novel clear transparent combustible candle composition preferably comprises 30-45 parts by weight of at least one polyamide resin, 30-45 parts by weight of at least one aliphatic acid alkyl ester having 16 to 40 carbon atoms total in the acid and alcohol moieties thereof; 10 to 30 parts of at least one unsaturated alcohol having 11 to 20 carbon atoms; 10 to 30 parts of at least one polyether diol ester; 5 to 15 parts by weight of at least one drying agent selected from the group consisting of saturated alcohols having 14 to 22 carbon atoms, fatty acid amides, and fatty acid bis-amides, 0 to 3 parts by weight of at least one emulsifier, 0 to 10 parts by weight of at least one fragrance and 0 to 1 part by weight of at least one preservative.
[0010] The terms “clear” and “transparent” are used with their conventional meanings to indicate that object placed behind or within a candle (for example the wick or a decorative icon) can be discerned by a viewer. The term “visually compatible” is used to indicate that the combustible composition of the invention is clear and transparent as defined.
[0011] The term “dimer acid” is used to designate a known product obtained under dimerization conditions from unsaturated fatty acids having 15 to 21 carbon atoms, such as oleic acid, linoleic acid, and linolenic acid, and containing predominantly dicarboxylic acids having 30 to 42 carbon atoms, along with minor amounts of monocarboxylic acids and tricarboxylic acids.
[0012] The dimer acid based polyamide resin can be a neutral or slightly acidic (i.e. not amine-terminated) polyamide having a molecular weight in the range from 1000 to about 60000 daltons, as obtained, for example, from the polymerization of a diamine with one or more dicarboxylic acids of which at least one is dimer acid as defined. Dicarboxylic acids which can be included in the polyamide according to the invention include oxalic acid, succinic acid, glutaric acid, adipic acid, 2-methylglutaric acid, azelaic acid, sebacic acid, isophthalic acid, and terephthalic acid. Diamines which can be included in the polyamide according to the invention include ethylenediamine, propylene-1,2-diamine, 1,6-diaminohexane, piperazine, N, N′-bis(2-aminoethyl)piperazine, and ether-interrupted lkylenediamines such as the polyoxyalkylenediamines disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,077,900 here incorporated by reference.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0013] In a preferred embodiment, the dimer acid based first polyamide resin ingredient of the shell composition according to the invention has the formula
[0014] R—CO(NH—R′—NHCO—D—CO)n —NH—R′—NH—CO—R, in which n is a number from 1 to 20;
[0015] R independently at each occurrence is a saturated or unsaturated aliphatic group having 7 to 25 carbon atoms or a cycloaliphatic group having 5 to 36 carbon atoms, and is terminated by a hydrogen atom (H)or a carboxyl group (COOH);
[0016] D independently at each occurrence is an aliphatic or cycloalipnatic residue of a dicarboxylic acid having 2 to 54 carbon atoms, provided that in at least one occurrence D is the hydrocarbon moiety of dimer acid; and
[0017] R′ independently at each occurrence is a hydrocarbylene group having 2 to 12 carbon atoms or a chain of such hydrocarbylene groups alternating with ether oxygen groups.
[0018] Aliphatic R groups are saturated or unsaturated, for example, n-butyl, isobutyl, sec-butyl, n-hexyl, n-heptyl, 2-ethylhexyl, isooctyl, isodecyl, 3,5,5-trimethylhexyl, n-decyl, n-dodecyl, 2-butyloctyl, 10-undecenyl, oleyl, cetyl, stearyl, isostearyl, behenyl, and mixtures thereof.
[0019] Cycloaliphatic R groups are saturated or unsaturated, for example, cyclopentyl, cyclohexyl, 4-t-butylcyclohexyl, cholesteryl, cholestanvl, and R groups derived from other steroid and terpenoid alcohols.
[0020] D, the hydrocarbon moiety of dimer acid, is believed to be represented by a six carbon ring to which are attached two aliphatic groups each terminating in a methyl group and two aliphatic groups each terminating in a carboxyl group, and can contain 0-3 carbon-carbon double bonds. R′ is the hydrocarbylene or bivalent hydrocarbon moiety of an aliphatic or cycloaliphatic diamine and is, for example, ethylene (i.e. the hydrocarbon moiety of 1,2-diaminoethane), 1,2-propylene, 1,3-propylene, hexamethylene (hexane-1,6-diyl), dodecamethylene, 3,5,5-trimethylcyclohexane-1,3-diyl (the hydrocarbon moiety of isophoronediamine), and mixtures thereof.
[0021] In a particularly preferred embodiment the diamine—dimer acid based polyamide resin is based on dimer acid that is at least partially hydrogenated.
[0022] Diamine—dimer acid based polyamide resins useful in the transparent candle composition of the invention are commercially available, for example, from Arizona Chemical Co., Wayne, N.J., under the trade name Uni-Rez and from Cognis Co. Inc., Ambler, Pa., under the trade name Versamid. Diamine—dimer acid polyamide resins based on hydrogenated dimer acid are available from Cognis Co. Inc. under the trade name Versamid 2000 series, including a resin with that name and a resin called Versamid 2001 stated to be modified for greater flexibility.
[0023] The aliphatic ester component of the candle composition of the invention has from 16 to 40 total carbon atoms distributed in the alcohol and carboxylic acid moieties of the ester such that the alcohol moiety has at least one carbon atom and the carboxylic acid moiety has at least two carbon atoms. The ester can be liquid or solid at ambient temperature. The alcohol moiety as well as the carboxylic acid moiety can be saturated or unsaturated, branched or straight chain. Preferred esters include, for example, ethyl myristate, methyl oleate, isopropyl palmitate, butyl stearate, 2-ethylhexyl laurate, 3,3,5-trimethyl neodecanoate, isodecyl undecylenate, 2-hexyldecyl acetate, cetyl palmitate, oleyl oleate, and stearyl stearate. The unsaturated alcohol component of the candle composition has from 11 to 24 carbon atoms, preferably from 14 to 22 carbon atoms Preferred unsaturated alcohols include, for example, palmitoleyl alcohol, oleyl alcohol, and erucyl alcohol.
[0024] The polyether diol ester component of the candle composition has a plurality of ether groups and 1-2 esterifying carboxylic acid groups preferably having at least 10 carbon atoms. This ester can be liquid or solid at ambient temperature. Preferred polyether diol esters include, for example, tripropylene glycol dioleate, polyethylene glycol monolaurate, polyethylene glycol moriostearate, and polypropylene glycol monostearate.
[0025] The drying agent component of the candle composition is a solid at ambient temperature and preferably at 35 ƒ or higher. Preferred saturated alcohol drying agents have from 1 to 2 alcoholic hydroxyl groups and a straight chain or branched structure. Particularly suitable examples include myristyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol, stearyl alcohol, isostearyl alcohol, tetradecane-1,14-diol, octadecane-1,2-diol, and octadecane-1,12-diol. Preferred fatty amide and bis-amide drying agents can be saturated or unsaturated and include, for example, oleamide, stearamide, erucamide, methylenebis-stearamide, N,N 1 -ethylenebis-oleamide. N,N 1 -ethylenebis-stearamide, and 1,6-bis(stearamido)hexane.
[0026] Emulsifiers when present are preferably nonionic and include, for example, glyceryl monooleate, glyceryl monostearate, propylene glycol monooleate, sorbitan monolaurate, and ethoxylated alcohols, sorbitan esters, amides, and alkylpheriols with 4-24 ethylene oxide units.
[0027] Fragrance when present can be such as is perceptible when the candle is exposed to the atmosphere or such as is only perceived when released from the composition by heat as the candle burns. It is a feature of the invention that the low inherent odor level characterizing the selected ingredients of the composition facilitates the provision of candles with agreeable odor characteristics even without scent while permitting the use of any desired fragrance without clashing with an inherent odor of the unscented composition. For the purpose of this invention, fragrance also includes material classified as flavor, which can be natural or synthetic in origin. Suitable natural and synthetic fragrance/flavor substances include those compiled by the US Food and Drug
[0028] Administration in Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Sections 172.510 and 172.515 respectively. Particularly suitable fragrances include basil, bergamot, citrus, jasmine, lemongrass, rosemary, and vanilla. When present, the proportion of fragrance in the composition is determined by the strength of the particular fragrance to be used, and is generally in the range from 0.1 to 10% by weight, preferably from 0.5 to 5% by weight.
[0029] Oxidation inhibitor and/or ultraviolet absorber when present can be odorless or possess an agreeable odor. Suitable oxidation inhibitors include Vitamin C ascorbic acid and Vitamin E tocopherol as natural prototypes of the category, as well as the vitamin-inactive isomer erythorbic acid, oxy-acids of phosphorus such as phosphoric acid and polyphosphoric acid, aliphatic hydroxypolycarboxylic acids such as citric acid, malic acid, and tartaric acid, EDTA and its sodium and calcium salts, and alkyl-substituted phenols such as BHT, BHA, thymol, carvacrol, 4,4′-butylidenebis(2-t-butyl-5-methylphenol), 1,1,3-tris(2-methyl-4-hydroxy-5-t-butylphenyl)butane and 3,5-di-t-butyl-4-hydroxyphenylpropionic acid and its esters with C1-C18 monohydric alcohols or 2-6 functional polyhydric alcohols. Suitable ultraviolet absorbers absorb radiation in the range of wavelengths from about 270 nm to about 400 nm and include salicylic acid esters, 2-hydroxy-4-alkoxybenzophenones, and substituted derivatives of 2 (2′-hydroxy-5′-alkylphenyl)benzotriazole. When present, the proportion of oxidation inhibitor and/or ultraviolet absorber is generally in the range from 0.005% to 1% by weight, preferably from 0.01% to 0.5%.
[0030] The combustible candle composition can include such additional visually compatible ingredients as do not adversely affect its favorable odor and burning properties, particularly colorants such as oil soluble dyes. For a comprehensive disclosure of soluble dyes with sufficient thermal stability for use in plastics and therefore also in combustible candle compositions according to this invention, reference can be made to Chapter 65—Colors, Dyes (pages 913-919) in “Plastics Additives and Modifiers Handbook”, J. Edenbaum (ed.), Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York 1992, herein incorporated by reference.
[0031] In the manufacture of candles according to this invention, a wick can be placed in a suitable mold and surrounded by the combustible candle composition of the invention, usually as a melt, to afford a molded candle which can then be removed from the mold after cooling. Alternatively, a hole can be drilled into the shaped candle after melding, cooling, and solidification, and the wick inserted into the hole. Any convenient wick can be used with preference given to wicks that burn without generating unpleasant odors. Wicks of cellulose fibers such as cotton are preferred.
[0032] Candles according to this invention can be used standing free, as in candlesticks and candelabras, or in suitable containers such as glass, ceramic, or plastic vases. Any container of the finished candle can also serve as the mold in which the combustible composition is brought together with the wick.
[0033] The following Examples illustrate the invention without limiting its scope as defined by the appended claims. All parts are by weight.
EXAMPLES 1-3
[0034] To prepare free-standing ( 3 pillar 2 ) candles, the ingredients of the candle compositions shown below were charged to a heated mixing vessel and warmed with stirring until a homogeneous melt was obtained. The melt was then discharged into metal candle molds each containing a cotton wick, allowed to cool and solidify, and removed.
[0035] The ingredients of the compositions given in parts by weight were as follows:
Example 1 2 3 POLYAMIDE blend (note 1) 35 30 50 Hydrogenated dimer acid 10 15 none based polyamide resin (note 2) 2-ethylhexyl stearate 18 none 17 2-ethylhexyl laurate none 18 none oleyl alcohol 12 12 10 polypropylene glycol monostearate 12 12 10 fatty acid bis-amide m.p. ca 120ƒ C 5 5 none (note 3) Hydroxyoctadecyl alcohol (note 4) none none 5 Fragrance 5 5 5 Polysorbate 60 (emulsifier) 1.5 1.5 1.5 BHT Antioxidant 0.005 0.005 0.005 Ultraviolet absorber 0.1 0.1 0.1
[0036] Free standing candles were prepared from each of the above compositions.
EXAMPLES 4-6
[0037] To prepare container candles, the ingredients of the candle compositions shown below were charged to a heated mixing vessel and warmed with stirring until a homogeneous melt was obtained. The melt was then discharged into glass vase candle molds each containing a cotton wick, allowed to cool and solidify, and allowed to remain in the molds for ultimate use.
[0038] The ingredients of the compositions given in parts by weight were as follows:
Example 4 5 6 Hydrogenated dimer acid 35 35 35 based polyamide resin (note 1) 2-ethylhexyl stearate 28 28 none isotridecyl stearate none none 28 oleyl alcohol 12 12 12 polypropylene glycol monostearate 12 12 12 fatty acid bis-amide m.p. ca 120ƒ C 5 5 none (note 2) Hydroxyoctadecyl alcohol (note 4) none none 5 Fragrance 5 5 5 Polysorbate 60 (emulsifier) 1.5 1.5 1.5 BHT Antioxidant 0.005 0.005 0.005 Ultraviolet absorber 0.1 0.1 0.1
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A clear transparent candle, which can be scented, is made of a novel composition comprising at least one polyamide resin; at least one aliphatic acid alkyl ester having 16 to 40 carbon atoms total in the acid and alcohol moieties thereof; at least one unsaturated alcohol having 11 to 20 carbon atoms; at least one polyether diol ester; at least one drying agent selected from the group consisting of saturated alcohols having 14 to 22 carbon atoms, fatty acid amides, and fatty acid bis-amides in specified ranges of proportions, 0 to 3 parts by weight of at least one emulsifier, 0 to 10 parts by weight of at least one fragrance and 0 to 1 part by weight of at least one preservative. The candle can stand alone or be in a container.
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Content delivery services consume substantial network resources, particularly when such services are deployed on a large scale (i.e., the number of subscribers are in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions). For example, video content is traditionally delivered via broadcasting, in which a video operator transmits video to a multitude of receiving devices, each of which renders the content on video equipment, such as televisions or other displays. New services rely on delivery of content to a unique subscriber or a group of such subscribers. When the subscriber finishes viewing the content, for example by switching to another video channel or by turning off the receiving equipment, the operator network ceases sending the content. Consequently, bandwidth is made available, and thus, can be reallocated for other purposes. However, reallocation is not possible if the subscriber leaves the receiving equipment (e.g., set-top box) on, even though the subscriber is no longer interested in the content. Under such a scenario, network resources, e.g., bandwidth, is unnecessarily utilized.
Therefore, there is a need for providing video content delivery, while minimizing waste of network resources.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Various exemplary embodiments are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which:
FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system for providing multimedia content to a user, according to an exemplary embodiment;
FIG. 2 is a diagram of an exemplary process for shutting down a video broadcast;
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the interaction between a set-top box and the video platform, according to an exemplary embodiment;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process for shutting down a video broadcast or shutting down the video source to the receiver, according to an exemplary embodiment;
FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a process for shutting down a video broadcast from the user's perspective, according to an exemplary embodiment; and
FIG. 6 is a diagram of a computer system that can be used to implement various exemplary embodiments.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
A preferred apparatus, method, and system of halting content delivery based on non-detection of user input are described. In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the preferred embodiments of the invention. It is apparent, however, that the preferred embodiments may be practiced without these specific details or with an equivalent arrangement. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the preferred embodiments of the invention.
Although various exemplary embodiments are described with respect to a set-top box (STB), it is contemplated that these embodiments have applicability to any device capable of receiving and processing audio-video (AV) signals for presentation to a user, such as a home communication terminal (HCT), a digital home communication terminal (DHCT), a video-enabled phone, an AV-enabled personal digital assistant (PDA), and/or a personal computer (PC), as well as other like technologies and customer premises equipment (CPE). Further, although various exemplary embodiments are described with respect to video content with associated audio, it is contemplated that these embodiments have applicability to other content (e.g., images, text, multi-media, etc.) as well.
FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system for providing video content to a user, according to an exemplary embodiment. For the purposes of illustration, a system 100 for providing video content to a user is described with respect to a service provider network 101 including one or more service providers as television broadcast systems (e.g., cable television networks) 103 and content providers 105 . It is contemplated that system 100 may embody many forms and include multiple and/or alternative components and facilities. Furthermore, video content is contemplated broadly to include a wide range of media. Video content can include any audio-video content (e.g., broadcast television programs, on-demand programs, pay-per-view programs, IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) feeds, data communication services content (e.g., commercials, advertisements, videos, movies, etc.), Internet-based content (e.g., streamed video) and/or any other equivalent media form.
In addition, system 100 includes a data network 107 , a wireless network 109 , and a telephony network 111 . It is contemplated that the data network 107 may be any local area network (LAN), metropolitan area network (MAN), wide area network (WAN), the Internet, or any other suitable packet-switched network, such as a commercially owned, proprietary packet-switched network, e.g., a proprietary cable or fiber-optic network. In addition, the wireless network 109 may be, for example, a cellular network and may employ various technologies including code division multiple access (CDMA), enhanced data rates for global evolution (EDGE), general packet radio service (GPRS), global system for mobile communications (GSM), Internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS), universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), etc., as well as any other suitable wireless medium, e.g., microwave access (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, wireless fidelity (WiFi), satellite, and the like.
These networks 107 - 111 , in conjunction with service provider network 101 , can support various multimedia sessions containing a variety of video programs (e.g., television broadcasts, on-demand videos, etc.). Video platform 113 provides the capability to determine whether users have stopped watching the content, to shut down the receiver, to cease transmission of the content, and to reallocate the bandwidth. This approach stems from the recognition that network resources are wasted when users (or subscribers) are no longer interested in viewing the delivered content, but do not bother to deactivate the receiving equipment. As such, the operator's network will assume that the subscriber is still viewing the content and will continue broadcasting. Some traditional approaches to addressing this issue include transmitting a notification to the user for alerting the user that broadcast of the content will halt (or cease). However, these notifications disrupt the user experience. For example, the subscriber can be viewing a critical moment in a sporting event, and is interrupted with this message, causing the viewer to miss this important moment. Such experience can infuriate the subscriber, who may then complain to the service provider or worse seek to terminate the service.
Unlike traditional systems, video platform 113 monitors video receiving equipment (e.g., set-top boxes 115 , end terminals 119 , 121 and 123 ) for user input, sends a non-disruptive notification to the user that the video broadcast will cease. The video platform 113 can then halt the video broadcast to the user and transmits control signals to shutdown these receiving devices, if no user input is detected (i.e., non-detection of user input) within a predetermined, configurable time period. Non-disruptive notification, for example, can encompass any form of notification that does not hide a significant portion of the displayed video content, interrupt the displayed video content, and/or interrupt audio content.
It is recognized that users at times, for example, periodically manipulate the volume control based on the particular scenes of the video broadcast. That is, during a scene in which the viewer wants to hear a dialogue better (i.e., louder) or the scene has the viewer's favorite music, such viewer would be inclined to increase the volume. Moreover, at times, the scene can involve acutely loud audio, such as a explosion or undesirable music. Consequently, the viewer would likely reduce the volume. Therefore, in one embodiment, a mechanism is devised to subtly reduce or increase the volume so as to force a reaction by the viewer without the viewer being aware of the reduction. In this manner, the viewer is not even aware that there has been an attempt by the network to halt the video delivery.
As seen in FIG. 1 , the video platform 113 has connectivity to set-top boxes 115 a and 115 b via service provider network 101 and data network 107 , respectively. Video equipment 117 a and 117 b may provide to the user a display of the video content supplied to STBs 115 a and 115 b , respectively. Video equipment 117 a and 117 b for instance may be a television or a computer monitor, or any equivalent display device capable of being turned off separately from the receiving equipment. The platform 113 also has connectivity to end terminal 119 via data network 107 , end terminal 121 via wireless network 109 , and end terminal 123 via telephony network 111 .
For example, end terminal 119 may be any computing device (e.g., Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), personal computer, laptop, etc.) or communication device (e.g., a video conferencing terminal), or a digital home communication terminal (DHCT). End terminal 121 may be any video-enabled mobile device (e.g., a mobile handset, video-capable cellular telephone, etc.). Furthermore, end terminal 123 may, for instance, include a home communication terminal (HCT) or any other telephonic device.
STBs 115 a - 115 b and/or end terminals 119 - 123 can communicate using data network 107 , wireless network 109 , and/or telephony network 111 . These systems can include: a public data network (e.g., the Internet), various intranets, local area networks (LAN), wide area networks (WAN), the public switched telephony network (PSTN), integrated services digital networks (ISDN), other private packet switched networks or telephony networks, as well as any additional equivalent system or combination thereof. These networks may employ various access technologies including cable networks, satellite networks, subscriber television networks, digital subscriber line (DSL) networks, optical fiber networks, hybrid fiber-coax networks, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) networks, Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, wireless fidelity (WiFi) networks, other wireless networks (e.g., 3G wireless broadband networks, mobile television networks, radio networks, etc.), terrestrial broadcasting networks, Hybrid Fiber Coax network, provider specific networks (e.g., a Verizon® FiOS network, a TIVO™ network, an AT&T UVerse network, etc), and the like. Such networks may also utilize any suitable protocol supportive of data communications, e.g., DSMCC, or other proprietary protocol, transmission control protocol (TCP), Internet protocol (IP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext markup language (HTML), dynamic HTML (DHTML), file transfer protocol (FTP), telnet, hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), wireless application protocol (WAP), socket connection (e.g., secure sockets layer (SSL)), Ethernet, frame relay, and the like, to connect STBs 115 a - 115 b and/or end terminals 119 - 123 to the video platform 113 and to various sources of video content.
Although depicted in FIG. 1 as separate networks, data network 107 , wireless network 109 , and/or telephony network 111 may be completely or partially contained within service provider network 101 . For example, service provider network 101 may include facilities to provide for transport of packet-based, wireless, and/or telephony communications. In particular embodiments, service provider network 101 can include a switched video network such as a switched Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) or an IPTV system (not shown) configured to support the transmission of television video programs from television broadcast systems 103 as well as other video content, such as media content from the various third-party content providers 105 utilizing MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) or other video transport streams. An IPTV system may additionally encapsulate the MPEG or other transport streams in IP packets. That is, the IPTV system may deliver signals and/or video content in the form of IP packets. Further, the transmission network (e.g., service provider network 101 ) may optionally support end-to-end data encryption in conjunction with the delivery of video content.
In this manner, the use of IP permits video content to be integrated with broadband Internet services, and thus, share common connections to a user site. Also, IP packets can be more readily manipulated, and therefore, provide users with greater flexibility in terms of control, as well as offer superior methods for increasing the availability of video content. Delivery of video content, by way of example, may be through a multicast from the IPTV or switched digital system to the STBs 115 a - 115 b and end terminals 119 - 123 . Any individual STB or end terminal may tune to a particular video source by requesting such video source from the service provider 101 , or simply joining a multicast (or unicast) of the video content utilizing an IP group membership protocol (IGMP). For instance, the IGMP v2 protocol may be employed for joining STBs to new multicast (or unicast) groups. Such a manner of delivery avoids the need for expensive tuners to view video content, such as television broadcasts; however, other delivery methods, such as directly modulated carriers (e.g., national television systems committee (NTSC), advanced television systems committee (ATSC), quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)), may still be utilized. It is noted that conventional delivery methods may also be implemented and combined with the advanced methods of system 100 . Further, the video content may be provided to various IP-enabled devices, such as the computing, telephony, and mobile apparatuses previously delineated.
While system 100 is illustrated in FIG. 1 , the exemplary components are not intended to be limiting, and indeed, additional or alternative components and/or implementations may be utilized.
FIG. 2 is a diagram of an exemplary process for ending a video broadcast and shutting down an STB. STB 115 a requests video content from a service provider at step 201 . Video platform 113 transmits the requested video to the STB 115 a at step 203 . Video equipment, such as a television or monitor, may be connected to STB 115 a for displaying the video content to a user (viewer). In step 205 , video platform 113 monitors STB 115 a for input from the user. Such input may include changing to another video channel or turning off the STB. While monitoring STB 115 a , video platform 113 determines an elapsed time (step 207 ). If the elapsed time reaches a predetermined value with no input from the user, video platform 113 transmits a control signal to the STB 115 a at step 209 . The signal may be an instruction to raise or lower the volume of the video content displayed on the user's video equipment. In certain embodiments, the level of reduction or increase is subtle (e.g., users are not conscious or is unaware) as to provoke the viewer to react to the change without the viewer realizing the controls are being manipulated; that is, there is no explicit notification to the user about the change. The signal may instruct the STB 115 a to gradually or incrementally change the volume to a muted level, or to another preset level, over a predetermined time period. Typically, if the user does not react, it is assumed the viewer is no longer interested in the video content (e.g., user is asleep, left the room, etc.). Because the change may be too subtle for some viewers, an incremental change can be effected, whereby the volume is manipulated in a stepped fashion.
Alternatively, the signal may also include an instruction to display a visual indication of a change in volume. At step 211 , video platform 113 again monitors for user input in response to the control signal. While monitoring STB 115 a , video platform 113 once again determines the elapsed time (step 213 ). If the second period of elapsed time reaches a predetermined value, at step 215 video platform 113 ceases transmission of the video content and transmits a command to the STB 115 a to shut down. Multiple iterations of steps 209 , 211 and 213 , may be conducted according to retry logic algorithms of the shutdown module 301 in video platform 113 prior to proceeding to ceasing the transmission of video content in step 215 . Further details of the video platform 113 are described with respect to FIG. 3 .
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the interaction between STB 115 a and a video platform 113 , according to an exemplary embodiment. Video platform 113 transmits video content to STB 115 a . Video platform 113 includes a device shut down module 301 , which monitors STB 115 a for user input and may include a timer (or counter) module 302 for determining the amount of time that has elapsed since prior action by the user. Alternatively, the device shut down module 301 may receive an indication from the STB 115 a that a certain time period has expired since a prior detection of user input. In one embodiment, a control signal and a subsequent shutdown signal are generated by shutdown module 301 and transmitted to STB 115 a . The shutdown signal, in one embodiment, informs the STB 115 a about the termination of the video source, thereby permitting the STB 115 a to perform any necessary functions, including powering itself off. A presentation module 302 provides the video content to the display 304 for presentation to the user.
In certain embodiments, STB 115 a includes a presentation change module 303 for generating signals to change or modify the presentation of the content (e.g., reduce volume) and/or to alert the user about potential shutdown of the STB 115 a . The presentation change module 303 can effect the shutdown by controlling a power module 306 of the STB 115 a . STB 115 a also includes an input interface 308 for receiving input from a user via a remote controller 310 or other input devices (e.g., keypad on the STB 115 a ); the input interface 308 operates in conjunction with the presentation change module 303 to monitor for user input. Input interface 308 may support any type of wired and/or wireless link, e.g., infrared, radio frequency (RF), BLUETOOTH, and the like.
Presentation change module 303 includes a mechanism for detecting user input received via the input interface 308 as well as a mechanism for determining the time interval since a prior user input; such timing mechanism can include a timer or a counter, for example. Moreover, presentation change module 303 can include a signal generator for generating and sending a signal to video platform 113 requesting instructions when no user input has been detected within a certain period of time. Alternatively or additionally, presentation change module 303 may include a sleep timer function for automatically shutting down after a programmed period of time has elapsed. Module 303 receives control signal and shutdown signal from video platform 113 .
By way of example, the module 303 can interact with volume controller 305 and/or visual display controller 307 to produce the notification to the user. Although the visual display controller 307 is shown as a separate module, it is noted that such controller 307 can be a part of the presentation module 302 , according to an alternative embodiment. The presentation change module 303 can signal to volume controller 305 to either increase or decrease the volume of the program; in addition to or alternatively, the visual display controller 307 can be instructed to present a visual indicator, such as a series of bars, relating to the volume control. It is contemplated that any visual indicator can be utilized, and can be independent of the volume. This volume adjustment and/or visual representation of a volume change serves as a precursor for the eventual power down (i.e., off) of the STB 115 a or simply termination of the video source to the STB 115 a . Presentation change module 303 may initiate the shutdown in response to a signal from video platform 113 and/or at the expiration of the timer within the presentation change module 303 . In one embodiment, the video platform 113 itself can employ a timing mechanism via timer module 312 ; consequently, the set-top box 115 a need not possess a timer.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process for ceasing a video broadcast and shutting down the receiver or shutting down the video source to the receiver, according to an exemplary embodiment. The process begins with STB 115 a activating a timer upon detection some activity. In step 401 , STB 115 a determines whether an input has been received from the user since the initial input; such subsequent input (e.g., signals emitting from depressing or activating a button on a remote control device or on a keypad on the STB 115 a ) is indicative of the fact that the user is still viewing presented content. If no user input has been received, STB 115 a determines whether a predetermined time period has been exceeded at step 403 . If the predetermined time period has not elapsed, the process continues to monitor for user input. If, on the other hand, the predetermined period of time has passed with no input from the user, STB 115 a generates a notification to video platform 113 that no action has been detected by the user (step 405 ).
In step 407 , the STB 115 a receives a control signal from video platform 113 in response to the notification. It is contemplated that the control signal may be, for example, an instruction to change the volume of the audio portion of content presented to the user, e.g., to a substantially muted level or to an undesirably high level, to invoke an action (e.g., turning up or down the volume) by the user. The user need not be aware of this control signal. It is contemplated that the volume change may occur either gradually to a predetermined level over a set period of time or may occur incrementally. For example, the volume level can be modified in two phases, in which the first phase involves a minor change in volume and the second phase is a major change in the same direction after a particular time interval. It is noted that the both phases can be subtle or not readily perceived by the viewer. However, subsequent phases (if implemented), the change in the content (e.g., volume) can be noticeable.
Namely, in one embodiment, STB 115 a provides an explicit indication to the user based on the received signal at step 409 . The indication to the user may be a noticeable or dramatic change in the volume of the presented content. As noted previously, in addition, the indication to the user may include a visual representation of a change in volume, such as a bar graph illustrating the current volume.
Once the STB 115 a provides the indication subtly or noticeably (i.e., explicitly) to the user, monitoring may occur for detection of a response from the user, such as pressing the volume control button on a remote control for the video equipment. If no such response is detected within a predetermined time period, the STB 115 a may generate a second notification to the video platform 113 . It is contemplated that the STB 115 a may await shutdown, further instructions from video platform 113 , or may automatically request termination of the video source from video platform 113 to the STB 115 a . The STB 115 a may perform additional functions, such as shutdown, in accordance with a sleep timer, for instance. In response to the notification, video platform 113 may signal STB 115 a to shutdown or perform a different function and may cease transmission of video content to STB 115 a , making bandwidth available for reallocation.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a process for ceasing a video broadcast and shutting down the receiver or requesting the receiver to perform another function from the standpoint of video platform 113 , according to an exemplary embodiment. The process begins with monitoring for user input. If no input is received from a user at step 501 , video platform 113 determines at step 503 whether a predetermined time period has been exceeded. If not, the process returns to step 501 to continue monitoring for user input. If the time period has expired at step 503 , video platform 113 , at step 505 , generates a control signal and transmits the signal to STB 115 a . It is contemplated that the signal may be an instruction for the STB to alter the volume of content presented to the user either gradually over a predefined time interval or as a series of two or more incremental changes. Further, the signal may include an instruction to visually indicate to the user that the volume of the content is being changed.
Once the control signal is transmitted to STB 115 a , video platform 113 monitors for a response from the user at step 507 . If the user responds, i.e., user input is detected, the process returns to start and monitoring for user input begins again with a new timer. Action by the user indicates that the subscriber is still viewing the video content. If no action is taken by the user, i.e., no user input is detected, video platform 113 determines if multiple time periods has been exceeded, as in step 509 . If the Nth time period (N being an integer) is still running, video platform 113 returns to step 507 and continues monitoring for a response from the user. The value N can be set depending on the particular application and user requirements, for example. If the time period has elapsed, video platform 113 generates a termination of video signal at step 511 , ceases transmitting the video content, and reallocates the bandwidth.
Although FIG. 5 shows steps 507 through 511 being performed by the video platform, it is contemplated that the second monitoring and timing steps may instead be performed by STB 115 a . For example, video platform 113 may transmit with the control signal in step 505 an enable signal to enable a sleep timer. STB 115 a may then monitor for user input. If user input is detected before the expiration of the sleep timer, STB 115 a either may be programmed to disable the sleep timer automatically and to notify video platform 113 to cease transmission of the video content or may notify video platform 113 and await instructions to disable the sleep timer. In either event, in response to the notification from STB 115 a , video platform 113 ceases transmissions to STB 115 a and reallocate the bandwidth.
The processes described herein for halting content delivery based on detection of user input may be implemented via software, hardware (e.g., general processor, Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chip, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), etc.), firmware or a combination thereof. Such exemplary hardware for performing the described functions is detailed below.
FIG. 6 illustrates computing hardware (e.g., computer system) upon which an embodiment according to the invention can be implemented. The computer system 600 includes a bus 601 or other communication mechanism for communicating information and a processor 603 coupled to the bus 601 for processing information. The computer system 600 also includes main memory 605 , such as random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, coupled to the bus 601 for storing information and instructions to be executed by the processor 603 . Main memory 605 also can be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions by the processor 603 . The computer system 600 may further include a read only memory (ROM) 607 or other static storage device coupled to the bus 601 for storing static information and instructions for the processor 603 . A storage device 609 , such as a magnetic disk or optical disk, is coupled to the bus 601 for persistently storing information and instructions.
The computer system 600 may be coupled via the bus 601 to a display 611 , such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), liquid crystal display, active matrix display, or plasma display, for displaying information to a computer user. An input device 613 , such as a keyboard including alphanumeric and other keys, is coupled to the bus 601 for communicating information and command selections to the processor 603 . Another type of user input device is a cursor control 615 , such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys, for communicating direction information and command selections to the processor 603 and for controlling cursor movement on the display 611 .
According to an embodiment of the invention, the processes described herein are performed by the computer system 600 , in response to the processor 603 executing an arrangement of instructions contained in main memory 605 . Such instructions can be read into main memory 605 from another computer-readable medium, such as the storage device 609 . Execution of the arrangement of instructions contained in main memory 605 causes the processor 603 to perform the process steps described herein. One or more processors in a multi-processing arrangement may also be employed to execute the instructions contained in main memory 605 . In alternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement the embodiment of the invention. Thus, embodiments of the invention are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.
The computer system 600 also includes a communication interface 617 coupled to bus 601 . The communication interface 617 provides a two-way data communication coupling to a network link 619 connected to a local network 621 . For example, the communication interface 617 may be a digital subscriber line (DSL) card or modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card, a cable modem, a telephone modem, a Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) or Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) signaling interface, or any other communication interface to provide a data communication connection to a corresponding type of communication line. As another example, communication interface 617 may be a local area network (LAN) card (e.g. for Ethernet™ or an Asynchronous Transfer Model (ATM) network) to provide a data communication connection to a compatible LAN. Wireless links can also be implemented. In any such implementation, communication interface 617 sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic, or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information. Further, the communication interface 617 can include peripheral interface devices, such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, a PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) interface, etc. Although a single communication interface 617 is depicted in FIG. 6 , multiple communication interfaces can also be employed.
The network link 619 typically provides data communication through one or more networks to other data devices. For example, the network link 619 may provide a connection through local network 621 to a host computer 623 , which has connectivity to a network 625 (e.g. a wide area network (WAN) or the global packet data communication network now commonly referred to as the “Internet”) or to data equipment operated by a service provider. The local network 621 and the network 625 both use electrical, electromagnetic, or optical signals to convey information and instructions. The signals through the various networks and the signals on the network link 619 and through the communication interface 617 , which communicate digital data with the computer system 600 , are exemplary forms of carrier waves bearing the information and instructions.
The computer system 600 can send messages and receive data, including program code, through the network(s), the network link 619 , and the communication interface 617 . In the Internet example, a server (not shown) might transmit requested code belonging to an application program for implementing an embodiment of the invention through the network 625 , the local network 621 and the communication interface 617 . The processor 603 may execute the transmitted code while being received and/or store the code in the storage device 609 , or other non-volatile storage for later execution. In this manner, the computer system 600 may obtain application code in the form of a carrier wave.
The term “computer-readable medium” as used herein refers to any medium that participates in providing instructions to the processor 603 for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as the storage device 609 . Volatile media include dynamic memory, such as main memory 605 . Transmission media include coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise the bus 601 . Transmission media can also take the form of acoustic, optical, or electromagnetic waves, such as those generated during radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) data communications. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, CDRW, DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, optical mark sheets, any other physical medium with patterns of holes or other optically recognizable indicia, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave, or any other medium from which a computer can read.
Various forms of computer-readable media may be involved in providing instructions to a processor for execution. For example, the instructions for carrying out at least part of the embodiments of the invention may initially be borne on a magnetic disk of a remote computer. In such a scenario, the remote computer loads the instructions into main memory and sends the instructions over a telephone line using a modem. A modem of a local computer system receives the data on the telephone line and uses an infrared transmitter to convert the data to an infrared signal and transmit the infrared signal to a portable computing device, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) or a laptop. An infrared detector on the portable computing device receives the information and instructions borne by the infrared signal and places the data on a bus. The bus conveys the data to main memory, from which a processor retrieves and executes the instructions. The instructions received by main memory can optionally be stored on storage device either before or after execution by processor.
While certain exemplary embodiments and implementations have been described herein, other embodiments and modifications will be apparent from this description. Accordingly, the invention is not limited to such embodiments, but rather to the broader scope of the presented claims and various obvious modifications and equivalent arrangements.
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An approach is provided for determining if video content provided to a device is still being viewed, without disrupting the presentation of the content. A device is monitored for input from the user, wherein the device is configured to present content to the user. A determination is made whether the user input is within a predetermined time period. A control signal is generated to change the presentation of the content without explicitly notifying the user of the change, wherein the presentation of content will cease if the user input is not within the predetermined period.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a method of making a titanium alloy article, and more particularly to a method of making a titanium alloy article by plastically deforming at room temperature and/or polishing the surface thereof to has an average surface roughness less than about 0.1 μm. The titanium alloy article can be a dental casting or a medical implant.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Due to its lightweight, high strength-to-weight ratio, low elastic modulus, superior chemical corrosion resistance, and excellent mechanical properties at high temperature up to 550° C., titanium and its alloys have been widely used on aerospace, chemical, sports, and marine industries. Their superior biocompatibility also makes them ideal as the primary materials used in dental and osteological restorations or implants, such as artificial bone pins, bone plates, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees and other joints, and dental orthopraxy lines.
[0003] A number of methods for fabricating titanium and its alloys with a desired shape have been developed. However, the titanium alloy, for example Ti-6Al-4V, is very difficult to be cold worked, i.e. the cold-worked titanium alloy has poorer mechanical properties or the cold-worked titanium alloy cracks after cold working.
[0004] Precision casting has the advantage that the cast produced has a near net shape, which greatly decreases the titanium fabrication cost. Also, precision casting is particularly suitable for producing objects with a small volume, high size accuracy, and complicated shape, for example in dental and osteological fields. Titanium is inherently difficult to cast due to its high melting point and high reactivity. Its low density is another problem in casting.
[0005] U.S. Pat. No. 6,572,815B1 discloses a technique to improve the castability of pure titanium by doping an alloying metal in an amount of 0.01 to 3 wt %, preferably 0.5 to 3 wt %, and more preferably about 1 wt %. Among various alloying metals used in this application bismuth is found the most promising element.
[0006] US patent publication No. 2004-0136859 A1 discloses a technique to improve the castability of titanium alloys by doping an alloying metal in an amount of 0.01 to 3 wt %, preferably 0.5 to 3 wt %, and more preferably about 1 wt % of bismuth, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
[0007] U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,465 discloses a free-cutting Ti alloy. The basic alloy composition of this free-cutting Ti alloy essentially consists of at least one of S: 0.001-10%, Se: 0.001-10% and Te: 0.001-10%; REM: 0.01-10%; and one or both of Ca: 0.001-10% and B: 0.005-5%; and the balance substantially Ti. The Ti alloy includes one or more of Ti—S (Se, Te) compounds, Ca—S (Se, Te) compounds, REM-S (Se, Te) compounds and their complex compounds as inclusions to improve machinability. Some optional elements can be added to above basic composition. Also disclosed are methods of producing the above free-cutting Ti alloy and a specific Ti alloy which is a particularly suitable material for connecting rods. Bismuth up to 10% was suggested in this free-cutting Ti alloy. However, there is no teaching as to the improvement of castability or reducing surface tension of pure titanium or a titanium alloy.
[0008] U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,762 discloses an age hardenable beta titanium alloy having exceptional high temperature strength properties in combination with an essential lack of combustibility. In its basic form the alloy contains chromium, vanadium and titanium the nominal composition of the basic alloy being defined by three points on the ternary titanium-vanadium-chromium phase diagram: Ti-22V-13Cr, Ti-22V-36Cr, and Ti-40V-13% Cr. The alloys of the invention are comprised of the beta phase under all the temperature conditions, have strengths much in excess of the prior art high strength alloys in combination with excellent creep properties, and are nonburning under conditions encountered in gas turbine engine compressor sections. Bismuth up to 1.5% was suggested in this age hardenable beta titanium alloy. However, there is no teaching as to the improvement of castability or reducing surface tension of pure titanium or a titanium alloy.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] A primary object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of making a titanium alloy article by cold working.
[0010] Another object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of making a titanium alloy article by casting a titanium alloy composition with an improved castability, and cold working.
