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the following detailed description is merely illustrative in nature and is not intended to limit the embodiments of the subject matter or the application and uses of such embodiments . as used herein , the word “ exemplary ” means “ serving as an example , instance , or illustration .” any implementation described herein as exemplary is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other implementations . furthermore , there is no intention to be bound by any expressed or implied theory presented in the preceding technical field , background , brief summary or the following detailed description . referring to fig1 a , an exemplary display system , such as but not limited to an aircraft display system , is depicted and will be described . the system 100 includes a user interface 102 , a processor 104 , one or more navigation databases 108 , one or more runway databases 110 , various navigation sensors 113 , various external data sources 114 , one or more display devices 116 , and an imaging sensor 125 . in some embodiments , the imaging sensor 125 can be an electro - optical camera , an infrared camera , a millimeter - wave imager , or an active radar , e . g . millimeter - wave radar . the sensor 125 may be fixed in position , or it may be movable ( i . e ., left , right , up , or down ) upon appropriate signals provided thereto . the user interface 102 is in operable communication with the processor 104 and is configured to receive input from a user 109 ( e . g ., a pilot ) and , in response to the user input , supply command signals to the processor 104 . the user interface 102 may be any one , or combination , of various known user interface devices including , but not limited to , a cursor control device ( ccd ) 107 , such as a mouse , a trackball , or joystick , and / or a keyboard , one or more buttons , switches , or knobs . in the depicted embodiment , the user interface 102 includes a ccd 107 and a keyboard 111 . the user 109 uses the ccd 107 to , among other things , move a cursor symbol on the display screen , and may use the keyboard 111 to , among other things , input textual data . furthermore , in one embodiment , the user interface 102 includes a control panel 119 including at least a “ manual ” button 119 a and an “ automatic ” or “ auto ” button 119 b that are operable to switch the mode of operation of the display system 100 among the cvs modes , as will be discussed in greater detail below . the processor 104 may be any one of numerous known general - purpose microprocessors or an application specific processor that operates in response to program instructions . in the depicted embodiment , the processor 104 includes on - board ram ( random access memory ) 103 , and on - board rom ( read only memory ) 105 , and / or other non - transitory data storage media known in the art . the program instructions that control the processor 104 may be stored in either or both the ram 103 and the rom 105 . for example , the operating system software may be stored in the rom 105 , whereas various operating mode software routines and various operational parameters may be stored in the ram 103 . it will be appreciated that this is merely exemplary of one scheme for storing operating system software and software routines , and that various other storage schemes may be implemented . it will also be appreciated that the processor 104 may be implemented using various other circuits , in addition to or in lieu of a programmable processor . for example , digital logic circuits and analog signal processing circuits could also be used . regardless of how the processor 104 is specifically implemented , it is in operable communication with the sensor 125 and the display device 116 , and is coupled to receive data about the installation of the imaging sensor 125 on the aircraft . in one embodiment , this information can be hard - coded in the rom memory 105 . in another embodiment , this information can be entered by a pilot . in yet another embodiment , an external source of aircraft data can be used . the information about the installation of the sensor 125 on board may include , for example , that it is forward looking and aligned with the main axis of the aircraft body in the horizontal direction . more precise information may be provided , such as but not limited to , detailed information about sensor position in the aircraft reference frame , or sensor projection characteristics . in one embodiment , the processor 104 may further receive navigation information from navigation sensors 113 or 114 , identifying the position of the aircraft . in some embodiments , information from navigation database 108 may be utilized during this process . having navigation information , the processor 104 may be further configured to receive information from runway database 110 . in some embodiments , the display system includes a combined vision system ( cvs ). in particular , the imaging sensor 125 may include the cvs sensor , the processor 104 may include a cvs processor , and the display device 116 may include a cvs display . the cvs system may also use other data sources such as terrain database , obstacle database , etc . the navigation databases 108 include various types of navigation - related data . these navigation - related data include various flight plan related data such as , for example , waypoints , distances between waypoints , headings between waypoints , data related to different airports , navigational aids , obstructions , special use airspace , political boundaries , communication frequencies , and aircraft approach information . it will be appreciated that , although the navigation databases 108 and the runway databases 110 are , for clarity and convenience , shown as being stored separate from the processor 104 , all or portions of either or both of these databases 108 , 110 could be loaded into the ram 103 , or integrally formed as part of the processor 104 , and / or ram 103 , and / or rom 105 . the databases 108 , 110 could also be part of a device or system that is physically separate from the system 100 . the sensors 113 may be implemented using various types of inertial sensors , systems , and or subsystems , now known or developed in the future , for supplying various types of inertial data . the inertial data may also vary , but preferably include data representative of the state of the aircraft such as , for example , aircraft speed , heading , altitude , and attitude . the number and type of external data sources 114 may also vary . the external systems ( or subsystems ) may include , for example , a flight director and a navigation computer , and various position detecting systems . however , for ease of description and illustration , only a global position system ( gps ) receiver 122 is depicted in fig1 a . the gps receiver is a common embodiment of global navigation satellite system ( gnss ). in other embodiments , other gnss systems , for example but not limited to russian glonass or european galileo , including multi - constellation systems , may be used . the gps receiver 122 is a multi - channel receiver , with each channel tuned to receive one or more of the gps broadcast signals transmitted by the constellation of gps satellites ( not illustrated ) orbiting the earth . each gps satellite encircles the earth two times each day , and the orbits are arranged so that at least four satellites are always within line of sight from almost anywhere on the earth . the gps receiver 122 , upon receipt of the gps broadcast signals from at least three , and preferably four , or more of the gps satellites , determines the distance between the gps receiver 122 and the gps satellites and the position of the gps satellites . based on these determinations , the gps receiver 122 , using a technique known as trilateration , determines , for example , aircraft position , groundspeed , and ground track angle . the display device 116 , as noted above , in response to display commands supplied from the processor 104 , selectively renders various textual , graphic , and / or iconic information , and thereby supply visual feedback to the user 109 . it will be appreciated that the display device 116 may be implemented using any one of numerous known display devices suitable for rendering textual , graphic , and / or iconic information in a format viewable by the user 109 . non - limiting examples of such display devices include various cathode ray tube ( crt ) displays , and various flat panel displays such as various types of lcd ( liquid crystal display ) and tft ( thin film transistor ) displays . the display device 116 may additionally be implemented as a panel mounted display , a hud ( head - up display ) projection , or any one of numerous known or emerging technologies . it is additionally noted that the display device 116 may be configured as any one of numerous types of aircraft flight deck displays . for example , it may be configured as a multi - function display , a horizontal situation indicator , or a vertical situation indicator . in the depicted embodiment , however , the display device 116 is configured as a primary flight display ( pfd ). fig1 b illustrates an exemplary cvs display as may be provided by the display device 116 . as shown , the cvs display includes a synthetic image 150 and a sensory image 151 overlaid over a portion of the synthetic image . the synthetic image 150 further includes various aircraft instrument data such as an altimeter 152 , and air speed indicator 153 , a compass 154 , a flight path vector symbol 157 , an attitude indicator 158 , and other data as is known in the art to be provided on a pfd . fig1 b is not intended to limit the information that may be provided in connection with the synthetic imagery , and is merely exemplary in nature . as shown , the aircraft is on short approach to a runway . as such , the cvs display includes a synthetic image of the runway 155 and a sensory image of the runway 156 , centered within an upper portion of the synthetic display 150 . as noted above , the sensory image 151 is displayed in the illustrated manner to provide the pilot additional cues regarding important flight information , such as an image of the runway towards which the aircraft is approaching . as such , fig1 b depicts an idealized situation wherein the aircraft is making a “ straight in ” approach to the runway , and there is little or no cross - wind that would cause the aircraft to “ crab ” in a direction other than the runway heading . as noted above , cvs systems know in the art are well - suited for such situations . the sensory image 151 , however , may fail to show the runway , or may only show a portion of the runway , when the aircraft is making a circling approach or when there is a cross wind . desirably , embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to an improved display system , and method for providing a display , wherein the sensory image of the cvs is provided in an “ adaptive ” manner such that its position within the synthetic image moves and adapts to the aircraft &# 39 ; s movements . fig2 and 3 are provided to illustrate the differences between cvs systems known in the prior art ( fig2 ) and display systems in accordance with various embodiments