[0011] Another object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of making a titanium alloy article having an enhanced fatigue life.
[0012] The present invention includes (but not limited to) the following preferred embodiments:
[0013] 1. A method of making an article of a titanium alloy comprising
[0014] i) quenching a work piece, which is made of a titanium alloy composition comprising a) about 0.01-5 wt % Bi based on the weight of the composition; b) at least one alloy element selected from the group consisting of Mo, Nb, Ta, Zr and Hf; and c) the balance Ti, having a temperature higher than a beta transition temperature of said titanium alloy composition to a temperature lower than 500° C. at an average cooling rate greater than 10° C./second between the beta transition temperature and 500° C., so that the quenched work piece contains P phase with a body-centered cubic crystal structure as a major phase; and ii) plastically deforming the quenched work piece.
[0015] 2. The method of Item 1, wherein said cooling rate is greater than 25° C./second.
[0016] 3. The method of Item 1, wherein the work piece to be quenched in step i) has a thickness less than 1.0 cm.
[0017] 4. The method of Item 1, wherein the work piece to be quenched in step i) has a thickness less than 0.5 cm.
[0018] 5. The method of Item 3, wherein said average cooling rate is greater than 25° C./second.
[0019] 6. The method of Item 1 further comprising iii) heating the deformed work piece to a temperature higher than 500° C.; and iv) cooling the heated deformed work piece.
[0020] 7. The method of Item 1, wherein the work piece has a temperature of 800-1200° C. before said quenching in step i).
[0021] 8. The method of Item 1, wherein said plastically deforming in step ii) is carried out at room temperature.
[0022] 9. The method of Item 1, wherein said titanium alloy composition comprises 0.1-3 wt % Bi.
[0023] 10. The method of Item 9, wherein said titanium alloy composition further comprises at least one eutectoid beta stabilizing element selected from the group consisting of Fe, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Ag, Au, Pd, Si and Sn.
[0024] 11. The method of Item 9, wherein said titanium alloy composition consists essentially of 0.1-3 wt % Bi, 10-50 wt % of at least one alloy element selected from the group consisting of Mo, Nb, Ta, Zr and Hf, based on the weight of the composition, and the balance Ti.
[0025] 12. The method of Item 11, wherein said titanium alloy composition consists essentially of 0.5-1.5 wt % Bi, 10-20 wt % of Mo, based on the weight of the composition, and the balance Ti.
[0026] 13. The method of Item 11, wherein said titanium alloy composition consists essentially of about 1 wt % Bi, about 15 wt % of Mo, based on the weight of the composition, and the balance Ti.
[0027] 14. The method of Item 6 further comprising v) polishing the cooled work piece so that a surface of the polished work piece has an average surface roughness less than about 0.1 μm.
[0028] 15. The method of Item 1 further comprising polishing the plastically deformed work piece so that a surface of the polished work piece has an average surface roughness less than about 0.1 μm.
[0029] 16. The method of Item 1, wherein said article is a dental casting.
[0030] 17. The method of Item 1, wherein said article is a medical implant.
[0031] 18. A method of making an article of a titanium alloy comprising
[0032] I) quenching a work piece, which is made of a titanium alloy composition comprising a) about 0.01-5 wt % Bi based on the weight of the composition; b) at least one alloy element selected from the group consisting of Mo, Nb, Ta, Zr and Hf; and c) the balance Ti, having a temperature higher than a beta transition temperature of said titanium alloy composition to a temperature lower than 500° C. at an average cooling rate greater than 10° C./second between the beta transition temperature and 500° C., so that the quenched work piece contains β phase with a body-centered cubic crystal structure as a major phase; and II) polishing the quenched work piece so that a surface of the polished work piece has an average surface roughness less than about 0.1 μm.
[0033] 19. The method of Item 18, wherein said titanium alloy composition further comprises at least one eutectoid beta stabilizing element selected from the group consisting of Fe, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Ag, Au, Pd, Si and Sn.
[0034] 20. The method of Item 18, wherein said titanium alloy composition consists essentially of 0.1-3 wt % Bi, 10-50 wt % of at least one alloy element selected from the group consisting of Mo, Nb, Ta, Zr and Hf, based on the weight of the composition, and the balance Ti.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0035] The invention will be described in conjunction with the following drawings wherein:
[0036] FIG. 1 shows X-ray diffraction spectra of the specimens of Ti-15Mo-1Bi alloy subjected separately to water quenching, liquid nitrogen quenching, air cooling and furnace cooling, at a scanning speed of 3°/min;
[0037] FIG. 2 is a plot showing the average cooling rates between 1000-300° C. of the specimens of Ti-15Mo-1Bi alloy shown in FIG. 1 ;
[0038] FIG. 3 is a plot showing the bending strength of the specimens of as-cast Ti-15Mo, as-cast Ti-15Mo-1Bi, as-rolled Ti-15Mo-1Bi, cold-rolled/annealed (5 min at 650° C.) Ti-15Mo—Bi, cold-rolled/annealed (5 min at 750° C.) Ti-15Mo-1Bi, cold-rolled/annealed (5 min at 850° C.) Ti-15Mo-1Bi, cold-rolled/annealed (5 min at 900° C.) Ti-15Mo-1Bi, and cold-rolled/annealed (5 min at 950° C.) Ti-15Mo-1Bi;
[0039] FIG. 4 is a plot showing the elastic modulus of the specimens of as-cast Ti-15Mo, as-cast Ti-15Mo-1Bi, as-rolled Ti-15Mo-1Bi, cold-rolled/annealed (5 min at 650° C.) Ti-15Mo-1Bi, cold-rolled/annealed (5 min at 750° C.) Ti-15Mo-1Bi, cold-rolled/annealed (5 min at 850° C.) Ti-15Mo-1Bi, cold-rolled/annealed (5 min at 900° C.) Ti-15Mo-1Bi, and cold-rolled/annealed (5 min at 950° C.) Ti-15Mo-1Bi;
[0040] FIG. 5 is a plot showing the ultimate tensile strength (UTS), yield strength (YS) and elongation of the specimens of as-cast Ti-15Mo-1Bi, as-rolled Ti-15Mo-1Bi, cold-rolled/annealed (5 min at 650° C.) Ti-15Mo-1Bi, and cold-rolled/annealed (1 min at 900° C.) Ti-15Mo-1Bi; and
[0041] FIG. 6 is a plot showing the tensile modulus of the specimens of as-cast Ti-15Mo-1Bi, as-rolled Ti-15Mo-1Bi, cold-rolled/annealed (5 min at 650° C.) Ti-15Mo-1Bi, and cold-rolled/annealed (1 min at 900° C.) Ti-15Mo-1Bi.
[0042] FIG. 7 is a plot showing the fatigue lives (numbers of cycles to failure) of cold-rolled (78% reduction in thickness)/annealed (900° C., 1 min) Ti-15Mo-1Bi specimens with different surface roughness values at 900 MPa loading.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0043] The inventors of the present application find that Ti-15Mo, though being a beta phase alloy, cannot withstand excess cold metal working (plastic deformation). With addition of 1 wt % Bi, not only the castability of the alloy is largely improved (as shown in US patent publication No. 2004-0136859 Al application), it is discovered in this invention that its workability (especially cold workability—which is very critical for industrial application/fabrication) can also be dramatically improved. Further, this excellent cold workability is critically dependent on the cooling rate of Ti-15Mo—Bi alloy, i.e. the phase structure thereof. Therefore, the Ti-15Mo—Bi alloy must have a configuration, e.g. thickness, enabling a fast cooling rate to obtain the desired β phase of the cooled Ti-15Mo—Bi alloy. In one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the specimens of Ti-15Mo-1Bi alloy were heated to a temperature higher than its beta transition temperature (about 850° C.), and cooled with water quenching, liquid nitrogen quenching, air cooling and furnace cooling to provide different cooling rates, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) for phase analysis of the cooled specimens was conducted.
[0044] Compared with Ti-6Al-4V (the most popularly-used Ti alloy for medical implant), Ti-15Mo-1Bi (cold-worked or cold-worked/annealed) has at least following advantages:
[0045] (a) More biocompatible (without Al and V—especially V).
[0046] (b) Ti-15Mo-1Bi exhibits excellent cold workability. On the other hand, Ti-6Al-4V cannot be cold-worked but has to be hot-worked (typically at 900-1000° C.), that largely limits its applications and increases complexity and cost in processing.
[0047] (c) Thermomechanically-treated Ti-15Mo-1Bi demonstrates a similar (or even higher) mechanical strength with an acceptable (for cold-worked alloy) or higher (cold-worked and annealed alloy) elongation.
[0048] Metal working methods include (but not limited to) such common methods as rolling, forging, swaging, drawing, and extrusion, etc.
[0049] Preferred embodiments according to the present invention will be described in the following examples that are intended as illustrative only since numerous modifications and variations therein will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
EXAMPLE 1
[0050] Ti-15Mo-1Bi alloy (15 wt % Mo and 1 wt % Bi) was prepared from a commercially pure titanium (c.p. Ti) bar, molybdenum of 99.95% and bismuth of 99.5% in purity using a commercial arc-melting vacuum-pressure type casting system (Castmatic, Iwatani Corp., Japan). The melting chamber was first evacuated and purged with argon. An argon pressure of 1.5 kgf/cm 2 was maintained during melting. Appropriate amounts of the c.p. Ti bar, molybdenum and bismuth were melted in a U-shaped copper hearth with a tungsten electrode. The ingot was re-melted three times to improve chemical homogeneity.
[0051] A specimen having an outer diameter of 7 mm and a length of 29 mm was prepared from the Ti-15Mo-1Bi alloy, at one end of which was further provided with a hole having a diameter of 3.5 mm and a depth of 12 mm for mounting a K-type thermocouple therein. A titanium in the form of a sponge was received in a quartz tube and fixed at a bottom thereof by a quartz cap, and the specimen equipped with the thermocouple was inserted into the quartz tube and hermetically mounted inside the quartz tube with one end of the thermocouple being connected to a temperature recorder (Sekonic SS-250F, Sekonic, Japan). The quartz tube at the sealed end was further equipped with a vacuum pump, and a vacuum meter. The quartz tube was vacuumed for five minutes, and placed in an air furnace (S19, Nabertherm®, Germany) preheated at 1000° C. for 30 minutes. The quartz tube was removed from the air furnace, and the specimen together with the thermal couple was subjected to water quenching, liquid nitrogen quenching or air cooling. The average cooling rates recorded are shown in FIG. 1 and Table 1, in which the average cooling rate of a furnace-cooled specimen is also shown.
[0052] X-ray diffraction (XRD) for phase analysis of the cooled specimens was conducted using a Rigaku diffractometer (Rigaku D-max IIIV, Rigaku Co., Tokyo, Japan) operated at 30 kV and 20 mA. A Ni-filtered CuK α radiation was used for this study. A silicon standard was used for calibration of diffraction angles. Scanning speed of 3°/min was used. The phases were identified by matching each characteristic peak in the diffraction pattern with the JCPDS files. The results are shown in FIG. 2 , and are summarized in Table 1.
TABLE 1 Average cooling rate, ° C./sec Phase Water-quenched 211 β phase with a bcc* crystal structure Liquid N 2 -quenched 26 β phase with a bcc crystal structure Air-quenched 9 β phase with a bcc crystal structure Furnace-cooled 0.05 α + β (α phase dominates) *body-centered cubic
EXAMPLE 2
Ti-15Mo and Ti-15Mo-1Bi Cold Rolling
[0053] Ti-15Mo (15 wt % Mo) and Ti-15Mo-1Bi (1-5 wt % Mo and 1 wt % Bi) alloys were prepared from a commercially pure titanium (c.p. Ti) bar, molybdenum of 99.95% and bismuth of 99.5% in purity using a commercial arc-melting vacuum-pressure type casting system (Castmatic, Iwatani Corp., Japan). The melting chamber was first evacuated and purged with argon. An argon pressure of 1.8 kgf/cm 2 was maintained during melting. Appropriate amounts of the c.p. Ti bar, molybdenum and bismuth were melted in a U-shaped copper hearth with a tungsten electrode. The ingot was re-melted three times to improve chemical homogeneity.
[0054] Specimens having a thickness of 5.0 mm, a width of 13 mm and a length of 70 mm were prepared from the Ti-15Mo and i-15Mo-1Bi alloys using a graphite mold. The specimens removed from the mold were water-quenched, and surface-finished before being subjected to cold rolling. The cold rolling was carried our at room temperature using a 100-ton rolling machine (VF PCAK-P1, Toshiba Corp., Japan), wherein the specimen was rolled through a gap between two rollers several times with different deforming magnitudes by adjusting the gap.
[0055] When the cold rolling was conducted with reductions in thickness of 1.5 mm, 0.9 mm, 0.9 mm, 0.3 mm and 0.3 mm in sequence (with a total reduction in thickness of 78%), all the specimens of Ti-iSMo-1Bi could be cold-rolled to the final thickness (with a total reduction in thickness of 78%) without breaking down or showing any cracking on the surfaces or edges of the specimens. However, the specimens of Ti-15Mo either showed deformation bands on the surfaces or cracking on the edges of the specimens, or even broke down during rolling. When such cold-rolled Ti-15Mo-1Bi specimens were bending-tested (using the same method as described in Example 3), all the specimens could be bent to the preset deflection limit of 8 mm, while most of the cold-rolled Ti-15Mo specimens failed prematurely. It can be understood from this example that the addition of 1 wt % Bi into Ti-15Mo alloy can significantly enhance the cold-rolling workability of the alloy.
EXAMPLE 3
Bending Strength and Elastic Modulus of Ti-15Mo and Ti-15Mo-1Bi Alloys
[0056] Three-point bending tests were performed using a desk-top mechanical tester (Shimadzu AGS-500D, Tokyo, Japan) operated at 0.5 mm/sec. Reduced size (36×5×1 mm) specimens were cut from the-as-cast Ti-15Mo, as-cast Ti-15Mo-1Bi, and cold-rolled Ti-15Mo-1Bi. The cold-rolled Ti-15Mo-1Bi specimens were prepared according to the method described in Example 2.
[0057] Some of the Ti-15Mo-1Bi cold-rolled specimens were subjected to a further heat treatment and water quenching before the bending test. The heat treatment was conducted by sealing the specimen in a quartz tube and at the sealed end was further equipped with a vacuum pump, and a vacuum meter. The quartz tube was evacuated for five minutes, and placed in a tube-type furnace heated at a predetermined temperature for 5 minutes. After the heat treatment, the quartz tube was removed from the furnace, and the specimen was subjected to water quenching.
[0058] All the specimens for bending test were polished using sand paper to a #1000 level. The bending strengths were determined using the equation,
σ=3 PL/ 2 bh 2 ,
where σ is bending strength (MPa); P is load (Kg); L is span length (mm) (L=30 mm); b is specimen width (mm) and h is specimen thickness (mm). The modulus of elasticity in bending was calculated from the load increment and the corresponding deflection increment between the two points on a straight line as far apart as possible using the equation,
E=L 3 ΔP/ 4 bh 3 Δδ,
where E is modulus of elasticity in bending (Pa); ΔP is load increment as measured from preload (N); and Δδ is deflection increment at mid-span as measured from preload. The average bending strength and modulus of elasticity in bending were taken from at least six tests under each condition.
[0059] The comparison of the bending strength and elastic modulus of the Ti-15Mo as-cast specimens, the Ti-15Mo-1Bi as-cast specimens, and the Ti-15Mo-1Bi cold-rolled specimens with and without heat treatment are shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 .
[0060] It can be seen from the data shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 that the bending properties of the Ti-15Mo-1Bi alloy can be largely modified through mechanical and/or thermal treatments. The cold-rolled Ti-15Mo-1Bi specimens with or without a further heat treatment have a bending strength higher and a comparable elastic modulus than/to the as-cast Ti-15Mo-1Bi specimens.
[0061] In addition to the above-mentioned 5-minute heat treatment conditions, short-term heat treatments including 3-minute, 1-minute and 0.5-minute at 900° C. were also applied on the Ti-15Mo as-cast specimens before the bending test. The bending strength and elastic modulus of the Ti-15Mo-1Bi as-cast specimens, the cold-rolled Ti-15Mo-1B specimens with and without heat treatment are listed in Table 2.
TABLE 2 Bending strength and elastic modulus of the cold-rolled Ti—15Mo—1Bi specimens with and without heat treatment Bending strength (MPa) Bending modulus (GPa) As-cast 1200 77 Ti—15Mo—1Bi cold-rolled 2200 76 Ti—15Mo—1Bi cold-rolled 1480 84 Ti—15Mo—1Bi, 900° C., 3 min cold-rolled 1630 77 Ti—15Mo—1Bi, 900° C., 1 min cold-rolled 1860 84 Ti—15Mo—1Bi, 900° C., 0.5 min
[0062] The data in Table 2 reveal that the cold-rolled Ti-15Mo-1Bi specimens have the highest bending strength. With increasing the heat treatment time at 900° C., the bending strength of the specimens decreased. However, as will be shown in the tensile test data (Example 4), the ductility of the alloy increases with increasing the heat treatment time.
EXAMPLE 4
Tensile Test of Ti-15Mo-1Bi Alloys
[0063] The tensile test was conducted on the reduced-size (40 mm in length, 10 mm in width and 1 mm in thickness with 10 mm in gauge length and 3 mm in gauge width) as-cast Ti-15Mo-1Bi specimens, the cold-rolled Ti-15Mo-1B specimens without heat treatment, cold-rolled Ti-15Mo-1B specimens with heat treatments (650° C., 5 min; and 900° C., 1 min). A Shimadzu Servopulser system (Shimadzu, Japan) with a crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/min was used for the tensile test. The specimens were prepared and heat-treated as in Example 3. The results are shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 .
[0064] As shown in FIG. 5 , the Ti-15Mo-1Bi as-cast specimens have the lowest average ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 819 MPa with an average yield strength (YS) of 560 MPa. The cold-rolled Ti-15Mo-1Bi specimens (78% reduction in thickness) have an average UTS of 1300 MPa, and an average YS of 735 MPa, both of which decline after the heat treatments, but the UTS is still higher than that of the as-cast specimens. As to the elongation (%), the cold-rolled Ti-15Mo-1Bi specimens have the lowest average elongation of 6.7%, which is much lower than the as-cast specimens (about 30%). However, the heat treatment enables the cold-rolled Ti-15Mo-1Bi specimens more ductile, wherein the cold-rolled Ti-15Mo-1Bi specimens with a heat treatment of 900° C., 1 min have an average elongation of 25.7%.
[0065] The average tensile modulus shown in FIG. 6 is changing from 78 GPa (as-cast) to 75 GPa (as-rolled), and to the lowest 65 GPa (cold-rolled, 900° C., 1 min), indicating that the cold rolling does not significantly affect the tensile modulus, and the heat treatment will further decrease the tensile modulus. (Note: a high strength and low modulus is often desirable for a medical implant.)
EXAMPLE 5
Bending Fatigue Test of Ti-15Mo-1Bi Alloy
[0066] The inventors of the present application have conducted a bending fatigue test on the cold-rolled Ti-15Mo-1Bi specimens (78% reduction in thickness) with a heat treatment of (900° C., 1 min). A servo-hydraulic type testing machine (EHF-EG, Shimadzu Co., Tokyo, Japan) was used for the fatigue test on smooth plate specimens with dimensions of 40 mm in length, 5 mm in width and 1.5 mm in thickness. The smooth plate specimens were subjected to fatigue loading with a sinusoidal waveform at room temperature in air at a frequency of 4 Hz with a stress ratio R=0.1. Four different levels of surface roughness were prepared: (1) surface roughness of Ra=0.9-1.1 μm (the Ra value is measured according to ISO 4287: 2000 method) obtained from #60 sand paper; (2) surface roughness of Ra=0.1-0.2 μm obtained from #1000 sand paper; (3) surface roughness of Ra<0.1 μm obtained from #1500 sand paper, followed by mechanical polishing using 1 μm, 0.3 μm and 0.05 μm alumina powder in sequence; and (4) surface roughness of Ra<0.1 μm obtained from #1500 sand paper, followed by chemical polishing for 5 seconds in a solution containing 5 vol % HF, 15 vol % HNO 3 and 80 vol % water.
[0067] It is discovered from the fatigue test data that the fatigue life/fatigue resistance is critically dependent on the surface roughness of the specimen being tested. As indicated in FIG. 7 , the fatigue lives (numbers of cycles to failure) of all the five specimens prepared from #60 sand paper (Ra=0.9-1.1 μm) are between about 4×10 3 and 10 4 cycles; the fatigue lives of all the five specimens prepared from #1000 sand paper (Ra=0.1-0.2 μm) are between about 10 4 and 6×10 4 cycles.
[0068] It is worth noting that the mechanically polished specimens and the chemically polished specimens (both with Ra<0.1 μm) have dramatically increased fatigue lives. In each group, four out of six specimens tested demonstrate fatigue lives longer than 10 6 (specimens did not fail after 10 6 cycles). This result suggests that, for practical application, it is critical for the Ti-15Mo-1Bi alloy to be prepared with a surface roughness of Ra<0.1 μm. Any cyclic load-bearing device made from this kind of material with surface roughness larger than 0.1 μm can have a risk of premature fatigue failure.
[0069] Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific details of certain embodiments thereof, it is not intended that such details should be regarded as limitations upon the scope of the invention except as and to the extent that they are included in the accompanying claims. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure.
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A method of making an article of a titanium alloy is disclosed, which includes i) quenching a work piece, which is made of a titanium alloy composition containing a) about 0.01-5 wt % Bi based on the weight of the composition; b) at least one alloy element selected from the group consisting of Mo, Nb, Ta, Zr and Hf; and c) the balance Ti, having a temperature higher than a beta transition temperature of the titanium alloy composition to a temperature lower than 500° C. at a cooling rate greater than 10° C./second between the beta transition temperature and 500° C., so that the quenched work piece contains beta phase as a major phase; and ii) plastically deforming the quenched work piece or polishing the quenched work piece so that a surface of the polished work piece has an average surface roughness less than about 0.1 μm.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the monolithic integration of high-accuracy current dividers with current sources for the large-scale production of monolithic integrated solid-state circuits there exists the difficulty of the process variations occurring in the manufacture of the current sources which, as is well known, can be realized in the form of collector-emitter sections of bipolar transistors of a so-called current bank, with the base electrodes being placed on a common potential. This difficulty, in the case of a monolithic integrated digital-to-analog converter (hereinafter briefly referred to as a "DAC") for a 14-bit dual number, with bipolar transistors, of the type as described in "Electronics" of June 16, 1983, pp. 130 to 134, and in "Electronic Components and Applications," Vol. 2, No. 4 (August 1980), pp. 235 to 241, has been overcome by using an integrated current divider, chiefly in that the currents of a plurality of current sources, with the aid of a shift register, are cyclically and rotatingly switched to three current paths of which the first and the second ones receive half the current of the third current. By cascading a plurality of such current dividers it is possible to obtain a highly accurate monolithic integrated DAC.
The present invention likewise makes use of this principle of dynamic "element matching" without, however, employing the above-mentioned current divider of the conventional DAC. Since that converter employs cascaded current dividers, one RC filter circuit with capacitors connected from the outside is required for each of the current dividers.
An object of the invention is to provide a monolithic integrable DAC which does not require any RC filter circuits and which, in particular, is capable of being manufactured in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) technology without requiring a supply voltage substantially higher than 5 V. When the conventional arrangement is manufactured in MOS technology, and owing to the cascading of the dividers, there is required a supply voltage of more than 25 V.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a monolithic integrated DAC having a number of inputs which, under the control of a sampling signal, take over a multi-bit digital input signal at the clock rate of this sampling frequency. The digital input signal itself, with the aid of bit switches, applies to a summation point a number of current-source units corresponding to its value. In the course of this, at the frequency of a clock signal whose clock frequency amounts to a multiple of the sampling frequency, the current-source units are switched one at a time in turn within one sampling period, in such a way that all of the existing current-source units are turned on during this sampling period for exactly the same duration.
The invention starts out from the idea of having a number of possibly identical current sources, one at a time in turn and by means of a shift-register network which is clocked at the clock frequency fc, rendered conductive in such a way that, on the average, the tolerances of these current sources annul each other.
Accordingly, the multi-bit input signal whose code might be arbitrary but, as a rule, will mostly be a dual-number code, is converted with the aid of a suitable code converter into a likewise suitable binary output code by which, via bit switches, there is rendered conductive such a number of current sources as corresponds to the numerical value of the input signal. Preferably, one such code is a glitch-free code such as the thermometer code. In the case of a more general code the number of first binary conditions at which the bit switches are turned on is equal to the number of first binary conditions in the corresponding thermometer code; their arrangement within the code word, however, and in contradistinction to the thermometer code, is arbitrary.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the following, the invention will now be explained in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5 of the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 shows the basic circuit diagram of one example of embodiment of the digital-to-analog converter (DAC) according to the invention;
FIG. 2 shows one preferred embodiment of the cyclical current switching;
FIGS. 3 and 4 show the block diagrams of code converters for converting a dual-numbered input signal into the thermometer code; and
FIG. 5 shows the block diagram of a DAC for a dual number with N+1 bits.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
According to the basic circuit diagram of the example of embodiment as shown in FIG. 1, the input signal Ed is applied to the input of the code converter C2 which is gated at the sampling frequency fs at the charge input Ld, and converts the input signal Ed into a signal in the so-called thermometer code. Accordingly, at the output of the code converter Cw there results in parallel form a sequence of first, i.e. current turn-on, binary conditions, with the number thereof being equal to the numerical value of the input signal Ed. If, in the course of this, the maximum applicable numerical value of the input signal Ed, independently of the input code, is "m," then "m" also represents the number of parallel output lines of the code converter Cw, and "m" also represents the maximum number of controllable current-source units of th current-source part Qn. Via the cyclical shift-register network Sn the thermometer code is applied to the current-source units of the current-source part Qn, thus causing the control electrodes of the bit switches of the current-source units to be rendered conductive rotatingly. The analog signal is obtained at the output Aa of the current-source part Qn after the currents of the current-source units have been summed up. From the clock signal at the clock frequency fc which effects the clocking of the cyclical shift-register network Sn, the divider D produces the sampling signal at the sampling frequency fs, by which the m inputs of the cyclical shift-register Sn are rendered conductive. The number of divisions is still determined exactly later on, but is in the order of m.
As the cyclical shift-register network Sn there is used, for example, a barrel shifter (cf. EP-A No. 0 170 493) according to the known prior art.
In the barrel shifter, by way of electrical switching elements, the connection of a number of input terminals to an equally large number of output terminals is switched over cyclically, in the course of which the plurality of the internal switching connections is changed equidirectionally in parallel by respectively one position only. The output terminal appearing to be left over on the one side of the barrel shifter is then connected to the output terminal as becoming free on the other side, and thus effects the cyclical switching. The input of the individual shift positions is mostly carried out in a binary-encoded manner, so that instead of the control being effected via a divider, it is more likely to prefer a counter with encoded output signals.
Without the cyclical shift-register network, hence in the case of a purely static control, the advantage of rotatingly switching the m current-source units would be sacrificed, thus causing the linearity of the DAC to be determined alone by the relative equality of the m current-source units as is the case with a conventional type of DAC.
In the case of a monolithic integration without any balancing, however, there will have to be reckoned with typical tolerances of one per cent (1%) for the individual current-source units, so that a linearity requirement of e.g. 0.01 percent cannot be met without involving any special investment. On principle it is possible, by rotatingly switching the current-source units at the clock frequency fc which is higher than the sampling frequency fs, to bring the linearity error down to zero.
Relative thereto it is of particular interest with respect to the compensation for tolerances when the relationship between the clock frequency fc and the sampling frequency fs is either the same or else an integer multiple of the number of steps of the shift-register network Sn, and consequently also of the number of current-source units capable of being turned-on successively. In that case, in the sampling-frequency interval, all of the current-source units are exactly actuated equally often, and the linearity error which is due to the tolerances of the current-source units, is completely eliminated within one sampling cycle. In this particular case the cyclical shift-register network Sn can be realized by using a feed-back type of shift register Sr. In FIG. 2 this is illustrated with regard to an N-bit dual number applied to serve as the input signal Ed.
The feed-back type of the shift register Sr as shown in FIG. 2 is composed of m=2 N -1 individual shift-register stages comprising m=2 N -1 parallel input terminals and the same number of parallel output terminals, with the latter having to be connected to the corresponding bit-switching terminals of the current-source part. Following one complete cycle, hence after m=2 N -1 shifting clocks, a new thermometer code word is written with the aid of the sampling signal at the charge input Ld, into the fed back shift register Sr. Here, the sampling signal at the sampling frequency fs, is realized by the output signal of the divider D, whose input signal is the clock signal and whose number of division is 2 N -1. The output O of the last shift-register stage is connected to the input I of the first shift-register stage, and thus forms the feedback of the shift register Sr.
It is of particular advantage in this case when the frequency-response ratio of the clock frequency fc to the sampling frequency fs is raised to the complete second power, such as fc/fs=2 N , because then the divider D can be realized by using a simple type of binary counter, hence in the given example, an N-bit divider composed of N binary dividing stages (see, for example, FIG. 3). Relative thereto, the fed-back shifter register Sr' contains 2 N stages, but only 2 N -1 bit-switch outputs. Accordingly, one of the shift-register stages alone serves the clock-adaptation purpose, without controlling one of the bit switches. The output O of the last shift-register stage, similar as in FIG. 2, is connected to the input I of the first shift-register stage in order thus to illustrate the feedback of the shift register Sr'.
The production of a suitable code from a dual N-bit input signal Ed is simple for the fed-back shift register Sr, because the order of sequence of the binary conditions may be arbitrary as long as the number of the current turn-on binary conditions equals the fed-in numerical value. For example, to each input point there is assigned an equal number of output points corresponding to its respective valency and which, quite depending on the binary condition of this paritcular input point, jointly show to have either the one or the other binary condition. This is effected, for example, by one non-inverting impedance transformer per input point, whose output is 2 k -times branched, with 0≦k≦N being given by the respective point having the valency 2 k within the dual input signal Ed.
FIG. 3 shows the block diagram of a code converter Cw' which makes it possible to produce the thermometer code from an N-bit dual number supplied as the input signal Ed, without requiring an expensive logical network. This code converter Cw' contains the presettable backward counter Ct which, by means of the sampling pulse at the charge input Ld, takes over the input signal Ed into the counter reading (status). Moreover, the code converter contains the AND gate ug as well as the OR gate og. During operation of both gates in a positive logic there is then applied to the output of e.g., the AND gate ug the positive level H (=H level) of two binary levels H, L when H levels are likewise applied to all inputs of the AND gate ug.
The counting pulses appearing at the clock input Ck of the backward counter Ct are the pulses of the clock signal which are led via the AND gate ug as the gating circuit, causing the backward counter Ct to count at the clock-frequency rate fc in the backward direction so long until there is reached the counter reading (status) zero. This zero condition is recognized by the OR gate og, because in this particular case all of the N inputs of the OR gate og which are connected to the N counter-reading outputs, are respectively applied to the logic L level, so that the output signal of the OR gate og changes from the previous H level to the new L level, thus blocking the AND gate ug against the clock signal.
The output of the AND gate ug is at the same time also the output Ac of the code converter Cw' and, moreover, is connected to the serial input In of the fed-back shift register Sr'. The pulse sequence from the code converter output Ac as filed or stored therein within one sampling cycle corresponds to the thermometer code of the input signal Ed.
In the case of N=4 and, for example, a dual number reading 1111, therefore, so many pulses are fed via the serial input In into the shift register Sr', until all of 15 storage or memory positions which control the bit switches, are on the H level; after that, this input procedure is terminated. In response to the next arriving pulse of the sampling signal at the charge input Ld, the backward counter Ct is recharged with the input signal Ed. At the same time, from the serial input part of the fed-back shift register Sr', the data contents are taken over into the actual shift-register part. This takeover control is likewise effected by the sampling signal fs as applied to the charge input Ld of the shift register Sr'.
FIG. 4 shows the block diagram of a different type of code converter for producing the thermometer code. This code converter differs from the code converter Cw' as shown in FIG. 3 in that it, instead of the dual N-bit backward counter Ct, contains the digital comparator Km comprising an N-bit subtrahend input B and an N-bit minuend input A, with the dual N-bit input signal Ed being fed to the latter. Instead of the N-bit binary divider D as shown in FIG. 3, there is used the N-bit binary counter Ct1 whose N counter-reading outputs are connected to the associated N points of the subtrahend input B of the digital comparator Km. Accordingly, the comparator Km replaces the dual N-bit backward counter Ct as shown in FIG. 3 and, via its output terminal Ka, permits the serial reading of pulses at the clock frequency fc into the 2 N -stage shift register Sr as long as the numerical value applied to the minuend input A exceeds or is greater than the numerical value as applied to the subtrahend input B. Relative thereto, the sampling signal at the sampling frequency fs represents the MSB (=most significant bit) signal of the dual N-bit counter Ct1.
Finally, FIG. 5 shows a DAC including a further embodiment of the circuit arrangement as shown in FIG. 4. This DAC of FIG. 5, with respect to a dual (N+1)-bit input signal, and by employing the code converter of FIG. 4, as well as the crosspoint switch Ks, the first and the second 2 N -stage shift registers Sr1, Sr2, and the third 2 N+1 -stage shift register Sr3 which is fed back in itself, provides at its output Aa a ditital-to-analog converted signal in a resolution which is double as large (6 db) as that of a DAC employing code converters of the type as shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4.
The gain in resolution and, consequently, the improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio is accomplished in that the bit number of the dual input signal Ed is raised by one bit compared to the one shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4. This becomes significant owing to the fact that the factor of the clock frequency to the sampling frequency fc/fs=m as an integer proportionally (proportional control) factor, contains at least the maximum possible numerical value m of the input signal Ed and, accordingly, in the case of a fixed sampling frequency fs, is capable of raising the clock frequency fc with an increased resolution. With regard to the clock frequency, however, there are certain limits from a circuit-technical point of view.
The example of embodiment according to FIG. 5 permits an extension to dual (N+1)-bit input signals although with the N bits according to FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 there is actually reached the maximum admissible clock frequency fc. In so doing, the fed-back shifter register is divided for the writing-in process into two equal sections which, however, are read-in simultaneously. Into the first section, in accordance with the respective MSB position of the input signal Ed, there are written all of the H or L levels, whereas into the second section according to FIG. 4 there is read that particular dual number in the form of the thermometer code which remains to be left over after the MSB point has been stripped off the dual input signal Ed.
During one single sampling cycle the fed-back shift register only performs one half of a rotation, which means to imply that the contents of the two sections have been exchanged for one another. Thus, in the course of the next or new writing-in process which, as is well-known, is coupled to the sampling frequency fs, either the H or the L levels corresponding to the respective MSB position, must be written into the second section. Into the first section there is then written the thermometer code of the input signal ED as stripped off the MSB position. In the case of a constant input signal Ed there is thus effected, after one complete rotation or two sampling cycles, the entire compensation for tolerances of the current-source units within the current-source part Qn1. In the case of changing or varying input signals Ed this compensation is no longer entire or complete, but the resulting noise signal is far above or beyond the input-signal frequency and is thus easily capable of being filtered out.
The writing-in process in the case of the two shift-register sections is controlled with the aid of a crosspoint switch whose switch position is changed or switched over in response to every sampling pulse. One simple example relating to the crosspoint switching is shown in FIG. 5 in which the crosspoint switch Ks is shown to switch over each time only two signal paths for pulses written in serial form into the first or the second 2 N -stage shift register Sr1, Sr2 serving as a buffer store or temporary memory. From there they are fed in parallel into the two sections of the third fed-back 2 N+1 -stage shift register Sr3. The takeover into this section is effected by the sampling signal fs at the charge input Ld. Owing to this sectional charging process the third shift register Sr3 has 2 N+1 inputs and also the same number of bit-switch outputs m', although in the current-source part Qn1 only a maximum number of 2 N+1 -1 current-source units according to the largest possible number m=2 N+1 -1 of the input signal Ed is being switched simultaneously.
Owing to the crosspoint switching, an MSB jump of the input signal Ed may easily cause a more or less one-sided occupation of the third shift register Sr3. This error is avoided by the use of the XOR gate G as shown in FIG. 5, because the respective position of the crosspoint switch Ks not only depends on the divided-down sampling signal fs, but also on the MSB position of the input signal Ed. Accordingly, in the case of signals lying around the MSB value, the two sections of the third shift register Sr3 are included more uniformly and, consequently, more advantageously in the current-source rotation.
The functional operation of the crosspoint switch Ks as shown in FIG. 5 may be explained somewhat as follows. While the MSB signal of the input signal Ed is applied to the first input E1 of the crosspoint switch Ks, the second input E2 thereof, as in the arrangement according to FIG. 4, receives pulses as long as the input signal Ed, reduced by the MSB, is at the minuend input A larger than the input signal at the subtrahend input B. The last-mentioned N-bit signal is formed by the N-bit counter Ct1 from the clock signal at the clock frequency fc, with the MSB being used as the sampling signal at the sampling frequency fs and for obtaining the switching cycle of the crosspoint switch Ks with the aid of the first divider D1. The latter serves to divide the MSB clock frequency by the factor 2.
The configuration and design of the dividers, of the counters, of the shift registers and of the comparator can be carried out in the manner well known to those skilled in the art. A particular advantage of the digital-to-analog converter (DAC) according to the invention is achievable when employing insulated-gate field-effect transistors in the design, because a cascading according to the aforementioned state of the art is avoided, so that it will be possible to use a supply voltage of merely 5 to 6 V. Another advantage is seen in that the filter capacitors required according to the prior art for forming part of the cascade circuit, may be omitted.
The invention, for example, is used as a partial circuit in a high-resolution type audio D/A converter, and thus permits to achieve a resolution corresponding to a 16-position dual number (16 bit).
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A monolithic integrated digital-to-analog converter makes use of rotating current-source control (dynamic element matching). After the conversion of a digital input signal into a code containing a sequence of first binary conditions corresponding to the numerical value of the input signal (so-called thermometer code), the bit switches of possibly same-sized current sources are rotatingly controlled in the sense of being selected, so that it becomes possible in the manufacture of the monolithic integrated digital-to-analog converters to balance out the manufacturing tolerances or process variations of the current sources.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-214043, filed on Sep. 24, 2010, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND
[0002] The present disclosure relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing terminal, an information processing method and a computer program. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an information processing terminal which has a projector, and an information processing apparatus, an information processing method and a computer program which carry out display control of the information processing terminal.
[0003] In recent years, miniaturization of mobile apparatus such as mobile communication terminal has been and is advancing. As the size of an apparatus itself decreases, also the size of the display area provided on the apparatus inevitably decreases. However, if the visibility of information and the operability are taken into consideration, then the size of the display region cannot be made smaller than a predetermined size, and there is a limitation to miniaturization of apparatus.
[0004] In contrast, a projector which is one of display apparatuses which project an image to a screen or the like to display the image does not require provision of the display region on the apparatus. Therefore, provision of a projector in place of the display region makes miniaturization of a mobile apparatus possible. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-3281 discloses a configuration wherein a projector module is provided on a portable electronic apparatus.
SUMMARY
[0005] However, in the case where an image or the like is projected and displayed by a projector, different from a touch panel or the like, the display screen cannot be used to directly carry out an inputting operation thereon. Therefore, there is a problem that a large number of operating elements such as buttons for operating display information are obliged to be provided on the apparatus. Since the user operates the operation elements while observing the operation section, a considerable operation burden in operation is imposed on the user.
[0006] Therefore, it is desirable to provide a novel and improved information processing apparatus, information processing terminal, information processing method and computer program which make it possible to intuitively operate display information in response to a variation of a state of an apparatus which includes a projector with respect to a projection plane.
[0007] Accordingly, there is disclosed an apparatus for processing image data. The apparatus may include an output unit configured to project a first image on a projection surface; a detection unit configured to detect movement of the apparatus; and a processor configured to change the first image to a second image based on the detected movement.
[0008] In accordance with an embodiment, there is provided a method for processing image data. The method may include projecting, by a projector included in the device, a first image on a projection surface; detecting movement of the device; and changing the first image to a second image based on the detected movement.
[0009] In accordance with an embodiment, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium including instructions, which, when executed on a processor, cause the processor to perform a method of processing image data. The method may include projecting a first image on a projection surface; detecting movement of a device, the processor being included in the device; and changing the first image to a second image based on the detected movement.
[0010] With the information processing apparatus, information processing terminal, information processing method and computer program, display information can be operated intuitively in response to a variation of a state of an apparatus which includes a projector with respect to a projection plane.
[0011] The above and other features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like parts or elements denoted by like reference symbols.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of an information processing terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0013] FIG. 2 is a schematic view illustrating a method for detecting a posture variation of the information processing terminal using an acceleration sensor;
[0014] FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating a method of detecting a posture variation of the information processing terminal using an angular speed sensor;
[0015] FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the information processing terminal;
[0016] FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a display controlling process by the information processing terminal;
[0017] FIG. 6 is a schematic view illustrating an example of a display controlling process of display information by a translational movement of the information processing terminal;
[0018] FIG. 7 is a schematic view illustrating an example of a display controlling process for controlling an eye point of a content projected to a projection plane;
[0019] FIG. 8 is a schematic view illustrating an example of a display controlling process for carrying out scrolling of an object list projected to the projection plane;
[0020] FIG. 9 is a schematic view illustrating another example of the display controlling process for carrying out scrolling of an object list projected to the projection plane;
[0021] FIG. 10 is a schematic view illustrating a further example of the display controlling process for carrying out scrolling of an object list projected to the projection plane;
[0022] FIG. 11 is a schematic view illustrating a movement of the information processing terminal and a variation of display information when a desired object is selected from within an object group including a plurality of objects based on a proximity distance;
[0023] FIG. 12 is a schematic view illustrating a process for changing the display granularity of a map displayed on the projection plane in response to a proximity distance; and
[0024] FIG. 13 is a schematic view illustrating a process for changing the display granularity of a GUI displayed on the projection plane in response to a proximity distance.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0025] In the following, an embodiment of the present disclosure is described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be noted that, in the specification and the accompanying drawings, substantially like parts or elements having substantially like functional configurations are denoted by like reference characters, and overlapping description of the same is omitted herein to avoid redundancy.
[0026] It is to be noted that description is given in the following order.
[0027] 1. Configuration of the Information Process Terminal Including a Projector (example of a hardware configuration, functional configuration)
[0028] 2. Display Control by the Information Processing Terminal
[0029] 2-1. Change of Display Information by Transitional Movement of the Information Processing Terminal
[0030] 2-2. Change of Display Information by a Gradient of the Information Processing Terminal
[0031] 2-3. Scroll of Display Information by a Gradient of the Information Processing Terminal
[0032] 2-4. Object Selection Operation from within an Object Group
[0033] 2-5. Zoom processing in Response to the Proximity Distance between the Information Processing Terminal and a Projection Plane
<1. Configuration of the Information Process Terminal Including a Projector>
[0000]
Example of a Hardware Configuration
[0035] First, an example of a hardware configuration of an information processing terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 .
[0036] The information processing terminal 100 according to the present embodiment includes a projector and varies the display substance of a GUI projected to a projection plane of a projection target body by the projector in response to a variation of the posture of the information processing terminal 100 or a change of the distance of the information processing terminal 100 to the projection plane. The information processing terminal 100 may be applied to various apparatus which include a projector irrespective of functions thereof such as, for example, small-sized apparatus like a personal digital assistant, a smartphone or the like.
[0037] Referring particularly to FIG. 1 , the information processing terminal 100 includes a CPU 101 (e.g., a processor), a RAM (Random Access Memory) 102 , a nonvolatile memory 103 , a sensor 104 (e.g., a detection unit) and a projection apparatus 105 (e.g., an output unit).
[0038] The CPU 101 functions as an arithmetic processing unit and a control apparatus and controls general operation in the information processing terminal 100 in accordance with various programs. The CPU 101 may be a microprocessor. The RAM 102 temporarily stores programs to be used in execution by the CPU 101 and parameters and so forth which vary suitably in the execution. The CPU 101 and the RAM 102 are connected to each other by a host bus configured from a CPU bus or the like. The nonvolatile memory 103 stores programs, calculation parameters and so forth to be used by the CPU 101 . The nonvolatile memory 103 can be formed using, for example, a ROM (Read Only Memory) or a flash memory.
[0039] The sensor 104 includes one or a plurality of detection portions for detecting a variation of the posture of the information processing terminal 100 or a variation of the distance of the information processing terminal 100 to the projection plane. For the sensor 104 which detects a variation of the posture of the information processing terminal 100 , for example, an acceleration sensor or an angular speed sensor as seen in FIG. 2 or 3 can be used.
[0040] The acceleration sensor detects an acceleration based on a variation of the position of the mass when it is accelerated. A mechanical acceleration sensor, an optical acceleration sensor, a semiconductor sensor of the capacitance type, piezoresistance type, Gaussian temperature distribution type or the like and so forth can be used. For example, it is assumed that the information processing terminal 100 is moved downwardly from an upper position on the plane of FIG. 2 . At this time, if a three-axis acceleration sensor is provided in the information processing terminal 100 , then the gravitational acceleration can be measured. Consequently, it is possible to detect the direction of gravity with respect to the posture of the terminal and detect the posture of the information processing terminal 100 .
[0041] The angular speed sensor is a sensor such as a gyroscope which detects an angular speed utilizing dynamic inertia or optical interference acting upon a material body. For example, a mechanical angular speed sensor of the rotation type or the oscillation type, an optical angular speed sensor and so forth can be used. For example, it is assumed that the information processing terminal 100 is moved downwardly from an upper position on the plane of FIG. 3 similarly as in FIG. 2 . At this time, if an angular speed sensor is provided in the information processing terminal 100 , then it is possible to acquire an angular speed and detect a gradient θ of the information processing terminal 100 .
[0042] The information processing terminal 100 further includes, as the sensor 104 , a distance sensor which can detect the distance from the projection apparatus 105 to the projection plane.
[0043] The projection apparatus 105 is a display apparatus which projects an image or the like to the projection plane (e.g., a projection surface) of the projection target body such as a screen to display the image on the projection plane. The projection apparatus 105 can display an image in an expanded scale utilizing, for example, a CRT, liquid crystal or the DPL (registered trademark) (Digital Light Processing).
[0044] Display image displayed by projection by the projection apparatus 105 of the information processing terminal 100 having such a configuration as described above can be operated or controlled by changing the posture of the information processing terminal 100 or the proximity distance of the information processing terminal 100 to the projection plane. Now, a functional configuration of the information processing terminal 100 is described with reference to FIG. 4 .
Functional Configuration
[0046] The information processing terminal 100 includes a detection section 110 , a movement information acquisition section 120 , a display information processing section 130 , a projection section 140 , and a setting storage section 150 .
[0047] The detection section 110 detects a variation of the posture of the information processing terminal 100 or a variation of the proximity distance to the projection plane. The detection section 110 corresponds to the sensor 104 shown in FIG. 1 and can be implemented by an acceleration sensor, an angular speed sensor, a distance sensor or the like. The information processing terminal 100 acquires and outputs the detected direction of gravity, angular speed of the information processing apparatus 100 and proximity distance to the projection plane to the movement information acquisition section 120 .
[0048] The movement information acquisition section 120 acquires movement information representative of a movement of the information processing terminal 100 such as a posture state or a direction of movement based on a result of detection inputted thereto from the detection section 110 . In particular, the movement information acquisition section 120 decides in what manner the information processing terminal 100 is moved by the user from a variation of the direction of gravity or the acceleration of the information processing terminal 100 . Then, the movement information acquisition section 120 outputs the acquired movement information to the display information processing section 130 .
[0049] The display information processing section 130 determines display information to be projected from the projection section 140 so as to be displayed on the screen or the like based on the movement information inputted thereto from the movement information acquisition section 120 . For example, if the display information processing section 130 recognizes, for example, from the movement information that the posture of the information processing terminal 100 has changed, then it changes the display information to be displayed from the projection section 140 in response to the posture variation. At this time, the display information processing section 130 decides, from the movement information, an operation input to the display information displayed on the projection plane and changes the display information. The display information processing section 130 can refer to the setting storage section 150 hereinafter described to decide the carried out operation input using the display information currently displayed and the movement information.
[0050] By varying the posture of the information processing terminal 100 itself or varying the distance from the information processing terminal 100 to the projection plane in this manner, the display information projected on the projection plane can be operated. The display information processing section 130 outputs the display information to the projection section 140 . It is to be noted that the movement information acquisition section 120 and the display information processing section 130 function as an information processing apparatus which changes the display information in response to an operation input to the display information projected on the information processing terminal 100 .
[0051] The projection section 140 projects display information of an image or the like to the projection plane. The projection section 140 is, for example, a projector and corresponds to the projection apparatus 105 shown in FIG. 1 . The user can observe the display information outputted from the projection section 140 to the projection plane and move the information processing terminal 100 to operate or control the display information.
[0052] The setting storage section 150 is a storage section for storing information to be used for a display controlling process for varying the display information in response to a posture variation or the like of the information processing terminal 100 and corresponds to the RAM 102 or the nonvolatile memory 103 shown in FIG. 1 . The setting storage section 150 stores, for example, a corresponding relationship between a signal representative of a detection result of the detection section 110 and a direction of gravity, an angular speed, a distance from the projection plane and so forth. Further, the setting storage section 150 stores a corresponding relationship between display information and movement information displayed currently and a changing process of the display information, that is, a changing process of display information corresponding to an operation input and so forth. The information mentioned is referred to by the movement information acquisition section 120 , display information processing section 130 and so forth. The information stored in the setting storage section 150 may be set in advance or may be set suitably by the user.
<2. Display Control by the Information Processing Apparatus>
[0053] The information processing terminal 100 changes the display information to be projected to the projection plane from the projection section 140 in response to a posture variation and so forth of the information processing terminal 100 . In the following, a display controlling process by the information processing terminal 100 is described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 13 .
2-1. Change of Display Information by Translational Movement of the Information Processing Terminal
[0054] First, a changing process of display information when the information processing terminal 100 is moved translationally is described as an example of the display controlling process by the information processing terminal 100 with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6 . It is to be noted that also the display controlling process by the information processing terminal 100 hereinafter described is carried out in accordance with a flow chart of FIG. 5 .
[0055] With the information processing terminal 100 according to the present embodiment, the range of display information to be displayed on the projection plane can be changed by the user moving the information processing terminal 100 translationally along the projection plane. For example, in the example illustrated in FIG. 6 , a map is displayed as display information (e.g., a first image) on a projection plane 200 . In a state illustrated in an upper figure of FIG. 6 , only a portion 202 A of an entire map 202 is displayed on the projection plane 200 . If, in this state, the information processing terminal 100 is moved translationally by the user, for example, in an x direction along the projection plane, then the substance of the map 202 displayed on the projection plane 200 is changed from the display substance of the portion 202 A to the display substance of another portion 202 B (e.g., a second image).
[0056] Referring to FIG. 5 , such display controlling process is started from decision of whether or not an operation of the projection section 140 has been carried out by the movement information acquisition section 120 at step S 100 . For example, when the movement information acquisition section 120 detects a projection starting signal for starting projection of display information by the projection section 140 of the information processing terminal 100 , then it starts a display controlling process of display information to be projected on the projection plane 200 . The projecting starting signal is outputted, for example, if a switch or the like provided on the information processing terminal 100 is depressed, then projection of display information by the projection section 140 is enabled. The movement information acquisition section 120 does not start the display controlling process of display information to be projected on the projection plane 200 before the projection starting signal is detected, and the process at step S 100 is repeated.
[0057] If it is detected that an operation of the projection section 140 is started, then the movement information acquisition section 120 decides at step S 110 whether or not the information processing terminal 100 exhibits some movement. The movement information acquisition section 120 decides from a result of the detection by the detection section 110 whether or not the posture of the information processing terminal 100 exhibits some variation or whether or not the proximity distance to the projection plane 200 exhibits some variation. Then, if the information processing terminal 100 exhibits some movement, then the movement information acquisition section 120 outputs the movement information of the information processing terminal 100 to the display information processing section 130 . The display information processing section 130 changes the display information displayed on the projection plane 200 in response to the movement of the information processing terminal 100 based on the display information displayed at present and the movement information at step S 120 . The display information after the change is outputted to the projection section 140 so that it is displayed on the projection plane 200 by the projection section 140 .
[0058] In the example illustrated in FIG. 6 , a process of moving the eye point of the map 202 displayed by the information processing terminal 100 through translational movement of the information processing terminal 100 when the map 202 is displayed is carried out. The substance of such process is stored in the setting storage section 150 . Here, the translational movement of the information processing terminal 100 can be detected by extracting a component of the movement of the information processing terminal 100 , for example, depending upon the variation of the acceleration which can be detected by an acceleration sensor or the variation of the angular speed which can be detected by the angular acceleration sensor as described hereinabove. Or, in the case where the information processing terminal 100 includes a camera not shown for picking up an image in the projection direction of the projection section 140 , the movement information acquisition section 120 can pick up an image in the projection direction by means of the camera and extract a component of the movement of the information processing terminal 100 from a variation of the picked up image.
[0059] When the component of the movement of the information processing terminal 100 is extracted, then the movement information acquisition section 120 outputs the component of the movement as movement information to the display information processing section 130 . The display information processing section 130 determines an amount of movement of the display information to be projected, that is, a display information movement amount, in response to the amount of movement by which the information processing terminal 100 is moved translationally based on the movement information. Then, the display information processing section 130 determines the portion 202 B moved by the display information movement amount from the portion 202 A displayed in the upper figure of FIG. 6 from within the map 202 displayed on the projection plane 200 as new display information and outputs the new display information to the projection section 140 .
[0060] In this manner, if the user moves the information processing terminal 100 translationally, then also the eye point of the display information to be projected on the projection plane 200 moves correspondingly and the display information to be projected on the projection plane 200 varies. Thereafter, for example, if a predetermined operation such as depression of a switch is carried out and a projecting ending signal for ending the operation by the projection section 140 is detected, then the operation of the projection section 140 is ended at step S 130 . However, until after the projecting ending signal is detected, the processes beginning with step S 110 are carried out repetitively.
[0061] The display controlling process in the case where the user moves the information processing terminal 100 translationally along the projection plane so that the information processing terminal 100 changes the range of the display information to be displayed on the projection plane 200 is described above. The user can carry out an operation for changing the display information to be projected on the projection plane 200 only by moving the information processing terminal 100 translationally above the projection plane 200 .
2-2. Change of Display Information by a Gradient of the Information Processing Terminal
[0062] Now, a display controlling process for controlling the eye point for a content projected on the projection plane 200 by the information processing terminal 100 according to the present embodiment is described with reference to FIG. 7 .
[0063] In the present example, if the gradient from within the posture of the information processing terminal 100 with respect to the projection plane 200 is varied, then the eye point of a content to be projected by the information processing terminal 100 , that is, a direction of the line of sight, is controlled and the substance of the display information to be projected varies. For example, if the projection section 140 of the information processing terminal 100 is directed toward the projection plane 200 to start projection, then a portion 204 A of a content such as, for example, a photograph 204 is displayed on the projection plane 200 as seen from a left figure of FIG. 7 . At this time, the information processing terminal 100 is directed downwardly, that is, in the negative direction of the x axis, and the portion 204 A of the photograph 204 when it is viewed in the direction of a downward line of sight is displayed.
[0064] It is assumed that, in this state, for example, the information processing terminal 100 is directed upwardly, that is, in the positive direction of the x axis and the posture of the information processing terminal 100 is changed as seen in a right figure of FIG. 7 . At this time, since the gradient of the information processing terminal 100 with respect to the projection plane 200 varies, the movement information acquisition section 120 acquires the gradient of the information processing terminal 100 with respect to the projection plane 200 and outputs the acquired gradient to the display information processing section 130 .
[0065] The display information processing section 130 determines an amount of movement of the display information to be projected, that is, a display information movement amount, in response to a variation of the gradient of the information processing terminal 100 with respect to the projection plane 200 based on the movement information. Then, the display information processing section 130 determines, from within the photograph 204 displayed on the projection plane 200 , a portion 204 B moved by the display information movement amount from the portion 204 A displayed in a left figure of FIG. 7 as new display information and outputs the new display information to the projection section 140 . Consequently, the portion 204 B of the photograph 204 when viewed in the direction of the obliquely upwardly directed line of sight is displayed as seen in a right figure of FIG. 7 .
[0066] The display controlling process in the case where the user tilts the information processing terminal 100 with respect to the projection plane so that the information processing terminal 100 changes the range of the display information to be displayed on the projection plane 200 is described above. The user can carry out an operation for changing the display information to be projected to the projection plane 200 only by varying the gradient of the information processing terminal 100 with respect to the projection plane 200 .
2-3. Scroll of Display Information by a Gradient of the Information Processing Terminal
[0067] Now, an example wherein an operation of display information displayed on the projection plane 200 is carried out in response to a posture variation of the information processing terminal 100 according to the present embodiment is described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 10 .
[0068] In the present example, an example is studied wherein an object list 210 formed from a plurality of objects 210 a, 210 b, 210 c, . . . is displayed on the projection plane 200 . At this time, the information processing terminal 100 detects a rotational movement of the information processing terminal 100 itself in a predetermined direction and scrolls the object list 210 in the direction.
[0069] For example, an object list 210 including a plurality of objects 210 a, 210 b, 210 c and 210 d arrayed in a y direction is displayed on the projection plane 200 as seen in a left figure of FIG. 8 . At this time, if the user rotates the information processing terminal 100 in a predetermined direction, here in the array direction of the object list 210 , that is, in the y direction, then the detection section 110 outputs a detection result in response to the movement of the information processing terminal 100 . The movement information acquisition section 120 acquires a rotational direction in the y direction of the information processing terminal 100 from the detection result of the detection section 110 .
[0070] The rotational direction in the y direction signifies a direction of a y-direction component when the information processing terminal 100 is tilted with respect to the projection plane 200 with reference to the z axis perpendicular to the projection plane 200 . When the display information processing section 130 detects from the movement information that the information processing terminal 100 is tilted in the y-axis positive direction, then it varies the display information so that the object list 210 is scrolled in the y-axis positive direction. On the other hand, if the display information processing section 130 detects from the movement information that the information processing terminal 100 is tilted in the y-axis negative direction, then it varies the display information so that the object list 210 is scrolled in the y-axis negative direction.
[0071] For example, it is assumed that the posture of the information processing terminal 100 varies from a state in which it is directed in an obliquely downward direction of the line of sight to another state as seen in a left figure of FIG. 8 in which it is directed in an obliquely upward direction of the line of sight as seen in a right figure of FIG. 8 . At this time, since the information processing terminal 100 is inclined in the y-axis negative direction, the object list 210 is scrolled in the y-axis negative direction as seen in a right figure of FIG. 8 . Consequently, for example, the objects 210 c, 210 d, 210 e and 210 f are displayed on the projection plane 200 . In this manner, it is possible to scroll the projected object list 210 by varying the gradient of the information processing terminal 100 with respect to the projection plane 200 .
[0072] Here, the gradient of the information processing terminal 100 and the display position of the information processing terminal 100 of all objects which configure the object list 210 may correspond one by one to each other. Or the information processing terminal 100 may be configured otherwise such that scrolling is carried out continuously while the information processing terminal 100 is inclined by more than a predetermined angle from a reference position as seen in FIG. 9 or 10 .
[0073] In the example illustrated in FIG. 9 , when an object list 210 formed from a plurality of objects 210 a, 210 b, 210 c, . . . is displayed on the projection plane 200 similarly as in the case of FIG. 8 , the information processing terminal 100 detects a rotational movement in a predetermined direction of the information processing terminal 100 and scrolls the object list 210 in the direction. At this time, the movement information acquisition section 120 acquires the gradient of the information processing terminal 100 with respect to the reference position which is the z direction perpendicular to the projection plane 200 from the detection result of the detection section 110 . It is to be noted that the reference position may be determined based on the positional relationship to the projection plane 200 . Then, the display information processing section 130 decides whether or not the gradient of the information processing terminal 100 from the reference position is greater than the predetermined angle. If the gradient is greater than the predetermined angle, then the display information processing section 130 scrolls the object list 210 continuously in the rotational direction of the information processing terminal 100 .
[0074] For example, it is assumed that the information processing terminal 100 is inclined in the y-axis positive direction as seen in an upper figure of FIG. 9 and the gradient θ of the information processing terminal 100 from the reference position is greater than the predetermined angle. At this time, the display information processing section 130 continuously scrolls the object list 210 displayed on the projection plane 200 in the y-axis positive direction. On the other hand, it is assumed that the information processing terminal 100 is inclined in the y-axis negative direction and the gradient θ of the information processing terminal 100 from the reference position is greater than the predetermined angle. At this time, the display information processing section 130 continuously scrolls the object list 210 displayed on the projection plane 200 in the y-axis negative direction.
[0075] It is to be noted that, in the case where the gradient of the information processing terminal 100 from the reference position is smaller than the predetermined angle, the object list 210 is scrolled in the rotational direction in response to the magnitude of the gradient θ of the information processing terminal 100 .
[0076] Further, while scrolling of the object list 210 formed from a plurality of objects arrayed in the projection plane 200 erected in the vertical direction is described above with reference to FIG. 9 , also in the case where the projection plane 200 is placed horizontally as seen in FIG. 10 , display control is carried out similarly. In FIG. 10 , the projection plane 200 is provided on a horizontal plane perpendicular to the vertical direction, and objects 210 a, 210 b, 210 c, . . . are arrayed in a predetermined direction, for example, in the x direction, along a horizontal plane. Also in this instance, the information processing terminal 100 detects a rotational movement of the information processing terminal 100 in a predetermined direction and scrolls the object list 210 in the direction.
[0077] At this time, the movement information acquisition section 120 acquires the gradient of the information processing terminal 100 from a reference position which is the z direction perpendicular to the projection plane 200 from a result of the detection by the information processing terminal 100 . Then, the display information processing section 130 decides whether or not the gradient of the information processing terminal 100 from the reference position is equal to or greater than the predetermined angle. If the gradient is equal to or greater than the predetermined angle, then the display information processing section 130 continuously scrolls the object list 210 in the rotational direction of the information processing terminal 100 .
[0078] For example, it is assumed that the information processing terminal 100 is inclined in the x-axis negative direction and the gradient θ of the information processing terminal 100 from the reference position is equal to or greater than the predetermined angle as seen in a left figure of FIG. 10 . At this time, the display information processing section 130 continuously scrolls the object list 210 displayed on the projection plane 200 in the x-axis negative direction. On the other hand, it is assumed that the information processing terminal 100 is inclined in the x-axis positive direction and the gradient θ of the information processing terminal 100 from the reference position is equal to or greater than the predetermined angle as seen in a right figure of FIG. 10 . At this time, the display information processing section 130 continuously scrolls the object list 210 displayed on the projection plane 200 in the x-axis positive direction.
[0079] It is to be noted that, in the case where the gradient of the information processing terminal 100 from the reference position is smaller than the predetermined angle, the object list 210 is scrolled in the rotational direction in response to the magnitude of the gradient θ of the information processing terminal 100 . The projected object list 210 can be scrolled by varying the gradient of the information processing terminal 100 with respect to the projection plane 200 in this manner.
[0000] 2-4. Object Selection Operation from within an Object Group
[0080] The detection section 110 of the information processing terminal 100 according to the present embodiment can detect also the proximity distance of the information processing terminal 100 with respect to the projection plane 200 . Thus, the information processing terminal 100 according to the present embodiment can carry out also an operation for selecting a desired object from within an object group formed from a plurality of objects in response to the proximity distance. In the following, a display controlling process of display information to be displayed on the projection plane 200 when an operation for selecting an object from within an object group is carried out by the information processing terminal 100 is described with reference to FIG. 11 .
[0081] It is assumed that display information to be projected from the projection section 140 of the information processing terminal 100 is an object group 220 formed from a plurality of objects 222 as seen in FIG. 11 . When the projection section 140 of the information processing terminal 100 is spaced by a distance Z 1 from the projection plane 200 , the objects 222 are displayed in an array of 4×4 grating on the projection plane 200 as seen in a left figure of FIG. 11 . In the present example, the display information processing section 130 varies the number of objects 222 to be displayed from within the object group 220 in response to the proximity distance of the information processing terminal 100 to the projection plane 200 .
[0082] For example, as the distance of the information processing terminal 100 to the projection plane 200 decreases, the display information processing section 130 decreases the number of objects 222 to be displayed on the projection plane 200 and finally displays only one object 222 . By decreasing the number of objects 222 to be displayed on the projection plane 200 in this manner, it is possible to narrow down the objects 222 of the object group 220 such that a single object 222 can be selected finally.
[0083] In FIG. 11 , when the information processing terminal 100 is moved toward the projection plane 200 to vary the distance from the projection plane 200 to the information processing terminal 100 from the distance Z 1 to another distance Z 2 , the number of objects 222 displayed on the projection plane 200 is decreased as seen in a figure centrally in FIG. 11 . Those objects 222 to be displayed as selection candidates when the information processing terminal 100 is moved toward the projection plane 200 to narrow down the objects 222 are determined in response to the position of the information processing terminal 100 with respect to the projection plane 200 .
[0084] For example, it is assumed that the information processing terminal 100 approaches the projection plane 200 while it is moved in the x-axis positive direction and the y-axis negative direction toward a position above a desired object 222 a. Thereupon, only 3×3 objects 222 centered at the object 222 a from within the projection plane 200 are displayed. In this manner, the selection target can be narrowed down from 4×4 objects 222 to 3×3 objects 222 .
[0085] Further, if the information processing terminal 100 is moved toward the projection plane 200 to approach the desired object 222 a until the distance from the projection plane 200 to the information processing terminal 100 becomes equal to a distance Z 3 , then the display information processing section 130 causes only the desired object 222 a to be displayed as seen in a right figure of FIG. 11 . The object 222 a can be selected by causing only the desired object 222 a to be displayed in this manner. Thereafter, if a predetermined operation such as to depress a button provided on the information processing terminal 100 is carried out, then a function, for example, associated with the object 222 a can be executed.
[0086] It is to be noted that, while, in the example described above, the display information processing section 130 changes the display information depending upon whether or not the proximity distance between the projection plane 200 and the information processing terminal 100 exceeds any of the distances Z 1 to Z 3 set in advance, the present disclosure is not limited to this example. For example, the display information may be varied continuously in response to the proximity distance between the projection plane 200 and the information processing terminal 100 .
[0087] By varying the proximity distance between the information processing terminal 100 including the projection section 140 and the projection plane 200 in this manner, narrowing down or selection of display information displayed on the projection plane 200 can be carried out. Since the user can operate display information only by varying the position of the information processing terminal 100 with respect to the projection plane 200 , it can carry out an operation intuitively.
[0000] 2-5. Zoom processing in Response to the Proximity Distance between the Information Processing Terminal and a Projection Plane
[0088] As another example of operating display information displayed on the projection plane 200 using the proximity distance between the projection plane 200 and the information processing terminal 100 , for example, also it is possible to change the display granularity of display information displayed on the projection plane 200 in response to the proximity distance.
[0089] Referring to FIG. 12 , it is assumed that, for example, a map 230 is projected as display information to the projection plane 200 by the projection section 140 of the information processing terminal 100 . When the information processing terminal 100 and the projection plane 200 are spaced away from each other as seen in a left figure of FIG. 12 , a map 230 A for a wide area is displayed on the projection plane 200 . If, in this state, the information processing terminal 100 is moved in the z direction toward the projection plane 200 , then a zoomed map 230 B is displayed on the projection plane 200 as seen in a right figure of FIG. 12 .
[0090] The zoom process of the display information is carried out, for example, by varying the display granularity in response to the proximity distance around an intersecting point of a perpendicular from the projection section 140 of the information processing terminal 100 to the projection plane 200 with the projection plane 200 . As the proximity distance between the information processing terminal 100 and the projection plane 200 decreases, the display granularity increases and the display information is displayed in a correspondingly expanded state.
[0091] Consequently, the user can carry out zoom-in/zoom-out of display information displayed on the projection plane 200 by moving the information processing terminal 100 toward or away from the projection plane 200 , and can carry out an operation intuitively.
[0092] As another example wherein the display granularity of display information displayed on the projection plane 200 is changed in response to the proximity distance, it is possible to change the display granularity of a GUI in response to the proximity distance as seen in FIG. 13 . It is assumed that, for example, a plurality of objects 241 , 242 , 243 and 244 are displayed on the projection plane 200 as seen in a left figure of FIG. 13 . The objects 241 , 242 , 243 and 244 are representative icons representing general substances, and objects belonging to the same group are associated with each of the objects 241 , 242 , 243 and 244 .
[0093] If the information processing terminal 100 is moved toward the projection plane 200 , then objects are developed in response to the proximity distance. An object which is to make a target of the development may be that object to which the information processing terminal 100 is positioned most closely. For example, it is assumed that, in a state illustrated in a left figure of FIG. 13 , the information processing terminal 100 is moved in the x-axis positive direction and the y-axis negative direction toward a position above the objects 244 to approach the projection plane 200 . The display information processing section 130 recognizes the movement of the information processing terminal 100 from the movement information and develops the object 244 such that it causes objects 244 a, 244 b, 244 c and 244 d associated with the object 244 to be displayed on the projection plane as seen in a central figure of FIG. 13 .
[0094] Thereafter, if the information processing terminal 100 further approaches the projection plane 200 , then only that object in the proximity of which the information processing terminal 100 is positioned is displayed. For example, if the information processing terminal 100 approaches the projection plane 200 toward the object 244 a as seen in a right figure of FIG. 13 , then only the object 244 a is displayed on the projection plane 200 . By causing only the desired object 244 a to be displayed in this manner, the object 244 a can be selected. Thereafter, if a predetermined operation such as to depress a button provided on the information processing terminal 100 or the like is carried out, then a function, for example, associated with the object 244 a can be executed.
[0095] It is to be noted that, while, in the example illustrated in FIG. 13 , the number of times by which development of an object is carried out is one time, the present disclosure is not limited to this. The objects may be arranged in a plurality of hierarchical layers. At this time, the information processing terminal 100 may change a hierarchical layer to be displayed in response to the proximity distance thereof to the projection plane 200 . Further, while, in the examples illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13 , the display information processing section 130 continuously varies the display information in response to the proximity distance between the projection plane 200 and the information processing terminal 100 , the present disclosure is not limited to this. For example, the display information may be changed depending upon whether or not the proximity distance between the projection plane 200 and the information processing terminal 100 exceeds a distance threshold value set in advance as in the example of FIG. 11 .
[0096] The configuration of the information processing terminal 100 including the projection section 140 according to the present embodiment and the display controlling process by the information processing terminal 100 have been described above. The information processing terminal 100 according to the present embodiment can vary a virtual eye point for display information to be projected on the projection plane 200 by varying the posture of the information processing terminal 100 . Consequently, the information processing terminal 100 makes it possible for a user to browse display information, particularly a content of a 3D image or an omnidirectional image, with an immersion feeling.
[0097] Further, by varying the posture of the information processing terminal 100 , a display region changing operation, a scrolling operation, a selection operation or the like of display information to be displayed on the projection plane 200 can be carried out. The user can carry out an operation intuitively while watching the projected display information. Further, by varying the proximity distance between the information processing terminal 100 and the projection plane 200 , zoom-in/zoom-out of display information of a map or the like or a development operation of display information can be carried out, and the user can carry out an operation intuitively.
[0098] While several embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, the present disclosure is not limited to these embodiments. It is apparent that a person skilled in the art could have made various alterations or modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined in claims, and it is understood that also such alterations and modifications naturally fall within the technical scope of the present disclosure.
[0099] It is to be noted that, while, in the description of the embodiment, the z axis perpendicular to the projection plane 200 is set as a reference position, the present disclosure is not limited to this. For example, the user may set a reference position upon starting of projection by the projection section 140 of the information processing terminal 100 , or the reference position may be set by calibration upon starting of use of the information processing terminal 100 .
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An apparatus, method, and computer-readable storage medium for processing image data are provided. The apparatus includes an output unit configured to project a first image on a projection surface, a detection unit configured to detect movement of the apparatus, and a processor configured to change the first image to a second image based on the detected movement.
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[0001] The instant disclosure claims filing-date priority to the Provisional Application No. 60/588,212 filed Jul. 15, 2004, the specification of which is incorporated herein in its entirety.
BACKGROUND
[0002] It is becoming increasingly important and urgent to rapidly and accurately identify toxic materials or pathogens with a high degree of reliability, particularly when the toxins/pathogens may be purposefully or inadvertently mixed with other materials. In uncontrolled environments, such as the atmosphere, a wide variety of airborne organic particles from humans, plants and animals occur naturally. Many of these naturally occurring organic particles appear similar to some toxins and pathogens even at a genetic level. It is important to be able to distinguish between these organic particles and the toxins/pathogens.
[0003] In cases where toxins and/or pathogens are purposely used to inflict harm or damage, they are typically mixed with so-called “masking agents” to conceal their identity. These masking agents are used to trick various detection methods and apparatus to overlook or be unable to distinguish the toxins/pathogens mixed therewith. This is a recurring concern for homeland security where the malicious use of toxins and/or infectious pathogens may disrupt the nation's air, water and/or food supplies. Additionally, certain businesses and industries could also benefit from the rapid and accurate identification of the components of mixtures and materials. One such industry that comes to mind is the drug manufacturing industry, where the identification of mixture composition could aid in preventing the alteration of prescription and non-prescription drugs.
[0004] One known method for identifying materials and organic substances contained within a mixture is to measure the absorbance, transmission, reflectance or emission of each component of the given mixture as a function of the wavelength or frequency of the illuminating or scattered light transmitted through the mixture. This, of course, requires that the mixture be separable into its component parts. Such measurements as a function of wavelength or frequency produce a signal that is generally referred to as a spectrum. The spectra of the components of a given mixture, material or object, i.e., a sample spectra, can be identified by comparing the sample spectra to set a reference spectra that have been individually collected for a set of known elements or materials. The set of reference spectra are typically referred to as a spectral library, and the process of comparing the sample spectra to the spectral library is generally termed a spectral library search. Spectral library searches have been described in the literature for many years, and are widely used today. Spectral library searches using infrared (approximately 750 nm to 100 μm wavelength), Raman, fluorescence or near infrared (approximately 750 nm to 2500 nm wavelength) transmissions are well suited to identify many materials due to the rich set of detailed features these spectroscopy techniques generally produce. The above-identified spectroscopic techniques produce rich fingerprints of the various pure entities, which can be used to identify the component materials of mixtures via spectral library searching.
[0005] Conventional library searches generally cannot even determine the composition of mixtures—they may be used if the user has a pure target spectrum (of a pure unknown) and would like to search against the library to identify the unknown compound. Further, library searches have been found to be inefficient and often inaccurate. Where time is of the essence searching a component library can be exceedingly time consuming and if the sample under study is not a pure component, a search of pure component library will be futile.
SUMMARY
[0006] In one embodiment, the disclosure relates to a method for detecting and classifying an unknown substance comprising the steps of (a) providing a spectrum for each of a predetermined number of reference substances; (b) detecting an area of interest on said unknown substance; (c) targeting said area of interest; (d) determining a spectrum from said area of interest; (e) comparing the determined spectrum with the spectrum of one of the reference substances; and (f) classifying said unknown substance based on the comparison of spectra.
[0007] In another embodiment, the disclosure relates to a method for detecting and classifying an unknown substance comprising (a) providing a spectrum for each of a predetermined number of reference substances and determining therefrom a first set of eigenvectors using principal components analysis (“PCA”) to thereby determine a first set of reduced reference models; (b) detecting an area of interest on said unknown substance; (c) targeting said area of interest; (d) determining a spectrum from said area of interest and determining therefrom a reduced test spectrum as a function of said first set of eigenvectors; (e) comparing the reference models with the reduced test spectrum; and (f) classifying said unknown substance based on said comparison of reduced spectra.
[0008] In another embodiment, the disclosure relates to a system for detecting and classifying an unknown substance comprising: (a) means for providing a spectrum for each of a predetermined number of reference substances; (b) means for detecting an area of interest on said unknown substance; (c) means for targeting said area of interest; (d) means for determining a spectrum from said area of interest; (e) means for comparing the determined spectrum with the spectrum of one of the reference substances; and (f) means for classifying said unknown substance based on the comparison of spectra.
[0009] In still another embodiment, the disclosure relates to A system for detecting and classifying an unknown substance comprising (a) means for providing a spectrum for each of a predetermined number of reference substances and determining therefrom a first set of eigenvectors using principal components analysis (“PCA”) to define a first set of reduced reference models; (b) means for detecting an area of interest on said unknown substance; (c) means for targeting said area of interest; (d) means for determining a spectrum from said area of interest and determining therefrom a reduced spectrum as a function of said first set of eigenvectors; (e) means for comparing the reference models with the second reduced spectrum; and (f) means for classifying said unknown substance based on said comparison of reduced spectra.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] FIG. 1 is an exemplary detection diagram according to one embodiment of the disclosure;
[0011] FIG. 2 provides an exemplary algorithm for targeting a region of interest likely to provide a quality test spectrum;
[0012] FIG. 3 is an exemplary algorithm for computing the distance represented by a sample from each known class in the library;
[0013] FIG. 4 is an exemplary algorithm for spectral unmixing;
[0014] FIG. 5 shows a method for determining eigenvectors from reference spectra according to one embodiment of the disclosure;
[0015] FIG. 6A shows an exemplary method for creating class models from the reference spectra and eigenvectors;
[0016] FIG. 6B shows a principal component scatter plot for the model of FIG. 6A ; and
[0017] FIG. 7 schematically shows a method for mapping an unknown spectrum to PC space according to one embodiment of the disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0018] The instant disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for implementing multi-modal detection. More specifically, the disclosure relates to a method and apparatus configured to examine and identify an unknown substance. The unknown substance may include a chemical substance, a biological material or a combination of the chemical and biological material. The unknown substance may also contain a combination of toxic, hazardous and inert material in a physical mixture.
[0019] An apparatus according to one embodiment of the disclosure includes one or more detection probes or sensors in communication with an illumination source and a controller mechanism. The sensors can be devised to receive spectral and other attributes of the sample and communicate said information to the controller. The controller may include one or more processors in communication with a database for storing spectral library or other pertinent information for known samples. The processor can be programmed with various detection algorithms defining instructions for identification of the unknown sample.
[0020] FIG. 1 is an exemplary detection algorithm according to one embodiment of the disclosure. Flow diagram 100 defines an algorithm for implementing a series of instructions on a processor. In step 110 , the detection algorithm 100 defines pre-computation parameters stored in a library. In any detection or classification application, the more a priori information available about the desired targets and undesired backgrounds and interference, the better the expected detection probability. The pre-computation parameters may include assembling a library of known samples. The library may include, for example, a spectral library or a training set. In one embodiment, the library includes entire optical, UV and Raman images of known substances and biological material. If the algorithm is configured for a multimodal device, step 110 may also include defining additional parameters such as shape, size, color or the application of a pattern recognition software. If one of the contemplated modes is UV fluorescence, then step 110 may include storing fluorescence spectra directed to identifying the UV signature of known substances including biological substances. If one of the contemplated modes is Raman imaging, then step 110 may further include storing Raman parameters (i.e., spectra) of various known substances.
[0021] To address this issue, in one embodiment the disclosure relates to reducing complex datasets to a more manageable dataset by instituting principal component analysis (“PCA”) techniques. The PCA analysis allows storing the most pertinent (alternatively, a reduced number of data points) in the library. Stated differently, PCA can be used to extract features of the data that may contribute most to variability. By storing PCA eigenvectors tractable storage of class variability can substantially reduce the volume of stored data in the library. While the PCA eigenvectors are not identifiers per se, they allow tractable storage of class variability. They are also a key component of subspace-based detectors. Moreover, the information in the library is dependent on the type of classifier used. A classifier, can be any arbitrary parameter that defines one or more attribute of the stored data. For example, the Mahalanobis classifier requires the average reduced spectrum and covariance matrix for each type of material, or class, in the library. In one embodiment, a class can be an a priori assignment of a type of known material. For example, using an independently validated sample of material, one can acquire spectral data and identify the data as belonging to material from that sample. Taking multiple spectra from multiple samples from such a source, one can create a class of data for the classification problem.
[0022] As stated, the multimodal library can store training data. The training algorithm typically includes pure component material data and instructions for extracting applicable features therefrom. The applicable features may include: optical imaging, morphological features (i.e., shape, color, diameter, area, perimeter), UV fluorescence (including full spectral signatures), Raman dispersive spectroscopy and Raman imaging (including full spectral signatures). Using PCA techniques in conjunction with the training algorithm, the data can be reduced to eigenvectors to describe the variability inherent within the material and represent reduced dimensional subspaces for later detection and identification.
[0023] Thus, according to one embodiment, step 110 includes: (a) defining the overall PCA space; (b) defining the so-called confusion areas; (c) defining classes and subclasses in the same PCA space (compute model parameters); (d) defining sub-spectral bands (e.g., CH-bands and other common fingerprints); (e) computing threat morphological features.
[0024] Once a sample is selected for testing, the first step is to narrow the field of view (“FOV”) of the detection probe to the sub-regions of the sample containing the most pertinent information. The sub-regions may include portions of the sample containing toxic chemical or adverse biological material. To this end, step 120 of FIG. 1 is labeled targeting. In bio-threat identification applications time is of the essence. The FOV and the time to identify are related to the spectral signal to noise ratio (“SNR”) achievable. Higher SNR can be obtained from interrogating regions containing high amounts of suspect materials, so total acquisition time is reduced by carefully determining specific interrogation regions.
[0025] In one embodiment, the disclosure relates to identifying those candidate regions using rapid sensors. The FOV selection of specific candidate regions defines targeting. In one embodiment, targeting is reduced to a multi-tiered approach whereby each tier eliminates objects that do not exhibit properties of the target. For example, targeting may include optical imaging and UV fluorescence imaging. In optical imaging, the sample is inspected for identifying target substances having particular morphology features. In UV fluorescence imaging, the target may be a biological material that fluoresces once illuminated with the appropriate radiation source. If multiple sensors are used, each sensor can be configured for a specific detection. If on the other hand, a multi-mode single sensor is used, each sensor modality can have characteristics that lend itself to either targeting or identification. Table 1 shows exemplary sensors characteristics.