described herein ( fig3 ). as shown in fig2 and 3 , the aircraft is making a left turn to line - up with the runway while on approach , as indicated by the position of the flight path vector symbol 157 . fig2 , which illustrates a conventional cvs display known in the art , shows that the sensory image 151 remains centered within the synthetic image 150 , regardless of the fact that the aircraft is turning left . a majority of the terrain captured and enhanced by the cvs will not be encountered by the current flight due to the turn , and as such it is less usable for the flight crew . fig3 , in contrast , which illustrates a display , such as a cvs display , in accordance with one embodiment , shows that the sensory image 151 has shifted its position to the left by an amount d 1 to account for the fact that the aircraft is changing course to the left , and the fact that the center of the synthetic image no longer reflects the area toward which the aircraft is flying . further , fig3 illustrates that the sensory image 151 has shifted its position downward by an amount d 2 to account for the aircraft &# 39 ; s descending attitude . in an exemplary embodiment , the amount that the sensory image 151 is shifted from center ( i . e ., up , down , left , or right ) of the synthetic image 150 depends upon the attitude of the aircraft . for example , a five degree banking turn will shift the image 151 to the left or right by a relatively small amount , whereas a thirty degree banking turn will shift the image 151 by a relatively larger amount . likewise , a five degree descending angle will shift the image 151 downward by a relatively small amount , whereas a ten degree descending angle will shift the image 151 downward by a relatively larger amount . all forms and amounts of lateral and vertical translation of the sensory image 151 within the synthetic image 150 will thus be understood to be within the scope of the present disclosure . in an exemplary embodiment , the amount of shift from center of the sensory image 151 relative to the synthetic image 150 is coordinated based on the movement of the flight path vector symbol 157 , which , as noted above , is already provided on many cvs systems known in the art . as shown in fig3 , the sensory image 151 is centered on the flight path vector symbol 157 , which moves as the aircraft attitude changes , as compared to the conventional example shown in fig2 , which remains centered within the synthetic image 150 regardless of the attitude of the aircraft . thus , the flight path vector symbol 157 provides a convenient reference for adaptively shifting the sensory image 151 based on the movement of the aircraft , which may not require additional flight path calculations or computations beyond those performed in conventional systems . because the flight follows the flight path vector 157 , using symbol 157 as a reference for shifting the sensory image within the synthetic image may provide better awareness of the terrain along the flight path provided by the cvs and , resulting in enhanced usability and safety . further embodiments of the present disclosure are depicted in fig4 , 5 a , and 5 b . in fig4 , the sensory image 151 is shown rotated to the right by an angle a to better align the sensory image with the horizon . in embodiments where the sensory image is provided in rectangular form , the banking of the aircraft will cause some portions of the rectangle to show areas to the left or right of the desired target area . as such , by rotating the image in coincidence with the horizon , the rectangular sensory image 151 provides more information that is relevant to the pilot . horizon information is generally available in pfd / cvs systems known in the art , and as such this rotational movement of the sensory image 151 may not require any additional flight path calculations or computations beyond what is already performed in conventional systems . in fig5 a and 5b , the sensory image is shown in a diminished size ( 151 a ) and an enlarged size ( 151 b ), respectively . as the aircraft approaches a runway , the size of the runway within the field of view increases . thus , in order to achieve the dual goals of maintaining the sensory image at a desirably small size to reduce visual clutter , while still showing the most relevant information to the pilot by means of the sensory image , the sensory image 151 may be increased in size as the aircraft approaches the runway such that the entire runway remains within the sensory image as the portion thereof within the field of view ( i . e ., within the synthetic image 150 ) increases . the sensory image 151 may likewise be reduced in size in instances where the desired target within the field of view becomes smaller . the various exemplary embodiments of a display system having now been described , fig6 provides an exemplary method of providing a display in accordance with various embodiments . fig6 illustrates an exemplary flight path 201 of an aircraft . the flight path 201 depicts a normal approach and descent toward a runway 202 , with the approach terminating as a missed approach . shown along the flight path 201 is an initial approach fix 203 ( iaf ) and a final approach fix ( faf ) 204 as the flight path 201 approaches the runway 202 . in the exemplary method , prior to reaching the iaf 203 , the flight display is provided in a “ normal mode ” 210 . the term normal mode 210 refers to operation of the cvs as is conventionally known in the art , with the sensory image 151 remaining centered within the synthetic image 150 at all times , as shown in fig2 . as the approach continues , once the aircraft reaches a predetermined point along the approach path 201 , such as the iaf 203 , the flight display may be provided in a “ track mode ” 220 . as used herein , the term track mode 220 refers to operation of the cvs wherein the position , angle , and / or size of the sensory image 151 changes based on the attitude and position of the aircraft , for example in accordance with the flight path vector symbol 157 . as described in greater detail above , in track mode , the sensory image 151 may translate left , right , up , or down , it may rotate clockwise or counterclockwise , and may increase or decrease in size . as the approach continues , once the aircraft reaches a second predetermined point along the approach path 201 , such as the faf 204 , the flight display is provided in a “ runway lock mode ” 230 . as used herein , the term runway lock mode 230 refers to operation of the cvs wherein the sensory image remains fixed on the runway , for example it may be centered on a touchdown zone of the runway . as noted above , the system 100 includes navigation data 108 and runway data 110 , and such data may be used to maintain the sensory image 151 focused over the runway image 155 displayed on the synthetic image 150 . as such , the position , angle , and / or size of the sensory image 151 may change in runway lock mode 230 as in track mode 220 , but the focal point of the image is on the runway , rather than the flight path vector symbol 157 . runway lock mode enables 230 the pilot to quickly scan any obstacles / intrusions on the runway irrespective of the current aircraft heading / track when in final approach , thereby enabling the pilot to execute a “ go around ” well in advance . this feature increases the safety envelope and provides few extra seconds for pilot decision making . further , in the event of a missed approach , as shown in fig6 , the flight display may again be provided in the track mode . the presently described method may feature automatic transitioning between the above - noted modes . for example , once the aircraft starts descending , the cvs may be displayed in normal mode . near the iaf 203 , the cvs image may transition into the track mode , where the image is centered on the fpv . near the faf 204 , once the runway is in view , the cvs image may transition into the runway lock mode so that the image is centered on the runway . if the landing is aborted and a missed approach is performed , the runway image will slide out of the view and the cvs image will again automatically transition to track mode in some embodiments , the operation of flight display system 100 may be provided in connection with an air traffic alert system , such as traffic collision avoidance system ( tcas ). as is known in the art , a tcas system includes a display , such as a primary flight display , with symbols superimposed thereover indicating the position and altitude of other aircraft within a pre - defined vicinity of the aircraft . as such , the tcas system includes data representing the position of other nearby aircraft . the presently described flight display system may be provided to operate in association with a tcas system . for example , in one embodiment , the cvs system may be provided in an “ alert mode .” as used herein , the term alert mode refers to the operation of the cvs wherein , based on the location of a traffic alert ( ta ) issued by the tcas system , the sensory image 151 may be centered on the “ intruder ” aircraft location if the aircraft is within the cvs view frustum . alert mode may be provided in place of any other operational mode , as needed based on the receipt of a traffic alert . in further embodiments , the alert mode may be provided to operate in coordination with other alerting systems of the aircraft , such as terrain or obstacle alerting systems . thus , based on a terrain alert or an obstacle alert , the sensory image 151 may be positioned on the obstacle location if it is within the cvs view frustum . this mode of operation gives precise awareness of the obstacle / intruder &# 39 ; s location to avoid a collision . regarding any mode described above , a mode over - ride option may be provided for the pilot to choose an alternate mode other than the one provided automatically by the system . fig7 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary method of operation 700 of the display system described above . as shown therein , the method may initiate with the selection of an “ auto cvs ” mode , for example by the pilot making an appropriate entry into system 100 initiating the operation of the system . at a position along an approach to an airport prior to the iaf , as shown at block 702 , the cvs system may automatically operate in the normally operating mode as indicated at block 703 . the system is in continuous communication with the various alert functionality of the aircraft with which it is designed to operate . for traffic alerts , as shown at block 704 , the system first receives the position of aircraft in the vicinity at block 705 , and then determines if the traffic is within the field of view of the cvs system at block 706 . if the determination is negative , the cvs system continues in normal mode . if the determination is positive , the cvs system operates in alert mode as indicated at block 707 , and , as described above , the sensory image is repositioned to the intruder aircraft at block 708 . the same procedure may be followed for obstacles or terrain , as indicated at block 709 . at a further position along the approach to the airport , such as upon crossing the iaf as indicated at block 710 , flight path vector information is retrieved