[0000]
TABLE 1
Sensor Characteristics
Acquisition
Sensor
Sensitivity
Specificity
Time
Purpose
Optical Imaging
High
Low
Low
Targeting
UV Fluorescence
High
Medium
Low-Medium
Targeting
imaging
Raman
Low
Very High
Low
Identification
Dispersive
Raman Imaging
Low
Very High
High
Identification
[0026] The optical imaging mode can recognize potential threat material via morphological features while UV Fluorescence imaging is sensitive to biological material. Combining the results of the two modes can result in identifying locations containing biological material that exhibits morphological properties of bio-threat or hazardous agents.
[0027] In step 130 of FIG. 1 , the algorithm calls for targeting the sample. In this step the FOV is narrowed to one ore more target regions and each region is examined to identify its composition. In one embodiment, the testing step may include Raman acquisition. The Raman acquisition algorithm can be configured to operate with minimal operator input. Eventual bio-threat detection systems can be fully automated to ensure that the test spectrum is suitable for the detection process. Because detection probability depends highly on the test spectrum's signal-to-noise ratio (“SNR”), the system can be programmed to ignore any spectra falling below a pre-defined threshold. In one exemplary embodiment, SNR of about 20 is required for accurate detection. The SNR determination can be based on examining the signal response in CH-regions as compared to a Raman-empty (i.e., noise-only) region. If the target spectrum readily matches that of a known substance, then the target identification task is complete and the system can generate a report. If on the other hand, the target spectrum is not defined by the pre-computed parameters, then it can be mapped into PCA space for dimension reduction and outlier detection (see step 140 in FIG. 1 ). Outlier detection involves determining if the spectrum is significantly different from all classes to indicate a possible poor acquisition or the presence of an unknown material.
[0028] Conventional detection and classification methods address the problem of identifying targets when background noise and other interferences are paramount. Such methods include, for example, linear discriminant analysis (LDA), adaptive matched filter classifiers (AMF), adaptive matched subspace detectors (AMSD) and orthogonal subspace (OSP) projection derived classifiers.
[0029] According to one embodiment of the disclosure a heuristic method is used to identify and to compare the dispersive test spectrum with each candidate class and choose the class closest to the test spectrum by measuring the minimum distance measured with a known metric. One such computational metric is derived from Euclidean geometry. The Euclidian distance (or minimum Euclidean distance) compares two vectors of length n by:
[0000]
d
E
=
x
-
y
=
(
∑
i
=
1
n
x
i
-
y
i
2
)
1
/
3
(
1
)
[0030] In the stated embodiment, x and y are two full-length spectral vectors.
[0031] In accordance with one embodiment of the disclosure, the distance d E is calculated for the test spectrum against the average spectrum of each training classes along with each spectrum in a comprehensive spectral library comprised of a single spectrum per class (see step 110 ). If the minimum Euclidean distance (d E ) results in a unique match that is one of the full training classes, it may be reported as the identity of the sample. On the other hand, if the minimum Euclidean distance does not match one of the training classes, the Mahalanobis distance can be used next to further identify the sample. The Mahalanobis metric can be viewed as an extension of Euclidean distance which considers both the mean spectrum of a class and the shape, or dispersion of each class. The dispersion information is captured in the covariance matrix C and the distance value can be calculated as follows:
[0000] d M =[( x−y ) T ·C −1 ·( x−y )] 1/2 (2)
[0032] An advantage of estimating the Mahalanobis distance, d M , is that it accounts for correlation between different features and generates curved or elliptical boundaries between classes. In contrast, the Euclidean distance, d E , only provides spherical boundaries that may not accurately describe the data-space. In equation (2), C is the covariance matrix that is defined for each class from the eigenvector PCA value. Thus, according to one embodiment of the disclosure, the training library defines a set of mean vectors and covariance matrices derived from the PCA eigenvectors of each class. In addition to checking for minimum distance, one embodiment the disclosure determines whether the test spectrum lies in the so-called confusion region of overlapping classes. The mean vector and covariance matrix define a hyper-ellipse with dimensions equal to the number of eigenvectors stored for each model. When projected onto two dimensions for visualization, ellipses can be drawn around the 2-σ confidence interval about the mean for each class. If the test spectrum (represented by a point in the principal component space (PC space) lies within the 2-σ interval (for each projection) it is likely a member of that class. Thus, the overlap regions can be clearly seen, and if a test spectrum is a member of more than one class, the spectrum is likely a mixture of more than one component. In one embodiment of the disclosure an imaging channel and a spectral unmixing algorithms are used to identify the contents of the mixture.
[0033] The specified spectral unmixing algorithm is capable of determining the constituents of a mixed spectrum and their level of purity or abundance. Thus, when a unique class is not determined from a dispersive spectrum through Mahalanobis distance calculation, spectral unmixing can be used. An exemplary unmixing algorithm is disclosed in PCT Application No. PCT/US2005/013036 filed Apr. 15, 2005 by the assignee of the instant application, the specification of which is incorporated herein in its entirety for background information.
[0034] If neither Raman imaging nor spectral unmixing is capable of identifying the sample's spectrum, or if the spectrum represents an outlier from the library classes, the decomposition method of Ramanomics can be implemented. Ramanomics defines a spectrum according to its biochemical composition. More specifically, Ramanomics determines whether the composition is composed of proteins, lipids or carbohydrates and the percent of each component in the composition. According to one embodiment, the constituent amounts are estimated by comparing the input spectrum to spectra from each of the constituents.
[0035] In step 150 a report is generated to identify the sample's composition. Depending on the analysis technique, different results can be reported. The results may include a unique class, a list of overlapping classes, a pure non-library class or the presence of an outlier component. If a unique class is identified, the results may include a corresponding confidence interval obtained based on Euclidean or Mahalanobis distance values.
[0036] FIG. 2 provides an exemplary algorithm for target testing of the spectrum. In step 210 of FIG. 2 a test is conducted to assess validity of the spectrum. As stated, this can be accomplished by comparing the sample's spectrum against a pre-defined threshold or baseline. In step 220 , the sample's spectra is mapped into the Euclidean space. This can be done, for example by determining d E according to equation (1). Once mapped into the Euclidean space, the distance can be tested against library classes not defined by pre-compute parameters (see step 110 , FIG. 1 ). If the distance d E is not defined by the library of parameter, then the sample under test can represent a unique material. Should this be the case, the result can be reported as shown in step 240 . If the d E does not represent a unique material (step 230 ) then its spectra can be mapped into PCA space (step 250 ) for dimension reduction (step 260 ) and for outlier detection (step 270 ). Dimension reduction can be accomplished through conventional PCA techniques.
[0037] If the sample is determined to be an outlier, then its spectra can be saved for review. Alternatively, Ramanomics can be used to further determine whether the sample is a mixture. If the sample is not a mixture then it can be identified as a new class of material.
[0038] FIG. 3 is an exemplary algorithm for computing the distance represented by a sample from each known class in the library. In step 310 a statistical test is performed for each class of material identified within the sample. The statistical test may determine whether the material is a unique material (see step 320 ). If the material is unique, then it can be reported immediately according to step 320 . If the statistical test shows that the material is not unique, then it must be determined whether the sample result is within the confusion region (step 340 ). The statistical test can be Euclidean Distance, Mahalanobis Distance, or other similar distance metrics. Subspace detection methods use hypothesis testing and generalized likelihood tests to assess similarity,
[0039] If it is determined that the material is within the confusion region, the various subclasses, stored in the library, are assessed to determine whether the sample belongs to any such subclass. To this end, a method of orthogonal detection can be implemented to determine whether the sample matches any such subclass. According to one embodiment of the disclosure, the orthogonal detection consists of performing wide-field Raman imaging on the region to derive a spectral signature for each pixel in a spectral image. These spatially-localized spectra are then classified individually to produce a classified Raman image.
[0040] If the material is within a confusion region (step 350 ), then one or more of the following steps can be implemented: (1) check the fiber array spectra; (2) apply spectral unmixing; (3) conduct orthogonal detection and Raman imaging of the sample; and (4) save the results for review. In implementing the step of checking the fiber array spectra the dispersive Raman detector produces an average signal taken over a spatial FOV by combining signals from a set of optical fibers. By examining the individual fibers and their corresponding signals, one embodiment of the disclosure obtains more local spectral estimates from points within the FOV. These local spectra are more likely to be pure component estimates than the overall average dispersive spectrum.
[0041] The step of conducting Raman imaging can be implemented because dispersive spectroscopy integrates the Raman signal over an entire FOV. Thus, if more than one material occupies the FOV, the spectrum will be a mixture of all those components. One solution is to increase the spatial resolution of the sensor. According to this embodiment, a wide-field Raman imaging system is employed. If a suspected target arises from the dispersive analysis, Raman imaging can isolate the target component. In this manner, Mahalanobis distance test can be performed on each spectrum in the Raman image.
[0042] If the sample is determined to be outside of all classes (not shown in FIG. 3 ), then the algorithm can check the fiber array spectra (or nominal mixture spectra) to determine whether the sample defines a mixture. If so, a spectral unmixing algorithm can be implemented to determine its components and their amounts. Further orthogonal detection can also be implemented at this stage through Raman imaging to further the analysis. In step 370 , the results are reported to the operator.
[0043] In the event that the above algorithms are unable to determine the sample's composition, spectral unmixing can be implemented. FIG. 4 is an exemplary algorithm for spectral unmixing if Mahalanobis sequence fails to identify the sample's composition. Assuming that the spectral unmixing is unsuccessful, step 410 of FIG. 4 calls for further testing to determine the purity of the initial test spectrum. Purity assessment involves examining the intermediate results from spectral unmixing to assess the correlation of the spectrum with all the library entries and combinations of library entries.
[0044] If it is determined that the initial test spectrum defines a pure sample, then it will be reported that the material under study does not pose a threat and a Ramanomics algorithm is initiated. In addition, if the spectral unmixing yields unknown class, Ramanomics algorithm is also initiated to determine the relative similarity of the test spectrum to biological compounds.
[0045] An exemplary application of the method and apparatus according to one embodiment of the disclosure is shown in FIGS. 5-7 . Specifically, FIG. 5 shows a method for determining eigenvectors according to one embodiment of the disclosure. Referring to FIG. 5 , several reference spectrum are shown as class 1 through class 4 . Each class defines a unique spectra which is the fingerprint of the material it represents. Using the principal component analysis, classes 1 - 4 can be represented as eigenvectors, schematically shown as matrix 540 . This information can be stored in the library as discussed in reference to step 110 of FIG. 1 .
[0046] FIG. 6A shows an exemplary method for creating class models from the reference spectra and eigenvectors. In step 610 , the reference spectra are multiplied by the eigenvectors to transform the spectra into a form suitable for inclusion as Mahalanobis models 620 .
[0047] FIG. 6B shows a principal component scatter plot for the model of FIG. 6A . In the scatter plot each dot represents a spectrum in PC space. Here, principal component 1 (PC 1 ) is plotted on the X-axis, and principal component 2 (PC 2 ) is plotted on the Y-axis. For these classes, PC 1 captures the most of the variability among the spectra, as seen by the separation of the classes in the PC 1 dimension. The ellipses around the classes represent the 2-σ intervals accounting for approximately 95% of the likelihood of class membership.
[0048] FIG. 7 schematically shows a method for mapping an unknown spectrum to PC space according to one embodiment of the disclosure. In FIG. 7 , an unknown sample's spectrum is shown as spectrum 710 . The unknown spectrum is reduced to eigenvectors in step 720 and a mean reduced spectrum 730 is obtained therefrom. In step 740 , the mean reduced spectrum is compared with models existing in the library by mapping the known mean reduced spectrum into PC space. Depending on the location of the known mean reduced spectrum in the PC space and its proximity to the closest known class, the unknown sample can be identified. FIG. 7 illustrates this concept.
[0049] While the disclosure has been discussed in reference to specific examples and particular embodiments described herein, it should be noted that the principles disclosed herein are not limited thereto and include variations, modification or departures from those discussed herein.
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System and method for assessing the occurrence of an unknown substance in a sample that comprises multiple entities. A reference library is provided comprising a plurality of reference data sets representative of at least one known substance. A first feature of the entities is assessed wherein the first feature is characteristic of the unknown substance. A region of interest is selected wherein the region of interest comprises at least one entity exhibiting the first feature. A spatially accurate wavelength resolved Raman image is obtained wherein each pixel in the image is the Raman spectrum of the sample at the corresponding location. The spatially accurate wavelength resolved image is assessed to thereby identify the unknown substance.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a method of melting together the axial ends of bunched fibers of thermoplastic material, wherein the fiber ends are brought into contact with a heated surface of a stamp. The invention relates further to a device for attaching tufts of bristles for use in brushes to carrier plates of thermoplastic material. The carrier plates with the tufts of bristles attached thereto are incorporated in brush bodies, in particular for the fabrication of tooth brushes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Several methods are known for the fabrication of brushes. In principle, brush bodies, having an array of holes corresponding to the desired array of bristles, can be provided. The tufts of bristles are then inserted into the holes of the brush body and anchored therein. The anchorage of the tufts of bristles in the brush body by means of anchor platelets or loops requires, however, highly performant and hence expensive machines.
According to an alternative fabrication method for brushes, the tufts of bristles are attached to a carrier plate that then is built into a brush body. The carrier plate can be joined to the brush body by injection-moulding around it or by welding. The carrier plate will be provided with holes according to the desired hole pattern, the utilization ends of the tufts of bristles projecting out of one surface of the carrier plate, and the axial ends of the tufts of bristles to be anchored in the brush protruding slightly out of the opposite side. A heated stamp is pressed against those ends of the tufts of bristles that are to be anchored in the brush body, melting together the ends of the tufts of bristles and possibly deforming them into knobs. During the subsequent separation of the stamp from the melted fiber ends, sticky threads and smearing of the viscous melted synthetic material may occur. Since, furthermore, the ends of the bristles as well as the carrier plate are heated, it is difficult on the one hand to effect the deformation of the bristles necessary for a perfect anchoring, and to prevent on the other hand an unwanted deformation of the carrier plate, all the more since the carrier plate and the bristles usually are made of different synthetic materials.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention provides a method of melting together the axial ends of bunched fibers of thermoplastic material, wherein the fiber ends are brought into contact with the heated surface of a stamp. According to the invention, the body of the stamp is heated by passing a controlled electric current through it, enabling extremely rapid and precisely controllable temperature changes of the stamp.
In a first variant of the invention, the fiber ends are brought into contact with a heated surface of a stamp, which then is cooled abruptly. Only after cooling of the surface has occured, the fiber ends are separated from it. In this way, the melted fiber ends can be removed cleanly from the heated surface and show an overall shape that is determined by the geometry of the surface. In this variant the application of a non-stick coating is advantageous.
Like in the first variant, in a second variant according to the invention the fiber ends are first brought into contact with a surface heated to a first temperature. The surface is then separated from the fiber ends while maintaining, however, the temperature of the surface. After that, the surface is heated up to a second, higher temperature in order to vaporize any remainder of the fiber material adhering to the surface. In a final step according to the method, the surface is cooled again to the first temperature. In this variant, the adherence properties of the heated surface with respect to the heated fiber material are uncritical, a non-stick coating being hence unnecessary.
Both variants of the invention are especially suited for the fabrication of arrays of bristles to fabricate brushes. Fibers for the fabrication of brushes mostly consist of a thermoplastic material like polyamide (“nylon”). This material can be deformed easily with the inventive method.
The invention further provides a device for attaching tufts of bristles to carrier plates in order to manufacture brushes, enabling a controllable and well reproducible operation of the stamp upon the ends of the bristles, assuring the desired deformation of the ends of the bristles without any unwanted deformation of the carrier plate. In the device according to the invention, the stamp is heated by an electric current and can be cooled by a flowing cooling agent. The stamp can be heated rapidly and in a specific way by an electric current, especially if, according to the preferred embodiment, it has a low heat capacity, so that it quickly can be cycled through different temperature phases, including cooling by the cooling agent. Since the ends of the bristles are heated only a very short time and instantanously cooled again afterwards, a smearing of the heated bristle material on the carrier plate is avoided. By the same token, the stamp may alternatively be heated to a second, higher temperature after having been withdrawn from the fiber ends in order to vaporize any remainder of the fiber material adhering to the surface. The carrier plate itself is warmed up only slightly since the stamp is heated only for a short time to the temperature needed to melt together the ends of the bristles, and is removed or cooled instantaneously thereafter. Controlling the electric current, particularly via pulse width modulation, allows a good control of the intensity and the duration of the heating process.
Preferably, the stamp comprises a body of electrically conducting material, on which two electrical high-current terminals in the shape of bent-off contact shoes are formed. The body of the stamp has a thin-walled stamp plate that may be strengthened by an angled bordering strip. Suitable materials for the manufacturing of the stamp are metals, having on the one hand sufficent mechanical strength in order to assure the desired low heat capacity needed for a fast change of temperature, and showing on the other hand only a moderate resistivity, so that only an uncritical electric voltage is needed to achieve the electrical heating power. Although, in this case, the required heating currents have values of some hundred Amperes and more, for example 200 Amperes at a voltage of 7 V, such high currents can well be controlled using available semiconductor components. In view of these criteria, stainless steel, titanium and NiCr-containing alloys are suitable materials for the fabrication of the stamp.
In order to cool the stamp, compressed air is preferably used. Due to the low heat capacity of the stamp, only a short time is needed to cool it down by directing compressed air against it, so that cycle times of about one second are feasable.
In the preferred embodiment of the device, a stamp carrier plate is provided with a plurality of stamps forming a group, and the same number of carrier plates is inserted into the corresponding openings of a supporting plate opposite the stamps. Preferably, the stamps are electrically connected in series at the stamp carrier plate, so that the intensity of the heating current does not increase. This measure is expedient especially if the stamp carrier plate together with the stamps is reciprocated with respect to the carrier plates incorporated in the supporting plate, in which case the electrical leads for the heating current have to be moved accordingly. As a consequence, large conductor cross-sections would be disadvantageous.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and from the accompanying drawings to which reference is made. The drawings show:
FIGS. 1 to 4 diagrams illustrating a first variant of the method according to the invention;
FIG. 5 a schematic perspective view of the device;
FIG. 6 an enlarged sectional view of a part of the device;
FIG. 7 an enlarged perspective view of a part of the device;
FIG. 8 a perspective view in detail of a stamp of the device;
FIG. 9 a sectional view, showing a variant of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2;
FIG. 10 a partial section of another embodiment; and
FIGS. 11-15 diagrams illustrating a second variant of the method according to the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In the first variant of the method, schematically depicted in FIGS. 1 to 4 , fibers 1 of synthetic material are bunched, in particular by means of an apertured plate 2 for example, and set on a stop 3 . The stop 3 may be flat or comprise a shaped surface with a profile and can hence be applied in the known way to give the bristles an overall contour by shifting them axially. The free fiber ends are situated opposite a stamp 4 that has a solid body and can be heated by means of an electric current passing through the body. The stamp 4 may have any form, in particular one showing a shaped surface. The stamp 4 is thin-walled and has a low heat capacity. Hence, it can be heated very rapidly using a resistance heating and cooled again equally rapidly with the help of a flowing cooling agent.
In a first step the stamp 4 is heated to a temperature T 1 . In a second step the stamp 4 is pressed onto the fiber ends, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, melting together and shaping the fiber ends. In a third step, FIG. 3, the stamp 4 is then cooled quickly by compressed air directed against it. Only then, in a fourth step, the stamp is separated from the now melted together and cleanly shaped fiber ends.
In the described embodiment of the device, it serves for the fabrication of tooth brushes, wherein a carrier plate, comprising tufts of bristles, is inserted into a brush head and welded to it. Details of such a device can be taken from the EP 0 972 464 A1 and the EP 0 972 465 A1.
A mount 10 (FIG. 5) is provided with a stamp carrier plate 12 that can be reciprocated vertically by means of guide rods 14 , the actuation being assured by a pneumatic cylinder 16 . To the bottom side of the carrier plate 12 four support bases 18 are attached, carrying each a heatable stamp 20 directed downwards. Below the carrier plate 12 , spaced from and parallel to it, is provided a supporting plate 22 having four openings 24 opposite to the stamps 20 . A carrier plate 26 made of synthetic material, comprising an array of holes corresponding to the desired array of bristles, is insertable into each of these openings 24 .
Via a compressed-air piping 28 branching at the stamp carrier plate 12 , the device can be supplied with blasts of compressed air directed against the stamps 20 . Furthermore, two flexible high-current cables 30 , able to carry an electric current controlled by pulse width modulation, are connected to the stamp carrier plate 12 .
FIG. 6 shows details of a single stamp of the device. This stamp 20 whose structure is better understood from FIG. 5 consists of a metallic body, especially of stainless steel, with a thin-wall stamp plate 20 a and two bent-off high-current terminals in the form of right-angled contact shoes 20 b , 20 c formed thereon. These contact shoes 20 b , 20 c in addition serve the attachment of the stamp 20 to the support bases 18 , which in turn are employed for electrically connecting the four stamps 20 . As can be seen from FIG. 6, the current cables 30 are each directly connected to a cable shoe. The support bases 18 are provided with openings 18 a being connected through the stamp carrier plate 12 to the compressed-air piping 28 and directing the compressed-air flow against the stamp plate 20 a.
As further can be seen from FIG. 6, the carrier plate 26 is inserted into the opening 24 of the supporting plate 22 in such a way that its circumferential border is held in place by the boundary of the opening 24 . The tufts of bristles 32 inserted into the holes of the carrier plate project 2 to 3 millimeters out of the side of the carrier plate 26 facing the stamp 20 and are propped at the opposite side at a push plate or stop 34 . This stop can either be flat or comprise a shaped surface that in addition can be used to give rise to a profile of the tufts of bristles by axially shifting the individual bristles within a single tuft. The surface of the stamp 20 facing the carrier plate is provided with sharp projections 36 , whose tips point towards the area of the carrier plate surrounding the holes and hence the tufts of bristles. The surface of the stamp facing the carrier plate further is provided with a non-stick coating.
As is apparent from FIG. 7, the four stamps 20 at the stamp carrier plate 12 are electrically connected in series. The connection of the stamps can be realised by individual cable sections or equally by an appropriate design of the support bases 18 .
From the representation of the FIG. 8 it is apparent that the stamp is a thin-wall member that is given a high inherent stability by suitable roundings, formed-on ledges, a bent-up circumferential border and the angled structure of the contact shoes.
As further is apparent from FIG. 7, at least one of the stamps 20 , though preferredly each stamp, is associated with a temperature probe 40 . The one or each of the temperature probes 40 is connected to a controller 42 driving an electric current supply 44 , to the output terminals of which are connected the current cables 30 . The current supply 44 preferably operates with pulse width modulation.
In a typical embodiment of the device, the body of each stamp 20 is made of stainless steel. The wall thickness near the stamp plate 20 a is only a fraction of a millimeter. With a length of the stamp plate of about 20 millimeters and a width of about 10 millimeters, there results a heating power of about 1400 W, corresponding to a current of 200 Amperes at 7 V. In this case, the body of the stamp has such a low heat capacity that the heating/cooling-cycle achievable is of the order of one second. The fast cooling is a consequence of the controlled blast of compressed air alone, being directed against the stamp plate.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, in addition to the supporting plate 22 the carrier plate 26 is overlapped by a movable carrier ring 48 . The carrier ring 48 is provided with a through opening for the passage of the stamp 20 . The carrier ring 48 ameliorates the support at the circumferential border of the carrier plate 26 to prevent it from a deformation effected by the heated stamp 20 . With this embodiment of the device an excellent dimensional accuracy of the carrier plate 26 is assured, resulting in a clean joining with the brush head during the subsequent welding.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 10, the through holes are enlarged on the side of the fiber ends to be melted together, the enlargements being cone-shaped in particular. Pressing the heated surface of the stamp on the plasticized mass of the fiber ends melted together, the mass is pressed into these enlargements resulting in frustum-shaped knobs at the melted fiber ends, that are referenced 5 in FIG. 10 . Due to these knobs, the “pull-out force”, i.e. the tensile force in the direction “A” in FIG. 10 at which a tuft releases from the carrier plate 26 is increased strongly. An additional enhancement is achieved in that at least part of the plasticized mass is transformed into a continuous layer by pressing the heated stamp onto it, as indicated at 6 in FIG. 10 . To facilitate the inserting of the tufts of fibers 1 into the through holes of the carrier plate 26 , these through holes are enlarged on the other side of the carrier plate 26 too, as indicated at 7 in FIG. 10 .
The second variant of the method as depicted schematically in FIGS. 11 to 15 starts out from the same disposition as the first variant of the invention (FIGS. 1 to 4 ). Identical parts are indicated by the same reference numerals.
The first two steps of the second variant of the method correspond to the first two steps of the first variant. The stamp 4 is heated to a first temperatuer T 1 and pressed onto the fiber ends, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12. In a third step the stamp 4 is now withdrawn from the fiber ends, keeping, however, its temperature constant (FIG. 13 ). Occasionally, after having withdrawn the stamp 4 at the temperature T 1 , some material of the fibers still adheres to it. In order to remove this material, the stamp, in a fourth step, is heated to a second, higher temperature T 2 (FIG. 14) that is chosen such that in a pyrolysis process the material of the fibers first desintegrates into monomers before being vaporized. In this way, the stamp 4 is clean again and does not have any residual deposits. In the final step the stamp 4 is cooled to the temperature T 1 by directing compressed air against it (FIG. 15 ). Using fibers of polyamide, the temperature T 1 lies between 250° C. and 300° C. and the temperature T 2 between 600° C. and 700° C.
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In a method of melting together axial ends of bunched fibers of thermoplastic material, the fiber ends are brought into contact with the heated surface of a stamp. The body of the stamp is heated by controlling an electric current passing through it. In one embodiment the stamp is cooled by a flow of compressed air before the stamp is separated from the fiber ends. In another embodiment, the stamp is separated from the melted fiber ends, heated to a higher temperature to vaporize any residual fiber material, and cooled by exposure to compressed air until it has no more than the temperature for melting the fiber material.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention concerns a composition containing thiolate for the removal of heavy metal ions from dilute aqueous solutions.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A known thiol salt that makes possible the removal of heavy metal ions from dilute aqueous solutions is the sodium salt of trimercaptotriazine. This compound is usually added to an aqueous solution containing heavy metal ions as a 15% aqueous solution, i.e., in a slight stoichiometric excess, in order to precipitate the heavy metal ions as quantitatively as possible. The precipitate comes down in flakes and can be filtered.
Known precipitating agents based on thiolates always require a slight stoichiometric excess of the thiolate equivalents over the heavy metal equivalents, so that the thiolate excess remains in solution. Thus, when the thiolate is used for the removal of heavy metal ions from waste waters, the thiolate becomes the contaminant.
Swellable silicates with a certain ion exchange capacity, e.g., alkali bentonite, are also used for removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions. (Compare, for example, TIZ Fachberichte, Vol. 106, No. 1 (1982), pages 137-139.) In this case the exchangeable alkali ions are exchanged with the heavy metal ions on the interface sites. Heavy metal ions are also adsorbed.
The binding capacity of the swellable silicates for heavy metal ions, however, leaves something to be desired. Thus, it is necessary, especially with waste waters laden with heavy metals, to use larger quantities (e.g., 5 g/liter) of alkali bentonites in order to arrive at lower heavy metal concentrations (e.g., <1 mg/liter). The amount of slurry precipitating with the filtration is thereby considerable and leads to familiar difficulties, both with the filtration and with the disposal of the metal contaminated sludge.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It was found, surprisingly, that, by the addition of small amounts of certain thiolates to the swellable silicates, a composition is obtained whose binding capacity for heavy metal ions is much greater than the sum of the binding capacities of the individual components. The subject of the invention is, therefore, a composition, in the form of a sorption complex, which contains thiolate, for the removal of heavy metal ions from dilute aqueous solutions, characterized in that a sorption complex of a thiolate with two or more --SMe-- groups (wherein Me represents alkali or ammonium) is used with a swellable silicate, whose ion exchange capacity is 5-350 meq*/liter.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The structure of this sorption complex is not exactly known. It is possible that a pure adsorption or a chemisorption of the thiolate takes place on the positively charged lattice sites of the silicate. The binding capacity of the sorption complex for heavy metal ions is surprisingly high. For example, if 1.8 meq of a thiolate is added to a silicate with a specific binding capacity for heavy metals of 100 meq/100 g, the specific binding capacity of the resulting sorption complex increases, not by 1.8%, as would be expected, but rather by 6-32%, as is clearly shown in the following experimental results.
The thiolates used according to the invention can, for example, be the alkali or ammonium salts of aliphatic dithiols or polythiols. Further, the salts of aromatic dithiols or polythiols, for example, of thiohydroquinone, can be used. Especially preferred, however, are such thiolates as are derived from heterocyclic di- or trithiols. Examples of these compounds are 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazol or trimercaptotriazine. The thiolate of the latter compound is preferably used, since the silicate sorption complex obtained thereby forms an easily filtrable precipitate with heavy metal ions.
The weight ratio between the silicate and the thiolate can fluctuate within wide ranges. In general, it lies between 100:1 and 5000:1, preferably between 100:1 and 1000:1.
The sorption complex used according to the invention can, in general, be produced by spraying the swellable silicate with an aqueous solution of the thiolate. Further, the thiolate can be added to an aqueous suspension of the swellable silicate. Furthermore, the swellable silicate can be combined with the thiol or a solution of the thiol, after which an alkali reacting composition is added. The alkali reacting composition (for example, NaOH or Na 2 CO 3 ) can also be present in the silicate suspension.
The sorption complex, in an aqueous medium, preferably has a pH value of about 9.5-12. The pH value is determined with the help of a standard suspension containing 1 g of sorption complex in 100 ml of H 2 O. The determination takes place at room temperature.
The silicate used according to the invention is swellable in aqueous solution, but is practically insoluble. Preferably, a smectitic, a kaolinitic, or a zeolitic clay mineral, or a mixture of the clay minerals, is used as the silicate. It is a prerequisite that these minerals have an ion exchange capacity (i.e.c.) of at least 5 meq/100 g.
Examples of kaolinite clay minerals are nacrite, dickite, and kaolinite. Examples of zeolite clay minerals are faujasite, mordenite, and chabazite. Synthetically produced zeolite clay minerals of the A- and Y-type can also be used, as they are described, for example, in "Zeolites and Clay Minerals as Sorbents and Molecular Sieves" by R. M. Barrer (1978), Academic Press, London.
The preferred clay minerals, however, are the minerals of the montmorillonite-beidellite series, to which belong montmorillonite (the chief mineral of bentonites), hectorite, beidellite, saponite, and nontronite. (Compare Ullmann's Enzyklopadie der technischen Chemie, Vol. 17, 1966, pgs. 593-594.)
Of the bentonites, the alkali bentonites are preferred, since these have a better binding capacity for heavy metal ions in comparison to alkaline earth bentonites. The natural alkali bentonites, as well as the alkali bentonites produced artificially from alkaline earth bentonites by conversion with alkalis, can be used.
The subject of the invention involves further a process for the removal of heavy metal ions from dilute aqueous solutions. This process is characterized in that the above mentioned composition or sorption complex is suspended in an aqueous medium containing heavy metal ions and separated off after the adsorption of the heavy metals from the aqueous solution.
The process according to the invention is suitable for the removal of heavy metal ions from very dilute solutions, which can be processed only uneconomically by other processes. After the separation of the sorption complex, laden with the heavy metal ions, the aqueous solution still contains heavy metal ions only in very small, harmless quantities. Also, the thiolates, which were used in the preparation of the sorption complex, leave no trace in the solution. The silicate also, therefore, acts as a sorption means for the thiolates, to a certain extent.
In general, an aqueous solution with a heavy metal concentration of about 5×10 -3 to 3×10 -1 meq/liter (0.5-50 mg/liter) is used and the substance according to the invention is added in a quantity of about 0.1-1 g per liter aqueous solution. These quantities correspond to only about 1.8×10 -3 to 1.8×10 -2 meq thiolate, i.e., the quantity of thiolate lies far below the required stoichiometric amount for binding with the heavy metal ions which are present.
With the help of the process according to the invention, aqueous solutions containing ions of the heavy metals Cu, Ag, Au, Zn, Cd, Hg, Tl, Sn, Pb, As, Sb, Bi, Cr, Mo, W, Mn, Co, Ni, and/or metals of the actinide series can be treated.
The process according to the invention can be carried out in a simple manner. It suffices to stir the sorption complex into the aqueous solution to be purified, to allow the suspension to stand for a time, and thereafter to separate the sorption complex, laden with the heavy metal ions, by filtration or by decanting the treated water after the complex has settled out. The temperature does not change during treatment. The only exception occurs when the aqueous solution is acidic. When the solution is acidic, it is either first neutralized or mixed with a sorption complex enriched with alkali. In general, the pH value of the aqueous solution containing the sorption complex is adjusted to about 7-10.
The process according to this invention is especially suited for cleaning waste waters containing heavy metal ions, e.g., community and industrial waste waters. Acidic waste waters, which must be neutralized, accumulate, for example, in metal pickling plants. According to this invention, the waste waters of electroplating industries, tanneries and dye works, as well as the waste waters of heavy metal smelting operations, can be processed.
The precipitation of the sorption complex laden with heavy metal ions can be accelerated by the addition of inorganic and organic flocculation agents, such as aluminum sulfate, polyacrylic acid, or polyacrylic amide. In this way, an easily filtrable precipitate is obtained.
If it is desirable to recover the heavy metals, the process is, in general, to separate off the sorption complex from the aqueous solution as a precipitate, laden with the heavy metal ions, to treat it with acids for the solubilization of the heavy metal ions, and to recover the heavy metal ions from the acidic solution in a known way.
If it is a matter of, for example, rare metal ions (e.g., silver and gold ions), these can be recovered through cementation or through electrolysis. Copper, mercury, nickel, and cobalt, for example, can also be recovered through electrolysis. These and other heavy metals, however, can also be precipitated as hydroxides, carbonates, or sulfides. Specific precipitation methods can also be used for each element, for example, a precipitation with sulfate for lead and a precipitation with chloride for silver.
The process according to the invention therefore also makes possible a recovery of heavy metals from solutions with very low heavy metal ion concentrations, from which the heavy metals can only be recovered at a great expense by other processes.
The invention is illustrated through the following examples:
EXAMPLE 1
100 mg alkali bentonite, treated with 0.018 meq/g trimercapto-S-triazine (TMT), and, in comparison thereto, 100 mg untreated alkali bentonite, were stirred into 1 liter water with 10 mg/liter heavy metal for 10 minutes. The solution had a pH value of 8.
After filtering the slurry containing the heavy metals, the concentrations of the heavy metals recovered were measured and reported in Table I.
TABLE I__________________________________________________________________________Alkali bentonite Alkali bentonite with Increase in the heavy(100 mg/liter) 0.018 meq TMT Pro rata binding metal binding capacitySpecific heavy metal Specific heavy metal with (a) through (b) throughbinding capacity binding capacity 0.018 meq TMT the complex TMTmg/g meq/g mg/g meq/g mg % %__________________________________________________________________________Cd.sup.+2 61 1.08 73 1.30 1.01 19.7 0.6Zn.sup.+2 58 1.77 75 2.29 0.50 29.3 0.9Cu.sup.+2 93 2.92 98 3.08 0.57 5.4 0.5Pb.sup.+2 85 0.82 90 0.87 1.80 5.9 2.2Ni.sup.+2 38 1.30 50 1.71 0.52 31.6 1.4Hg.sup.+2 54 0.54 71 0.71 1.80 31.5 3.3Cr.sup.+3 84 4.85 90 5.20 0.31 7.1 0.4__________________________________________________________________________
EXAMPLE 2
In the same way as Example 1, the water containing 10 mg/liter heavy metal was treated with 100 mg/liter alkali bentonite, treated with 0.044 meq 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazolate (bismuthiol I). The pH value was 8. The results are presented in Table II.
TABLE II__________________________________________________________________________ Pro rata Alkali bentonite binding Increase of the with 0.044 meq capacity heavy metal bindingAlkali bentonite bismuthiold I with 0.044 capacitySpecific binding Specific binding meq bis- (a) with (b) withcapacity capacity muthiold the complex bismuthioldmg/g meq/g mg/g meq/g mg % %__________________________________________________________________________Cd.sup.+2 61 1.08 75 1.33 2.44 23.0 4.0Ni.sup.+2 38 1.30 49 1.67 1.29 28.9 3.4Hg.sup.+2 54 0.54 68 0.67 4.41 24.0 4.4__________________________________________________________________________
EXAMPLE 3
Following the procedure of Example 1, water containing 10 mg/liter heavy metal was treated with 100 g synthetic Y-zeolite, treated with 0.0018 meq trimercapto-S-triazine (TMT). The pH value was 8. The synthetic Y-zeolite was produced through the conversion of sodium aluminate with sodium silicate and had a pore radius of 8 Å, a specific surface area of 500 m 2 /g, and an ion exchange capacity of 310 meq/100 g. The results are presented in Table III.
TABLE III__________________________________________________________________________ Increase of the Alkali bentonite Pro rata heavy metal bind-Alkali bentonite with 0.018 meq binding ing capacitySpecific binding TMT - Specific capacity (a) with (b) withcapacity binding capacity with TMT the complex TMTmg/g meq/g mg/g meq/g mg % %__________________________________________________________________________Cd.sup.+2 87 0.86 97 0.97 1.01 11.5 2.0Ni.sup.+2 64 2.18 77 2.62 0.52 20.3 0.8Hg.sup.+2 50 0.5 60 0.6 1.80 20.0 3.6__________________________________________________________________________
EXAMPLE 4
In the same way as Example 1, water containing 10 mg/liter heavy metal was treated with 100 mg/liter kaolin, treated with 0.018 meq trimercapto-S-triazine (TMT). The pH value was 9. The kaolin was obtained from the Engelhard/Omya firm. The residue in a sieve of 1 μm was 27%. The results are presented in Table IV.
TABLE IV__________________________________________________________________________ Increase of theKaolin Kaolin with Pro rata heavy metal bind-specific 0.018 meq TMT, binding ing capacitybinding specific binding capacity (a) with (b) withcapacity capacity with TMT the complex TMTmg/g meq/g mg/g meq/g mg % %__________________________________________________________________________Cd.sup.+2 66 1.17 72 1.28 1.01 9.0 1.5Ni.sup.+2 41 1.39 54 1.84 0.52 36.6 1.3Hg.sup.+2 40 0.4 50 0.5 1.80 25 4.5__________________________________________________________________________
EXAMPLE 5
100 g of an active bentonite sorption complex, laden with 52 mg copper and containing 68% water, from example 1, (1664 mg copper, in reference to the dry substance), was mixed with 70 ml 38% H 2 SO 4 and 70 ml distilled water, and held at boiling temperature, with stirring, for one hour.
After filtering and washing the filter cake with 500 ml H 2 O, the copper in the filtrate was electrolytically precipitated. The amount recovered amounted to 1514 mg=91% of the theoretical amount.
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A composition containing thiolate for the removal of heavy metal ions from dilute aqueous solutions, characterized in that the composition is a sorption complex of a thiolate with two or more -SMe- groups (wherein Me represents alkali or ammonium) with a swellable silicate, whose ion exchange capacity is 5-350 milliequivalents/100 g. The composition is suspended in the aqueous medium to be purified and separated off after the absorption of the heavy metal ions from the aqueous solution. The heavy metals can be recovered in known ways.
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[0001] This application claims priority from application No. 60/316,961, filed Sep. 5, 2001, by the same inventors. The Provisional Application Serial No. 60/316,961 is incorporated herein by reference for all it discloses.
References Patents 6,058,119 May 2000 Engbersen, et al. 5,872,780 February 1999 Demiray, et al. 5,267,236 November 1993 Stephenson, Jr. et al. 5,132,970 July 1992 Urbansky 4,998,242 March 1991 Upp
OTHER REFERENCES
[0002] ITU-T G.709 “Network Node Interface for optical transport network (OTN)” standard (see: http://www.itu.int//TU-T/).
FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] 1. Field of the Invention
[0004] The present invention relates generally to optical communication networks, and more particularly, to the mapping and multiplexing of CBR signals into OTN frames.
[0005] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0006] SONET/SDH is now a mature digital transport technology, established in virtually every country in the world. When SONET/SDH was first conceived in the early 1980s, telecommunications traffic was predominantly voice based. During the last years there has been a burst in the demand for bandwidth driven mainly by Internet access, e-commerce and mobile telephony. This increase in demand has, so far, been satisfied through a combination of increased line rates of time division multiplexing (TDM) and transmitting multiple wavelengths through a single fiber, using dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) in high speed optical networks. However, as such a network evolves to higher line rates, the physical limitations of the transport medium (optical fiber) become critical. Furthermore, there remains an over-riding requirement to control the cost of providing and improving the level of service to the users.
[0007] Optical transport network (OTN) was conceived in 2001 to overcome the drawbacks of SONET/SDH networks. The OTN capabilities and facilities are published as a new standard, known as ITU-G.709 “Network node interface for the optical transport network (OTN)” (hereinafter “G.709 standard”). The OTN standard is based on the SONET/SDH G.975 standard, however, some key elements have been added to improve performance and reduce cost. These include management of optical channels in the optical domain, forward error correction (FEC) to improve error performance and enable longer optical spans, and a standardized method for managing optical wavelengths (channels) end to end without the need for processing of the payload signal.
[0008] Reference is now made to FIG. 1 where an illustration of a typical OTN frame 10 is shown. An OTN frame consists of three distinct areas: overhead 11 , optical payload unit (OPU) 12 , and forward error control (FEC) 13 . The overhead area 11 is used for the operation, administration, and maintenance functions. The OPU area 12 is used for customers' data, and in particular, this area includes data from a plurality of clients to be transported by means of the OTN frame 10 . The OPU area consists of two sub-areas OPU overhead (OH) and OPU payload data. The OPU OH is located at columns 15 and 16 rows 1-4, while the OPU payload data is located at columns 17-3,824 rows 1-4. The OPU area includes the justification control (JC) bytes (not shown), the negative justification opportunity (NJO) byte (not shown), and the positive justification opportunity (PJO) byte (not shown). The NJO, JC and PJO are filled with data during a justification process, if such a process is performed. The justification process, as can be seen, for example, in the G.709 standard is used to compensate for data losses when performing asynchronous mapping. The FEC area is used for error detection and correction. The size of the OTN frame is four rows, each row having 4,080 columns. The size of a column is one byte. Data is transmitted serially beginning at the top left, first row followed by the second row and so forth. There are three line rates currently defined in OTN: 1) 2.5Gbps—optical channel transport unit 1 (OTU1); 2) 10Gbps-OTU2; and, 3) 40Gbps—OTU3. The actual rates of OTU1, OTU2, and OTU3 are 2.66Gbps, 10.7Gbps, and 43Gbps respectively.
[0009] Constant bit rate (CBR) signals typically refer to SONET and SDH signals. There are five different line rates defined for CBR signals: 150 Mbps, (hereinafter “CBR150M”), 622 Mbps (hereinafter “CBR622M”), 2.5Gbps (hereinafter “CBR2G5 ”), 10Gbps (hereinafter “CBR10G”), and 40Gbps (hereinafter “CBR40G”). The CBR150M, CBR622M, CBR2G5, CBR10G, and CBR40G signals are defined in the SONET/SDH standards OC-3/STM-1, OC-12/STM-4, OC-48/STM-16, OC-192/STM-64, and OC-786/STM-256 correspondingly.
[0010] There are known mapping techniques only for mapping of CBR2G5, CBR10G, and CBR40G into OTU1, OTU2, and OTU3 respectively. Namely, only transportation of a single CRB2G5 signal over an OTU1 frame, a single CBR10G signal over an OTU2 frame, and a single CBR40G signal over an OTU3 frame, are enabled. These techniques are described in detail in the OTN G.709 standard. However, the current techniques do not enable multiplexing low rate CBR signals into high rate OTN frames. For example, the capability for multiplexing four CBR2G5 signals into a single OTU2 frame is not provided by these techniques. This limitation results in waste of available bandwidth resources and limits the types of data that can be transported over an OTN network.
[0011] There are known techniques, referenced above, for multiplexing and mapping SONET/SDH signals. However, these techniques do not enable integration of such processes into OTN network architecture.
[0012] Therefore, it would be an advantageous to have a means for multiplexing and mapping of CBR signals of various line rates into OTU frames of various rates, such that efficient adoption of SONET/SDH legacy equipment is enabled by OTN networks.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0013] According to the present invention there is provided a method for multiplexing and mapping constant bit rate (CBR) signals of various line rates into OTU frames of various rates. Furthermore, a mapper is provided that enables mapping and multiplexing CBR signals into OTN frames.
[0014] In contrast to the known prior art techniques, the preferred method of the present invention provides a means to integrate CBR signals into OTN network architecture, thereby enabling efficient adoption of SONET/SDH legacy equipment by OTN networks.
[0015] The method for multiplexing and mapping CBR signals of various line rates into OTU frames of various rates, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, is as follows:
[0016] a) dividing an optical payload unit (OPU) area of the OTN frame into groups of tributary slots (TSs);
[0017] b) allocating the TSs to the clients;
[0018] c) inserting an overhead of each CBR signal into an OPU overhead area; and
[0019] d) mapping a byte of each CBR signal into the TSs allocated to each CBR signal.
[0020] According to an additional embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided for multiplexing constant bit rate (CBR) signals transported by means of four different clients, into a single OTN frame.
[0021] According to a further embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided for multiplexing constant bit rate (CBR) signals transported by means of sixteen different clients, into a single OTN frame.
[0022] According to an additional embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided for demultiplexing the CBR signals that were multiplexed using the method described above. The demultiplexing technique requires the steps of:
[0023] i. finding at least one overhead associated to the CBR signal;
[0024] ii. combining data spread over a number of OTN frames, according to the associated overhead(s); and
[0025] iii. affixing said the overhead(s) associated with the CBR signal to a combined signal, to form the complete CBR signal.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0026] The principles and operation of a system and a method according to the present invention may be better understood with reference to the drawings, and the following description, it being understood that these drawings are given for illustrative purposes only and are not meant to be limiting, wherein:
[0027] [0027]FIG. 1 is an illustration of a typical OTN frame structure.
[0028] [0028]FIG. 2 is an illustration of the allocation of TSs in an OPU payload area.
[0029] [0029]FIG. 3 is an exemplary flowchart describing the mapping process in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
[0030] [0030]FIG. 4 is an example of mapping four CBR signals into a single OTU frame in accordance with one embodiment of this invention.
[0031] [0031]FIG. 5 is an example of mapping sixteen CBR signals into a single OTU frame in accordance with one embodiment of this invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0032] The present invention relates to a system and method for mapping and multiplexing constant bit rate (CBR) signals into a variety of OTU frames, such as OTU1, OTU2 and OTU3 frames. In addition, the present method provides a means for transporting data from a plurality of SONET/SDH clients through a single OTN frame. For the purpose of the present disclosure, the CBR150M, CBR622M, CBR2G5, CBR10G, CBR40G, and any other CBR signal are defined as “CBR signals” and OTU1, OTU2, OTU3, and any other OTU frame shall be defined as “OTU frame”.
[0033] The following description is presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention as provided in the context of a particular application and its requirements. Various modifications to the preferred embodiment will be apparent to those with skill in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments. Therefore, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments shown and described, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features herein disclosed.
[0034] The principles and operation of a system and a method according to the present invention may be better understood with reference to the drawings and the accompanying description, it being understood that these drawings are given for illustrative purposes only and are not meant to be limiting, wherein:
[0035] Reference is now made to FIG. 2 where an illustration of OPU 200 tributary slots (TSs) allocation is shown, as defined in the G.709 standard. However, in order to map the CBR signals into OPU 200 , the present method divides the OPU payload area 210 into groups of a plurality of TSs (hereinafter “TS group”) and assigns selected TSs to different clients, i.e. the CBR signals. Each tributary slot is interleaved within OPU payload area 210 . The size of each tributary slot is one column by four rows, where each column is one byte. In a non-limiting example of possible TSs allocation having “n” different clients, the method allocates the TSs in the following fashion: the TSs located at columns n*j+17 are allocated to the 1 st client, the TSs positioned at columns n*j+18 are allocated to the 2 nd client, the TSs positioned at columns n*j+19 are allocated to the 3 rd client, and so forth. For example, when n=4 then the TSs located at columns 4*j+17 are allocated to the 1 st client, the TSs positioned at columns 4*j+18 are allocated to the 2 nd client, the TSs positioned at columns 4*j+19 are allocated to the 3 rd client and the TSs positioned at columns 4*j+20 are allocated to the 4 th client. The index “j” is an integer starting at zero and ending at 237 (which is the number of the TS groups in a single frame), which refers to the specific allocation of TSs to clients. The parameter “n” represents the number of clients. It should be appreciated that a weighted allocation is also possible, wherein each client is allocated a different number of TSs located at unequal intervals from each other.
[0036] It should be further noted that the CBR signals, according to the present invention, are assigned to the TSs with respect to their rates. For instance, in order to map four CBR2G5 into OTU2, each CBR signal consumes a quarter (¼) of the allocated TSs. Hence, in the above example, the allocation procedure enables four CBR2G5 signals to be mapped into a single OTU2, and similarly four CBG10G signals can be mapped to a single CBR40G etc. Similarly, a combination of various CBR signals can be mapped into a larger OTU frame. It should be further noted that the first allocation begins at row one, column seventeen, which is the beginning of the OPU payload.
[0037] Reference is now made to FIG. 3 where a non-limiting exemplary flowchart 300 describing the method for mapping and multiplexing CBR signals into an OTN frame is shown. At step 310 , the OPU payload area 210 is divided into M TSs groups, each TSs group including a plurality of TSs, namely TS- 1 through TS-N. Typically, “M” equals to two hundred and thirty eight (238) and “N” equals to sixteen, but these variables are not limited to the present numbers. Each TS may include data from a different client.
[0038] At step 320 , the TSs are assigned to the different clients, where each client transports CBR signals that have the same rate. However, since CBR signals transported by different clients may have different rates, at step 330 , the value of the four least significant bits (LSB) of the multi-frame alignment signal (MFAS) is obtained. The MFAS byte is found in the OTN frame at row one column seven. The value of the MFAS byte is incremented for each frame thereby providing a multi-frame structure with 256 frames. The four LSB of the MFAS represents the current index of the OTU frame, starting from one and ending at sixteen.
[0039] At step 340 , the client indexed by the MFAS inserts its CBR signal associated overhead into OPU OH area 220 . For example, if the value of the MFAS is five, then client number five is chosen to manipulate its CBR signal overhead.
[0040] At step 350 , it is determined whether a justification is required. A justification is required when performing asynchronous mapping, if the clock of the chosen client is not synchronized with the OTU clock. If it is determined that a justification is required, then the process continues at step 360 or otherwise, at step 370 .
[0041] At step 360 , the justification is performed in order to compensate for data losses, resulting from unsynchronized clocks. If the client clock is faster than the OTU clock, then a data byte from the client is mapped into the negative justification opportunity (NJO) byte, located at OPU OH area 220 . On the other hand, if the OTU clock is faster than the client clock, then the positive justification opportunity (PJO) byte, located at OPU payload area 210 , is filled with zeros. The justification process, detailed in the G.709 standard, is incorporated herein by reference for all it discloses.
[0042] At step 370 , each client maps a byte of its CBR signal into each of the TSs allocated for this client. Each client is allowed to map its CBR signal only to the TSs assigned for it. The mapping of the CBR is controlled by means of a mapper. The mapper is capable of coordinating the data loading by the different clients to the TSs assigned to the clients.
[0043] Reference is now made to FIG. 4 that demonstrates the mapping of sixteen CBR signals into an OTU frame, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 shows the resultant OPU 400 . The CBR signals are transported by means of sixteen different clients 430 - 1 through 430 - 16 . The OPU payload area 410 is divided into 238 groups of sixteen TSs, TS- 1 through TS- 16 . In the course of the mapping process, each of clients 430 loads the data of its CBR signal into the TSs, positioned at intervals of sixteen TSs from each other. Such an interval may be used in order to maintain a jitter structure required for the mapping. Any interval, however, may be chosen for the positioning of the CBR signals. For instance, client 430 - 1 maps its data into TS- 1 located at columns 16*j+17 client 410 - 2 maps its data into TS- 2 located at columns 16*j+18, and likewise mapping clients 430 - 3 through 430 - 16 , where “j” is an integer starting at zero and ending at 237. In each OTU frame, a single client 430 inserts the associated overhead data of its CBR signal into OPU OH area 420 . Hence, a multi-frame structure of at least sixteen OTU frames is required to transport sixteen CBR signals. A person skilled in the art could easily adapt the description made herein to map, for example, sixteen CBR150M signals into a single OTU1 frame, sixteen CBR622M signals into a single OTU2 frame, sixteen CBR2G5 signals into a single OTU3 frame, or any other possible combination.
[0044] Reference is now made to FIG. 5 that demonstrates the mapping of four CBR signals into an OTU frame, in accordance with an additional embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 shows the resultant OPU 500 . The CBR signals are transported by means of four different clients 530 - 1 through 530 - 4 . The OPU payload area 510 is divided into 238 groups of sixteen TSs, TS- 1 through TS- 16 . In the course of the mapping process, each client 530 loads the data of its CBR signal, into the TSs positioned at intervals of four TSs from each other. Such an interval may be used in order to maintain a jitter structure required for the mapping. Any interval, however, may be chosen for the positioning of the CBR signals. For instance, client 530 - 1 maps its data into the TS- 1 , TS- 5 , TS- 9 , and TS- 13 located at columns 4*j+17, client 510 - 2 maps the data of its CBR signal into TS- 2 , TS- 6 , TS- 10 , and TS- 14 located at columns 4*j+18, and likewise for mapping clients 530 - 3 and 530 - 4 . In each frame, a single client 530 inserts the associated overhead data of its CBR signal into OPU OH area 520 . Hence, a multi-frame structure of at lease four OTU frames is required to transport four different CBR signals. A person skilled in the art could easily adapt the description made herein to map, for example, four CBR622M signals into a single OTU1 frame, four CBR2G5 signals into a single OTU2 frame, four CBR10G signals into a single OTU3 frame, or any other possible combination.
Alternate Embodiments
[0045] While the invention described above describes how to map sixteen or four different clients into a single OTU frame, a person skilled in the art could easily use the method to map any number of clients into a single OTU frame.
[0046] In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a demultiplexing technique is suggested for the purpose of demultiplexing the CBR signals that were multiplexed using the method described herein. Generally, the CBR signals are multiplexed at the transmitter side, and demultiplexed at the receiver side. The demultiplexing technique requires the following steps: First, finding at least one overhead associated with the CBR signal, from a plurality of OTN frames. Second, combining the data spread over a number of OTN frames according to the overhead(s) located, i.e., the multi frames structure. Third, affixing the overhead(s) associated with the CBR signal to a combined signal, thereby re-forming the CBR signal in is entirely.
[0047] The present invention may have a particular use in architectures that allow for different combinations of the SONET/SDH protocol with the emerging OTN protocol. One example of such architecture is provided in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/189,560, entitled “Combined SONET/SDH and OTN Architecture”, by Danny Lahav, et al., assigned to common assignee and which is hereby incorporated by reference for all that it discloses. The mapping method referred to enables mapping and multiplexing SONET and SDH signals into OTN frames, while such signals are transferred through the integrated architecture.
[0048] The foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. It should be appreciated that many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claims appended hereto.
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A method for mapping and multiplexing of constant bit rate (CBR) signals into optical transport network (OTN) frames is provided. The method, in addition, enables the transportation of data from a plurality of SONET/SDH clients through a single OTN frame. The preferred method thereby enables efficient adoption of SONET/SDH legacy equipment by OTN networks.
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TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The method and user device disclosed herein relate to wireless communication using a user device, and more particularly to processing information present in a SMS (Short Messaging Service) received by a user to present consolidated contextual information to the user.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Currently, users are relying more and more on user devices for their communication purposes. The user devices may communicate using voice calls, messages (SMS (Short Messaging Service), MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), IM (Instant Messaging) and so on) to track a variety of activities such as financial activities, appointments, due date reminders, travel alerts, ticket status updates, balance alerts/check and so on.
[0003] In an example, the transactions performed by a user from a bank account may be updated to the user using SMSs, wherein the user receives an SMS for each transaction, as performed by him. While the user has a means to track each transaction, the user does not have any means to monitor his account balance based on the transactions being done by him in real time, monitor his expenditure in a calendar month and so on.
[0004] In another example, consider a user who sets up a meeting with another user, wherein the communication with the other user was done using SMSs including fixing the time and location of the meeting. If the user wants a reminder for the meeting, he has to manually set a reminder for the meeting.
[0005] Yet another scenario where a user books his/her ticket in advance (say 45 days before, with a waitlist status) and goes on with routine, at the time of chart preparation final ticket status comes as another SMS. User gets the update alert based on these SMSs about departure time and coach/seat information.
[0006] Currently, there are entities that process emails, appointments and other system generated alerts being received by a user for a specific data (such as IP/address of a device, date/time of appointment etc.) and offer a consolidated set of information to the user in the form of SMS or email. However, these entities perform the mining of the data at a back-end server and offer the consolidated specified (preset) information to the user on his user device. Such an approach requires considerable investment from the entity implementing this service (in terms of back-end and communication infrastructure). Also, privacy issues arise as the entity has access to sensitive information of the user (such as financial accounts, account balances, his itinerary/schedule and so on).
OBJECT
[0007] The principal object is to provide a method and a user device for processing information present in an SMS (Short Messaging Service) received by a user locally to present consolidated information to the user.
SUMMARY
[0008] Accordingly the embodiments herein relate to a method for enabling a user device to extract information from a received SMS (Short Messaging Service), the method comprising of parsing the received SMS to extract information by the user device; and performing at least one action related to the information by the user device based on at least one option.
[0009] Also, provided herein is a user device for extracting information from a received SMS (Short Messaging Service), the user device further configured for parsing the received SMS to extract information; and performing at least one action related to the information based on at least one option.
[0010] These and other aspects of the embodiments herein will be better appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with the following description and the accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, that the following descriptions, while indicating preferred embodiments and numerous specific details thereof, are given by way of illustration and not of limitation. Many changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the embodiments herein without departing from the spirit thereof, and the embodiments herein include all such modifications.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES
[0011] This method and user device is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, throughout which like reference letters indicate corresponding parts in the various figures. The embodiments herein will be better understood from the following description with reference to the drawings, in which:
[0012] FIG. 1 depicts a communication network configured to send a SMS (Short Messaging Service) to a user device, according to embodiments as disclosed herein;
[0013] FIG. 2 depicts a user device, according to embodiments as disclosed herein;
[0014] FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the process of a user device scanning a received SMS and performing at least one action based on the received SMS, according to embodiments as disclosed herein; and
[0015] FIG. 4 illustrates a computing environment implementing the method for processing information present in a SMS (Short Messaging Service) received by a user to present consolidated information to the user, according to embodiments as disclosed herein.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0016] The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.
[0017] The embodiments herein achieve a method and a system for processing information present in an SMS (Short Messaging Service) received by a user to present consolidated information to the user. Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 through 4 , where similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the figures, there are shown preferred embodiments.
[0018] ‘User Device’ herein refers to any device capable of receiving SMSs (Short Messaging Service) and enabling a user of the user device to view the SMS. Examples of the user device are mobile phones, tablets, laptops, personal computers or any other device which may receive SMSs.
[0019] FIG. 1 depicts a wireless communication network configured to send an SMS (Short Messaging Service) to a user device, according to embodiments as disclosed herein. The system depicts a communication network 102 connected to at least one user device 101 . The communication network 102 may be a network capable of enabling a user of the cellular network 102 to receive SMSs. The user device 101 may be connected to more than one communication network 102 . The link between the user device 101 and the communication network 102 may be a wireless communication link.
[0020] A sender of an SMS to the user device 101 sends the SMS to the user device 101 through the communication network 102 . The communication network 102 routes the SMS to the user device 101 , through an SMS gateway 103 , an SMS Center (SMSC) 104 and a Base Station (BS) 105 .
[0021] The user device 101 , on receiving the SMS, parses the information present in the SMS and determines the context of the SMS. Based on the identified context, the user device 101 may assign a label to the received SMS. Examples of the label may be banking, credit card, meeting, travel and so on. The user device 101 may use at least one default label. The user device 101 may enable the user to add/delete/modify the labels. The user device 101 extracts information from the SMS and presents the information to the user. The user device 101 may consider at least one condition (wherein the condition may be set by the user or automatically generated), before presenting the information to the user.
[0022] The terms ‘SMS gateway’, ‘SMS Center (SMSC)’ and ‘Base Station’ merely serve as an example of the route that an SMS may take through the communication network 102 and does not limit the type of communication network 102 that may be used herein.
[0023] In an example, the user device 101 , on receiving a SMS, checks the context of the received SMS. If the context of the received SMS relates to the label ‘banking’, the user device 101 checks the bank account details to identify the bank account from where the expense was made. The user device 101 may check this based on a plurality of factors, such as the presence of at least a portion of the bank account number in the SMS, the presence of specific keywords in the SMS (such as debit, debited, transaction and so on) which indicate that money has been debited from the bank account and so on. The plurality of factors may be configured by the user. The plurality of factors may also be determined in an automated manner depending on the context of the SMSs identified by the user device 101 , wherein the user may add/delete/modify the factors at any point in time. The user device 101 may extract information from the SMS; such as the amount debited from the account, the date and time of the amount being debited, the details of the merchant involved in the transaction and so on. The user device 101 may maintain a record of the information. The user device 101 may also maintain a total record of the expenditure of the user. The user device 101 may also send an alert to the user on the total being updated. The user may access this information and the total amount, using the user device 101 . The user device 101 may also store this information locally in the user device 101 or store the information in another online location. The user device 101 may also raise an alert to the user, based on the proximity of the total to a threshold amount, as set by the user.
[0024] In another example, consider the user setting up a meeting with another user using SMSs. The user device 101 checks the SMSs based on at least one keyword/phrase, wherein the keyword/phrase may be ‘see’, ‘meet’, ‘meeting’, ‘appointment’, ‘hotel’, ‘restaurant’, ‘office’, ‘conference’ and so on. The user device 101 may also check for a date, a time, a location and so on. The user device 101 may also check for confirmation words/phrases such as ‘ok’, ‘fine’, ‘see you’ and so on. The at least one of these keywords/phrases may be configured by the user. The at least one of these keywords/phrases, a date and a time may be determined in an automated manner depending on the context of the SMSs identified by the user device 101 , wherein the user may modify/add/delete the keywords/phrases at any point in time. The user device 101 , on detecting at least one of these keywords/phrases and at least a date and a time in at least one SMS, creates an entry in a calendar, blocking the date, time and location of the meeting. The user device 101 may also enable the user to view, amend the appointment and so on. The user device 101 may also monitor received SMSs to check for any changes/amendments in the meeting schedule. The user device 101 may also enable the meeting details to be updated in an external calendar such as Outlook calendar, Google calendar and so on. The user device 101 may also enable the user to send an invite regarding the meeting to a third party using at least one of an email, SMS and so on.
[0025] In another example, consider the user booking an airline ticket. The user on making the booking receives an SMS with the details of the booking, including the flight number, date and time of the flight, PNR (Passenger Number Record) and so on. The user device 101 identifies the context of the SMS as related to an airline travel based on at least one keyword/phrase present in the SMS (such as airline, flight, airport and so on). The user device 101 assigns a label such as ‘travel’ to the SMS. Based on the label, the user device 101 checks the SMSs based on at least one keyword/phrase, wherein the keyword/phrase may be “PNR”, “flight no.” and so on. The user device 101 may also check for a date, a time and so on. The user device 101 , on detecting at least one of these keywords/phrases and at least a date and a time in at least one SMS, creates an entry in a calendar, blocking the date, time and location of the flight. The user device 101 may also enable the user to view the flight details. The user device 101 may also monitor received SMSs to check for any changes/amendments in the flight schedule. The user device 101 may also enable the flight details to be updated in an external calendar such as Outlook calendar, Google calendar and so on.
[0026] FIG. 2 depicts a user device, according to embodiments as disclosed herein. The user device 101 , as depicted, comprises of a SMS controller 201 , a communication interface 202 , a user interface 203 and a memory 204 . The communication interface 202 is configured to enable the user device 101 to send and receive SMSs. The communication interface 202 may also enable the user device 101 to send alerts/information/invites to another user/entity. The user interface 203 may comprise of a display enabling the user of the user device 101 to view, enter and/or amend information. The user interface 203 may also comprise of a speaker and/or microphone to enable a user to interact with the user device 101 . The memory 204 may be used to store data. The memory 204 may comprise of at least one of volatile memory and/or non-volatile memory.
[0027] The user interface 203 may comprise of at least one display, a speaker and so on. The user interface 203 may enable the user to configure options. The user may set up the data to be monitored (contexts), such as bank accounts, meetings, credit cards, travel plans and so on. Examples of the options may be a limit for monthly expenses from a bank account, a limit for monthly expenses for monthly expenses from his credit card, a limit for monthly expenses from all his accounts, alerts for meetings, alerts for journeys and so on. The user interface 203 may also enable the user to add/delete/modify keywords/phrases, which the user device may check in the SMSs. The options as set by the user may be stored in the memory 204 .
[0028] The SMS controller 202 may determine the data to be monitored and contexts in an automatic manner, such as bank accounts, meetings, credit cards, travel plans and so on. Examples of the options may be a limit for monthly expenses from a bank account, a limit for monthly expenses for monthly expenses from his credit card, a limit for monthly expenses from all his accounts, alerts for meetings, alerts for journeys and so on. The SMS controller 202 may populate keywords/phrases to be checked in the SMSs, wherein the user interface 203 may enable the user to add/delete/modify keywords/phrases and contexts, which the user device may check in the SMSs.
[0029] The SMS controller 202 may monitor SMSs received by the user device 101 , through the communication interface 202 . On receiving a SMS, the SMS controller 202 may check for the context to which the received SMS belongs. Based on an identified context, the SMS controller 202 assigns a label to the SMS. For example, if the SMS is from a credit card company intimating a financial transaction on the card, the SMS controller 202 may assign a label as ‘banking’. In another example, if the SMS is from a travel agency with the details of a flight, the SMS controller 202 may assign a label as ‘travel’. The SMS controller 202 may automatically determine the label. The user may add/delete/modify the labels. Further, the SMS controller 202 checks for at least one keyword/phrase in the received SMSs. The SMS controller 202 may check based on at least one of the options, as set by the user. The SMS controller 202 may check based on a pre-determined set of options, wherein the user may add/delete/modify the pre-determined set of options. The SMS controller 202 may check based on the identified context, wherein each context may have a pre-determined set of options associated with it. If the SMS matches at least one option, the SMS controller 202 parses the SMS and extracts information from the SMS. The SMS controller 202 may further perform at least one action related to the information extracted from the SMS. The action may comprise of creating a meeting entry in a calendar, adding to his monthly expenses and so on. The SMS controller 202 may also enable the user to access the results of the action, using the user interface 203 .
[0030] The user interface 203 may enable the user to access the result of the action, wherein the access may be in the form of receiving alerts, viewing information and so on, wherein the user may access the result of the action in the form of at least one of or a combination of audio, visual, audiovisual and text.
[0031] FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the process of a user device scanning a received SMS and performing at least one action based on the received SMS, according to embodiments as disclosed herein. On receiving ( 301 ) a SMS, the user device 101 checks ( 302 ) for the context of the SMS. Based on the context, the user device 101 assigns ( 303 ) a label to the SMS. Based on the context and the label, the user device checks ( 304 ) for at least one keyword/phrase in the received SMSs. If the SMS does not match at least one option, the user device 101 treats ( 305 ) the SMS as a normal SMS. If the SMS matches at least one option, as set by the user, the user device 101 parses ( 306 ) the SMS and extracts ( 307 ) information from the SMS. The SMS controller 202 further performs ( 308 ) at least one action related to the information extracted from the SMS. The action may comprise of creating a meeting entry in a calendar, adding to his monthly expenses and so on. The various actions in method 300 may be performed in the order presented, in a different order or simultaneously. Further, in some embodiments, some actions listed in FIG. 3 may be omitted.
[0032] FIG. 4 illustrates a computing environment implementing the method for processing information present in a SMS (Short Messaging Service) received by a user to present consolidated information to the user, according to embodiments as disclosed herein. As depicted the computing environment 401 comprises at least one processing unit 404 that is equipped with a control unit 402 and an Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) 403 , a memory 405 , a storage unit 406 , plurality of networking devices 40 XX and a plurality Input output (I/O) devices 407 . The processing unit 404 is responsible for processing the instructions of the algorithm. The processing unit 404 receives commands from the control unit in order to perform its processing. Further, any logical and arithmetic operations involved in the execution of the instructions are computed with the help of the ALU 403 .
[0033] The overall computing environment 401 can be composed of multiple homogeneous and/or heterogeneous cores, multiple CPUs of different kinds, special media and other accelerators. The processing unit 404 is responsible for processing the instructions of the algorithm. Further, the plurality of processing units 404 may be located on a single chip or over multiple chips.
[0034] The algorithm comprising of instructions and codes required for the implementation are stored in either the memory unit 405 or the storage 406 or both. At the time of execution, the instructions may be fetched from the corresponding memory 405 and/or storage 406 , and executed by the processing unit 404 .
[0035] In case of any hardware implementations various networking devices 408 or external I/O devices 407 may be connected to the computing environment to support the implementation through the networking unit and the I/O device unit.
[0036] The embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented through at least one software program running on at least one hardware device and performing network management functions to control the network elements. The network elements shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 include blocks which can be at least one of a hardware device, or a combination of hardware device and software module.
[0037] The embodiment disclosed herein describes a method for processing information present in a SMS (Short Messaging Service) received by a user to present consolidated information to the user, according to embodiments as disclosed herein. Therefore, it is understood that the scope of the protection is extended to such a program and in addition to a computer readable means having a message therein, such computer readable storage means contain program code means for implementation of one or more steps of the method, when the program runs on a server or user device or any suitable programmable device. The method is implemented in a preferred embodiment through or together with a software program written in e.g. Very high speed integrated circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) another programming language, or implemented by one or more VHDL or several software modules being executed on at least one hardware device. The hardware device can be any kind of portable device that can be programmed. The device may also include means which could be e.g. hardware means like e.g. an ASIC, or a combination of hardware and software means, e.g. an ASIC and an FPGA, or at least one microprocessor and at least one memory with software modules located therein. The method embodiments described herein could be implemented partly in hardware and partly in software. Alternatively, the user device disclosed herein may be implemented on different hardware devices, e.g. using a plurality of CPUs.
[0038] The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the embodiments as described herein.
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Processing SMSs to provide useful, contextual and consolidated (where meaningful) information to a user. The method and user device relate to wireless communication using a user device, and more particularly to the user device processing information present in a SMS (Short Messaging Service) received by a user to present consolidated information to the user. Context of similar messages is derived where user has not specified using text processing techniques.
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RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/806,848 filed Jul. 10, 2006.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates to a food storage container and more particularly to a portable food storage container that is double-walled for purposes of insulating the inner compartment and its contents.
[0004] 2. Description of the Prior Art
[0005] Food storage containers are widely used in households across America. These are typically made of a plastic, and include a body forming a storage space with an open mouth and a lid closing the mouth. The container has thin walls to increase the usable storage space and reduce manufacturing costs. Typically the containers are shaped and sized to store several bodies to be nested when not in use. The base typically holds food items or beverages and the lid seals the container shut. The container can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer to cool or preserve the contents. Alternatively, the container can also be put in the microwave to heat or cook the contents. The containers are easily transportable and come in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, etc. Containers of this type are available, for example from the Tupperware, Inc. of Orlando, Fla. and others.
[0006] A disadvantage of these containers is that because of the thin walls the temperature of the contents cannot be maintained above or below the ambient temperature. In all containers, the environment will first transfer thermal energy to or take thermal energy away from the container bringing the temperature of said container itself towards the temperature of the environment it is in. Single layer plastic containers offer little insulation to the food. This makes it difficult to transport the containers while maintaining the preferred temperature of the food.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The present invention generally involves an improved container for storing and serving foods or beverages. The present invention aims to provide a portable double-walled food storage container that insulates the contents to maintain a desired temperature. The container has an inner wall, which holds the substance being stored, and an outer wall exposed to the outside environment. The container walls are very thin and are preferably manufactured using molding technology. The space between the outer wall and inner wall (optionally) contains fluids that insulate the inner compartment.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0008] To further satisfy the recited objectives, a detailed description of typical embodiments of the invention is provided with reference to appended drawings that are not intended to limit the scope of the invention, in which:
[0009] FIG. 1 is a front view of a preferred embodiment of a container with lid;
[0010] FIG. 2 is a cross-section view of the container consistent with the embodiment of FIG. 1 without a lid;
[0011] FIG. 3 is a top view of the container of a second embodiment with a lid;
[0012] FIG. 4 is a top view of the container of FIG. 1 with the lid.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0013] The present invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not as restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims and their combination in whole or in part rather than by this description. All changes that come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.
[0014] The present invention is a container apparatus for storing and serving foods or beverages. The container has an inner wall, which defines a chamber that holds the substance being stored, and an outer wall exposed to the outside environment. The two walls are separated creating a compartment between the two layers. The distance between the two walls can be substantially uniform throughout the container or can vary. The container is provided with a standard snap-on closure or lid. The container can be in the shape of a cylinder, sphere, cube, tetrahedron, hexahedron or any other three-dimensional regular or irregular shape. A material, preferably one with high thermal coefficient, is placed in the compartment for the purpose of providing thermal insulation.
[0015] In an advantageous embodiment, the space or compartment between the inner and outer wall contains a fluid that insulates the contents of the inner chamber. The costumer, preferably, can select the type of fluid inserted into the space. In this embodiment an opening is provided that can be used to selectively fill the compartment with a suitable fluid. Once the fluid is introduced, a plug or other closing means are used to seal the compartment shut. Alternatively, in one embodiment, the compartment is filled with an appropriate fluid having a high thermal resistivity, and then the compartment is sealed so that the customer cannot access it.
[0016] A customer will be able to cool or heat the liquid in between the two walls with or without anything in the storage space itself. The container can be heated using a conventional microwave device, or by being emerged in a high temperature environment (e.g. hot water). The container can be cooled by being placed in a conventional freezer, refrigerator or otherwise being immersed in a very cold environment. This will also increase or decrease the temperature of the two walls comprising the rest of the container as well as the liquid there between. Once exposed to the outside environment, the liquid inside the container and the container itself will begin to lose or gain thermal energy, thus decreasing or increasing in temperature. But this change in temperature will happen much less rapidly than if a single walled container is used. In an alternate embodiment, the container is at ambient temperature and is filled with hot or cold materials, such as food stuff.
[0017] Once the compartment is filled, the substance between the two walls, whether a liquid or a gas, is trapped, therefore creating minimal contact between the wall and the substance for thermal energy to transfer. This principal is the same as that used in double-pane windows.
[0018] As previously mentioned, the fluid in the space chamber may be a liquid or a gas. In one embodiment, this liquid may be a mixture of 3 to 10 percent and preferably 5 percent hydroxyethyl cellulose and 90 to 97 percent and preferably 95 percent propylene glycol. Propylene glycol is a non-toxic anti-freeze agent with colligative properties. Alternatively the liquid could be refrigerant gel. Preferably, the gel has a freezing temperature of about −1° Celsius. Such a refrigerant gel may consist of about 15% by weight of cornstarch, about 2% by weight of borax, about 0.01% by weight of a preservative, and remaining weight in water. The preservative in the refrigerant gel can be potassium sorbate, which is non-toxic. In a third embodiment, the compartment is filled with water. In a fourth embodiment, the compartment can be filled with expanded polystyrene, which is a plastic foam. In a fifth embodiment, the compartment is depressurized to create at least a partial vacuum.
[0019] A typical container constructed in accordance with this invention is shown in FIGS. 1-4 . It should be understood that in the figures are not drawn to scale and that the walls and the compartment between of the walls are shown as being much wider then they are as compared to the overall dimensions of the container for the sake of clarity. More particularly, in the Figs. a container 10 is shown including a snap-on lid 13 , and an outer wall 15 . The container 10 is preferably made of a conventional lightweight plastic that has strong durability properties. It is preferably made of very thin plastic that is flexible and soft but can be formed of any material that is proper for use in a food container. The snap-on lid 13 preferably provides an airtight seal so that during transport the food contents do not leak from container 10 , and are protected so that they do not spoil very fast. The outer wall 15 encloses the container from the outside environment.
[0020] FIG. 2 of the present invention shows container 10 , outer wall 15 , outer wall floor 19 , inner wall 17 , inner wall floor 21 , inner chamber 20 , and a compartment 23 formed between the walls 15 and 17 and floors 19 and 21 . Compartment 23 is sealed. A fluid 24 is introduced in compartment 23 as discussed above. The fluid may be anti-freeze, refrigerant gel, water, foam or a fluid that is non-toxic. The chamber 20 holds the food stuff or any other desired material. The inner wall 17 acts as a barrier between the contents of the compartment 23 and the food contents of the inner chamber 20 .
[0021] As shown in FIG. 2 , the container is formed with a top member 25 that seals the compartment 23 . The fluid 24 remain in the compartment 23 . The top member 25 provides a peripheral lip 27 that is engaged by an inner groove 29 of the lid 13 . The lip 27 and groove 29 cooperate to releasably seal the container. Of course, it should be understood that the container could be provided with many other interlocking profiles as well.
[0022] As mentioned above, in one embodiment the container 10 is formed and shipped to customers with its compartment pre-filled with an appropriate fluid 24 . In an alternate embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3 , a container is provided with a top member 30 formed with an opening 33 leading into the compartment 23 and a plug 35 . The customer can remove the plug 35 and fill the compartment with any fluid 24 he desires.
[0023] As shown in FIG. 4 , the container is formed with a top member 25 that seals compartment 23 .
[0024] The containers may be shaped so that several of them can be nested inside each other without the tops.
[0025] Although the invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is to be understood that these embodiments are merely illustrative of the application of the principles of the invention. Numerous modifications may be made therein and other arrangements may be devised without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
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A food storage container that is double-walled and transportable. The space or compartment between the two walls insulates the food contents of the container. The compartment between the walls may contain water, refrigerant gel, styrene or filler of the user's choice. The walls of the container are very thin and malleable.
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FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to preparation and characterization of the cocrystal products formed by metoprolol and dabigatran bases with L-theanine, and methods of treatment employing the cocrystal products.
[0003] Background of the Invention
[0004] The ongoing interest in modification of drug substances whose physical properties are less than desirable has led to significant study of issues associated with polymorphism and solvatomorphism. More recently, it has been recognized that many substances may cocrystallize in a single continuous lattice structure, leading pharmaceutical scientists into new areas of crystal engineering. Cocrystals are mixed crystals where the cocrystal is a structurally homogeneous crystalline material that has been formed from discrete neutral molecular species that are solids at ambient temperatures. Cocrystals represent novel forms of drug substances that would be suitable for incorporation in pharmaceutical solid dosage forms, and should enable formulation scientists to overcome a variety of problems that are encountered during development of traditional formulations. One could consider cocrystals as being an alternative to polymorphs, solvatomorphs, and salts, as cocrystals represent a different approach to solve problems related to dissolution, crystallinity, hygroscopicity, etc.
[0005] Unfortunately, it is not yet possible to predict whether two substances will cocrystallize or not, and therefore cocrystal screening studies are largely empirical in nature.
[0006] Thrombin is a serine protease which enables the conversion of fibrinogen into fibrin during the coagulation cascade resulting in clot formation. Dabigatran, being a direct inhibitor of thrombin, blocks clot formation.
[0007] Epinephrine (Adrenalin) an arrhythmogenic catecholamine, is a powerful cardiac stimulant acting directly on the B1 receptors of the myocardium, nodal tissue, and conducting system of the heart resulting in an increased heart rate.
[0008] Metoprolol (Lopressor) whose mechanism of action as a selective B1 receptor antagonist (class II antiarrhythmic beta adrenergic blocker) acts directly on the B1 receptors of the myocardium, nodal tissue, and conducting system of the heart antagonizing the cardiac action of catecholamine like epinephrine, thereby slowing the heart rate. Metoprolol prevents epinephrine from binding to the B1 receptors by competing for the binding site.
[0009] Metoprolol is an FDA approved medication indicated in the treatment of the following arrhythmias in stable patients: ventricular tachycardia, atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response, atrial flutter, paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (except in patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome), multifocal atrial tachycardia (except in patients with COPD).
[0010] The underlying cause of any arrhythmia needs to be determined and treated. Some causes of arrhythmias that need to be ruled out include: hypomagnesemia, hypokalemia, hyperthyroidism, digoxin toxicity, theophylline toxicity, illicit drug use (e.g., cocaine, phencyclidine, MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) “molly” or “ecstasy”); aerosol propellant inhalation, glue inhalation, lithium toxicity, tricyclic antidepressant toxicity, monoamine oxidase inhibitor toxicity, serotonin syndrome, drug-induced (pentamidine, albuterol, and vasopressors like dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine), pulmonary embolism, myocardial infarction, cardiomyopathy, hypoxia, licorice root tea (glycyrrhizin glabra root) when consumed regularly and in excessive amounts, and genetic etiologies. The aforementioned list of etiologies of arrhythmias is non-limiting.
[0011] Metoprolol is used in the prevention of stress-induced arrhythmias associated with inherited long QT syndrome 1 and long QT syndrome 2 (See “ Long QT Syndrome.” N.p., n.d . Web. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long QT syndrome).
[0012] Theanine which is 5-N-Ethyl glutamine, is an ethylamide of glutamine acid. In the medical literature, theanine is known to slow the heart rate due to an attenuation of sympathetic nervous system activation (See Kimura, K. “ L - Theanine Reduces Psychological and Physiological Stress Responses.” N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.ncbLnim.nih.gov/pubmed/ 16930802>). Glutamine is known to increase the heart rate (See “Glutamine (Oral Route) Side Effects.” N.p., n.d. Web. http://www.mayoclinical.org/drugs-supple-ments/glutamine-oral-route/side-effects/DRG-20064099. Drug information provided by Micromedex; “L-Glutamine Benefits.” N.p., n.d. Web.http://www.I-glutaminebenefits.com/I-glutamine-side-effects/).