from the pfd at block 711 and the cvs system changes to track mode at block 712 . as described above , in track mode , the sensory image changes position based on the flight path of the aircraft , for example as indicated by the flight path vector , as shown at block 713 . thereafter , at a further position along the approach to the airport , such as within a given distance and altitude , or at the faf , as shown at block 714 , the cvs system retrieves runway information at block 715 and the cvs system change to runway lock mode at block 716 . as described above , in runway lock mode , the sensory image change position to be fixed on the runway , for example centered at the landing zone of the runway . in the event of a go - around , as shown at block 718 , the cvs system reverts to track mode . as such , the embodiments described herein provide an adaptive combined vision system that allows the position of the sensory image within the synthetic image to change under various circumstances . the embodiments allow the sensory image to remain desirably small while still providing the pilot with all of the most relevant imagery to the flight . further , the exemplary methods of providing a display set forth above allow for the automatic transitioning of the mode of operation of the cvs system based on the stage of flight of the aircraft . further , the cvs may automatically transition to an alert mode in the event of an aircraft intrusion or the presence of terrain or an obstacle , thereby providing enhanced safety in the operation of the aircraft . while at least one exemplary embodiment has been presented in the foregoing detailed description of the inventive subject matter , it should be appreciated that a vast number of variations exist . it should also be appreciated that the exemplary embodiment or exemplary embodiments are only examples , and are not intended to limit the scope , applicability , or configuration of the inventive subject matter in any way . rather , the foregoing detailed description will provide those skilled in the art with a convenient road map for implementing an exemplary embodiment of the inventive subject matter . it being understood that various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements described in an exemplary embodiment without departing from the scope of the inventive subject matter as set forth in the appended claims . | 6 |
the mixture of diglycerides ( a ) that can be used can contain diglycerides of the ss - and su - type . this means , that they can contain simultaneously one or two saturated fatty acid residues s with 12 - 24 c - atoms and one or two unsaturated fatty acid residues with at least 16 c - atoms . the exact position of the residues s and u is not very important . still we have a preference for the use of 1 . 3 - diglycerides as they have slightly better structuring properties . so , e . g . 1s - 2u - diglycerides are as suitable as 1s - 3u diglycerides or as 1u - 2s - diglycerides . however , we prefer to apply a mixture with a very high content of diglycerides of the type su , in particular diglycerides with one oleic and with one palmitic acid residue and diglycerides with one oleic and one stearic acid residue . these diglycerides can be present in weight ratios of 5 : 95 - 95 : 5 , preferably 20 : 80 - 80 : 20 . our compositions can be made by blending of mixtures of diglycerides , rich in the required diglycerides with triglycerides , in particular liquid triglycerides , such as sunflower oil , olive oil , maize oil , soybean oil , rapeseed oil etc . the diglycerides can be obtained according to many methods , such as : 1 . hydrolysis of triglycerides , this hydrolysis can be performed along a chemical route ( using a base ) or along an enzymic route . 2 . interesterification of glycerol with a triglyceride or an acid . again a chemical or an enzymic route can be applied . the starting fatty material for the interesterification with glycerol preferably has a high s 2 u - content (& gt ; 40 %, in particular & gt ; 50 %). a convenient enzymic route using glycerol and an acid is disclosed in e . g . ep 307 , 154 . in general , the crude products obtained by those routes need to be purified , e . g . removal of monoglycerides by distillation , followed by fractionation . the above blends can be free of trans acids and free of chemically interesterified fats . however , blends that contain chemically interesterified fat - component can also be applied ( either per se or in combination with non - chemically interesterified fats ). although the triglyceride - component of our blends can be selected from a broad range of triglycerides , provided that the total composition meet our safa - requirement (& lt ; 40 %), we prefer to use fats with an n 5 & lt ; 40 as our triglyceride - source . components of those fats are suitably selected from the group consisting of sunflower oil ; soybean oil ; safflower oil , olive oil , high oleic sunflower oil , maize oil , high oleic safflower oil and olein fractions of vegetable oils , such as palm oil . it is , however , also possible to use fats obtained by enzymic conversion , or olein - fractions obtainable by fractionation ( wet - or dry ) of enzymically made oils . the enzymic conversions can be performed using the technology disclosed in our gb 1 , 577 , 953 . the starting materials should be selected such , that the desired fats or oils are obtained . it is , of course , also possible to use fats that are made according to chemical interesterification - processes ( with or without a fractionation step ). food products that can be made comprise filling fats , enrobed filling fats , confectionery products , wrapper spreads , wrapper margarines , wrapper shortenings , tub spreads , tub margarines , cream alternatives , bakery products , doughs , cheese , mayonnaise and dressings . each of these food products comprise a fat phase and this fat phase then consists at least partly of the novel fats according to the invention . it should be understood that for each application the fat blends require a specific n - line . briefly , it can be said that the following n - requirements must be fulfilled for the application indicated : 1 . 1 a mixture of palm oil - midfraction , glycerol and lipolase 100 l - enzyme ® ( ex novo - nordisk ) was converted in a weight - ratio of 100 : 20 : 1 . the ph was kept at 7 , 0 , using a phosphate buffer . the conversion was performed at 35 ° c . for 24 hours under stirring . excess glycerol was decanted off . monoglycerides and free fatty acids were removed from the crude reaction product ( containing 38 , 6 wt % of diglycerides and 33 , 7 wt % of monoglyceride ) in a falling film evaporator at 260 ° c . and 0 , 3 mm hg : the product contained 47 , 8 wt % of diglycerides and 2 , 1 wt % of monoglycerides . the product was bleached and deodorised and fractionated from hexane ( 1 , 5 : 1 hexane to oil ratio at 30 ° c .). the olein was collected ( yield 78 %) and contained 45 , 6 wt % of diglycerides . in a second hexane fractionation , above olein - fraction was fractionated , ( 3 , 22 : 1 hexane to oil ratio at - 10 ° c . ); a stearin fraction was obtained . this stearin fraction contained 60 wt % of diglycerides of which 56 , 7 wt % were of the su - type . the overall yield from fractionations was 29 %. a third fractionation was performed on the stearin fraction obtained ( 5 : 1 hexane to oil at 24 , 5 ° c .). the olein - fraction was collected , it contained 62 wt % of diglycerides of which 72 , 5 wt % were su - diglycerides . the overall yield was 23 %. excess monoglycerides was removed from the final olein - fraction via a silica - treatment with hexane / acetone ( 88 : 12 ) as solvent ( 5 : 1 : 0 , 78 = solvent : oil : silica ). the product was washed with solvent . the resulting product was rich in po ( p = c 16 : 0 o = c 18 : 1 ) and contained 61 , 4 % diglycerides and 0 , 0 % monoglycerides . the diglycerides consisted of 25 % ss ; 70 , 7 % su and 4 , 2 % uu . its fatty acid composition was : f . f . a .- residue 14 : 0 16 : 0 16 : 1 18 : 0 18 : 1 18 : 2 18 : 3 20 0 , 4 50 0 , 0 7 , 3 39 , 3 2 , 1 0 , 0 0 , 6 1 . 2 shea - stearin , glycerol , lipolase 100 l ®) ( ex novo - nordisk ) were mixed in a weight - ratio of 100 : 20 : 1 . the ph was adjusted at 7 . 0 using a phosphate buffer . the conversion was performed at 40 ° c . during 8 hours under stirring . excess glycerol was decanted off . monoglycerides and free fatty acids were removed ( falling film evaporator 260 ° c ., 0 , 3 mm hg ). the resulting product was fractionated from hexane ( 3 : 1 hexane : oil ; 21 ° c .). an olein fraction was collected ( yield 96 % : diglyceride content 22 , 5 wt %). in a second hexane - fractionation above olein fraction was fractionated ( 6 , 65 : 1 hexane : oil at - 7 ° c . ), the stearin - fraction was collected ( 18 % diglyceride of which 72 , 6 % su - type ). overall yield 60 %. the product was refined by a two - stage silica - treatment . diglycerides and monoglycerides were adsorbed onto silica ( hexane as solvent ; ratio hexane : oil : silica = 2 : 1 : 1 , 22 ). the silica - complex was washed with hexane and the wash was discarded . the silica - complex was washed with hexane / acetone ( 88 / 12 ) in ratio 3 , 5 wash : 1 oil . the resulting oil contained 46 , 8 wt % diglyceride and 0 , 0 % monoglyceride . it &# 39 ; s composition was 22 % ss , 73 , 6 % su and 4 , 4 % uu . the fatty acid composition of the diglycerides was : f . f . a .- residue 14 : 0 16 : 0 16 : 1 18 : 0 18 : 1 18 : 2 18 : 3 20 0 , 4 2 , 3 0 , 0 57 , 4 35 , 9 2 , 1 0 , 0 1 , 9 1 . 3 a blend was made from sunflower oil , the po - rich products from example 1 . 1 and the sto - rich product from example 1 . 2 ( ratio : 71 : 14 , 5 : 14 , 5 ). the blend contained 19 , 6 % diglycerides . the diglyceride - composition was : 21 , 2 % ss , 70 , 3 % su and 8 , 4 % uu . f . f . a .- residue 14 : 0 16 : 0 16 : 1 18 : 0 18 : 1 18 : 2 18 : 3 20 0 , 2 12 , 6 0 , 1 12 , 5 26 , 6 46 , 5 0 , 0 0 , 6 ______________________________________ ° c . n______________________________________ 10 18 . 3 30 3 . 4 35 3 . 0______________________________________ ______________________________________fat phasefat blend of example 1 . 3 40 % hymono 7804 ( monoglyceride : iv = 80 ) 0 . 3 % colour ( β - carotene ) 0 . 01 % flavour 0 . 1 % total 40 . 41 % aqueous phase ( to ph 5 . 1 ) water 56 . 5 % skimmed milk powder 1 . 5 % gelatin ( 270 bloom ) 1 . 5 % potassium sorbate 0 . 15 % citric acid powder 0 . 07 % ______________________________________ all percentages on product basis . the processing was performed on a microvotator , comprising an acac - set up . 3 kg of material was prepared and processed . ______________________________________premix condition stirrer speed 100 rpm temperature 50 ° c . pump proportioning pump set at 80 % ( 40 . 3 g / min ). a . sub . 1 conditions shaft speed 1000 rpm temperature set at 10 ° c . c . sub . 1 conditions shaft speed 1000 rpm temperature set to 13 ° c . a . sub . 2 conditions shaft speed 1000 rpm temperature set to 12 ° c . c . sub . 2 conditions shaft speed 1000 rpm temperature set to 15 ° c . ______________________________________ the aqueous phase was prepared by heating the required amount of water to approximately 80 ° c . and then , using a silverson mixer , slowly mixing in the ingredients . the ph of the system was adjusted to 5 . 1 by adding 20 % lactic acid solution as required . a premix was prepared by stirring the fat phase in the premix tank and then slowly adding in the aqueous phase . when addition was complete , the mix was stirred for a further 5 minutes before pumping through the line . when the process had stabilised ( around 20 minutes ), product was collected for storage and evaluation . ______________________________________ a1 15 . 0 ° c . c1 17 . 1 ° c . a2 16 . 5 ° c . c2 16 . 6 ° c . ______________________________________ products were collected from both of the c - units . very good oil continuous low fat spreads were produced using this system . hardness c and conductivity of the products were measured . ______________________________________ c - value c - value conductivity conductivityproduct @ 5 ° c . @ 20 ° c . @ 5 ° c . @ 20 ° c . ( 40 % fat ) ( gcm . sup .- 2 ) ( gcm . sup .- 2 ) ( μscm . sup .- 1 ) ( μscm . sup .- 1 ) ______________________________________ex c . sub . 1 1180 190 10 . sup .- 4 10 . sup .- 4ex c . sub . 2 1400 210 10 . sup .- 4 10 . sup .- 4______________________________________ all products had a good oral melt down and were fat - continuous . ______________________________________fat phasefat blend of example 1 . 3 80 % hymono 7804 0 . 3 % flavour 0 . 1 % colour ( β - carotene ) 0 . 01 % aqueous phase ( to ph 5 . 1 ) water 18 . 3 % gelatin ( 270 bloom ) 0 . 5 % skimmed milk powder 0 . 5 % potassium sorbate 0 . 05 % citric acid powder 0 . 025 % ______________________________________ all percentages on product basis . identical conditions were used for the preparation and processing as for the 40 % fat spread . ______________________________________ a1 15 . 3 ° c . c1 15 . 9 ° c . a2 15 . 7 ° c . c2 15 . 6 ° c . ______________________________________ as before , oil continuous product could successfully be obtained at any point after c - unit 1 . ______________________________________ c - value c - value conductivity conductivityproduct @ 5 ° c . @ 20 ° c . @ 5 ° c . @ 20 ° c . ( 80 % fat ) ( gcm . sup .- 2 ) ( gcm . sup .- 2 ) ( μscm . sup .- 1 ) ( μscm . sup .- 1 ) ______________________________________ex c . sub . 1 1820 200 10 . sup .- 5 10 . sup .- 5ex c . sub . 2 2100 180 10 . sup .- 5 10 . sup .- 5______________________________________ ______________________________________ % ______________________________________sugar 45cocoa powder n - 11 - n 7skimmed milk powder 10fat 38lecithin 0 . 5______________________________________ 1 . blend of an interestified fat and palm oil olein in ratio 5 : 95 , known as biscuitine sf ® . the fillings were made using a hobart mixer , buhler refiner and pascal conche . filling 1 was cooled to 22 . 5 ° c . and filling 2 was cooled to 19 . 5 ° c ., before they were piped into aluminum cups . the aluminum cups were stored at 20 ° c . and 25 ° c . the fillings were evaluated on : the sta - hardness of the fillings was determined after one day storage at 20 ° c . and 25 ° c . the results were : the fillings were evaluated by the taste panel after storage at 20 ° c . filling 2 was much harder than filling 1 . filling 2 had a slightly slower and lower flavour release probably because it was harder . although the safa content of the diglyceride based filling was lower , the product was much harder and had better body . | 0 |
in describing a preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings , specific terminology will be resorted to for the sake of clarity . however , the invention is not intended to be limited to the specific terms so selected , and it is to be understood that each specific term includes all technical equivalents that operate in similar manner to accomplish a similar purpose . preferred embodiments of the invention are described for illustrative purposes , it being understood that the invention may be embodied in other forms not specifically shown in the drawings . fig1 depicts a preferred embodiment of the three - reactor system disclosed , in which synthesis gas enters the process through conduit 18 at low pressure , and preferably is compressed by compressor 6 to 20 to 100 atmospheres , preferably 50 atmospheres , and is passed to the first reactor 1 via conduits 16 and 17 . the first reactor 1 ( r - 1 ) converts synthesis gas to principally methanol , water , and carbon dioxide ( product of water - gas shift reaction ). the product from the first reactor 1 , a vapor mixture of essentially methanol , water and unreacted synthesis gas , flows through conduit 10 to a second reactor 2 ( r - 2 ). the second reactor 2 converts a portion of the methanol to dimethylether (“ dme ”). the product from second reactor 2 , which essentially contains methanol , dme , water and unreacted synthesis gas , flows via conduit 11 to a third reactor 3 ( r - 3 ). the third reactor 3 converts methanol and dme to fuel product ( gasoline , jet fuel and / or diesel ) and heavy gasoline , while concurrently and synergistically hydrotreating any non - preferred hydrocarbon products . the hydrotreatment reduces the heavy gasoline ( trimethylbenzenes and tetramethylbenzenes ) to produce desirable fuel compounds , such as toluene , xylenes and c 4 to c 8 hydrobarbons , principally c 5 to c 7 hydrocarbons . the third reactor 3 carries out both the hydrocarbon synthesis and hydrotreatment reactions . the catalysts used in the r - 1 and r - 2 are well known in the art from prior mtg processes . appropriate catalysts for r - 1 include , but are not limited to , cuo / zno / al 2 o 3 , zn — cr and other bifunctional catalysts doped with certain elements can also carry methanol synthesis . appropriate catalysts for r - 2 in gasoline application include , but are not limited to , gamma - alumina , zeolites and other mesoporous materials can also carry methanol dehydration into dimethylether . r - 3 contains two different catalysts , one for hydrocarbon synthesis ( converts methanol and dimethylether to fuel product ( gasoline , jet fuel and / or diesel ) and heavy gasoline ) and one for hydrotreating the heavy gasoline to fuel product . hydrocarbon synthesis catalysts are well - known in the art from prior mtg processes . appropriate catalysts for r - 3 include , but are not limited to zsm - 5 . sapo - 34 and other mfi zeolites can also carry hydrocarbon synthesis . for diesel application , common catalysts in oligomerization are zeolite and phosphoric acid mixture of silicate although the spa ( solid phosphoric acid ) type of catalyst shows certain problems in operation . the hydrotreating catalysts that have been found to selectively accomplish this task are certain larger pore zeolites and group ix or x metal oxide ( e . g . nickel oxide ) catalyst on alumina reduced in the presence of hydrogen and carbon monoxide in the absence of sulfur . in certain embodiment the catalyst can be group ix or x metal oxide ( e . g . cobalt oxide ) catalyst combined with a group vi metal oxide ( molybdenum oxide ) catalyst on alumina reduced in the presence of hydrogen and carbon monoxide and in the absence of sulfur . a specific example of the catalyst include unsulfided cobalt molybdate on alumina or atomic nickel on alumina , the reduction , if any , being carried out in the presence of synthesis gas . sulfiding the catalyst surface is not necessary but catalytic reduction using either a h 2 flow or a mixture of h 2 and co under operating temperature is desirable . temperature of the fourth stage ranges from 120 to 230 ° c . ( 248 to 446 ° f .) depending on the catalyst used , with the preferred temperature being about 150 - 180 ° c . ( 302 to 356 ° f .). these temperatures are surprisingly lower than 232 to 427 ° c . ( 450 to 800 ° f .) disclosed by garwood ( u . s . pat . no . 4 , 304 , 951 ) for treating a 200 - 400 ° f . bottoms fraction . we ascribe this valuable difference in temperature and the more desirable product mix to treating the whole product from the fuel forming step in the presence of synthesis gas instead of a bottoms fraction with principally hydrogen . we also ascribe this surprising result to using unsulfided catalysts , unlike garwood that teaches by example that mixed oxide catalysts need to be sulfided . han et al . ( u . s . pat . no . 4 . 973 , 784 ) teaches the use of zeolites for treating the durene containing product in the presence of substantial partial pressure of hydrogen producing undesirable benzene . our novel process does not produce benzene . still in another variation , chester et al . ( u . s . pat . no . 4 , 387 , 261 ) propose treating the entire product from the fuel forming stage , but preferably a heavy fraction thereof , using zsm - 12 , preferably impregnated with platinum , an expensive metal , at elevated temperatures and pressures to dealkylate durene to form xylene , toluene , benzene and undesirable light gases such as c 2 and c 3 hydrocarbon . the present process is clearly superior in that it does not produce light gases in the treating stage ( stage 4 ). still in another example , dwyer et al . ( u . s . pat . no . 4 , 347 , 397 ), showed that treating the whole or bottoms product from the fuel producing stage with zeolites principally isomerizes the durene to other tetramethylbenzenes , thereby , producing less desirable heavy product than the present process . preferably , the third reactor 3 contains zsm - 5 as the hydrocarbon synthesis catalyst and a zeolite catalyst , preferably y - zeolite , as the hydrotreating catalyst . the zeolite catalyst is used as a hydrotreating catalyst , in that it acts to reduces durene and other heavy gasoline components in the mixture through disproportionation , isomerization , and transalkylation across benzene molecules . the hydrocarbon synthesis reaction that occurs in r - 3 results in a mixture principally comprised of fuel product ( c4 - c8 hydrocarbons , toluene , and xylene ), heavy gasoline (& gt ; c8 aromatics ), water , and unreacted synthesis gas . the heavy gasoline and highly substituted aromatics in this mixture react in the presence of the zeolite - based catalyst , preferably y - zeolite , in r - 3 to produce the preferred high octane rated end - products , such as c4 - c8 hydrocarbons , toluenes , and xylenes . the catalyst bed is a mixture of zsm - 5 and zeolite at levels that are optimized based on operation parameters such as the recycling rate in the system and the environmental temperature in the reactor 3 . the synergy between the zsm - 5 hydrocarbon synthesis catalyst and the zeolite hydrotreatment catalyst in the reactor 3 results from the formation of certain intermediates generated by the zeolite catalyst that serve as co - feeding components promoting performance cycles of hydrocarbon pools . thus , the hydrotreatment portion feeds hack positively to the hydrocarbon synthesis , improving reaction efficiency . the product from the third reactor 3 contains essentially fuel product with low heavy gasoline content , water , and unreacted synthesis gas , which pass via conduit 12 to separator 4 . preferably , the fuel product coming out of the fourth reactor has a freezing point of less than about − 5 ° c ., preferably about − 15 to about − 20 ° c . conduit 12 is the start of a preferred grand - loop gas recycling that further enhances the carbon utilization in the system . the separator 4 separates the flow 12 into three streams : ( a ) conduit 21 carries out essentially water with some impurities for clean and reuse to make steam for the synthesis gas generating step not shown in the diagram ; ( h ) conduit 19 carries out essentially fuel product that can be commercially marketed after addition of proper additives as required by commerce ; and ( c ) conduit 13 carrying essentially light gases ( including light paraffins below c4 ) and unreacted synthesis gas . the flow in conduit 13 is split into two streams : ( a ) flow through conduit 20 directed to further processing to recover liquid petroleum gas (“ lpg ”) and excess gas for use as fuel for process heating needs ; and ( b ) flow through conduit 14 is directed to a recycle compressor 5 . the recycle compressor steps up the pressure of the recycle gas from losses through flow from conduit 17 to conduit 15 to match the inlet pressure of r - 1 so that it can be mixed with the synthesis gas feed stream from conduit 16 . the flow in conduits 14 and 15 is the greater part of the flow from conduit 13 , being about 3 to 10 times larger than the flow in conduit 16 , preferably 5 times larger . during gas recycling in the system , the high - pressure vent after the back pressure regulator can be directed and fed into the reformer to recover certain vented species and convert them into useful syngas components . a grand - loop configuration in the recycler system , if connecting the high - pressure vent stream back to the reformer under a lower pressure condition from the system will assist in the production of greater yields of fuel from a set amount of synthesis gas . this recycling thus provides a further enhancement to the overall synfuel yield by preserving the carbon source within the system . reactors r - 1 through r - 3 are preferably fixed bed reactors containing catalysts for effecting the desired reaction in each of the reactors . due to the exothermic nature of the reactions occurring in each stage , the reactors stages maybe sectioned with intermediate heat transfer to remove excess heat or the temperatures may be controlled via “ cold - shot ” side streams of cooled recycle gas for each stage or a combination of these two methods of temperature control may be used . fig2 and 3 show examples of these renditions , which are familiar to those skilled in the art . these examples do not limit the variations possible in the detailed design of this process . in general , reactor size and operation conditions for r - 1 are targeted to high co / co 2 conversion for methanol synthesis at approximately 250 - 270 ° c . at about 50 - 100 atm . under the same isobaric pressure , r - 2 is operated with a temperature condition of about 250 ˜ 350 ° c . r - 3 is operated in a temperature range between 300 - 400 ° c . at about 50 - 100 atm . due to the tendency of hydrocarbon cracking and catalyst degradation issues such as coke formation , the high temperature of r 3 ( t & gt ; 400 ° c .) should be avoided . fig2 depicts a schematic of a further embodiment of the present process where the first reactor 1 contains three inter - cooled reactors ( 1 a , 1 b , and 1 c ) with heat exchangers ( 21 a , 21 b , and 21 c ) cooling the outlets of each of the reactors ( 1 a , 1 b , or l c ), respectively . additionally , heat exchanger 22 is used to moderate the temperature of the exit flow of the second reactor 2 . an extra heat exchanger 23 is mounted between the third reactor 3 and the gas - liquid separator 4 , to cool the outlet from the third reactor 3 . the output from gas - liquid separator 4 is further divided into two parts : ( 1 ) the unreacted gas stream which will be fed into a control valve 40 to further separate into the recycled and the bleeding gas ; and ( 2 ) the condensed liquid stream which can be fed into a fuel - water separator . due to the difference in density between water and synfuel , the water accumulates at the bottom of the separator and can be drained out periodically , fig3 is a schematic of a further embodiment of the present process wherein the synthesis gas feed is introduced into the loop ahead of the third reactor 3 ( r - 3 ). synthesis gas enters the process through conduit 18 at low pressure and is compressed by a compressor 6 to match the pressure of the flow passing out of the second reactor 2 ( r - 2 ) in conduit 11 . the compressed synthesis gas in conduit 16 is mixed into the flow in conduit 11 to produce the flow in conduit 9 which is led into r - 3 . the flow in conduit 11 is the product from the second reactor 2 ( r - 2 ), which contains essentially methanol , dimethylether , water , and unreacted synthesis gas . r - 3 converts the synthesis gas and olefins and other hydrocarbon contaminants in the synthesis gas feed passing in conduit 9 to a product which is essentially fuel product with low durene content , water , and unreacted synthesis gas , which then passes via conduit 12 to the separator 4 . the separator 4 separates the flow 12 into three streams : ( a ) conduit 21 carries essentially water with some impurities for reuse , such as to make steam for the synthesis gas generating step not shown in the diagram ; ( b ) conduit 19 carries essentially a fuel product which can be sold on the market after proper additives are added as required by commerce ; and ( c ) conduit 13 carries essentially light gases and unreacted synthesis gas . the flow in conduit 13 is split into two streams with ( a ) flow through conduit 20 directed to further processing to recover lpg and excess gas for use as fuel for process heating needs ; and ( b ) flow through conduit 14 directed to a recycle compressor 5 . the recycle compressor steps up the pressure of the recycle gas from losses through flow from conduit 14 to conduit 15 to match the inlet pressure of r - 3 . the flow in conduits 14 and 15 is the greater part of the flow from conduit 13 , being about 3 to 10 times larger than the flow in conduit 16 , preferably 5 times or larger . in fig3 , the feed synthesis gas is introduced and mixed into the recycle loop in the line between r - 2 and r - 3 instead of in the line to r - 1 , as shown in fig1 . the principal advantage of this alternative over introducing the feed synthesis into r - 1 is obtained in the case in which the synthesis gas contains alkane and / or olefin hydrocarbons molecules with two or more carbon atoms and / or larger cyclic and aromatic molecules . although some olefin species may be in trace amounts , the catalysts residing in r - 3 and r - 4 convert the olefins directly into fuel product thus increasing the yield , prior to the reactions in r - 1 and r - 2 . an additional advantage is that if this type of feed were to be fed into r - 1 , it would have to be first purified by a process , such as for example , extraction or steam reforming , to render the feed devoid of potential catalyst poisons for the r 1 catalyst , such as olefins and aromatic molecules . in effect , in this rendition of the invention , third reactor 3 ( r - 3 ) acts as a purifier of the fresh feed synthesis gas for r - 1 , as it receives synthesis gas via the recycle loop . in another embodiment , as depicted in fig4 a and 4b , a reformer 40 can be added upstream of the first reactor ( r - 1 ) 1 . that reformer 40 is a catalytic reactor that converts methane to synthesis gas , which is well known in the art . the synthesis gas from the reformer can then be fed into r - 1 through conduit 42 . in that configuration , it may be advantageous to recycle the outlet of r - 3 to the reformer 40 . in certain embodiments , the outlet of r - 3 may be recycled to the reformer 40 and r - 1 at the same time ( fig4 b ). without further description , it is believed that one of ordinary skill in the art can , using the preceding description and the following illustrative examples , make and use the present invention and practice the claimed methods . the following examples are given to illustrate the present invention . it should be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specific conditions or details described in these examples . in the foregoing and other contemplated embodiments of the invention disclosed , the merging of the hydrocarbon synthesis and hydrotreatment reactions into a single combined process is the seminal accomplishment . this inventive leap required extensive research to determine how to accommodate presence of undesired carbon monoxide in the hydrotreatment phase of the process . the major function for the hydrotreating catalyst , zeolite , is to reduce durene and other heavy gasoline components through disproportionation , isomerization and transalkylation . all of these processes require hydrogenation of the target molecules and proper positioning of adjacent reactive molecules . under normal hydrogenation , all methyl - substituted aromatics follow a general trend of tetramethylbenzenes & lt ; trimethylbenzenes & lt ; xylenes & lt ; toluene , where the lower methyl - substituted aromatics exhibit easier hydrogenation capability than the higher methyl - substituted aromatics . however , in the presence of carbon monoxide . the surface of the hydrotreatment catalyst , responsible for positioning the target heavy gasoline molecules for hydrogenation , is contaminated , preventing effective catalysis . in reaching this determination , the zeolite catalyst eventually adopted for use in the invention was compared to an amorphous silica - alumina catalyst because it ordered structure . the results of the study are provided below and serve to demonstrate the greater efficacy of the y - zeolite catalyst in transalkylation of non - preferred , highly substituted aromatics , particularly in conjunction with a hydrocarbon synthesis catalyst like zsm - 5 , several zeolite samples have been evaluated for transalkylation function . a comparison between 10 - and 12 - member ring samples was examined . samples of y - zeolite with a range of si / al ratios from 10 to 40 were selected and compared to mfi zsm - 5 in order to demonstrate the pore - size effect on transalkylation . laboratory microreactor experiments with two reactors in series were conducted to evaluate the selection of hydrotreatment catalysts . a reference solution of a mixture ( either 15 : 85 or 20 : 80 for durene and toluene in weight percentage ) was continuously injected into the first reactor heated at the desirable temperature where the reference solution was fully vaporized . the vapor was then carried into the second reactor containing 2 g of zeolite - based catalyst preheated at the desirable temperature . the feed rate of the reference sample was 5 g / hr and the carrier gas of 1 - 12 was adjusted at about 60 - 100 sccm . after reaction , the fluid products were separated with a condenser located at the outlet of the second reactor but before a back - pressure regulator . the system pressure was maintained around 50 bar . the gas stream was analyzed by gc and the fluid product collected from the condenser was analyzed by ir and gc - ms . for hydrocarbon synthesis / hydrotreatment combination reaction to be successful , the operation temperatures for the hydrotreating catalyst need to match the temperature for hydrocarbon synthesis . intensity changes of ir bands in xylene ( 484 and 796 cm − 1 ), tmb ( 538 and 807 cm − 1 ) and durene ( 867 cm − ) can be quantified with the increase of transalkylation temperature . the results are shown in fig5 , the top row for y - zeolite and the bottom row for h : zsm - 5 . the decreases of durene and toluene bands suggest reduction of these two compounds . the buildups of xylene and trimethylbenzenes suggest the transalkylation from toluene / durene to xylene / tmb . for y - zeolite , the transalkylation starts around 300 ° c . which is lower than the starting temperature of 400 ° c . for h : zsm - 5 . under similar reaction temperature , y - zeolite is obviously more reactive in transalkylation , this result implies that y - zeolite is a better catalyst for transalkylation . similar trend was obtained with beta - zeolite . as shown in fig5 , the optimal operation temperature for the hydrotreating catalyst of y - zeolite is around 350 ° c ., which is essentially identical to the optimal temperature for most hydrocarbon synthesis catalysts . this characteristic makes y - zeolite an ideal catalytic agent to be used in conjunction with zsm - 5 . if h : zsm - 5 were to be used as hydrotreating catalyst , the optimal temperature for the reaction would need to exceed 450 ° c ., far too high for effective synfuel generation . the high temperature trend for h : zsm - 5 can be seen in the increase of xylene and tmb bands . these bands continuously grow as the temperature becomes larger than 400 ° c . such a result implies that h : zsm - 5 may not be a good candidate to act as a bifunctional catalyst . moreover , as the reactor temperature is increased , the chance for cracking chemistry is enhanced and the amounts of side products will be increased accordingly . this eventuality is due to the acidic sites of zeolite samples when si / al ratio is low . when light alkanes are present , carbonaceous deposit begin to appear in addition to the accumulation of ch 4 and c 2 h 6 in gas streams . in practice , the temperature needs to be maintained below 400 ° c . to avoid cracking . this result strongly suggests that a mixture of h : zsm - 5 and y - zeolite is a possibility for the combination of gasoline synthesis and hydrotreatment under the same temperature and pressure . as long as the synfuel hydrocarbons continue to be generated , the heavy durenes and highly substituted aromatics will be converted into lower methyl - substituted aromatics . such a conversion not only improves the viscometric properties of the synfuel but also preserves the components of the fuel known to possess high octane ratings . in order to push molecules together , as required in the transalkylation hydrotreatment of non - preferred hydrocarbon products , shape - selective catalysts like zeolite are normally needed . the pores within the zeolite structure allow two aromatic molecules to be squeezed through so that a close intermolecular distance may be reached for the desirable interaction . as shown above , the configuration of crystalline zeolite proves superior to the amorphous silica - alumina catalyst . y - zeolite is the preferred zeolite catalyst for the presently claimed invention because it has slightly larger pores , allowing for more facile intermolecular interactions between transalkylated molecules . further , the larger pores of the y - zeolite allow for easier acceptance of non - preferred products that result from the hydrocarbon synthesis portion of the process , resulting in a synergistic effect on syngas - to - synfuel conversion . this synergy between the hydrocarbon synthesizing catalyst , zsm - 5 , and the hydrotreatment catalyst , y - zeolite , is demonstrated by the following study , demonstrated by a higher proportional yield of preferred end - products . a set of microreactor experiment was conducted to evaluate the right combination for gasoline synthesis and hydrotreatment catalysts . the microreactor setup is similar to the one in example 1 containing two reactors in series . a fixed amount of methanol was directly injected into the first reactor containing γ - alumina so that a conversion of methanol into dimethylether could be achieved . the product from the first reactor was then fed into the second reactor containing two different zeolite catalysts for gasoline generation and transalkylation . these two catalysts could be separated as two layers or mixed as one single phase . the first catalyst ( catalyst a ) was a typical hydrocarbon generation catalyst such as zsm - 5 . the second catalyst ( catalyst b ) was a larger pore size zeolite sample which would carry transalkylation function of the product from catalyst a with diffusivity benefit ( allowing reactants and products to diffuse in and out of the pore easily with short space time ). after the reaction , the fluid product was condensed and separated using a condenser controlled by a back pressure regulator . the liquid samples were analyzed by ir and gc - ms . the gas samples were analyzed by on - line gc equipped with tcd and fid detectors , fig6 shows typical results for gc - ms data of fuel samples under configuration with either catalyst a ( h : zsm - 5 ) alone or a combination of catalysts a ( h : zsm - 5 ) and b ( y - zeolite ) together . the sample was collected as a time sequence of the reaction and the reaction was carried almost 7 hours under a microreactor . the early time means the first period of 0 - 100 minutes while the middle and final periods indicate the 100 - 200 minutes and 300 - 400 minutes . in the case with catalyst a alone , all aromatics follow a general trend of durene & gt ; tmbs ˜ xylenes & gt ; toluene , this distribution is normal using zeolite for hydrocarbon synthesis . variations with time period among individual components such as toluene , xylenes , trimethylbenzenes ( tmb ) and tetramethylbenzenes ( durene and isodurene ) are not significant . durene is the most abundant part among all aromatics . this result suggests zsm - 5 favors the formation of highly methyl - substituted aromatics under this condition . when both catalysts a and b are combined , the distribution pattern is changed . the variation with time is significantly increased from the early time to the middle time periods . all components decrease in intensity with time and the distribution among aromatics seems to center around tmb . both durene and toluene drop their intensities more than 50 % from their original values . it means durene is converted into tmb / xylenes and some toluene is converted into xylenes . the overall percentage production of aromatics trends lower with the addition of catalyst b . the total weight percentage of all aromatics drops from 44 % in the case of catalyst a to 36 % in the case of ( a + b ). the reason for aromatic loss comes from additional hydrotreating pathways following certain ring opening mechanism . the ring opening mechanism can be seen in fig7 . the overall amount of the paraffinic portion of end - product increases from the use of catalyst a alone to the a combination of catalysts ( a + b ), particularly for the bands in c4 , c5 and c6 . a decreasing trend is observed for c7 and cyclics . this result implies that certain cyclic rings must form aromatics and certain c7 must form light paraffins . fig6 and 7 demonstrate that the use of a hydrotreatment process in conjunction with hydrocarbon synthesis is beneficial in converting some heavy methyl - substituted aromatics into lighter ones that will improve the viscometric properties of the synfuel , giving it a higher octane rating and increasing its commercially viability . the synergy between a hydrocarbon synthesis catalyst ( e . g . zsm - 5 ) and a hydrotreatment catayst ( e . g . y - zeolite ) can be demonstrated by showing an increase in the yield of preferred hydrocarbon end - products , as shown above , because the reaction rate equilibirum has preferentially shifted towards the production of these preferred end - products . the following experiment uses the molar fraction of gas stream composition to demonstrate a more complete reaction of methanol and dme when a combination of hydrocarbon synthesis and hydrotreatment catalysts are utilized . in example 2 , we have demonstrated the difference between the following two cases , ( catalyst a ) vs . ( catalyst a + catalyst b ). it demonstrates that the use of two catalysts in series shows a higher yield of the preferred end - products . in this experiment catalyst a is h : zsm - 5 , while catalyst b is y - zeolite . after the verification of the transalkylation function of r 4 , we need to eveluate the synergy for a combination of zsm - 5 catalyst and y - zeolite catalyst in mtg chemisty . when catalyst b is mixed with catalyst a , certain intermediates generated during transalkylation process can react or participate with hydrocarbon synthesis mechanism from methanol or dme and promote the hydrocarbon formation reaction . the gas phase products of a reaction catalyzed by a ( zsm - 5 ) and the combination case of ( catalyst a + catalyst b ) can be easily monitored by gc . in this example , a single reactor , which merges the hydrocarbon synthesis and hydrotreatment steps , is examined . the present inventive process is claimed in part because this experiment demonstrates that a process , using the combined catalysts in a single reactor ( the mixed case ), is able to produce commercially viable fuel products at the same or greater yields than previously designed schemes ( the separated case ). according to the experimental parameters , two reactions were set up . the first reaction combined the zsm - 5 catalyst with an equal amount of y - zeolite , seeking to embody the presently claimed invention . the second reaction mimicked the prior art , utilizing separate , discrete hydrocarbon synthesis and hydrotreatment steps . further , this mixed case experiment evinces the synergistic effect of zsm - 5 and y - zeolite on the production of preferred hydrocarbon end - products . the synergy is evaluated by a reaction comparison between the mixed and the separated cases . the experimental setup was shown in fig8 where two micro - reactors were performed in series . equal amounts of catalyst a and catalyst b were loaded in individual reactors ( r 3 and r 4 ) under the separated case while the same amounts of both catalysts were mixed uniformly and loaded in r 3 under the mixed case . a fixed rate of liquid methanol ( 0 . 