[0013] Cancer cells use glutathione to detoxify doxorubicin and escort the drug out of cells. Theanine is able to interfere with this process due to its structural similarity to glutamate (steric hindrance) (See Table I). Sadzuka found that theanine could block the export of doxorubicin (Adriamycin) from cancer cells by blocking the glutamate and glutathione transporter mechanisms, resulting in an elevated level of doxorubicin within cancer cells which strongly inhibits the tumor (See Sadzuka, Yasuyuki, Tomomi Sugiyama, Toshihiro Suzuki, and Takashi Sonobe. “ Enhancement of the Activity of Doxorubicin by Inhibition of Glutamate Transporter.” Toxicology Letters 123.2-3 (2001): 159-67).
[0014] Coformers depicted below are highly structurally related to L-theanine:
[0000]
TABLE I
(L)-theanine
(L)-glutamine
(L)-glutamic acid
[0015] Given the structural similarity of glutamine with theanine, and the fact that glutamine increases the heart rate might have led one to deduce that theanine would also increase the heart rate. In spite of this expectation, theanine does in fact slow the heart rate. Therefore, since one could not have predicted that theanine would slow the heart rate, the effects of the metoprolol-theanine cocrystal represent an unexpected result.
[0016] The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operation advantages and specific objects attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanying figures and descriptive matter in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0017] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method utilizing crystallization of metoprolol and dabigatran bases with L-Theanine which is readily administrable to individuals through a variety of media.
[0018] It is also an object of the present invention to provide a cocrystal composition composed of a quantity of a theanine enantiomer, and a quantity of a drug from a class selected from the group consisting of beta blockers and direct thrombin inhibitors.
[0019] It is a further object to provide a cocrystal composition which includes a quantity of a theanine enantiomer, and a quantity of a drug selected from the group which includes a metoprolol base and a dabigatran base.
[0020] It is also an object to provide a cocrystal composition which includes a quantity of a theanine enantiomer, and a quantity of a drug for treating arrhythmias in stable patients, including ventricular tachycardia, atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response, atrial flutter, paroxysmal supra-ventricular tachycardia (except in patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome), and multifocal atrial tachycardia (except in patients with COPD). The present invention satisfies these and others medical needs and overcomes deficiencies found in the prior art.
[0021] It is also an object to provide a cocrystal composition which includes a quantity of a theanine enantiomer, and a quantity of a drug for reduction of risk of stroke and systemic embolism in non-valvular atrial fibrillation, treatment of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in patients who have been treated with a parenteral anticoagulant (including patients who have been treated with a parenteral anticoagulant for 5-10 days), and reduction in the risk of recurrence of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism (See Medication Guide (Package Insert) Pradaxa (Dabigatran Etexilate Mesylate) Indications and Usage, Distributed by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Ridgefield, Conn., Revised September 2014). The present invention satisfies these and others medical needs and overcomes deficiencies found in the prior art.
[0022] In certain embodiments, the theanine enantiomer is selected from the group which includes L-theanine, D-theanine, and DL-theanine.
[0023] In yet further embodiments, the theanine enantiomer is selected from the group which includes an alpha variant of theanine and a beta variant of theanine.
[0024] In certain of these embodiments, the alpha variant of theanine is selected from the group which includes L-Northeanine, D-Northeanine, DL-Northeanine, L-homotheanine, D-homotheanine, DL-homotheanine, L-bishomotheanine, D-bishomotheanine, and DL-bishomotheanine.
[0025] In certain other of these embodiments the alpha variant of theanine is a homologous analog of theanine.
[0026] In certain other of these embodiments, the alpha variant of theanine contains a functional group selected from the group which includes linear, cyclic, or branched alkyl and derivatives thereof, linear, cyclic, or branched alkenyl and derivatives thereof, and aromatic radicals and derivatives thereof.
[0027] In some of these embodiments, the aromatic radicals are aryl radicals.
[0028] In further embodiments, the theanine enantiomer is a racemic mixture of a beta variant of theanine containing a functional group selected from the group which includes linear, cyclic, or branched alkyl groups and derivatives thereof, linear, cyclic, or branched alkenyl groups and derivatives thereof, and aromatic radicals and derivatives thereof.
[0029] In certain other of these embodiments, the aromatic radicals are aryl radicals.
[0030] In certain embodiments the theanine enantiomer is an S enantiomer of a beta variant of theanine containing a functional group selected from the group which includes linear, cyclic, or branched alkyl groups and derivatives thereof, linear, cyclic, or branched alkenyl groups and derivatives thereof, and aromatic radicals and derivatives thereof.
[0031] In further embodiments, the aromatic radicals are aryl radicals.
[0032] In yet further embodiments, the theanine enantiomer is an R enantiomer of a beta variant of theanine containing a functional group selected from the group which includes linear, cyclic, or branched alkyl groups and derivatives thereof, linear, cyclic, or branched alkenyl groups and derivatives thereof, and aromatic radicals and derivatives thereof.
[0033] In certain of these embodiments, the aromatic radicals are aryl radicals.
[0034] In certain of these embodiments, the mixture further includes a sugar alcohol.
[0035] In certain of these embodiments, the sugar alcohol has a configuration selected from the group which includes the L-configuration and the D-configuration.
[0036] It is also an object to provide a cocrystal composition which includes a quantity of L-theanine, and a quantity of a chemical composition selected from the group which includes metoprolol base and dabigatran base.
[0037] Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a cocrystal composition including a quantity of a theanine enantiomer and drugs from the following drug classes: beta blockers and direct thrombin inhibitors.
[0038] In addition, embodiments of the present invention are directed to compositions including a quantity of a theanine enantiomer and the following drugs: metoprolol base and dabigatran base.
[0039] Embodiments of the present invention are also directed to compositions including a quantity of a theanine enantiomer and drugs for treating the following conditions: arrhythmias in stable patients: ventricular tachycardia, atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response, atrial flutter, paroxysmal supra-ventricular tachycardia (except in patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome), multifocal atrial tachycardia (except in patients with COPD); reduction of risk of stroke and systemic embolism in non-valvular atrial fibrillation, treatment of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in patients who have been treated with a parenteral anticoagulant (including patients who have been treated with a parenteral anticoagulant for 5-10 days), and reduction in the risk of recurrence of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism.
[0040] These and other non-limiting aspects and/or objects of the disclosure are more particularly described below. The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and forming a part of the disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific benefits attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are illustrated.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0041] The following is a brief description of the drawings, which are presented for the purposes of illustrating the exemplary embodiments disclosed herein and not for the purposes of limiting the same.
[0042] FIG. 1 depicts XRPD patterns of L-theanine (lower trace), metoprolol (middle trace), and the L-theanine/metoprolol cocrystal product (upper trace);
[0043] FIG. 2 depicts fingerprint region FTIR spectra of L-theanine (lower trace), metoprolol (middle trace), and the L-theanine/metoprolol cocrystal product (upper trace);
[0044] FIG. 3 depicts XRPD patterns of L-theanine (lower trace), dabigatran (middle trace), and the L-theanine/dabigatran cocrystal product (upper trace); and
[0045] FIG. 4 depicts fingerprint region FTIR spectra of L-theanine (lower trace), dabigatran (middle trace), and the L-theanine/dabigatran cocrystal product (upper trace).
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0046] Embodiments of the present invention employ theanine (5-N-ethyl glutamine), a non-protein amino acid found naturally in green tea leaves.
[0047] Embodiments of the present invention include cocrystallization of metoprolol base with theanine (5-N-ethyl-glutamine).
[0048] Embodiments of the present invention also include cocrystallization of dabigatran base with theanine (5-N-ethyl-glutamine).
[0049] Embodiments of the present invention further include cocrystal compositions of the following medication groups with theanine (5-N-ethyl-glutamine): beta blockers, direct thrombin inhibitors.
[0050] The present invention is directed to, among other things, cocrystal compositions of the following drug classes with theanine (5-N-ethyl-glutamine): beta blockers, direct thrombin inhibitors.
[0051] Further, the theanine contained in compositions according to embodiments of the present invention may be of any of L-form, D-form, DL-form.
[0052] According to embodiments of the present invention the L-, D-, DL-alpha amino acids of Theanine and their side-chain carbon homologues (nor, homo, and bishomologues) may have a functional R-group, where R1 may contain linear, cyclic, or branched alkyl groups and derivatives thereof; linear, cyclic, or branched alkenyl groups and derivatives thereof; and aromatic radicals and derivatives thereof. In embodiments of the present invention, the aromatic radicals may be aryl radicals.
[0053] According to the embodiments of the present invention in addition to L-theanine, other analogues include D-Theanine, racemic theanine or D, L-theanine and its congeners including beta and reverse beta amino acid forms, shortened or nor-theanine (aspartic acid analogue), and the lengthened homo-theanines and their isomers. Further, gamma alkylamido analogues extend a full range of molecular property for drug cocrystals.
[0054] According to the embodiments of the present invention the single enantiomers (S and R) and racemic forms (S, R-mixture) of the beta amino acids of theanine may have a functional R-group, where R1 may contain linear, cyclic, or branched alkyl groups and derivatives thereof; linear, cyclic, or branched alkenyl groups and derivatives thereof; and aromatic radicals and derivatives thereof. In embodiments of the present invention, the aromatic radicals may be aryl radicals.
[0055] Embodiments of the present invention may include cocrystal compositions of drugs from the classes listed below and the enantiomers, L- and D-isomers, D, L-racemic mixture, S- and R-isomers, S, R-racemic mixtures, all rotamers, tautomers, salt forms, and hydrates of the alpha and beta amino acids of theanine in which the N-substituted functional R1-group [C4 or gamma-CH2-C(O)—NR1] may contain linear, cyclic, or branched alkyl groups and derivatives thereof; linear, cyclic or branched alkenyl groups and derivatives thereof; and aromatic radicals (which may be aryl radicals) and derivatives thereof making up all the analogue forms of theanine: beta blockers, direct thrombin inhibitors.
[0056] Derivatives prepared using metoprolol base/L-theanine cocrystal compositions according to embodiments of the present invention can be administered via intravenous, sublingual (including as an orally disintegrating tablet), and orally (including as a tablet).
[0057] Derivatives prepared using dabigatran base/L-theanine cocrystal compositions according to embodiments of the present invention can be administered via sublingual, and orally.
[0058] The pharmaceutical compositions according to embodiments of the present invention may be prepared as oral solids (tablets, oral disintegrating tablets, effervescent tablets, capsules), oral liquids, hard or soft gelatin capsules, quick dissolves, controlled release, modified release, extended release, slow release, sustained release, syrups, suspensions, granules, wafer (films), pellets, lozenges, powders, parenteral/injectable powders or granules that are pre-mixed or reconstituted.
[0059] Cocrystals according to embodiments of the present invention may be used to improve one or more physical properties such as solubility, stability, and dissolution rate of the active pharmaceutical ingredient of a selected treatment or prevention.
[0060] Next, the present invention will be described in further detail by means of examples, without intending to limit the scope of the present invention to these examples alone. The following are exemplary formulations with cocrystal compositions of the following medication groups with L-theanine in accordance with the present invention: beta blockers, direct thrombin inhibitors.
EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS, PREPARATION OF THE COCRYSTAL PRODUCTS
Example 1
[0061] Preparation of the L-theanine/metoprolol cocrystal product was performed as follows: 0.329 g of metoprolol (1.231 mmol) and 0.214 g of L-theanine (1.228 mmol) were weighed directly into the bowl of an agate mortar, and wetted with 70% isopropanol to form a moderately thick slurry. The slurry was thoroughly ground at the time of mixing, and then periodically re-ground until the contents were dry.
Example 2
[0062] Preparation of the L-theanine/dabigatran cocrystal product was performed as follows: 0.296 g of dabigatran (0.628 mmol) and 0.111 g of L-theanine (0.637 mmol) were weighed directly into the bowl of an agate mortar, and wetted with 70% isopropanol to form a moderately thick slurry. The slurry was thoroughly ground at the time of mixing, and then periodically re-ground until the contents were dry.
Instrumental Descriptions and Methodology
[0063] X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) patterns were obtained using a Rigaku MiniFlex powder diffraction system, equipped with a horizontal goniometer operating in the θ/2θ mode. The X-ray source was nickel-filtered Kα emission of copper (1.54184 Å). The sample was packed into the sample holder using a back-fill procedure, and were scanned over the range of 3.25 to 40 degrees 2θ at a scan rate of 0.5 degrees 28/min. Using a data acquisition rate of 1 point per second, the scanning parameters equate to a step size of 0.0084 degrees 2θ. Calibration of the diffractometer system was effected using purified talc as a reference material.
[0064] Fourier-transform infrared absorption (FTIR) spectra were obtained at a resolution of 4 cm −1 using a Shimadzu model 8400S spectrometer, with each spectrum being obtained as the average of 40 individual spectra. The data were acquired using the attenuated total reflectance (ATR) sampling mode, where the samples were clamped against the ZnSe crystal of a PIKE MIRacle™ single reflection horizontal ATR sampling accessory. The intensity scale for all spectra was normalized so that the relative intensity of the most intense peak in the spectrum 100%.
[0065] Measurements of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were obtained on a TA Instruments 2910 thermal analysis system. Samples of approximately 1-2 mg were accurately weighed into an aluminum DSC pan, and then covered with an aluminum lid that was inverted and pressed down so as to tightly contain the powder between the top and bottom aluminum faces of the lid and pan. All samples were heated at a rate of 10° C./min, with the dabigatran-related samples being heated over the temperature range of 25-300° C., while the metoprolol-related samples were heated over the temperature range of 25−125° C.
Results
The Theanine/Metoprolol System
[0066] The XRPD patterns of L-theanine, metoprolol, and the L-theanine/metoprolol cocrystal product are shown in FIG. 1 . Comparison of the diffraction patterns reveals that the XRPD pattern of the cocrystal product contains scattering peaks at angles of 19.85 and 24.85 degrees 2θ that were not present in the XRPD patterns of the reactants. In addition, many of the peaks in the XRPD pattern of the cocrystal were found to be shifted to lower angles relative to their corresponding peaks in the XRPD patterns of the reactants. Since the XRPD pattern of the cocrystal product is different from the superimposed XRPD patterns of the reactants, this demonstrates that an authentic cocrystal is formed by L-theanine with metoprolol.
[0067] The FTIR spectra in the fingerprint region (which is the most diagnostic region for critical study) of L-theanine, metoprolol, and the L-theanine/metoprolol cocrystal product are shown in FIG. 2 . The most significant difference in the FTIR spectra is noted in the region around 1520 cm −1 , where the FTIR bands of the cocrystal product are substantially altered relative to the bands of the reactants in this same region, providing evidence for perturbation in the patterns of these vibrational motions. In addition, a number of other vibrational bands in the spectrum of the cocrystal product are shifted by several wavenumbers relative to the corresponding bands of the reactants.
[0068] Finally, the DSC melting endotherm of the L-theanine/metoprolol cocrystal product was found to exhibit a peak at a temperature of 42° C., which is significantly lower than the peak observed for metoprolol itself (temperature of 53.5° C.).
The Theanine/Dabigatran System
[0069] The XRPD patterns of L-theanine, dabigatran, and the L-theanine/dabigatran cocrystal product are shown in FIG. 3 . Comparison of the diffraction patterns reveals that the XRPD pattern of the cocrystal product contains scattering peaks the region of 19.5 to 21 degrees 2θ that were not present in the XRPD patterns of the reactants. In addition, several of the peaks in the XRPD pattern of the cocrystal were found to be shifted angles relative to their corresponding peaks in the XRPD patterns of the reactants. Since the XRPD pattern of the cocrystal product is different from the superimposed XRPD patterns of the reactants, this demonstrates that an authentic cocrystal is formed by L-theanine with dabigatran.
[0070] The FTIR spectra in the fingerprint region (which is the most diagnostic region for critical study) of L-theanine, dabigatran, and the L-theanine/dabigatran cocrystal product are shown in FIG. 4 . The most significant difference in the FTIR spectra is noted especially in the region of 1475 to 1600 cm −1 , where the FTIR bands of the cocrystal product are substantially altered relative to the bands of the reactants in this same region. In addition, a number of other vibrational bands in the spectrum of the cocrystal product are shifted by several wavenumbers relative to the corresponding bands of the reactants.
[0071] The DSC melting endotherm of the L-theanine/dabigatran cocrystal product was found to exhibit a peak at a temperature of 218° C., which is significantly lower than the peak observed for dabigatran itself (temperature of 281.5° C.).
[0072] Embodiments of the present invention include cocrystal compositions of L-Theanine combined with the drugs listed in the table below to treat the following conditions:
[0000]
Conditions
Drug
Arrhythmias in stable patients: ventricular tachycar-
Metoprolol Base
dia, atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response,
atrial flutter, paroxysmal supra-ventricular tachycar-
dia (except in patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White
Syndrome), and multifocal atrial tachycardia (except
in patients with COPD).
Reduction of risk of stroke and systemic embolism in
Dabigatran Base
non-valvular atrial fibrillation, treatment of deep vein
thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in patients who
have been treated with a parenteral anticoagulant for
days (patients who have been treated with a paren-
teral anticoagulant for 5-10 days), and reduction in the
risk of recurrence of deep vein thrombosis and pulmo-
nary embolism.
[0073] While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.
|
Methods of treating and preventing conditions by employing cocrystal compositions of metoprolol and dabigatran bases with enantiomers of theanine.
| 2
|
[0001] The present application claims priority from the Chinese patent application 200610152769.0 entitled “Method and System for Selecting an Operation Profile” filed with the Chinese Patent Office on Sep. 28, 2006, the entire content of which is incorporated in the present application by reference herein.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to the field of network communication, and more particularly, to a method and system for selecting an operation profile.
BACKGROUND
[0003] xDSL is a generic term for Digital Subscriber Line (DSL). A series of technology standards have been developed for xDSL, wherein the ITU-T standard family includes ADSL (Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line) (G.992.1/2), ADSL2 (second generation ADSL) (G.992.3), ADSL2+ (extend down stream bandwidth ADSL2) (G.992.5), SHDSL (Symmetrical High-speed Digital Subscriber Line) (G.991.2), VDSL (Very high bit rate digital subscriber line) (G.993.1), VDSL2 (second generation VDSL) etc. VDSL2 as the latest technology standard provides a symmetrical access rate up to 100 Mbit/s and flexible measures for power spectrum control, and thus will play the advantage rule for the next generation twisted pairs access technology and may meet the requirement of various services for bandwidth in a long period. Lots of xDSL services, in particularly ADSL services, have been deployed previously, and as we know, VDSL2 have used the frequency band from 4 KHz up to 30 MHz, however within which there are so many other services such as ADSL, AM radio, and amateur radio service etc. Therefore, in order to coordinate these services, each region has made their own VDSL2 band plans, such as band plan 997 , 998 , China tri-band etc, according to the specific condition of their own region; meanwhile, different total aggregate power and power spectral density (PSD) profiles are designated for these band plans, as shown in FIG. 1 .
[0004] Table 1 presents the corresponding relationship between PSD profiles and band plans extracted from G.993.2. From Table 1, it can be seen that except for 8 a , 8 b and 8 c , the maximum downstream total aggregate transmission power of all the profiles is 14.5 dBm, while the maximum upstream total aggregate transmission power of all the profiles is 14.5 dBm. Certainly, the PSDs will vary depending on the frequency bandwidths used. Normally, the higher the frequency bandwidth is, the lower the transmitter PSD. In handshake stage of VDSL, parameters such as band plan, profile etc., should be configured, which enables the VDSL modem be trained according to these configured parameters. While under many circumstances, the channel parameters can not be estimated well beforehand. For example, in case of that the line is very long and exceeds 800 m, the frequency band over 8 MHz is not applicable due to too strong attenuation. In this case, if 17 a or even 30 a is chosen, the performance will be decreased due to the lower PSD instead of being increased. Thus the line rate of VDSL tends to be lower if an improper profile is used.
[0005] There are two methods for selecting an operation profile in the prior art. The first method configures a set of line profiles composed of various parameters, where each of the line profiles includes a band plan, a PSD Mask or PSD Limit corresponding to the band plan and other parameters, where the PSD Limit may be a standard value or a customized value lower than the standard value. The system designates one of the above line profiles as the operation profile for the modem of each user. That is to say, once a user selects a profile, the training and static operation thereafter will be based on the selected profile, and the transmission PSD of the modem must meet the requirement of the profile at any time, that is, in a manner of fixed profile.
[0006] During design of the present invention, the inventor finds that the above method at least shows the following drawbacks.
[0007] Actual lines may vary significantly, therefore, using a profile designated for a line with the fixed profile technology may be not so proper because the bandwidth capacity may be not used fully.
[0008] The other method for selecting an operation profile estimates length of a line according to the attenuation of a set of handshake signals transmitted by xTU-R during handshake procedure (in fact the attenuation is estimated according to amplitude of the signal), and then selects an operation profile according to previous running status. For example, ADSL2+ is selected for a loop length less than 2.8 km, ADSL2 for a loop length between 2.8 km and 3.8 km, and ADSL2 annex L for a loop length more than 3.8 km.
[0009] Though this technical solution is simple and does not increase the time of the handshake procedure, the inventor finds, during design of the present invention, that the method at least shows the following drawbacks.
[0010] The method for determining length of the line according to the upstream handshake signal and selecting a profile according to previous running status is rather unsophisticated that, since the measured attenuation of the upstream signals may not reliably indicate the attenuation in the downstream so as to deduce the capacity, it is often the case that the line rate of the selected profile is relatively low.
[0000]
TABLE 1
Band
Parameter value of profile
Plan
Parameter
8a
8b
8c
8d
12a
12b
17a
30a
All
Maximum
+17.5
+20.5
+11.5
+14.5
+14.5
+14.5
+14.5
+14.5
downstream
transmission
power (dBm)
All
Minimum
For
For
For
For
For
For
For
For
downstream
further
further
further
further
further
further
further
further
transmission
study
study
study
study
study
study
study
study
power (dBm)
All
Maximum
+14.5
+14.5
+14.5
+14.5
+14.5
+14.5
+14.5
+14.5
upstream
transmission
power (dBm)
All
Minimum
For
For
For
For
For
For
For
For
upstream
further
further
further
further
further
further
further
further
transmission
study
study
study
study
study
study
study
study
power (dBm)
All
Bandwidth of
4.3125
4.3125
4.3125
4.3125
4.3125
4.3125
4.3125
8.625
tone (kHz)
All
Support to
Required
Required
Required
Required
Required
Not
Not
Not
upstream
Required
required
required
band
zero(US0)
All
Minimum
50 Mbit/s
50 Mbit/s
50 Mbit/s
50 Mbit/s
68 Mbit/s
68 Mbit/s
100 Mbit/s
200 Mbit/s
bidirectional
net data rate
capability
(Mbit/s)
Annex
Highest
8.5
8.5
8.5
8.5
8.5
8.5
N/A
N/A
A,
downstream
Annex
frequency
B (998)
(MHz)
Highest
5.2
5.2
5.2
5.2
12
12
N/A
N/A
upstream
frequency
(MHz)
Annex
Highest
7.05
7.05
7.05
7.05
7.05
7.05
N/A
N/A
B (997)
downstream
frequency
(MHz)
Highest
8.832
8.832
5.1
8.832
12
12
N/A
N/A
upstream
frequency
(MHz)
Annex
Highest
8.5
8.5
8.5
8.5
8.5
8.5
17.664
18.1
C
downstream
frequency
(MHz)
Highest
5.2
5.2
5.2
5.2
12
12
12
30
upstream
frequency
(MHz)
SUMMARY
[0011] To solve the problem of the selected operation profile being unsuitable for the line bandwidth and traffic, an embodiment of the invention provides a method and system for selecting an operation profile. The technical solution is as follows.
[0012] An embodiment of the invention provides a method for selecting an operation profile including:
[0013] obtaining channel information of a channel; and
[0014] selecting the operation profile according to the channel information and a predetermined selection rule.
[0015] Another embodiment of the invention provides a system for selecting an operation profile including:
[0016] a channel information obtaining module adapted to obtain channel information of a channel; and
[0017] a profile selecting module adapted to select the operation profile according to the obtained channel information and a predetermined selection rule.
[0018] With the technical solutions provided by embodiments of the invention, the following advantages may be achieved that, after obtaining the channel information, an operation profile may be selected self-adaptively according to the actual channel condition and the optimal operation profile may be selected by training only once.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING(S)
[0019] FIG. 1 a is a schematic view of the band plan for VDSL2 in North America in the prior art;
[0020] FIG. 1 b is a schematic view of the band plan for VDSL2 in Europe in the prior art;
[0021] FIG. 1 c is a schematic view of the band plan for VDSL2 in Japan in the prior art;
[0022] FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a method for selecting an operation profile according to embodiment one of the invention;
[0023] FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method for selecting an operation profile according to embodiment two of the invention;
[0024] FIG. 4 is an illustrative diagram showing the relationship between attenuation and frequency calculated from an estimated electrical length according to an embodiment of the invention;
[0025] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the PSD Mask, the MIB PSD profile and the amateur radio band according to an embodiment of the invention;
[0026] FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic view of a transmission PSD profile based on band plan according to an embodiment of the invention;
[0027] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the band plan according to an embodiment of the invention; and
[0028] FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a system for selecting an operation profile according to an embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0029] In the following, embodiments of the invention will be further described with reference to the drawings, which do not intend to limit the invention.
[0030] Embodiments of the invention provide a method and system for selecting an operation profile. The technical solution self-adaptively selects a profile according to the condition of a channel and preset parameters.
Embodiment One
[0031] With reference to FIG. 2 , a method for selecting an operation profile is shown, which includes the following steps:
[0032] Step 001 : channel information of a channel is obtained.
[0033] This Step Involves the Following Steps:
[0034] (1) The electrical length of the channel is estimated according to the received level and transmission level of a set of handshake signals during handshake procedure of an upstream unit and a downstream unit, for example, by using an average algorithm or weighted algorithm.
[0035] (2) Attenuation value of the channel, i.e., the transfer function of the channel, over the whole band is calculated according to the electrical length.
[0036] (3) Noise PSD is measured according to the handshake signal during the handshake procedure of the upstream unit and downstream unit.
[0037] (4) The coding gain is obtained according to the used code.
[0038] (5) The transmission signal PSD is calculated according to the band plans and profiles supported by the user side device and the central office device.
[0039] (6) The signal to noise ratio (SNR) is calculated according to the transmission signal PSD and the noise PSD.
[0040] (7) The bit load that may be carried on each tone is calculated according to the SNR and the coding gain, and the upstream line rate and downstream line rate are calculated to according the bit load that may be carried for whole frequency band.
[0041] Step 002 : an operation profile is selected according to the obtained channel information and a predetermined selection rule.
[0042] The corresponding selection rule may be selecting a profile allowing the maximum upstream line rate or the maximum downstream line rate or the maximum sum of the upstream line rate and downstream line rates.
[0043] Alternatively, the corresponding selection rule may be selecting a profile allowing the minimum total aggregate device transmission power or the maximum noise margin or the highest line stability.
Embodiment Two
[0044] Selecting an operation profile for VDSL2 annex A 998 is taken as an example in the embodiment. There are totally six profiles, 8 a , 8 b , 8 c , 8 d , 12 a and 12 b . In the mentioned six profiles, only 12 b dose not support US0 band. Hence in this sense, only the first five of the above six profiles are considered here. With reference to FIG. 3 , selecting the operation profile includes the following steps.
[0045] Step 101 : the transfer function H(ƒ) of a channel is obtained.
[0046] The attenuation of a set of G.hs tones may be computed by using the received levels of the tones and the transmission levels of the tones obtained from G.hs (Handshake procedures for VDSL) by a VTU-0 (Remote VDSL Terminal Unit-central office) and VTU-R (VDSL terminal unit-remote). The relationship curve between the attenuation values of a computed set of tones and the frequencies is used to fit a model curve so as to estimate the electrical length of the channel.
[0047] There are 12 tone sets used in handshake stage of VDSL2. Taking annex A as an example and with reference to Table 2, tones 9 , 17 and 25 of A 43 and tones 944 , 972 and 999 of V 43 are used for the upstream, tones 40 , 56 and 64 of A 43 and tones 257 , 383 and 511 of V 43 are used for the downstream. The electrical length (EL) of the channel can be estimated by comparing the actual attenuation values of these signals and the theoretical attenuation values derived from some theoretical DSL channel model, and the electrical length may be in turn used to estimate the transfer function H(ƒ) of the channel.
[0000]
TABLE 2
G.994.1 - tone sets for 4.3125 kHz signal family
Upstream tone set
Downstream tone set
Frequency
Maximum power
Frequency
Maximum power
Transmission
tone set name
index(N)
level/tone (dBm)
index(N)
level/tone (dBm)
mode
A43
9 17 25
−1.65
40 56 64
−3.65
duplex only
(Notes 1, 3, 4)
A43c
9 17 25
−1.65
257 293 337
−3.65
duplex only
(Notes 1, 3, 4)
B43
37 45 53
−1.65
72 88 96
−3.65
duplex only
B43c(Note 1)
37 45 53
−1.65
257 293 337
−3.65
duplex only
C43
7 9
−1.65
12 14 64
−3.65
duplex only
J43
9 17 25
−1.65
72 88 96
−3.65
duplex only
V43(Notes 1, 2)
944 972 999
−16.65
257 383 511
−3.65
duplex only
[0048] With reference to FIG. 4 , the transfer function H(ƒ) of the channel is computed from the estimated electrical length.
[0049] Here, practical measured value indicates the practically measured value of the attenuation function.
[0050] Mean estimation value indicates the value of the attenuation function calculated through estimating the electrical length using an average method. That is, the length is estimated by averaging the several lengths, after the length for each frequency point is estimated.
[0051] Weighted estimation value indicates the value of the attenuation function calculated through estimating the electrical length using a weighted average method. The length is estimated using different weights according to the frequencies. That is, after the length for each frequency point is estimated, the weighted average of the lengths is then calculated according to the weight of each frequency point.
[0052] It can be seen that the attenuation curve measured using a channel simulator for a diameter of 0.4 m and length of 600 m fits very well with the attenuation curve estimated according to the handshake tones.
[0053] Step 102 : noise PSD is measured. The measured noise PSD includes a static noise PSD named noise_PSD ( noise PSD can also be measured beforehand) and a crosstalk noise PSD named xtalk_PSD (which indicates sum of a far-end crosstalk and a near-end crosstalk).
[0054] Step 104 : the coding gain F is obtained according to the used code.
[0055] Step 105 : the transmission signal PSD is computed under various band plans and profiles supported by the user side device and the central office device. SNR is then calculated according to the transmission signal PSD and noise PSD, then the upstream line rate and downstream line rate are calculated according to the SNR and coding gain. After that, the selecting policy is decided, which is such a policy that it selects a profile enabling the maximum upstream line rate, or the maximum downstream line rate, or the maximum sum of the upstream line rate and downstream line rate.
[0056] The Detailed Implementation May Includes:
[0057] 1) in the case that the band plan and the maximum upstream/downstream transmission power are specified, under the principle of meeting PSD mask requirement and ensuring the aggregate power in the passband being lower than the maximum upstream/downstream transmission power, the transmission signal PSD signal_PSD is measured. Then SNR is calculated using Equation (1) according to the measured noise PSD (including the static noise PSD noise_PSD and the crosstalk noise PSD xtalk_PSD). Then the bit load that may be carried on each tone is calculated using Equation (2), and the upstream/downstream line rates are calculated according to the bit load that can be carried for whole frequency band. Thereafter, the maximum upstream/downstream line rates are obtained according to the calculated upstream/downstream line rates. Here, the policy for selecting the profile is to have the maximum upstream line rate or the maximum downstream line rate or the maximum sum of the upstream line rate and downstream line rate. Currently, many operators limit the maximum upstream/downstream rates. In this case, when the calculated rates may meet the requirement of the supported operation profile, then the operation profile may be selected according to the principles of minimum device transmission power, maximum noise margin, maximum line stability etc.
[0000]
S
N
R
i
=
signal_PSD
i
·
H
(
f
)
2
xtalk_PSD
i
+
noise_PSD
(
1
)
b
i
=
log
2
(
1
+
S
N
R
i
Γ
)
,
i
=
1
…
k
(
2
)
[0058] 2) in the case that the band plan is not specified and several maximum transmission powers are allowed, the parameters of several band plans and profiles are computed. Considering the limit PSD mask of the band plan, MIB PSD mask and amateur radio band (the relationship between them is shown in FIG. 5 ), and under the principle of ensuring the aggregate power in the passband being lower than the maximum transmission power, the transmission signal PSD signal_PSD is determined, and then the upstream/downstream rates for the several profiles supported by the VDSL2 are respectively calculated using Equations (1) and (2) according to the measured noise PSD (including the static noise PSD noise_PSD and the crosstalk noise PSD xtalk_PSD). The calculated upstream/downstream rates for the several profiles are compared and a profile is selected allowing for the maximum upstream line rate or the maximum downstream line rate or the maximum sum of the upstream line rate and downstream line rate. Currently, many operators limit the maximum upstream/downstream rate. In this case, when the calculated rates meet the requirement of the supported operation profile, then the operation profile may be selected according to the principles of minimum device transmission power, maximum line noise margin, or maximum line stability etc.
[0059] Next, the above method will be explained by taking G 992.3 Annex a as an example.
[0060] FIG. 6 illustrates the VDSL2 transmission PSD mask based on the band plan shown in FIG. 7 . Table 3 shows the downstream PSD used for the profile of 12 a in the example, and Table 4 shows the upstream PSD used for the profile of 12 a in the example. The PSD values between the frequency points are obtained using an interpolation method. When the maximum aggregate upstream and downstream power is specified as 14.5 dBm, the upstream/downstream line rates for Annex a 8 d , 12 a are calculated by using the above steps 101 - 105 . At 500 m, the obtained upstream rate for 8 d is 44.565 Mbps, the obtained downstream rate is 12.72 Mbps, and the sum of the upstream rate and the downstream rate is 57.22 Mbps; and the obtained upstream rate for 12 a is 42.401 Mbps, the obtained downstream rate is 27.294 Mbps, and the sum of the upstream rate and the downstream rate is 69.695 Mbps. Therefore, the profile of 12 a is selected according to the above information.
[0000]
TABLE 3
Frequency (KHz)
PSD (dBm/Hz)
0
−97.5
4
−97.5
4
−92.5
4
−92.5
80
−72.5
138
(−47.7-7.1)
138
(−40-7.1)
1104
(−40-7.1)
1622
(−50-7.1)
3750
(−53.5-7.1)
3750
−80
(3750 + 175)
−100
(5200 − 175)
−100
5200
−80
5200
(−55-7.1)
8500
(−55-7.1)
8500
−80
(8500 + 175)
−100
30000
−100
[0000]
TABLE 4
Frequency (KHz)
PSD (dBm/Hz)
0
−97.5
4
−97.5
4
−92.5
25.875
(−38-1.5)
138
(−38-1.5)
242.92
−93.2
686
−100
1104
−100
(3750 − 175)
−100
3750
−80
3750
(−53-1.5)
5200
(−53-1.5)
5200
−80
(5200 + 175)
−100
(8500 − 175)
−100
8500
−80
8500
(−54-1.5)
12000
(−54-1.5)
12000
−80
(12000 + 175)
−100
30000
−100
[0061] The method may also be applicable to VDSL2-compatible ADSL2+ annex A, ADSL2 annex A, ADSL2 annex L, and it may also used to select the profile for ADSL2+ annex B and ADSL2 annex B.
[0062] With reference to FIG. 8 , an embodiment of the invention also provides a system for selecting an operation profile, including the following modules.
[0063] A channel information obtaining module is adapted to obtain channel information of a channel.
[0064] A profile selecting module is adapted to select an operation profile of the channel according to the obtained channel information and a predetermined selection rule.
[0065] Here the Channel Information Obtaining Module Further Includes:
[0066] An SNR computing unit adapted to compute SNR of the channel;
[0067] A coding gain obtaining unit adapted to obtain coding gain according to the used code;
[0068] A line rate computing unit adapted to calculate bit load that may be carried on each tone according to the SNR and the coding gain, and to compute an upstream/downstream line rate according to the bit load that may be carried for whole frequency band.
[0069] Herein, the SNR Computing Unit May Further Include:
[0070] A channel transfer function obtaining unit adapted to estimate electrical length of the channel according to received level and transmission level of a handshake signal during a handshake procedure, and to compute transfer function of the channel according to the electrical length;
[0071] A noise PSD measuring unit adapted to obtain noise PSD according to a signal measurement background noise during the handshake procedure;
[0072] A signal PSD computing unit adapted to compute transmission signal PSD according to various band plans and profiles supported by a modem and an office-end;
[0073] An SNR computing unit adapted to compute an SNR according to the transmission signal PSD and the noise PSD.
[0074] The selection rule used by the profile selecting module is to select a profile allowing for the maximum upstream line rate or the maximum downstream line rate or the maximum sum of the upstream line rate and downstream line rate. Alternatively, when the line rates meet the rate limit, the operation profile may be selected according to the principle of minimum device transmission power, or the maximum line noise margin or the maximum line stability.
[0075] In summary, the embodiments of the invention may obtain the channel information according to the handshake signal of the upstream unit and downstream unit, and may self-adaptively select the operation profile according to the actual channel condition. As a result, an optimal operation profile may be selected with just one training in the system, thereby ensuring the convenient and fast selecting of the operation profile most suitable for the current channel.
[0076] The above embodiment is only one of the detailed implementation of the invention. Any modification and replacement within the scope of the technical solution of the invention made by those skilled in the art is intended to fall within the invention.
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The invention provides a method and system for selecting an operation profile, which belongs to the field of network communication. In order to solve the problem of the selected operation profile being unsuitable for the broad bandwidth and traffic in the prior art, the invention provides a method for selecting an operation profile, comprising: obtaining channel information of a channel; selecting the operation profile according to the channel information and a predetermined selection rule. The invention also provides a system for selecting an operation profile comprising a channel information obtaining module and a profile selecting module. With the technical solution of the invention, it may select a suitable operation profile self-adaptively according to the actual channel condition.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a weaving device comprising a sley and means for forming a weft section of warp threads, whereby a device for introducing and decelerating respectively a projectile for transporting a weft thread from a supply spool through the section of warp threads is disposed on one or on both sides of said weft section, whereby a plurality of spaced-apart guides are present on said sley, which guides function to guide the projectile within the section of warp threads.
Weaving devices of the kind referred to above are generally known and are for example described in Dutch Patent Application No. 73 09 850 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,831,640. With this type of weaving devices a weft thread is attached from a supply spool to a projectile, also referred to as shuttle, which projectile is launched from the introducing station and transported through the weft section via guides disposed in said weft section. With the device according to the aforesaid Dutch patent application the guides and the projectile are thereby designed in such a manner that an aerodynamic layer of air is created between the projectile and the guides during the transport of said projectile through said guides, resulting in a reduced friction between said projectile and said guides.
A drawback of this known device is that all the energy that is required for the transport of the projectile through the weaving section must be imparted to the projectile at the start of the movement, in the introducing station, therefore. In order to be able to transport the projectile through a weaving section of reasonable width, a very great amount of energy needs to be imparted to the projectile at the start of its movement, which means using a very high starting velocity, which in turn results in high peak stresses in the weft thread to be transported. Furthermore this means that the projectile needs to have a relatively high mass of its own.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to provide a weaving device of the kind indicated above, which obviates said drawback and wherein a better guiding and stabilisation of said projectile is achieved and wherein said projectile can be passed through the weaving section with a variable velocity profile as a result of transport energy being supplied during said passage through the weaving section.
In order to accomplish this objective the weaving device according to the invention is characterized in that at least a number of said guides are in the form of hollow medium blowers, to which a pressurized medium can be supplied, and which are provided with one or more outlet openings, which are directed in such a manner that the outflowing medium strikes a wall of a projectile to be guided, which projectile is provided with striking surfaces for the medium flows in question.
With the device according to the invention at least a number of said guides are in the form of hollow medium blowers. Said medium may be gaseous, for example air, but it is also possible to use a liquid, such as water, as the medium. The medium blowers are thereby provided with a number of outlet openings, which are directed in such a manner that the medium exiting therefrom strikes a projectile to be transported over said guides. The medium flowing against the striking surfaces of the projectile thereby transfers transport energy to the projectile, so that said medium blowers contribute to the velocity of said projectile. This means that all the energy required for transporting the projectile through the weaving section needs not to be imparted to the projectile at the beginning of the weaving section. Furthermore this means that, because the medium blowers impart transport energy to the projectile continuously during its transport through the weaving section, there is actually no limit to the width of the weaving section. Besides transporting the projectile the outflowing medium also provides a satisfactory guiding of said projectile, because a layer of medium is created between said guide and said projectile, as it were, thus reducing the amount of friction. Thus a weaving device has been obtained wherein the projectile can be moved through the weaving section with very little friction and at a constant velocity, or at a controlled variable velocity, if desired. A controlled variable velocity may be achieved by regulating the amount of medium supplied to the auxiliary blowers and/or by varying the outflow direction of the blowing device. Since it is no longer necessary with the device according to the invention to impart all energy which is required for the transport of the projectile through the weaving section to the projectile at the beginning of the weaving section, the stresses occurring in the weft thread will remain within bounds. The position of the medium blowers and thus the path which the projectile follows through the weaving section can be selected optimally in relation to the other weaving parameters.