0565 ml / min ) was continuously injected into r 3 mixed with a fixed amount of carrier gas ( h 2 and n 2 tracer ). the gc data collected from different outlets reflect the gas composition in different locations . three gc samples were compared : ( 1 ) r3 - out from the separated case , ( 2 ) r 4 - out from the separated case and ( 3 ) r 3 - out from the mixed case . the difference between ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) reflects the chemistry the catalyst b has introduced into the system . the difference between ( 2 ) and ( 3 ) reflects the benefit derived from the combination of catalysts a and b . the retention scan of gc spectrum covers up to c10 ( such as durene ) and the quantitative unit is in micro - gram ( μg ). in order to simplify the analysis , we have grouped several alkanes and alkenes together , such as c 2 / c 3 for ethane / propane , c 2 =/ c 3 = for ethylene / propylene , c 4 / c 5 / c 6 for all normal and isomers of butane , pentane and hexane , and c 4 =/ c 5 =/ c 6 = for all normal and isomers of these alkenes . some grouped data are listed in table 1 . let us put more emphasis on the difference between ( 2 ) and ( 3 ) which reflects the synergy of the combination of catalysts a and b . it is clear that more total hydrocarbon is observed in the mixed case . however , the light hydrocarbons , such as all alkanes from c2 to c6 , are less than the corresponding amounts in the separated case . the increase of hydrocarbons is in the total aromatics . in addition , the durene content in ( 3 ) is significantly less than the content in ( 1 ) and the aromatic distribution follows the tranalkylation fashion grouping towards the center of xylenes and trimethylbenzenes ( similar to example 2 ). certain aromatic formation mechanism caused by some intermediates must compete in a more favored condition than the light paraffinic formation under the mixed case . the microreactor data demonstrates the existence of a synergistic relationship between catalysts a and b ( zsm - 5 and y - zeolite ). the synfuel yield from individual catalysts , either catalyst a or catalyst b , provides mediocre results in hydrocarbon formation . however , when they are combined , the yield is significantly enhanced and the final synfuel product contains relatively low durene . this pattern provides the clear implication that certain intermediate products derived from catalyst b contribute as co - feeding components promoting the cycles in hydrocarbon pools . when the catalyst amount is reduced under the catalyst a alone case , a substantial amount of methanol and dme remains in the gas stream , suggesting that use of a single catalyst is unsatisfactory to produce a sufficient quantity of commercially viable hydrocarbon end - product . when the combination catalyst a and b is used , most of the dme and methanol present is consumed . in this reaction , all light olefinic components such as c 2 =, c 3 =, c 4 = and c 5 = show much higher abundance values than in the case of a reaction with catalyst a only . the presence of these compounds makes it obvious that catalyst b must participate in a more mto ( methanol - to - olefin ) path in hydrocarbon synthesis and these olefinic intermediates assist in formation of final products . in a comparison of the hydrocarbon amounts produced by the respective reactions in table 1 , the reaction utilizing a combination of catalyst a and b produces hydrocarbons in a higher quantity than the reaction using only catalyst a . however , the increase in hydrocarbon production can also be attributed to the formation of certain cracking products from non - preferred hydrocarbons through hydrotreatment . the catalytic chemistry passing hydrocarbon through zeolite has been extensively studied by many groups . the conversion of low - octane hydrocarbons into high - octane components by flowing the low grade gasoline stream through zeolite catalyst has been termed as “ zeoforming ”. based on our current study on zeolite chemistry on hydrocarbons , hydrocracking plays a more important role than thermal - cracking under mild condition . in this study , a fixed rate of liquid methanol was injected into a series of two microreactors with h 2 as the carrier gas . the first microreactor contained just enough amount of zsm - 5 so that all meoh was consumed completely towards the end of the reactor . the second microreactor was used to probe additional chemistry of the hydrocarbons formed through the first microreactor passing through the second microreactor . as we compare the composition difference of samples before and after the second microreactor using gc , all groups of components ( including all paraffinic , naphthenic and aromatics decrease in intensities except the paraffinic portion from c 1 to c 5 . as we shut off the h 2 but use n 2 as the carrier gas , such decreasing trend begins to disappear . it suggests hydrocracking mechanism of all naphthenic and aromatic components into light alkanes . regardless , the current experiment demonstrates the synergistic additive effects of the y - zeolite catalyst are evident on the process . the inventors further experimented to determine why z - zeolite was the superior choice in combination with zsm - 5 as the hydrotreatment catalyst . this example tested the proposition that the slightly larger pores and the crystalline structure of y - zeolite made it preferable to other commercially available aluminasilicate catalysts . the experiment results , discussed below , suggest that the pore size in y - zeolite ( catalyst b ) is critical in determining the conversion efficiency of synfuel . to evince this point , the experiment utilized a non - shape - selective catalyst , amorphous aluminasilicate ( a - al — si ), with a si / al ratio ( 5 : 1 ) similar to the y - zeolite sample studied . by equalizing the si / al ratios of the catalysts , the only remaining variable was pore size . y - zeolite had larger pores than the competing amorphous catalyst . if transalkylation did not require shape selectivity , the data using a - al — si catalyst sample should have been equivalent or similar to the result using amorphous catalyst b . the gc - ms results using these two different catalysts , the shape selective vs . amorphous , evaluated at 380 ° c ., are shown in fig9 . according to fig9 a when a shape - selective catalyst is used , the synfuel composition is rich in c6 and c7 paraffins , which clear between about 10 and 15 minutes on the gc - ms results below . these paraffins translate to a high fuel yield . furthermore , the content of xylenes , clearing at between 15 and 20 minutes , is higher than the abundance of undesired durene , which clears the gc - ms at approximately 35 minutes , suggesting that transalkylation has occurred to redistribute all methyl - substituted benzenes . by contrast , when the amorphous catalyst is used , as shown in fig9 , the yield of paraffins observed in the gc - ms spectrum is negligible . moreover , there is much greater abundance of non - preferred products , tmb and durene , compared to preferred products , toluene and xylene . the experimental results implicate two competitive reactions initiated by the hydrotreatment catalysts in hydrocarbon formation . part of the reaction is responsible for synfuel generation ( k 1 ), and part of the reactivity results in cracking ( k 2 ) of hydrocarbons . the amorphous catalyst appears to competitively favor the k 2 reaction , evident in the non - existence of all useful paraffins when it is utilized . it is likely that this cracking reaction converts such paraffins into small fragments . however , when the shape - selective y - zeolite catalyst is used , the k 1 reaction is favored . consequently , the results demonstrate that , due to its larger pores , y - zeolite is the appropriate catalyst to use in conjunction with zsm - 5 , as described in the present invention . after the verification of the transalkylation function of r 4 , we need to eveluate the synergy for a combination of zsm - 5 catalyst and y - zeolite catalyst in mtg chemisty . a series of two microreactors similar to fig8 was used to evaluate the combination benefit with catalyst configuration under the separated and the mixed cases . in the first experiment with the separated case , r 1 and r 2 reactors were loaded with 7 . 6 g zsm - 5 and y - zeolite , respectively . 1140 sccm h 2 , 374 sccm n 2 , and 0 . 0565 ml / min pure methanol were used as feedstock . the feed composition was chosen based on conditions of our pilot run . the feed rate was determined by a complete methanol conversion in r 1 reactor in the first experiment . in other words , the methanol feed rate just matches the hydrocarbon synthesis rate and any additional amount will cause methanol slip in r 1 outlet . both reactors were maintained at 300 ° c . and 30 bar . in the second experiment under the mixed case , the discharged zsm - 5 and y zeolite from experiment 1 were mixed uniformly into r 1 reactor , and reaction conditions were maintained the same as used in experiment 1 . online gc samples from r 1 outlet and r 2 outlet were taken in experiment 1 , while gc samples from only r 1 outlet were taken in experiment 2 ( as shown in fig1 ). the liquid fuel was collected from a condenser coupled with a chiller after r 2 and the composition was analyzed by pona . though pona analysis shows hydrocarbons presence with a rentention time longer than durene &# 39 ; s , the element balance for c / h / o / n is very close to the hydrocarbon analysis up to durene elution ( table 2 ). based on online gc analysis in gas stream , the aromatics of r 1 - out under the separated case show an increasing trend from c 7 - c 10 ( toluene to durene ) which is consistent with our early results in fig6 a . when r 2 is used under the consecutive fashion , c 10 ( including durene ) drops in amount while toluene and xylenes begin to increase suggesting transalkylation function of y - zeolite in r 2 . when zsm - 5 is mixed with y zoelite in the mixed case , c 9 and c 10 increase while c 7 and c 8 decrease , suggesting the aromatic hydrocarbons with carbon numbers larger than 10 undergo transalkylation with c 7 and c 8 . such transalkylation among different carbon species can be treated as a synergy between the zsm - 5 and the larger pore y - zeolite . the carbon size distribution of light ( iso ) paraffin gases in c 2 - c 4 is also shown in fig1 . under the mixing case , all light paraffins are much less the amounts than the separated case resulting in a higher fuel yield obtained in the mixed approach from the pilot reactor tests . fig1 shows the carbon size distribution of the liquid sample analyzed by pona . it is clearly seen that the amounts of c 7 / c 8 and hydrocarbons larger than c 10 are decreasing ( except c 12 ) while c 9 and c 10 are increasing , suggesting a synergy between zsm - 5 and y zeolite . the synergy favors the truncation of high carbon size molecules ( higher than c 12 ) and enhancement of gasoline size components ( such as c 9 and c 10 ). the combination benefit between zsm - 5 and larger pore size y - zeolite was also verified in our pilot unit . in this case , 0 . 5 kg of zsm - 5 was mixed with 0 . 5 kg of y - zeolite . the reaction was initiated and run at 750 psi with 5 : 1 recycle rate . the first , second , and third reactor temperatures were set at the following : t 1 at 265 ° c ., t 2 at 290 ° c ., and t 3 varying between 300 and 330 ° c . to embody the prior art ( fang et al . ), 0 . 8 kg of zsm - 5 was placed in a separated third reactor , and 0 . 8 kg y - zeolite in the fourth hydrotreatment reactor . as shown in table 3 fuel conversion is a direct function of the feed rate of synthesis gas . at a faster feed rate of 2 kg / hr , the conversion is about 25 %. at a slower feed rate of 1 kg / hr , the conversion is increased to 30 %. a lower feed rate of synthesis gas allows for greater , more complete formation of methanol . the completeness of the methanol reaction can be easily evaluated by the oxygen conversion . the oxygen conversion is calculated by the ratio between the weight fraction of [ o ] from water output and the [ o ]- weight from co input . table 3 lists the comparison of data between the separated ( with 0 . 8 kg catalyst each ) and the combined ( with 0 . 