In order to be able to impart energy to the projectile over the entire width of the weaving section, another embodiment of the device according to the invention is characterized in that the guides in the form of medium blowers are spaced apart by a distance which is at most equal to the length of a projectile to be guided. In this embodiment at least one guide in the form of a medium blower will cooperate with the projectile at all times, so that transport energy can be continuously imparted to the projectile.
In another embodiment each of the guides in the form of medium blowers is made up of a base portion, which is secured to the sley and which connects to a medium inlet there, and of a head portion, which can be introduced into the section and which is substantially circular, seen in cross-sectional view of said section, whereby a hollow projectile having an inside diameter which substantially corresponds with the shape of said head portion can be passed over said head portion, whereby said head portion is provided, at least in one of its side faces, with one or more outlet openings, which are directed outwards with respect to the central axis of said head portion, so that outflowing medium is directed at the inner wall of a projectile passed thereover, whereby the inner wall of the projectile to be guided is provided with annular recesses, each recess having at least one wall, which, seen in the direction of transport, forms a front boundary of the respective recess.
In another embodiment the head portion of each medium blower that may be introduced into said section is provided with an opening through which a projectile can be passed, whereby said head portion, in at least one side face thereof, is provided with one or more outlet openings, which are directed obliquely towards the central axis of the openings, so that the outflowing medium strikes an outer wall of a passing projectile, whereby the outer wall of each projectile is provided with annular recesses each comprising at least one wall, which forms a front boundary of the respective recess, seen in the direction of transport.
In the above embodiments according to the invention the medium flowing from the guides in the form of medium blowers hits striking surfaces of the projectile, which have been obtained by forming annular recesses in the relevant wall of the projectile, at least one wall of said recesses forming a boundary which is located at the front, seen in the direction of transport. The medium flowing against said striking surfaces will thereby transfer energy to the projectile. In another advantageous embodiment, in order to stimulate this transfer of energy even more, each of the annular recesses in the inner wall or outer wall of a projectile to be guided is provided with a plurality of channels, through which the medium flowing against said striking wall can flow out or in, whereby said channels extend obliquely in a direction opposed to the direction of transport, so that the medium flowing in is diverted. By designing said striking surfaces and the channels connecting thereto to have a shape similar to that which is also used for turbine blades, for example, a maximum energy transfer of the outflowing medium to the projectile is achieved. In this manner an energy saving is obtained.
In another advantageous embodiment the guides in the form of medium blowers not only have medium outlet openings in one of their side faces, but also in their circumferential surface serving as a guide surface for a projectile to be guided. The medium flowing from said openings provides an adequate support and stabilization of the projectile, so that it will move over the guides with little friction.
In one embodiment of the device, wherein a hollow projectile is passed over appropriate guides with its inner side, the front and rear sides of said projectiles are according to another embodiment provided with flexible wall parts, which close the inner space and allow the projectile to pass over said guides. In this manner the medium flowing from the medium blowers and hitting the striking surfaces of the projectile will have almost no opportunity to escape from the inside of the projectile, except through the channels provided in the annular recesses of the projectile. As a result of this a very good support of the projectile is obtained, as well as an optimum transfer of the energy present in the medium to the projectile.
In another embodiment each of the guides in the form of medium blowers is connected to a medium supply line via a controllable valve, and furthermore a control device is present, which only keeps open the valves of those guides which are present within the range of a projectile to be guided. In this manner medium blowers not located within the range of a projectile are prevented from still being supplied with a medium, which medium would be lost in that case.
In order to be able to transport a projectile through a weaving section in both directions, each of the guides in the form of medium blowers is in another advantageous embodiment provided with a partition, which forms two medium channels, whereby each medium blower is on both sides provided with outlet openings, all this in such a manner that a projectile to be guided can be transported through the section in both directions. In this embodiment the parts of the medium blower positioned on either side of the partition must connect to separate medium inlets, of course, so that medium can only be supplied to that part of the medium blower which is positioned on that side of the partition which is in communication with outlet openings blowing in the desired direction of transport.
Instead of using the aforesaid two-sided medium blowers for transporting a projectile in two directions through the weaving section it is also possible to arrange the medium blowers present in the weaving section in such a manner that said blowers blow alternately in one direction and in the other direction. Furthermore it is possible to used medium blowers which are rotatably mounted on the sley, so that their blowing direction can be selected as desired.
Another energetically advantageous embodiment is characterized in that the base portion comprises a medium supply channel, which continues rectilinearly into the head portion and opens into the circumference of said head portion. In this embodiment it is not necessary for the medium in the medium blower to be diverted, but it can flow rectilinearly from the inlet to the outlet opening. Since each diversion of a medium flow leads to a loss of energy, it will be apparent that from an energy point of view this embodiment is ideal.
Although so far only guides in the form of medium blowers present in the weft section have been mentioned, in another advantageous embodiment of the device according to the invention also the introducing and/or the decelerating station disposed on one or on both sides of the weft section is (are) provided with a plurality of guides in the form of medium blowers. In this embodiment the introducing and/or decelerating of the projectile on both sides of the weft section is also carried out by medium blowers having the same shape and construction as the medium blowers disposed in the weft section. In this manner it is possible to have the introducing and/or decelerating of the projectile take place gradually, so that large peak stresses in the weft thread are avoided.
The invention furthermore relates to a projectile which is in particular suitable for being used in the above-described weaving device, the features of which are defined in the claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the drawings, which shows a number of embodiments by way of illustration.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view, not to scale, of a weaving device according to the invention.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the device according to FIG. 1, seen along the line II--II.
FIGS. 3a and 3b are views of one of the guides as used in the device according to FIG. 1.
FIGS. 4a and 4b shows two mutually perpendicular sections of a projectile which can be guided on the guide illustrated in FIG. 3.
FIGS. 5a and 5b are schematic, mutually perpendicular sectional views of a guide and a projectile to be passed thereover having an embodiment different from that of FIG. 4.
FIGS. 6a and 6b are schematic, mutually perpendicular sectional views of a guide and a projectile to be passed thereover, wherein said guide is provided with an opening through which the projectile can be passed.
FIG. 7 is a schematic sectional view of a medium blower, which is divided in two parts by a partition.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 schematically shows a weaving device comprising a sley 1 and means 2 for forming a weft section 3 of warp threads 4, which threads 4 come from supply spools for the warp threads 5. A large number of weft means 6 are provided on sley 1, said weft means together forming the so-called reed and being capable of movement between warp threads 4. Furthermore a number of guides 7, which will be discussed in more detail hereafter, are provided on sley 1 for guiding a projectile 8 through weft section 3 from one side to the other. As is shown in the Figure, the projectile 8 is present in the introducing station 9 positioned on the left-hand side of the weft section, while a decelerating station 10 is present on the other side of the weft section. A weft thread 11 from a supply spool 12 may be connected to the projectile 8 in a known manner. The guides 7 are in the form of medium blowers, comprising a head portion 15 and a base portion 16, which is secured to sley 1 and which connects to a medium supply line 17 there. Each guide 7 may thereby connect to a main medium supply line 19 via an electromagnetic valve 18, but, as is shown in the drawing, it is also possible for a number of guides 7 lying side by side to connect to a common medium supply line 17, which in that case connects to main supply line 19 via a valve 18. The head portion 15 of guides 7 is provided with medium outlet openings 20, which are present in the side face of each of the guides 7 that lies in the direction of transport.
The construction of guides 7 may for example be as schematically indicated in FIGS. 3a and 3b. Said Figures show that each of the guides is made up of a base portion 16, which may be secured to sley 1 and which connects to said medium supply line. Present on the upper side of said base portion 16 is a head portion 15, which is provided with a plurality of outlet openings 20. Projectile 8, which is hollow and which cooperates with the outer wall of head portion 15 via its inner wall, can be passed over head portion 15, said head portion being circular when seen in sectional view transversely to the weaving section. The construction of said projectile may be as indicated in FIGS. 4a and 4b. As can be seen from said Figure, the inner wall of projectile 8 is provided with a plurality of annular recesses 25, which are serrated in this embodiment, each recess comprising a striking surface 26 for medium, said striking surface forming a front boundary of said serrated recess, seen in the direction of transport of the projectile. The medium outlet openings 20 in the head portion of guide 7 are thereby directed such that the outflowing medium strikes the striking surfaces 26 of the annular recesses 25. As a result of this the outflowing medium will impart energy to projectile 8, so that said projectile is transported through weaving section 3 by the outflowing medium. Furthermore, as a result of the proper enclosure of head portion 15 by projectile 8, a pressure build-up will take place in spaces 25 of the annular recesses, which create layers of medium at 30, so that said layers of air form a bearing for the projectile, as it were, which thus experiences very little friction. Furthermore medium outlet openings 28 may be provided in the circumference of head portion 15, as a result of which the medium is blown directly against the projectile. This leads to a good low-friction bearing and stabilisation of the projectile.
FIGS. 5a and 5b show a similar combination of guide 7 and projectile 8, with this exception that in this embodiment the annular recesses 25 are circumferentially provided with a number of channels 31, which are directed such that the medium flowing out of the recesses 25 via said channels 31 is diverted relative to the direction of transport of the projectile, so that in comparison with the embodiment of FIG. 4 more of the energy contained in the outflowing medium is transferred to the projectile. In fact, in this embodiment striking surfaces 26 and outlet openings 31 together act more or less as guide blades of a turbine.
FIGS. 6a and 6b are two mutually perpendicular sectional views of an embodiment of guide 7, wherein said guide comprises a base part 32, which may be secured to sley 1 and which may be connected there to a medium supply line and a head portion 33, which is provided with an opening 34 in this embodiment, into which projectile 36 can be guided. Also in this embodiment head portion 33 is provided with a plurality of medium outlet openings 37, which are directed towards central axis 38, so that the outflowing medium strikes the outer wall of the projectile. The outer wall is thereby provided with annular recesses 39, which each have a striking surface 39a, which is located at the front, seen in the direction of transport. The operation of this device is the same as that of the preceding embodiments, wherein the medium flows exiting from openings 37 hit the striking surfaces 39a, thereby imparting transport energy to the projectile. As is the case with the embodiment according to FIG. 5, in order to further increase the energy transfer from the medium flows to the projectile, each of the rings 39 ay be provided with a plurality of openings 40 distributed over the circumference thereof, some being indicated in the drawing, which openings form channels from the annular recesses to the interior of the projectile, thereby diverting the flow of medium in such a manner that an optimum energy transfer from the medium flows to the projectile is achieved. It is also possible thereby to use medium blowers which are rotatably mounted on the sley, so that said blowers can be made to blow in the desired direction. In order to have the medium flow act on the projectile in both directions, it is possible to used guides which are arranged in spaced-apart relationship and which blow alternately in one direction and in the other direction. Furthermore it is possible thereby to use guides which are provided with a partition 50, as is schematically indicated in FIG. 7, as a result of which the channel in said guides is divided into two parts 51 and 52, which channels are connected to different medium supply lines, whereby the two sides of the guides are each provided with outlet openings 53 and 54. Depending on the direction in which the projectile is to be transported through the section, either channel 51 or channel 52 may be supplied with medium.
As is indicated in FIG. 1, both the introducing station 11 and the decelerating station 10 may be provided with a type of guides similar to guide 7, in introducing station 9 guides 7 will blow medium in the direction in which the projectile is to be transported, while in decelerating station 10 guides 7 will blow medium in the direction in which the projectile 8 is to be decelerated.
From the above it will be apparent that the invention provides a very advantageous weaving device, wherein transport energy can be imparted to the projectile during its passage through the weaving section by means of guides in the form of medium blowers. This makes it possible to maintain a constant velocity of the projectile through the entire weaving section. Furthermore it is possible, if desired, to regulate the supply of medium to the various medium blowers in such a manner that a controlled velocity profile is imparted to the projectile.
Although the invention has been explained above by means of a projectile to which one end of a weft thread is connected, the same advantages are obtained when the invention is used with projectiles in the form of real shuttles, which carry along a predetermined supply of thread during their passage through the section.
Furthermore the path of the projectile through the weaving section does not need to be rectilinear, but also curved paths, for example circular paths, are possible.
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A weaving device utilizing a projectile and a pressurized medium to guide the projectile as it transports a weft thread from a supply spool through a section of warp threads. A device is also used to introduce and decelerate the projectile. The pressurized medium passes through outlet openings in a plurality of spaced apart guides and moves the projectile by acting upon a plurality of annular recesses on the surface of these projectiles. Further, as the pressurized medium strikes these annular recesses, a pressure build up takes place in the spaces of the annular recesses to create a boundary of air which reduces friction between the projectile and the guides, and which increases the stability of the projectile.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to hand grips, and more particularly to elastomeric hand grips as employed on bicycles or motorcycles, for example.
There is a continuing need for hand grips which are of light-weight, material saving design, and which function to enhance manual stability when gripped. While many forms of grips have been produced, none to my knowledge have embodied the unusual features of construction and functioning which characterize the present invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a major object of the invention to provide an improved hand grip meeting the above requirements and needs.
The functional design concept of the invention concerns the creation of a bicycle or motorcycle hand grip of optimum strength and offering comfort and hand traction, together with minimum weight and mass. Reductions in mass and weight in various areas of the grip are achieved by the use of "lightening holes" from which material is removed at areas of the grip not critical to the structural stability and overall strength of the grip. Such holes may be dead bottom holes, or through holes, i.e. piercing through the grip. The shapes and sizes of the holes may vary as well as their patterns. Material remaining about the holes forms a space saving frame such as used in bridge girders to provide optimum rigidity without unnecessary mass. As will be seen, the lightening holes may be located in a flange adjoining the main body of the grip, and/or in a palm fitting protrusion on the main body facing the rider, and/or in a finger fitting protrusion on the forward side of the main body facing away from the rider. The open framed structure formed by such holes creates increased surface edge extent to provide substantially increased traction when manually gripped by hand or glove.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention, as well as the details of an illustrative embodiment, will be more fully understood from the following description and drawings, in which:
DRAWING DESCRIPTION
FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a hand grip incorporating the invention;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged section taken on lines 2--2 of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is an enlarged section taken on lines 3--3 of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a side elevation of a modified form of hand grip;
FIG. 5 is an enlarged section taken on lines 5--5 of FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of another modified form of grip; and
FIG. 7 is an enlarged section showing a further improved tread construction.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
In FIGS. 1-3 the elastomeric hand grip 10 includes an elongated body 11 having a cylindrical bore 12 defining an elongated axis 13. The bore is sized to receive a bicycle or motorcycle handle (indicated for example at 14) when the grip is applied to the handle. Handles of other objects may also receive or fit the grip. The grip exterior is shown as incorporating a large number or small annular protrusions 15 which are closely spaced apart and define a tread to aid in manual grasping of the grip.
At one end of the grip in an annular flange 16 which is integral with the body 11. The flange contains a series of openings 17 spaced apart about axis 13, these openings extending in the direction of axis 13 and facing the annular region 18 about the body. Typically, those openings extend completely through the flange; however, they may extend into the flange from its side 16a and to a depth less than the flange thickness. Further, the openings may typically be circular and have diameters between about 1/4 and 1/2 inch. Such openings contribute to lightening the weight of the grip, with consequent savings of elastomeric material, as for example oil based rubber. Also, their edges 17a which face region 18 are adapted to be engaged by the hand or glove of the cyclist, to resist relative rotation of the hand and grip, about axis 13, thereby to stabilize the hand on the grip. A smaller flange 19 is integral with the opposite end of the body, and blocks hand retraction in the direction indicated by arrow 20.
The body 11 also contains a series of openings 21 spaced apart lengthwise of the body, such openings extending transversely of the longitudinally extending axis 13, and also being offset from that axis as well as from bore 12. In the example, openings 21 are longitudinally elongated as shown, and they extend through the body below bore 12, in transverse directions indicated by arrow 22 in FIG. 3. Openings 21 are also located in the downwardly protruding portion 11a of the body, the bottom side of which may be flattened as at 23. The openings 21 extend between downwardly convergent, opposite sides 24 of the body. As a result, those openings also contribute to the lightening of the grip, and saving of elastomeric material. Further, their outwardly presented edges 21a are adapted to be engaged by the hand or glove of the cyclist, to resist relative rotation of the hand and grip about axis 13, adding to stability. To this end, the openings 21 may be spaced along the body at approximately the finger positions, i.e. at least four spaced apart locations, as shown. Note also the downward protrusion 30 at the end of the body, beneath the level of flange 19, to confine the user's fingers between flange 16 and protrusion 30.
In FIG. 4 the modified grip 110 includes a body 111, end flange 116 corresponding to flange 16 (i.e. having openings 117 like openings 17), and end flange 119, like flange 19, is integral with the opposite end of the body. A downward protrusion 111a from the 2/3 of the body closest to flange 119 is downwardly convex, as shown. That protrusion contains a series of transverse openings 121 which are circular in cross section, and offset from bore 112 and axis 113. Further, and as shown in FIG. 5, those openings 121 need not pass completely through the protrusion, but only part way through same. They also present outward edges 121a functioning as to edges 21a in FIG. 3.
Protrusions 11a and 111a facilitate hand gripping of the bodies 11 and 111.
The hand grip of FIG. 6 is like that of FIG. 4, and includes a body 211, and end flange 216 corresponding to flange 16, i.e. having circularly spaced openings 217 which correspond to openings 17 but are not circular; rather, they are shaped to define spokes 217a between the openings. An end flange 219, like flange 19, is integral with the opposite end of the body.
A lateral protrusion 211a from the 2/3 of the body closest to flange 219 is laterally convex, as shown. That protrusion contains a series of transverse openings 221 which are offset from the elongated handle receiving bore in the body, and extend transversely relative thereto. Such openings may extend through, or part way through, the protrusion, and they have outward edges 221a, functioning as do edges 21a in FIG. 3.
In addition, the body contains another series of openings 231 spaced lengthwise of the body along a protrusion or rib 232 which extends between flanges 216 and 219. Openings 231 are typically dead bottom recesses, and they extend inwardly toward the bore or axis defined by the body (see bore 112 in FIG. 4). They also have edges 231a functioning as do edges 21a in FIG. 3.
Small annular protrusions 215 may be located on and over the main extent of the body 211, as do protrusions 15 in FIG. 1, to provide a gripable tread.
Referring to FIG. 7, it shows in enlarged section a modified hand grip body 311 (corresponding to body 11 in FIG. 1). The body contains a bore 312 and has an axis 313. A series of relatively small openings is sunk in the body and distributed over the body to form a recessed tread, in the same manner that protrusions 15 are distributed in FIG. 1. For example, note annular openings 315 having inner and outer annular walls 315a and 315b extending about an axis 316. A central stem 317 is outstanding at the center of each ring shaped opening. Annular edges 318 and 319 are formed at the intersection of the walls 315a and 315b with body surface 316a, and such edges engage the users hand or glove for increased stability.
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A lightened hand grip contains hand engageable openings, as in a flange and/or a grip body. In addition, a tread pattern may be provided on the grip body.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This application is directed to synthetic processes for making beta 3 agonists of Formula (I) and Formula (II) and their intermediate compounds.
[0002] Beta Adrenergic receptors (βAR) are present in detrusor smooth muscle of various species, including human, rat, guinea pig, rabbit, ferret, dog, cat, pig and non-human primate. However, pharmacological studies indicate there are marked species differences in the receptor subtypes mediating relaxation of the isolated detrusor; β1AR predominate in cats and guinea pig, β2AR predominate in rabbit, and β3AR contribute or predominate in dog, rat, ferret, pig, cynomolgus and human detrusor. Expression of βAR subtypes in the human and rat detrusor has been examined by a variety of techniques, and the presence of β3AR was confirmed using in situ hybridization and/or reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Real time quantitative PCR analyses of β1AR, β2AR and β3AR mRNAs in bladder tissue from patients undergoing radical cystectomy revealed a preponderance of PAR mRNA (97%, cf 1.5% for β1AR mRNA and 1.4% for β2AR mRNA). Moreover, β3AR mRNA expression was equivalent in control and obstructed human bladders. These data suggest that bladder outlet obstruction does not result in downregulation of β3AR, or in alteration of PAR-mediated detrusor relaxation. β3AR responsiveness also has been compared in bladder strips obtained during cystectomy or enterocystoplasty from patients judged to have normal bladder function, and from patients with detrusor hyporeflexia or hyperreflexia. No differences in the extent or potency of β3AR agonist mediated relaxation were observed, consistent with the concept that the β3AR activation is an effective way of relaxing the detrusor in normal and pathogenic states. Functional evidence in support of an important role for the β3AR in urine storage emanates from studies in vivo. Following intravenous administration to rats, the rodent selective β3AR agonist CL316243 reduces bladder pressure and in cystomeric studies increases bladder capacity leading to prolongation of micturition interval without increasing residual urine volume.
[0003] Overactive bladder (OAB) is characterized by the symptoms of urinary urgency, with or without urgency urinary incontinence, usually associated with frequency and nocturia. The prevalence of OAB in the United States and Europe has been estimated at 16 to 17% in both women and men over the age of 18 years. Overactive bladder is most often classified as idiopathic, but can also be secondary to neurological condition, bladder outlet obstruction, and other causes. From a pathophysiologic perspective, the overactive bladder symptom complex, especially when associated with urge incontinence, is suggestive of detrusor overactivity. Urgency with or without incontinence has been shown to negatively impact both social and medical well-being, and represents a significant burden in terms of annual direct and indirect healthcare expenditures. Importantly, current medical therapy for urgency (with or without incontinence) is suboptimal, as many patients either do not demonstrate an adequate response to current treatments, and/or are unable to tolerate current treatments (for example, dry mouth associated with anticholinergic therapy).
[0004] The present invention describes efficient and economical processes as described in more detail below for the preparation of the beta 3 agonists of Formula (I) and Formula (II) and intermediate compounds that can be used for making these agonists.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0005] FIG. 1 ( FIG. 1 ) is a powder X-ray diffraction pattern of the crystalline anhydrous form of compound i-11 of Example 1.
[0006] FIG. 2 ( FIG. 2 ) is a powder X-ray diffraction pattern of the crystalline hemihydrate form of compound i-11 of Example 1.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The present invention is directed to synthetic processes for making beta 3 agonists of Formula (I) and Formula (II) and their intermediate compounds I-11 and I-12.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0008] Described herein is a process of making compound I-11 from compound I-5b through multiple step reactions:
[0000]
[0009] In one embodiment, the multiple-step reactions from compound I-5b to compound I-11 comprise reacting compound I-5b with acetone and P 1 2 O to produce compound I-6:
[0000]
[0000] wherein P 1 is selected from the group consisting of Ac, Bn, Boc, Bz, Cbz, DMPM, FMOC, Ns, Moz, and Ts. In one embodiment, P 1 is Boc.
[0010] In one embodiment, the multiple-step reactions from compound I-5b to compound I-11 comprise oxidizing compound I-6 with an oxidizing agent in the presence of a catalyst to produce compound I-7:
[0000]
[0000] wherein P 1 is selected from the group consisting of Ac, Bn, Boc, Bz, Cbz, DMPM, FMOC, Ns, Moz, and Ts. In one embodiment, P 1 is Boc.
[0011] Suitable oxidizing agents include, but are not limited to, NaOCl, NaClO 2 , hydrogen peroxide, Swern oxidation and variants such as pyridine sulfur trioxide, PCC, and DCC. In one embodiment, the oxidizing agent is NaOCl.
[0012] The amount of the oxidizing agent is typically 1.1 equiv. to 1.3 equiv., or more specifically, 1.2 equiv. to 1.25 equiv. In one embodiment, the amount of the oxidizing agent is 1.25 equiv.
[0013] Suitable catalysts for the above oxidation reaction include, but are not limited to, TEMPO and TEMPO analogues. In one embodiment, the catalyst is TEMPO.
[0014] One advantage of the presently described process is that compound I-7 from the oxidation step can be used directly in the next Homer Wadsworth Emmons (hereinafter, “HWE”) step to make compound I-8. This one pot process eliminates the need for solvent switch and can increase the yield and reduce cost.
[0015] In one embodiment, the oxidation step from I-6 to I-7 can be carried out in the presence of a solvent. Suitable solvents include, but are not limited to, THF, MTBE, CH 2 Cl 2 , MeCN, toluene and mixtures thereof. In one embodiment, the solvent is a mixture of toluene and MeCN. In another embodiment, the solvent is a mixture of CH 2 Cl 2 and MeCN.
[0016] In one embodiment, the multiple-step reactions from compound I-5b to compound I-11 comprise reacting compound I-7 with phosphate compound A-4:
[0000]
[0000] in the presence of a solvent to produce compound I-8 (“HWR reaction”):
[0000]
[0000] wherein P 1 and P 2 are each independently selected from the group consisting of Ac, Bn, Boc, Bz, Cbz, DMPM, FMOC, Ns, Moz, and Ts. In one embodiment, both P 1 and P 2 are Boc.
[0017] Suitable solvents include, but are not limited to, THF, MTBE, CH 2 Cl 2 , MeCN, toluene and a mixture comprising two of the foregoing solvents. In one embodiment, the solvent is the mixture of toluene and MeCN.
[0018] The HWE reaction is typically carried out at a temperature of −10 to 50° C., or more specifically, 0 to 40° C. In one embodiment, the temperature is 0 to 25° C. In another embodiment, the temperature is 40° C.
[0019] The HWE reaction is typically carried out in the presence of a base or a salt. In one embodiment, the base is a tertiary amine. In another embodiment, the base is N,N-diisopropylethylamine (DIPEA).
[0020] In one embodiment, the salt is lithium halide, or more specifically, LiCl or LiBr.
[0021] In the HWE reaction, an impurity compound I-21 (aldol dimmer by-product) may be formed in addition to compound I-8:
[0000]
[0022] It has been found that by adjusting pH to between 6.5 and 7.0 after the reaction, higher purity compound I-8 can be obtained with improved yield. Additionally, addition of more reactant compound A-4 has been shown to drive the impurity I-21 to product I-8. In one embodiment, addition of an extra 0.2 equiv. of A-4 can reduce the level of I-21 to from 8 LCAP to 2 LCAP.
[0023] Increasing the reaction temperature can speed up the conversion to the desired product compound I-8 and reduce the level of the byproduct compound I-21.
[0024] By changing the reaction from a batch process to an addition controlled process, the yield of compound I-8 can be improved and the level of byproduct compound I-21 can be reduced. For example, by adding reactant compound I-7 to a solution containing reactant compound A-4, the level of I-21 can be decreased and the yield of compound I-8 improved.
[0025] In one embodiment, a solution containing 1.2 equiv of A-4, 3 equiv. of DIPEA and 3 equiv. of LiCl in 5 volumes of MeCN was prepared and warmed to 40° C. A toluene stream of compound I-7 was then added to this mixture over 3 h, after an additional 30 min aging conversion to product was complete. The level of impurity I-21 was about ˜1 LCAP. Sampling the reaction at 1 h intervals showed there was no build-up of compound I-7 in the reaction mixture. After work up the product was isolated with a 90% isolated yield.
[0026] It has also been found that using slightly smaller amount of reactant A-4 does not negatively affect the yield of compound I-8. In one embodiment, 1.0 instead of 1.2 equiv. of compound A-4 was used and high yield was still obtained.
[0027] Compound A-4 used in the HWE reaction can be prepared from compound A-1:
[0000]
[0000] using similar synthetic steps and conditions as described in A General Procedure for the Preparation of β-Ketophosphonates, Maloney et. al., J. Org. Chem., 74, page 7574-7576 (2009).
[0028] In one embodiment, the reduction of compound I-8 to produce compound I-9 is carried out in the presence of a catalyst:
[0000]
[0000] wherein P 1 and P 2 are each independently selected from the group consisting of Ac, Bn, Boc, Bz, Cbz, DMPM, FMOC, Ns, Moz, and Ts. In one embodiment, both P 1 and P 2 are Boc.
[0029] Suitable catalysts include, but are not limited to, Pd, Raney Ni, Pt, PdCl 2 , and Pd(OH) 2 . In one embodiment, the catalyst is 5% Pd/C.
[0030] In another embodiment, the reduction from I-8 to I-9 is carried out in the presence of a solvent. Suitable solvents include, but are not limited to, THF, MTBE, CH 2 Cl 2 , MeCN, toluene, methanol, ethanol, 2-propanol and mixtures thereof. In one embodiment, the solvent is THF.
[0031] In another embodiment, the reduction reaction is carried out using hydrogen gas at a pressure of 2 to 300 psig, preferably about 40 psig, in the presence of a catalyst.
[0032] In one embodiment, compound I-9 reacts with an acid to produce compound I-10 through a cyclization reaction:
[0000]
[0033] Suitable acids include, but are not limited to, HCl, HBr, TFA, MeSO 3 H, TfOH, H 2 SO 4 , para-toluenesulfonic acid, and other sulfone acids such as RSO 3 H wherein R is C 1-6 alkyl, aryl or substituted aryl. In one embodiment, the acid is HCl.
[0034] In one embodiment, HCl is used as acid and an HCl salt of compound I-10 is obtained. In one embodiment, the HCl salt is in the form of bis-HCl salt. In another embodiment, the bis-HCl salt is in the form of a mono-hydrate. In another embodiment, the mono-hydrate of the bis-HCl salt of compound I-10 is a crystalline material.
[0035] The conversion from I-9 to I-10 can be carried out at a temperature of 0 to 40° C., or more specifically, 15 to 25° C., or even more specifically, 20 to 25° C. In one embodiment, the temperature is 20 to 25° C.
[0036] In one embodiment, compound I-10 is reduced to compound I-11 in the presence of a catalyst:
[0000]
[0037] The reaction conditions for the conversion from I-10 to I-11 can be controlled so a cis-selective hydrogenation process is obtained. In one embodiment, the cis-selective hydrogenation is carried out in the presence of a catalyst. Suitable catalysts include, but are not limited to Pt on alumina, Pd on alumina, Pd/C, Pd(OH) 2 —C, Raney Ni, Rh/C, Rh/Al, Pt/C, Ru/C and PtO 2 . In one embodiment, the catalyst is Pt on alumina.
[0038] In another embodiment, the cis-selective hydrogenation from I-10 to I-11 is carried out in the presence of HMDS, which can protect the hydroxy group in situ and therefore improve the diastereo selectivity. Other suitable protecting reagents include, but are not limited to, TMSCl, TESCl, and TBDMSCl.
[0039] In one embodiment, compound I-11 is obtained in the form of a crystalline anhydrous free base. In another embodiment, compound I-11 is obtained in the form of a crystalline free base hemihydrate.
[0040] In one embodiment, a process of making compound I-11 comprises:
[0041] (a) reducing compound I-8:
[0000]
[0000] in the presence of a catalyst to produce compound I-9:
[0000]
[0042] (b) reacting compound I-9 with an acid to produce compound I-10:
[0000]
[0000] and
[0043] (c) reducing compound I-10 in the presence of a catalyst to produce compound I-11:
[0000]
[0000] wherein P 1 and P 2 are each independently selected from the group consisting of Ac, Bn, Boc, Bz, Cbz, DMPM, FMOC, Ns, Moz, and Ts.
[0044] In one embodiment, the catalyst in step (a) above is selected from the group consisting of Pd, Raney Ni, Pt, PdCl 2 , and Pd(OH) 2 .
[0045] In one embodiment, the acid in step (b) above is selected from the group consisting of HCl, HBr, TFA, MeSO 3 H, TfOH, H 2 SO 4 , para-toluenesulfonic acid, and RSO 3 H wherein R is alkyl, aryl or substituted aryl.
[0046] In one embodiment, the reduction of step (c) is carried out in the presence of HMDS and the catalyst used is selected from the group consisting of Pt on alumina, Pd on alumina, Pd/C, Pd(OH) 2 —C, Raney Ni, Rh/C, Rh/Al, Pt/C, Ru/C and PtO 2 .
[0047] In one embodiment, a process of making compound I-11 comprises:
[0048] (a) reacting compound I-7:
[0000]
[0000] with phosphate compound A-4:
[0000]
[0000] to produce compound I-8:
[0000]
[0000] wherein the reaction is carried out at a temperature of about 20 to 40° C. and in the presence of a solvent selected from the group consisting of THF, MTBE, CH 2 Cl 2 , MeCN, toluene and a mixture comprising two of the foregoing solvents;
[0049] (b) reducing compound I-8 in the presence of a catalyst selected from the group consisting of Pd, Raney Ni, Pt, PdCl 2 , and Pd(OH) 2 to produce compound I-9:
[0000]
[0050] (c) reacting compound I-9 with an acid to produce compound I-10:
[0000]
[0000] and
[0051] (d) reducing compound I-10 in the presence of a catalyst to produce compound I-11:
[0000]
[0000] wherein P 1 and P 2 are each independently selected from the group consisting of Ac, Bn, Boc, Bz, Cbz, DMPM, FMOC, Ns, Moz, and Ts.
[0052] In another embodiment, a process of making compound I-11 comprises:
[0053] (a) reacting compound I-5b:
[0000]
[0000] with acetone and Boc 2 O to produce compound I-6:
[0000]
[0054] (b) oxidizing compound I-6 with an oxidizing agent in the presence of a solvent and a catalyst to produce compound I-7:
[0000]
[0055] (c) reacting compound I-7 with phosphate compound A-4:
[0000]
[0000] to produce compound I-8:
[0000]
[0000] wherein the reaction is carried out at a temperature of about 20 to 40° C. and in the presence of a solvent selected from the group consisting of THF, MTBE, CH 2 Cl 2 , MeCN, toluene and a mixture comprising two of the foregoing solvents;
[0056] (d) reducing compound I-8 in the presence of a catalyst selected from the group consisting of Pd, Raney Ni, Pt, PdCl 2 , and Pd(OH) 2 to produce compound I-9:
[0000]
[0057] (e) reacting compound I-9 with an acid to produce compound I-10:
[0000]
[0000] and
[0058] (f) reducing compound I-10 in the presence of a catalyst to produce compound I-11:
[0000]
[0000] wherein P 1 is Boc and P 2 is selected from the group consisting of Ac, Bn, Boc, Bz, Cbz, DMPM, FMOC, Ns, Moz, and Ts.
[0059] Compound I-11 can be used as an intermediate compound for making compounds of Formula (I) or Formula (II):
[0000]
[0060] Also described herein is a process of making compound I-12:
[0000]
[0000] comprising reacting compound I-14:
[0000]
[0000] with compound I-15:
[0000]
[0000] wherein R 2 and R 3 are each independently selected from the group consisting of C 1-6 alkyl, benzyl, and phenyl. In one embodiment, R 2 and R 3 are each independently selected from the group consisting of methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl and benzyl. In another embodiment, R 2 and R 3 are both methyl.
[0061] In one embodiment, the above process for making compound I-12 comprises 2 steps:
[0062] (a) reacting compound I-14 with compound I-15 to produce compound i-17:
[0000]
[0000] and
[0063] (b) hydrolyzing compound I-17 to produce compound I-12.
[0064] The above step (a) can be carried out in the presence of a solvent. Suitable solvents include, but are not limited to, ethyl benzene, toluene, trifluorotoluene, xylenes, cumene, and tert-butyl benzene. In one embodiment, the solvent is ethyl benzene.
[0065] The above step (a) can be carried out at a temperature of 110° C. to 150° C., or more specifically, 125° C. to 135° C. In one embodiment, the temperature is 125° C. to 135° C.
[0066] The above hydrolysis step (b) can be carried out in the presence of a base. Suitable bases include, but are not limited to, NaOH, LiOH, KOH, CsOH, Ca(OH) 2 , Ba(OH) 2 , Mg(OH) 2 , K 2 CO 3 , Na 2 CO 3 , and Cs 2 CO 3 . In one embodiment, the base is NaOH.
[0067] The above step (b) can be carried out in the presence of a solvent. Suitable solvents include, but are not limited to, methanol, water, THF, EtOH, IPA, α-methyl-THF, and mixtures thereof. In one embodiment, the solvent is the mixture of methanol/water, THF/water, EtOH/water, IPA/water, or α-methyl-THF/water. In another embodiment, the solvent is a mixture of methanol/water.
[0068] In one embodiment, compound I-14 can be prepared from reacting compound I-13:
[0000]
[0000] with (MeO) 2 SO 2 , wherein R 2 is as defined above.
[0069] In one embodiment, R 2 is selected from the group consisting of methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl and phenyl. In another embodiment, R 2 is methyl.
[0070] In one embodiment, the above step from compound I-13 to compound I-14 is carried out without a solvent.
[0071] In another embodiment, the above step from compound I-13 to compound I-14 is carried out at a temperature of 10° C. to 85° C., or more specifically, 25° C. to 65° C. In one embodiment, the temperature is 25° C. to 65° C.
[0072] Further described herein is a process of making a compound of Formula (I):
[0000]
[0000] comprising reacting compound I-11 with compound I-12.
[0073] The reaction between I-11 and I-12 can be carried out in the presence of a coupling reagent. Suitable coupling reagents include, but are not limited to, CDI, DCC, EDC, EDC methiodide, T3P, HATU, HBTU and mix-anhydrides. In one embodiment, the coupling reagent is EDC.
[0074] The reaction between I-11 and I-12 can be carried out in the presence of a solvent while the substrate is treated with an acid such as HCl, MeSO 3 H, H 2 SO 4 to selectively protect the secondary pyrrolidine amine. Suitable solvents include, but are not limited to, both aqueous and non-aqueous solvents such as MeOH, EtOH, IPA, n-PrOH, MeCN, DMF, DMAc, THF, EtOAc, IPAc, or toluene.
[0075] A promoter can be used in the reaction between I-11 and I-12. Suitable promotors include, but are not limited to, HOBT and HOPO.
[0076] Suitable pH values for the reaction between I-11 and I-12 can be 2.5 to 5.0, or more specifically, 3.0 to 4.0, or even more specifically, 3.0 to 3.5. The pH can be adjusted to the desired ranges using an acid such as HCl, HBr, HI, HNO 3 , H 2 SO 4 , H 3 PO 4 , TFA and MeSO 3 H. In one embodiment, the pH is 3.0 to 3.5. In another embodiment, the pH is 3.3 to 3.5.
[0077] Also described herein is a process of making a compound of Formula (II):
[0000]
[0000] comprising reacting compound I-11 with a suitable salt of compound I-30:
[0000]
[0078] In one embodiment, the salt of compound I-30 is the lithium salt.
[0079] In one embodiment, the reaction between I-11 and I-30 is carried out in the presence of an acid. In one embodiment, the solvent is selected from the group consisting of HCl, HBr, HI, HNO 3 , H 2 SO 4 , H 3 PO 4 , TFA and MeSO 3 H.
[0080] In one embodiment, the reaction between I-11 and I-30 is carried out in the presence of a solvent. In one embodiment, the solvent is selected from the group consisting of MeOH, EtOH, IPA, n-PrOH, MeCN, DMF, DMAc, THF, EtOAc, IPAc, or toluene.
[0081] The lithium salt of compound I-30 can be prepared from ethyl pyruvate (compound i-37) through multiple step reactions as illustrated in Scheme 4 and Example 4:
[0000]
[0082] As used herein, the term “alkyl” means both branched- and straight-chain saturated aliphatic hydrocarbon groups having the specified number of carbon atoms. For example, C 1-6 alkyl includes, but is not limited to, methyl (Me), ethyl (Et), n-propyl (Pr), n-butyl (Bu), n-pentyl, n-hexyl, and the isomers thereof such as isopropyl (i-Pr), isobutyl (i-Bu), secbutyl (s-Bu), tert-butyl (t-Bu), isopentyl, sec-pentyl, tert-pentyl and isohexyl.
[0083] As used herein, the term “aryl” refers to an aromatic carbocycle. For example, aryl includes, but is not limited to, phenyl and naphthale.
[0084] Throughout the application, the following terms have the indicated meanings unless noted otherwise:
[0000]
Term
Meaning
Ac
Acyl (CH 3 C(O)—)
Aq
Aqueous
Bn
Benzyl
BOC (Boc)
t-Butyloxycarbonyl
Boc 2 O
Di-tert-butyl dicarbonate
Bz
Benzoyl
° C.
Degree celsius
Calc. or
Calculated
calc'd
Cbz
Carbobenzyloxy
CDI
1,1′Carbonyldiimidazole
DCC
N,N′-Dicyclohexycarbodiimide
DCM
Dichloromethane
DKR
Dynamic kinetic resolution
DMAc
N,N-dimethylacetamide
DMAP
4-Dimethylaminopyridine
DMF
N,N-dimethylformamide
DMPM
3,4-Dimethoxybenzyl
DMSO
Dimethyl sulfoxide
EDC
1-Ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide
Eq. or
Equivalent(s)
equiv.
ES-MS and
Electron spray ion-mass spectroscopy
ESI-MS
Et
Ethyl
EtOAc
Ethyl acetate
FMOC
9-Fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl
g
Gram(s)
h or hr
Hour(s)
HATU
O-(7-Azabenzotriazol-1-yl)-N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyluronium
hexafluorophosphate
HBTU
O-(Benzotriazol-1-yl)-N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyluronium
hexafluorophosphate)
HCl
Hydrogen chloride
HMDS
Hexamethyldisilazane
HPLC
High performance liquid chromatography
HOAc
Acetic acid
HOBT
1-Hydroxy-1H-benzotriazole
HOPO
2-Hydroxypyridine-N-oxide
IPA
Isopropyl alcohol
kg
Kilogram(s)
LC/MS or
Liquid chromatography mass spectrum
LC-MASS
L
Liter(s)
LAH or
Lithium aluminium hydride
LiAlH 4
LCAP
Liquid Chromatography Area Percent
LiBH 4
Lithium borohydride
M
Molar(s)
Me
Methyl
MeCN
Acetonitrile
MeOH
Methanol
min
Minute(s)
mg
Milligram(s)
mL
Milliliter(s)
mmol
Millimole(s)
Moz or
p-Methoxybenzyl carbonyl
MeOZ
MTBE
Methyl tert-butyl ether
NADP
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate sodium salt
nM
Nanomolar
Ns
4-Nitrobenzene sulfonyl
PCC
Pyridinium chlorochromate
5% Pd/C
Palladium, 5 weight percent on activated carbon
Ph
Phenyl
r.t. or rt
RT
or RT
Sat.
Saturated
TBDMSCl
Tert-Butyldimethylsilyl chloride
TEA or
Triethylamine
Et 3 N
TEMPO
1-Oxyl-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine
TESCl
Triethylchlorosilane
TFA
Trifluoroacetic acid
THF
Tetrahydrofuran
TMSCl
Trimethylchlorosilane
Ts
p-Toluene sulfonyl
[0085] Reaction Schemes below illustrate the synthetic steps, reagents and conditions employed in the synthesis of the compounds described herein. The synthesis of the compounds of Formula (I), (II), I-11, I-12 and I-30 which are the subject of this invention may be accomplished by one or more of similar routes.
Example 1
Preparation of Compound i-11 from Starting Compound I-5b
[0086]
[0087] In Scheme 1, starting material compound I-5b was converted to compound i-6 by reacting with acetone and Boc 2 O.
[0088] Once compound i-6 was obtained, it was converted to i-7 by TEMPO oxidation. For the TEMPO oxidation and subsequent HWE coupling step, a one-pot through process was used such that the crude steam of the aldehyde i-7 after phase cut was used directly for the HWE reaction to avoid solvent switch. Unsaturated ketone i-8 was isolated over 5 steps. Finally, compound i-8 was converted to compound i-11 through i-9 and i-10. Detailed experimental conditions are described below.
Step 1. Preparation of Acetonide-Boc Alcohol i-6 from I-5b
[0089]
[0090] To a flask equipped a Dean-Stark trap was charged (1R,2R)-(−)-2-amino-1-phenyl-1,3-propanediol (I-5b) (10 g, 58.6 mmol), acetone (12.0 ml), and toluene (40.0 ml) (or MTBE). The slurry was heated to reflux for 22 h. To the solution was added di-tert-butyl dicarbonate (14.2 g, 64.5 mmol) at RT. The mixture was stirred at RT for 3.5 h, and to the mixture was added 1.5 g Boc 2 O, then continued stirring overnight. The mixture was concentrated to 23.5 g oil, flushed with 40 mL heptane and concentrated to 23.7 g oil.
[0091] To the resulting mixture was added 18 mL heptane and the solution was seeded with 35 mg compound i-6. Crystalline seed bed initiated within 10 min. The resulting mixture was placed in −20° C. freezer overnight and then filtered and washed with 20 mL −20° C. heptane.
[0092] The wet cake was vacuum dried at 22° C. under N 2 overnight to afford 14.13 g compound i-6 as a beige solid (78.5%). Melting point (MP) was 69-72° C.
[0093] 1 H NMR (CDCl 3 ) δ 7.45-7.30 (m, 5H), 4.80 (br s, 1H), 4.58 (br s, 1H), 3.82 (br m, 2H), 3.51 (br m, 1H), 1.70 (s, 3H), 1.60 (s, 3H), 1.52 (s, 9H); 13 C NMR (CDCl 3 ) δ 154.5, 136.9, 129.2, 128.9, 127.6, 94.8, 81.7, 78.4, 67.9, 63.8, 28.5, 27.8, 26.1. Anal. Calcd. for C 17 H 25 NO 4 : C, 66.43; H, 8.20; N, 4.56. Found: C, 66.33; H, 8.43; N, 4.59.
HPLC Method
[0094] Column: Waters Xbridge C18, 50 mm×4.6 mm, 2.5 μm particle size;
Column Temp.: 25° C.; Flow rate: 1.0 mL/min; Detection: 210 nm & 254 nm;
Mobile phase: A: 1.0 mL of NH 4 OH (28% as NH 3 ) dissolved in 1 L of water; B: MeCN
Mobile Phase Program:
[0095]
[0000]
Time, min
0
4
8
12
16
16.5
20
A %
100
60
60
50
5
100
100
B %
0
40
40
50
95
0
0
Step 2. Preparation of Compound i-7 by TEMPO Oxidation of Compound i-6
[0096]
[0097] To a solution of i-6 alcohol in toluene (20 g assay, ˜60 mL) was added acetonitrile (120 mL) at RT. KBr (1.16 g), NaHCO 3 (1.8 g) and water (40 mL) were then charged resulting in a biphasic mixture. The biphasic mixture was cooled to 5° C. and TEMPO (305 mg) was added. Then, NaClO solution (Clorox; 6 wt %; 101 g) was added dropwise at 0-5° C. over 2 h. After addition, the reaction was stirred at 5° C. for ˜30 min. Conversion of >96% was obtained.
[0098] The reaction was quenched by dropwise addition of 10% sodium sulfite (50 mL) at 5° C. The organic layer was separated and directly used for the subsequent HWE coupling step without further purification. The assay yield was 17.5 g (88%) by 1 H NMR using DMAc as internal standard.
[0099] Retention times of i-6 and i-7 using the following HPLC method were about 3.3 min and 3.9 min, respectively.
HPLC Method
[0100] Column: Zorbax, Eclipse Plus C18, 4.6×50 mm, 1.8 μm particle size;
Column Temperature: 22° C.; Flow Rate: 1.5 mL/min; UV Detection: 210 nm;
Mobile Phase: A: 95/5/0.1, H 2 O/Methanol/H 3 PO 4 B: 95/5, MeCN/methanol
Mobile Phase Program:
[0101]
[0000]
Time, min
0
5
6
A %
60
10
10
B %
40
90
90
Step 3. Preparation of i-8 by Horner Wadsworth Emmons (HWE) Coupling Reaction
[0102]
[0103] To a solution of i-7 aldehyde in wet toluene/acetonitrile (162 g solution; 17.5 g assay; 10.81 wt %) obtained above at −10° C. were added acetonitrile (140 mL), phosphonate a-4 (24.6 g) and LiBr (14.9 g) while the internal temperature was maintained below 0° C.
[0104] The reaction was warmed up to 0° C., and Hunig's base (22.2 g) was charged at 0-5° C. dropwise over 2 h. The resulting reaction mixture was stirred at 0-5° C. for 2-4 h and allowed to warm to RT, followed by aging at RT for 12 h. HPLC showed conversion (product/(product+aldehyde)) of >99%.
[0105] The slurry was cooled to 5° C., and a 10% aqueous solution of citric acid (˜75 g) was added dropwise to adjust the pH to 6.5-7.0 while maintaining the batch temperature at 0-5° C. The aqueous phase was separated at 0-5° C. and discarded.
[0106] The organic layer was washed with saturated NaHCO 3 (57 mL) and with H 2 O (57 mL) successively. The organic phase was solvent switched to IPA to a final volume of ˜192 mL. The product was gradually crystallized during the distillation.
[0107] Water (16.4 mL, 0.6 vol.) was added, and the resulting slurry was heated to 49° C. to give a homogeneous solution. The resulting solution was cooled to 40° C. and seeded (0.27 g). The resulting mixture was aged at 40° C. for 2 h to establish a seed bed, and H 2 O (93 mL) was charged dropwise at 40° C. over 3 h, followed by aging at 40° C. for 1 h. The slurry was allowed to cool to 5-10° C. over 2 h, followed by aging at 5-10° C. for 2 h.
[0108] The wet cake was washed with 50% H 2 O/IPA (a 164 mL cold displacement wash followed by a 110 mL slurry wash). Suction dried under nitrogen gave the product as an off-white solid (24.9 g, 100 wt %, >99 LCAP, 80% isolated yield from aldehyde).
[0109] Using the following HPLC method, the retention times of i-7, a-4 and i-8 were about 3.0 min, 1.2 min and 3.8 min, respectively.
HPLC Method
[0110] Column: Zorbax, Eclipse Plus C18, 4.6×50 mm, 1.8 μm particle size
Column Temp: 40° C.; Flow Rate: 1.5 mL/min; UV Detection: 210 nm;
Mobile Phase: A: 0.1% H 3 PO 4 B: MeCN
Mobile Phase Program:
[0111]
[0000]
Time, min
0
3
7
A %
60
10
10
B %
40
90
90
Step 4. Preparation of Compound i-9 from Compound i-8
[0112]
[0113] THF (84 g) followed by enone i-8 (19.07 g) and 10% Palladium on carbon (0.95 g) were charged to a hydrogenation vessel. The batch was hydrogenated for 90 min at 25° C. until uptake of hydrogen had ceased. The catalyst was removed through filtration of a bed of solka floc. The filtered residues were washed with THF (84 g). The combined organic phase was solvent switched to IPA to a final volume of 142 mL, which was directly used in the next step. Assay yield of 93% was obtained (17.8 g of i-9).
[0114] Using the following HPLC method, the retention times of i-8 and i-9 were about 11.2 min and 11.4 min, respectively.
[0000] HPLC method
Column: HiChrom ACE C18 (250×4.6 mm), 3 μm particle size;
Column Temperature: 30° C.; Flow rate: 1.0 mL/min; Detection: 210 nm, 254 nm;
Mobile phase: A: 1 mL of phosphoric acid (85%) dissolved in 1 L of H 2 O B: MeCN
Mobile Phase Program:
[0115]
[0000]
Time, min
0
5
8
15
16
20
A %
95
65
5
5
95
95
B %
5
35
95
95
5
5
Step 5. Preparation of Compound i-10 from Compound i-9
[0116]
[0117] To a solution of the N-Boc-Ketone aniline i-9 (26.1 assay kg) in IPA (˜125 g/L) was added 4N HCl in IPA (220.8 L) at RT. The reaction mixture was stirred vigorously at 20-25° C. for 24 h. The batch was distilled under reduced pressure, at constant volume by charging IPA up to one batch volume, to remove HCl. The batch was then concentrated to a final volume of ˜215 L.
[0118] The resulting slurry was heated to 45° C., and IPAc (˜430 L) was slowly added to the batch over 2-3 h. The slurry was then cooled to ˜20° C. over 1-2 h and aged overnight. The batch was filtered, and the cake was washed with a 1:2 mixture of IPA:IPAc (52 L) followed by IPAc (52 L). The wet cake was dried at 45° C. under nitrogen atmosphere to give the cyclic imine bis-HCl monohydrate salt i-10 (16.1 kg). The isolated yield of 94% was obtained.
[0119] Using the same HPLC method as in Step 7 (i-8 to i-9), the retention times of i-9 and i-10 (bis-HCl salt) were about 11.3 min and 8.3 min, respectively.
Step 6. Preparation of Compound i-11 from Compound i-10
[0120]
[0121] To a mixture of imine dihydrochloride monohydrate i-10 (12.0 g, 98.5 wt %) in THF (86 mL) under N 2 was added hexamethyldisilazane (10.95 g) while maintaining the batch temperature below 25° C. The resulting slurry was stirred vigorously at ambient temperature for 2 h.
[0122] A 300 mL autoclave was charged with a suspension of 5% platinum on alumina (0.605 g) in THF (32 mL), followed by the substrate slurry prepared above. The resulting mixture was stirred at RT under hydrogen (40 psig) until the hydrogen uptake ceased. The completion of the hydrogenation was confirmed by HPLC, and the vessel was inerted with nitrogen.
[0123] The reaction mixture was discharged, and the vessel rinsed with 96 mL of THF. The batch was filtered through a pad of Solka Floc, and the pad was rinsed with the THF vessel rinse (˜96 mL). The combined filtrate was stirred with 0.5 M hydrochloric acid (129 mL) at ambient temperature for 1 h. The aqueous layer was separated. IPAc (39 mL) followed by 5 N sodium hydroxide (˜15 mL) was added to adjust the pH to 10.0 with vigorous stirring.
[0124] The organic layer (˜120 mL) was separated and treated with AquaGuard Powder (Meadwestvaco) (2.4 g) at RT for 2 h. The solution was filtered through a pad of Solka Floc, and the pad was rinsed with 2-propanol (18 mL). The combined filtrate was concentrated to 70 mL. The solution was distilled at the constant volume by feeding a total of 140 mL of 2-propanol, maintaining the batch temperature at 33-35° C. The resulting solution was concentrated to ˜34 mL and heated to 50° C., followed by addition of H 2 O (6.3 mL). The resulting solution was cooled to 41-43° C. and seeded with pyrrolidine aniline hemihydrate (42 mg). The resulting mixture was aged at 41-43° C. for 1 h to establish a seed bed.
[0125] Water (60.9 mL) was charged at 41-43° C. over 6 h, and the resulting mixture was allowed to cool to 10° C. over 3 h, followed by aging at 10° C. for 2 h. The solids were collected by filtration and washed with 25% 2-propanol/H 2 O (50 mL). The wet cake was suction-dried at ambient temperature under nitrogen to afford 7.68 g of pyrrolidine aniline i-11 as hemihydrate.
[0126] 1 H NMR (d 6 -DMSO) δ 7.27 (m, 4H), 7.17 (m, 1H), 6.81 (d, J=8.1, 2H), 6.45 (d, J=8.1 Hz, 2H), 5.07 (s, br, 1H), 4.75 (s, 2H), 4.18 (d, J=7.0 Hz, 1H), 3.05 (m, 2H), 2.47 (dd, J=13.0, 6.7 Hz, 1H), 2.40 (dd, J=13.0, 6.6 Hz, 1H), 1.53 (m, 1H), 1.34 (m, 1H0, 1.22 (m, 2H).
[0127] 13 C NMR (d 6 -DMSO) δ 146.5, 144.3, 129.2, 127.8, 127.4, 126.8, 126.7, 114.0, 76.8, 64.4, 60.1, 42.1, 30.2, 27.2.
[0128] Using the following HPLC method, the retention times of i-10 (bis-HCl salt) and i-11 were about 8.3 min and 8.5 min, respectively.
HPLC Method
Column: Waters Xbridge C18, 150×4.6 mm, 3.5 μm;
[0129] Column Temperature: 25° C.; Flow rate: 1 mL/min; Detection: 210 nm, 254 nm;
Mobile phase: A: Acetonitrile B: 0.1% aqueous NH 4 OH adjusted to pH9.5 with H
Mobile Phase Program:
[0130]
[0000]
Time, min
0
4
8
10
17
A %
99
65
65
30
30
B %
1
35
35
70
70
[0131] The crystalline anhydrous and hemihydrate forms of the pyrrolidine aniline compound i-11 were characterized by powder x-ray diffraction (PXPD) and shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 , respectively.
[0132] The crystalline anhydrous form of the pyrrolidine aniline compound i-11 was characterized by XRPD by the following reflections with the d-spacing and corresponding intensities listed below.
[0000]
Position [°2 Theta]
d-spacing [Å]
Relative Intensity [%]
17.8453
4.97
100
25.1979
3.53
51.24
20.1002
4.42
39.04
23.9931
3.71
32.65
16.7073
5.31
27.98
25.5483
3.49
20.21
19.6576
4.52
20.2
13.8883
6.38
20.08
28.086
3.18
18.72
20.6498
4.30
16.23
[0133] The crystalline hemihydrate of the pyrrolidine aniline compound i-11 was characterized by XRPD by the following reflections with the d-spacing and corresponding intensities listed below.
[0000]
Position [°2 Theta]
d-spacing [Å]
Relative Intensity [%]
17.9681
4.94
100
17.8666
4.96
80.62
23.1905
3.84
73.82
15.3049
5.79
71.53
19.7955
4.49
65.46
19.9483
4.45
56
23.1076
3.85
54.38
25.3415
3.51
53.04
16.0859
5.51
44.07
25.6746
3.47
41.85
Example 2
Process for Making Compound i-12 from Compound i-14 and Compound i-15
[0134]
Step 1. Preparation of 3-Aza-tricyclo[4.2.1.0 2,5 ]non-7-en-4-one (beta-Lactam) i-15 from i-18
[0135]
[0136] In a 100 L RBF fitted with an overhead stirrer, a thermocouple and a nitrogen inlet, was charged 36.8 L of DCM and 8.83 L of norbornadiene i-18. The solution was cooled to −15° C. A solution of 7.92 L of chlorosulfonylisocyanate in 11.2 L of DCM was added at a rate that keeps the internal temperature <5° C. The mixture was warmed to RT. After reaction was completed (by NMR), the reaction mixture was quenched into a 170 L cylinder vessel containing sodium sulfite (10.7 kg) in water (35.7 L) solution at a rate that keeps the internal temperature <15° C., maintaining a pH between 8.5 to 9.0 by addition of NaOH. Final pH was adjusted at 8.5.
[0137] Acetonitrile (24 L) was added and the layers were separated. If needed, 24 L of 20% brine solution was added to facilitate the viscous aqueous layer to flow. The top organic layer was separated and concentrated to 24 L and then filtered through an in-line filter into a 50 L RBF. At the prep area, removing residual inorganic salts via in-line filtration was problematic due to premature crystallization of the product. More acetonitrile and decanting at higher temperature were found helpful.
[0138] The solution was concentrated to 16 L and solvent switched to heptane. The precipitate was filtered and washed with 1 vol heptane. The solid was dried overnight in a vacuum oven at 45° C. Isolated 8.8 kg of the product (77% isolated yield as 100 wt %)
Alternative Work-Up Procedure
[0139]
[0140] In a 1 L 3-neck RBF fitted with an addition funnel, a thermocouple, a magnetic stirrer, and a nitrogen inlet, was charged 184 mL DCM and 44.2 mL norbornadiene i-18. The solution was cooled to −12° C. A solution of 39.6 mL chlorosulfonylisocyanate in 56 mL DCM was added via the addition funnel at a rate that maintained a temperature range of −10 to 1° C. After the addition the mixture was allowed to warm to RT over 1-2 h. The reaction was monitored by 1 H NMR showing the disappearance of the norbornadiene.
Work Up
[0141] In a 2 L 4-neck RBF fitted with a mechanical stirrer, an addition funnel and a pH probe, was charged 53.6 g sodium sulfite and 680 mL (17 vol) water. The reaction mixture was added via the addition funnel while simultaneously adding 10N NaOH keeping the temperature range −2 to 14° C. and pH >8.0. After the addition was complete the pH was adjusted to pH 8.5 and the mixture was allowed to warm to 15° C.
[0142] To the mixture was added 240 mL sec-BuOH. Organic layer was separated. The aqueous was back extracted 1× with 200 mL sec-BuOH.
Crystallization
[0143] In a 500 mL 3-neck RBF fitted with a distillation head temp probe and a mechanical stirrer, the combined organic solution was concentrated to 200 mL (5 vol) under vacuum with solution temperature kept at 25-27° C. (bath temp at 80° C.) bp=23° C. The solution was solvent switched to toluene till the ratio of toluene:BuOH=97:3 and the KF<200 ppm.
[0144] The slurry was cooled to 27° C. and to which was added 120 mL (3 vol) heptane dropwise via an addition funnel and aged overnight at room temperature.
[0145] The resulting mixture containing compound i-15 was filtered and washed with 1× w/40 mL (1 vol) heptane and dried in a vacuum oven at 40° C. overnight to yield compound i-15.
Step 2. Preparation of Compound i-14 from i-13
[0146]
[0147] To a 20 L cylinder reactor equipped with an overhead stirrer, thermocouple, and nitrogen inlet was charged (S)-(+)-2-pyrrolidone-5-carboxylate i-13 (6.04 kg, 97 wt %), and dimethyl sulfate (5.33 L). The resulting reaction mixture was stirred at 53-58° C. for 12-15 h to afford product i-14 (>90 LCAP % conversion). The reaction mixture was cooled 25-30° C.
HPLC Method
[0148] Column: Zorbax Eclipse Plus C18 50×4.6 mm, 1.8 μm particle size;
Column Temp.: 25° C.; Flow Rate: 1.5 mL/min; Detection: 230 nm;
Mobile Phase: A: Water 0.1% H 3 PO 4 B: Acetonitrile
Mobile Phase Program:
[0149]
[0000]
Time, min
0
5
6
A %
90
5
5
B %
10
95
95
[0150] To a 50 L room bottom reactor, equipped with an overhead stirrer, thermocouple, and nitrogen inlet, was charged triethylamine (8.93 L), and cooled to 10-15° C. The above reaction mixture was slowly added to TEA at 15-25° C. over 1 h, and stirred at RT for 0.5 h. The reaction mixture was transferred to a 100 L extractor, which contained toluene (40 L) and water (10 L).
[0151] After phase separation, the aqueous layer was extracted with toluene (1×20 L). The combined organic layers were washed with 10% NaHCO 3 (2×5 L) and brine (5 L). The organic layer was azotropically concentrated to afford an oil crude product methyl (2S)-5-methoxy-3,4-dihydro-2H-pyrrole-2-carboxylate (i-14) in toluene solution (expect KF<300 ppm, kg, 6.60 kg, 72.3 wt %, 74% yield after correction), which will be used in the next step.
Step 3. Preparation of Compound i-17 Through Cycloaddition/Retro Diels-Alder
[0152]
[0153] To a 50 L cylinder reactor, equipped with an overhead stirrer, thermocouple, nitrogen inlet, and Dean-Stark, was charged methyl (2S)-5-methoxy-3,4-dihydro-2H-pyrrole-2-carboxylate i-14 (6.60 kg, 72.3 wt %), beta-lactam i-15 (4.19 kg), and ethyl benzene (9.54 L). The resulting reaction mixture was stirred at 128° C. for 48 h. During the reaction, some low boiling point by-product such as methanol was removed through Dean-Stark in order to reach the interior temperature at 128° C. In prep lab, the internal temperature was 119-120° C., and the reaction was stirred at this temperature for 80 h (92% conversion by 1 H NMR).
[0154] The reaction mixture was cooled to 35° C., diluted with toluene (14.3 L, 3 V) and Darco G-60 (1.43 kg) was added. The resulting mixture was stirred at the same temperature for 1 h. The Dacro G-60 was filtered off by passing through solka flock, washed with toluene (19.1 L). Assay product i-17 in the toluene solution was 3.81 kg (65%).
[0155] The combined filtrates were concentrated and purified by silica gel pluge (22.5 kg silica gel, eluted by heptane 5 V; acetone/heptane=1:2, 15 V; acetone/heptane=2:1, 18 V).
[0156] The resulting product-rich solution was concentrated, and solvent-switched to EtOAc (6.5 L, total volume). Crystalline product i-17 was formed during solvent-switch to EtOAc. MTBE (7 L) was added slowly over 1 h (at this point, the ratio of EtOAc:MTBE was about 1:4 by 1 H NMR). The resulting slurry was stirred at 5-10° C. for 1 h. The crystalline product i-17 was collected by filtration, washed with cold MTBE/EtOAc (5:1, 1 L), MTBE (3 L), dried under vacuum with nitrogen sweep to afford product i-17 (2.57 kg, >99 A % purity, 68% recovered yield, or 44% isolated yield from i-14). MP was 88 to 89° C.
[0157] The crystalline i-17 was important for the ee % upgrade, crystallization and isolation of product i-12 in the next step. Otherwise, the final step may require chiral separation or enzyme resolution.
HPLC Method
[0158] Column: Zorbax Eclipse Plus C18 50×4.6 mm, 1.8 μm particle size;
Column Temp.: 30° C.; Flow Rate: 1.5 mL/min; Detection: 230 nm;
Mobile Phases: A: Water 0.1% H 3 PO 4 B: Acetonitrile
Mobile Phase Program:
[0159]
[0000]
Time, min
0
5
6
A %
90
5
5
B %
10
95
95
Step 4. Preparation of Compound i-12 Through Hydrolysis of Compound i-17
[0160]
[0161] To a 50 L round-bottom, equipped with an overhead stirrer, thermocouple, nitrogen inlet, was charged methyl ester i-17 (4.70 kg), methanol (14.1 L), and water (9.4 L). The resulting homogenous solution was cooled to 0° C. 3 N sodium hydroxide (8.41 L) was slowly added through a pump at the rate 28 mL/min while maintaining the internal temperature at 0° C. to 5° C. After complete addition of the sodium hydroxide, the reaction mixture was stirred at 0° C. to 5° C. until the reaction was completed. The reaction mixture was adjusted to pH=6.5-7.0 with 5 N HCl.
[0162] The reaction mixture was concentrated and azotroped with toluene to a thick solution, and then solvent-switched to IPA. And the IPA solution was continued to azotrope to KF ≦6 wt % and adjusted to a total volume (14.1 L) with IPA. The resulting slurry was stirred at 0° C. to 5° C. for 1-2 h. A crystalline product i-12 as hydrate (3 equiv of water) was collected by filtration, washed with cold IPA (6 L), toluene (6 L), and dried under vacuum with nitrogen sweep overnight.
[0163] At this point, the crystalline hydrate product i-12 was continually dried in an oven at 50 0° C. to 55° C. under vacuum with flowing nitrogen for 50 h.
[0164] The crystalline compound of i-12 easily absorbs moisture in the air to form a hydrate. MP of the hydrate is 69.5 0° C. to 70.5° C.
HPLC Method
[0165] Column: Waters, AtlantisHPLC Silica 150×4.6 mm column, 3 μm particle size,
Column Temp.: 40° C. Flow rate: 1.00 mL/min; Detection: 210 nm;
Mobile Phase: A: Water 0.1% H 3 PO 4 B: Acetonitrile
Mobile Phase Program:
[0166]
[0000]
Time, min
0
5
6
A %
90
5
5
B %
10
95
95
Example 3
Preparation of Compound of Formula (I) from Compound i-11 and Compound i-12
[0167]
[0168] To a three neck flask equipped with a N 2 inlet, a thermo couple probe was charged pyrrolidine i-11 (10.0 g), sodium salt i-12 (7.87 g), followed by IPA (40 mL) and water (24 mL). 5 N HCl (14.9 mL) was then slowly added over a period of 20 min to adjust pH=3.3-3.5, maintaining the batch temperature below 35° C. Solid EDC hydrochloride (7.47 g) was charged in portions over 30 min. The reaction mixture was aged at RT for additional 0.5-1 h, aqueous ammonia (14%) was added dropwise to pH ˜8.6. The batch was seeded and aged for additional 1 h to form a slurry bed. The rest aqueous ammonia (14%, 53.2 ml total) was added dropwise over 6 h. The resulting thick slurry was aged 2-3 h before filtration. The wet-cake was displacement washed with 30% IPA (30 mL), followed by 15% IPA (2×20 mL) and water (2×20 mL). The cake was suction dried under N 2 overnight to afford 14.3 g of compound of Formula (I).
[0169] 1 H NMR (DMSO) δ 10.40 (s, NH), 7.92 (d, J=6.8, 1H), 7.50 (m, 2H), 7.32 (m, 2H), 7.29 (m, 2H), 7.21 (m, 1H), 7.16 (m, 2H), 6.24 (d, J=6.8, 1H), 5.13 (dd, J=9.6, 3.1, 1H), 5.08 (br s, OH), 4.22 (d, J=7.2, 1H), 3.19 (p, J=7.0, 1H), 3.16-3.01 (m, 3H), 2.65 (m, 1H), 2.59-2.49 (m, 2H), 2.45 (br s, NH), 2.16 (ddt, J=13.0, 9.6, 3.1, 1H), 1.58 (m, 1H), 1.39 (m, 1H), 1.31-1.24 (m, 2H).
[0170] 13 C NMR (DMSO) δ 167.52, 165.85, 159.83, 154.56, 144.19, 136.48, 135.66, 129.16, 127.71, 126.78, 126.62, 119.07, 112.00, 76.71, 64.34, 61.05, 59.60, 42.22, 31.26, 30.12, 27.09, 23.82.
HPLC Method—for Monitoring Conversion
[0171] Column: XBridge C18 cm 15 cm×4.6 mm, 3.5 μm particle size;
Column Temp.: 35° C.; Flow rate: 1.5 mL/min; Detection: 220 nm;
Mobile phase: A. 5 mM Na 2 B4O 7 .10 H20 B: Acetonitrile
Gradient:
[0172]
[0000]
Time, min
0
6
8
10
A %
30
30
5
5
B %
70
70
95
95
HPLC Method—for Level of Amide Epimer Detection
[0173] Column: Chiralpak AD-H 5 μm, 250 mm×4.6 mm.
Column Temp: 35° C.; Flow rate: 1.0 mL/min; Detection: 250 nm;
Mobile phase: Isocratic 30% Ethanol in hexanes+0.1% isobutylamine
Example 4
Preparation of Compound i-30 from Compound i-37
[0174]
Step 1. From Compound i-37 to Compound i-36
[0175]
[0176] To a solution of tert-butyl carbazate (109.37 g, 1.0 mol eq) and acetic acid (54.7 g, 1.1 mol eq) in MTBE (656 mL) at 0° C. was added ethyl pyruvate (96.0 g, 1.0 mol eq) over 2 h. The resulting slurry was aged at 0-5° C. for 3 h. The reaction was exothermic. The product began to crystallize out during the addition of ethyl pyruvate.
[0177] The resulting solids were collected by filtration, and the wet cake was washed with cold MTBE (220 mL displacement wash and 440 mL slurry wash) and suction-dried under N 2 to afford 172 g of the Boc-hydrazone compound i-36 as white solids. 90% Isolated yield. 8.6 g liquor losses (5%).
[0178] The concentration of i-36 in the supernatant prior to filtration was 18 mg/mL. The retention time of Boc-hydrazone using the following HPLC method was about 11.7 min.
HPLC Method—Achiral Method
Column: Phenomenex Luna C8 (250×4.6 mm I.D., 5 μm);
[0179] Detector: UV 205 nm; Oven: 40° C.; Flow rate: 1.0 mL/min; Injection vol: 10 μL;
Mobile phase A: 0.1% H 3 PO 4 in Water (v/v); B: ACN
Gradient program:
[0000]
Time, min
0
8
15
20
A %
95
40
5
5
B %
5
60
95
95
Step 2. From Compound i-36 to Compound i-35
[0180]
[0181] In a nitrogen-filled glovebox, Rh(nbd) 2 BF 4 (374 mg, 1.00 mmol, 1.0 mol %) and SL-W008-1 (990 mg, 1.05 mol %) were weighed into a glass vial. Then 22 mL of degassed EtOH were added to give a homogeneous solution which was aged 16 h at 22° C. A slurry of 23.0 g (100 mmol) Boc-hydrazone i-36 in 100 mL of EtOH was prepared. This slurry was then charged to a 300 mL autoclave with a 20 mL EtOH flush. Degassed with vacuum/nitrogen purges, then charged the catalyst solution under nitrogen with a 10 mL EtOH flush. Hydrogenated at 500 prig H 2 for 48 h at 20-25° C. HPLC assay reveals 85% assay yield.
[0182] The batch was kept under nitrogen even after the reaction was complete. The product underwent oxidation to give the Boc-hydrazine in the presence of oxygen and rhodium. The target HPLC conversion is 96% (product/(product+starting material), at 210 nm), which corresponds to 99.3 mol % conversion.
[0183] Using the Achiral HPLC method described in Step 1, the retention times of i-35 and i-36 were about 11.5 min and 11.7 min, respectively.
[0184] Using the following Chiral HPLC method, the retention times of i-36, i-35 and the undesired hydrazide product were about 2.9 min, 3.8 min and 4.2 min, respectively.
Chiral Method
[0185] Chiralpak AD-RH, 2.5 mm×15 cm;
Mobile Phase: A=MeCN; B=0.1% (v/v) H3PO4 (aq)
1.0 mL/min; 1.0 uL injection, 35 C, 210 nm, 14 min runtime, 0.2 min post time
Gradient:
[0186]
[0000]
Time, min
0
1
7
8
10
10.2
14
A %
40
40
60
80
80
40
40
B %
60
60
40
20
20
60
60
Step 3. From Compound i-35 to Compound i-34
[0187]
[0188] A solution of Boc-hydrazine i-35 (23.6 g assay, 1 mol eq) in EtOH (190 mL) was degassed by repeating an evacuation/N 2 refill cycle and treated with methanesulfonic acid (14.67 g, 1.5 mol eq) at 60° C. for 15 h until the consumption of the starting material (Boc-hydrazine) was confirmed by 1 H NMR. The resulting solution was concentrated to give the MSA salt of the deprotected hydrazine i-34 as an oil (34.51 g). The product was subjected to the subsequent cyclization step without further purification.
[0189] The targeted mol % conversion is 99% by 1 H NMR. The presence of oxygen can cause degradation of substrate/product. The reagents charges in the subsequent cyclization step were calculated by assuming 100% yield for this de-Boc step.
Step 4. From Compound i-34 to Compound i-32
[0190]
[0191] A crude solution of the deprotected hydrazine i-34 (10.0 g as the free base) in EtOH was concentrated to ˜38 mL (3.8 mL/g free base). The solution was distilled at the constant volume to remove EtOH while feeding toluene to give a biphasic solution.
[0192] The bottom layer contained the hydrazine MSA salt. The EtOH in the bottom layer was 0.7 mol eq (relative to the hydrazine) by 1 H NMR.
[0193] The resulting biphasic solution was diluted with CH 2 Cl 2 (100 mL) and cooled to −45° C., followed by addition of ethyl acetamidate HCl (10.29 g, 1.1 mol eq). N,N-diisopropylethylamine (27.39 g, 2.8 mol eq) was added dropwise over 1 h while maintaining the batch temperature between −45° C. and −40° C. The resulting suspension was allowed to warm to RT over 30 min and aged at RT for 2 h. The batch was cooled to −10° C., and triethyl orthoformate (51.2 g, 10 mol eq) and formic acid (4.14 g, 1.5 mol eq) were added dropwise while maintaining the batch temperature below 0° C. The resulting mixture was distilled at 20-25° C. to collect 100 mL of solvents. Formic acid (4.14 g, 1.5 mol eq) was charged dropwise at RT, and the resulting mixture was heated to 70° C. for 4 h until the HPLC conversion reached 96 A % (i-32/(i-32+i-33)).
[0194] Formic acid with good quality (98%) was used. The enantiopurity of the product was eroded from 95% ee to 93% ee. Ee will be eroded further by prelonged aging. The racemization gets faster at higher temperatures. Reactions at lower temperature were sluggish and gave lower conversion.
[0195] The reaction was allowed to cool to 10° C. and diluted with H 2 O (25 mL), followed by aging at RT for 30 min to quench orthoformate. The pH of the mixture was adjusted to 8 with 15% Na 2 CO 3 aq (˜59.9 mL, 1.3 mol eq). The resulting mixture was extracted with EtOAc (70 mL×3). The combined organic layer was washed with 25% NaCl aq (70 mL) and 1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7, 70 mL). The solution was concentrated to ˜104 mL, and the solvent was switched to 2-MeTHF by distillation while feeding a total of 440 mL 2-MeTHF. The resulting hazy solution was filtered to remove triethylamine HCl salt (˜0.4 g). HPLC assay reveals 10.40 g of product (75% assay yield).
[0196] Quenching orthoformate was mildly exothermic and external cooling was required to maintain the batch temperature below 25° C. The spec for toluene level after solvent switch was 1.0 v/v %. Product losses in aqueous layers were typically <0.5% in the aqueous layer post back extractions and 2% in each brine and buffer wash. The buffer wash was helpful to promote the subsequent enzymatic resolution reaction.
[0197] Using the Achiral HPLC method described in Step 1, the retention times of i-33, i-32 and the ethyl formate by-product were about 4.0 min, 8.3 min and 8.4 min, respectively.
Step 5. From Compound i-32 to Compound i-30
[0198]
[0199] A crude solution of triazole ethyl ester i-32 (7.5 g assay, 93% ee) in 2-MeTHF was diluted with 250 mL of 2-Me-THF that was previously saturated with 1 M potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0). The resulting solution was heated to 30° C., followed by the addition of Novozyme 435 (15 g). The reaction was aged at 30° C. for 45 h.
[0200] The product ee was gradually decreased as the hydrolysis progressed. The reaction significantly slowed down as the desired enantiomer was consumed. If the ee of the starting material (triazole ester) is lower, the reaction has to be stopped at a lower conversion before the hydrolysis of the undesired enantiomer becomes competitive. The ee of the product was determined by SFC analysis. The conversion can be determined by RPLC.
[0201] The reaction mixture was filtered to remove the immobilized enzyme, and the enzyme was rinsed with 310 mL of buffer-saturated 2-Me-THF. The combined filtrate was assayed by HPLC. 5.74 g product (90% yield). >99% ee by SFC.
[0202] The solvent of the crude solution was switched from 2-Me-THF to IPA (total volume ˜115 mL) by distillation. Lithium acetate (2.44 g) and H 2 O (9 mL) were added. The resulting slurry was aged at RT for 3 days and was azeotropically distilled while feeding a total of 230 mL of IPA (40° C., 50 Torr) to remove acetic acid. 0.6 v/v % H 2 O by KF. The slurry was cooled to RT and aged at RT for 4 h. The resulting solid was collected by filtration, washed with IPA and suction-dried to afford the triazole acid Li-salt i-30 as white solids (5.46 g). 92% isolated yield. >99.5% ee by SFC.
[0203] The enzyme can be recycled for re-use multiple times. The enzyme absorbs the triazole acid product and needs to be rinsed thoroughly after reaction to recover product. Adequate aging time for the Li-salt formation reaction was for from 12 hours to 3 days. The generating acetic acid needed to be distilled off to drive the Li-salt formation to completion. The addition of H 2 O was helpful to promote the Li-salt formation. LiOAc (weak base) was chosen in order to avoid the hydrolysis of the unreacted ester (low ee).
[0204] Using the Achiral HPLC method described in Step 1 (diluent: 5% MeCN/H 2 O; product (i-30) peak gets broadened if prepared in different diluents), the retention times of i-30 and i-32 were about 5.7 min and 8.0 min, respectively.
[0205] Using the following Chiral HPLC method, the retention times of the desired enantiomer (S) and undesired enantiomer (R) were about 4.4 min and 7.1 min, respectively.
Chiral SFC Method (Triazole Acid and Li-Salt)
Column: IC SFC, 250×4.6 mm 5 μm
[0206] Detector: UV 210 nm; Temp.: 35 C; Flow rate: 3.0 mL/min (200 bar); Injection: 10 μL;
Mobile phase A: CO 2 ; B: 25 mM isobutylamine in MeOH
Gradient program: Isocratic, 10% B for 12 min
Example 5
Preparation of Compound of Formula (II) from Compound i-11 and Compound i-30
[0207]
[0208] To a mixture of pyrrolidine i-11 (2.16 g) and lithium triazole salt i-30 (1.47 g) in water (11.6 mL) and IPA (6.48 mL) at 0-5° C. was added 5M HCl (3.52 mL) dropwise. The resulting solution was aged for additional 30 min. EDCI (1.76 g) was charged in portions over 1 h while the internal temperature was maintained 0-5° C. After 1-2 h age at 0-5 C, >98% conversion was obtained. The mixture was aged overnight at RT and diluted with EtOAc (20 mL) and pH adjusted to 7-8 with NH 4 OH (14 wt %, ˜4.5 mL) maintaining the internal temperature <5° C. The organic phase was separated and the aqueous phase was extracted with 10% IPA/EtOAc (10 mL).
[0209] The combined organic layer was washed with water (5 mL) and azeotropically solvent switched to IPA to a final volume of 17 mL. MTBE (23 mL) was added. After ˜10% of 0.87 ml of HOAc was added at RT dropwise, the batch was seeded. The slurry was aged at RT for 1 h to form a good seed bed. The rest of HOAc was added dropwise at RT over 2 h. Then, the slurry was warmed to 40° C. and aged for 2 h before cooling to RT. After 2 h age at RT, the batch was filtered and washed with 30% IPA in MTBE (12 mL×2 displacement washes followed by a 12 mL slurry wash). The cake was vacuum oven dried at 40° C. to give 90% yield of compound of Formula (II) as an off-white solid.
[0210] Using the following HPLC method, the retention times of i-11 and Formula (II) were about 7.3 min and 8.4 min, respectively.
HPLC Method
[0211] Column: Restrek ultra II biphenyl, 4.6×1150 mm, 5.0 μm particle size;
Column Temp: 50° C.; Flow Rate: 1.5 mL/min; UV Detection: 220 nm;
Mobile Phase: A: 1% H 3 PO 4 and 1% HClO 4 ; B: acetonitrile
Mobile Phase Program:
[0212]
[0000]
Time, min
0
3
12
13
13.01
15
A %
95
95
85
5
95
95
B %
5
5
15
95
5
5
[0213] While the invention has been described and illustrated with reference to certain particular embodiments thereof, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes, modifications and substitutions can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is intended, therefore, that the invention be defined by the scope of the claims which follow and that such claims be interpreted as broadly as is reasonable.
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The present invention is directed to processes for preparing beta 3 agonists of Formula (I) and Formula (II) and their intermediates. The beta 3 agonists are useful in the treatment of certain disorders, including overactive bladder, urinary incontinence, and urinary urgency.
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