5 kg catalyst each ) configuration of the reaction , an embodiment of the present invention . table 3 demonstrates that the combination of synthesis and hydrotreatment in a single reactor is highly beneficial to synfuel generation because : ( 1 ) the fuel conversion and methanol conversion rates increase at both lower and higher feed rates ; and ( 2 ) less of both catalysts is required to achieve superior results . in the reaction representing an embodiment of the present invention , the catalyst amount is reduced by almost half , yet the conversion coefficient is marked better than that found when gasoline synthesis and hydrotreatment are separated into two consecutive reactors . the benefits in a combination of the hydrocarbon synthesis and hydrotreatment reactions originate from the synergy between zsm - 5 and y - zeolite , demonstrated in experimentation disclosed above . the propagation of hydrocarbon products derived from zeolite in mtg process can be categorized as olefinic and aromatic cycles . if the concentration of certain intermediate is purposely increased as co - feeding components , the pathway of certain cycle will be promoted . the methane concentration [ c1 ] in gas stream also does not change , as expected if the catalysts lacked a synergistic relationship . the cracking chemistry , caused by the circulated light components , based on acidic sites of y - zeolite , must therefore be rate - limited by the amount of lsm - 5 . this result explains why 50 % of the original catalyst amount may be sufficient ( or equilibrium controlled ) to generate sufficient methanol for the reaction process . methanol generation must thus be controlled by methanation or cracking chemistry of certain remaining gas in the gas stream . further . table 3 shows that the durene level does not change significantly when zsm - 5 and y - zeolite are used in combination . this result suggests that even an almost 50 % reduction in zsm - 5 and y - zeolite catalysts allows for equally effective transalkylation . the lack of detrimental effect on transalkylation implies that synergy must exist between the catalysts . if this were not the case , a 50 % reduction in catalyst would reduce active sites proportionally , and cause a corresponding increase in durene levels . since there is no such 1 : 1 relationship , transalkylation by y - zeolite is likely to be rate - limited in a different manner , by other catalyst properties such as the diffusivity inside the pores . although certain presently preferred embodiments of the invention have been specifically described herein , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains that variations and modifications of the various embodiments shown and described herein may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . accordingly , it is intended that the invention be limited only to the extent required by the appended claims and the applicable rules of law . | 2 |
preferred embodiments of the present invention are described below with reference to the drawings . the heat exchanger shown in fig1 has a plurality of tubular elements including first tubular elements 1a and second tubular elements 1b . fins 2 are stacked between the tubular elements . inlet / outlet units 3 , 3 protrude from the tubular elements 1b , 1b . rings 4 , 4 are disposed on inlet / outlet units 3 , 3 . inlet / outlet pipes 5 , 5 are inserted into and secured to the inlet / outlet units 3 , 3 . the first tubular elements 1a and second tubular elements 1b have rectangular interior sectional shapes and are formed of first , second , and third molded plates 10a , 10b , 10b &# 39 ; which are described below , so as to create the interior spaces of the tubular elements . first tubular elements 1a are each formed by joining two plates , namely first molded plates 10a and 10b by butt fusion . second tubular elements 1b are each formed of second and third molded plates 10b and 10b &# 39 ;. the first , second , and third molded plates 10a , 10b , 10b &# 39 ; are made of , e . g . aluminum or aluminum alloy , are formed by a press , and are approximately 0 . 6 mm thick . they have protrusions 11 , 12 for forming tanks at first longitudinal ends thereof , they define strips 13 extending from between protrusions 11 , 12 toward the other longitudinal ends of the plates , and they have passage - forming protrusions 14 forming nearly u - shaped passages around strips 13 . the passage - forming protrusions 14 are connected to the tank - forming protrusions 11 and 12 . on the second ends of the first , second , and third molded plates 10a , 10b , 10b &# 39 ; are contact portions 15 bent outwardly from main bodies of the plates to regulate the distance between the main bodies of the tubular elements . in addition , soldering seams 16 are located at the fringes of the first , second , and third molded plates 10a , 10b , 10b &# 39 ;. barrel - shaped elements , each formed of parts 17 , 17 &# 39 ; of the molded plates , protrude from and are connected to the sides of tank - forming protrusions 11 , 12 of the second and third molded plates 10b , 10b &# 39 ; constituting a second tubular element 1b . when second and third molded plates 10b , 10b &# 39 ; are joined by butt fusion parts 17 17 &# 39 ; of the barrel - shaped elements are also joined by butt fusion , to form an inlet / outlet unit 3 . the second molded plate 10b and the third molded plate 10b &# 39 ; have shapes symmetrical to each other , so that the part 17 of the barrel - shaped element of the second molded plate 10b and the part 17 &# 39 ; of the same barrel - shaped element of the third molded plate 10b &# 39 ; will face each other when joined together to form an inlet / outlet unit 3 . pairs of tanks 18 , 19 are made up of sets of the tank - forming protrusions 11 , 12 , respectively , and the passage - forming protrusions 14 constitute a nearly u - shaped heat - exchanging medium passage 22 . thus , the tanks 18 are connected to the tank 19 via heat - exchanging medium passages 22 . two of the second tubular elements 1b are disposed at designated positions . the tanks 18 or 19 which are in contact with each other are also open to each other by means of tank through - holes 20 , 21 in the tank - forming protrusions 11 , 12 . the tank 18 of the tubular element , which is located in the middle of the stack of elements 1b , is closed to divide the stack into a right bloc and left bloc . more specifically , in the heat exchanger of the present invention , the heat - exchanging medium flows from the inlet / outlet pipe 5 in the left bloc in the figure into the tanks 18 of the left bloc . from these tanks 18 , the heat - exchanging medium flows into the heat - exchanging medium passage 22 in each of the tubular elements 1a , 1b of the left bloc and to the group of tanks 19 . after the heat - exchanging medium has flowed throughout these tanks , it flows into the heat - exchanging medium passage 22 in each of the tubular elements 1a , 1b of the right bloc , and is accumulated in the tanks 18 of the right bloc from where it drains from the heat exchanger through the other inlet / outlet pipe 5 . thus , what is called a &# 34 ; four pass - flow pattern &# 34 ; is formed . fig2 and fig3 show the detailed structures of inlet / outlet unit 3 and its surroundings . the inlet / outlet unit 3 protrudes from one side of a tank 18 . as mentioned above , the unit 3 is formed by joining the parts 17 , 17 &# 39 ; of the barrel - shaped element of the first and second molded plates 10b , 10b &# 39 ;. an inserting unit 5a of an inlet / outlet pipe 5 is inserted into a circular opening of an insertion hole 25 of the inlet / outlet unit 3 . the seam 16 along which soldering is performed to join the parts 17 , 17 &# 39 ; of the barrel - shaped element is located outwardly of the unit 3 . the seam 16 is spaced by a specific distance from the end of the unit 3 , and a ring 4 is placed on the inlet / outlet unit 3 at the end thereof that is free of the seam 16 . the ring 4 is made of , e . g . a bare material , such as aluminum , or a blazing sheet , and has a thickness of 1 - 2 mm . the ring is positioned by being brought into contact with the front end of the fringes defining the soldering seam 16 . in the process of constructing this heat exchanger , the first and the second tubular elements 1a , 1b are stacked with the fins interposed between them , and with the second tubular elements 1b , 1b being located at designated positions . after the stack is pressed by a certain amount of pressure exerted in the direction in which the elements 1a , 1b are stacked , the rings 4 are placed on the inlet / outlet units 3 . subsequently , the stack is compressed to a certain degree in the direction in which the elements are stacked , and a crank is placed over the stack surrounding the tubular elements to maintain the stack under this condition . then , the stack is soldered in a furnace . accordingly , the rings 4 are soldered to the front ends of inlet / outlet units 3 . upon completion of the soldering in the furnace , the inlet / outlet pipes 5 are attached . in attaching the inlet / outlet pipes 5 , the inlet / outlet pipes 5 are first inserted in the inlet / outlet units 3 , and the inlet / outlet pipes 5 and inlet / outlet units 3 are soldered by torch blazing . when an inlet / outlet pipe 5 is inserted in an inlet / outlet unit 3 on which a ring 4 is mounted , the inlet / outlet unit 3 receives a force from the inlet / outlet pipe 5 tending to expand the unit outwardly . however , because of the ring 4 , the inlet / outlet unit 3 remains circular without being deformed , and there is no gap created between the inlet / outlet unit 3 and the inlet / outlet pipe 5 . accordingly , when the torch blazing is conducted under this condition , the inlet / outlet unit 3 and inlet / outlet pipe 5 are soldered without a gap being left between them . as a result , no fluid will leak between the inlet / outlet unit 3 and the inlet / outlet pipe 5 , whereby the present invention is highly reliable . when the inlet / outlet pipe 5 is soldered to the inlet / outlet unit 3 by torch blazing , heat as high as about 600 degrees is locally applied to the inlet / outlet unit 3 , but the heat is absorbed by the ring 4 so that the inlet / outlet unit 3 will not melt when the inlet / outlet pipe 5 is soldered . in addition , when the torch blazing is conducted , the ring 4 functions to prevent the flame from flaring up to prevent accidentally melting the tank 18 . when the inlet / outlet pipe 5 is soldered by torch blazing , as shown in fig3 the solder flows in between the inlet / outlet pipe 5 and the inlet / outlet unit 3 , and between the ring 4 and inlet / outlet unit 3 as well , so even if the soldering of the ring 4 is incomplete after the soldering is carried out in the furnace , it can be completed by the process of torch blazing . therefore , the possibility of the ring 4 being defectively soldered is low , whereby it is ensured that the ring will impart rigidity to the inlet / outlet unit 3 . accordingly , it is not necessary to question the quality of the soldering of the ring 4 , and as mentioned earlier , the ring 4 can be made of a bare material or a blazing sheet . further embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to fig4 through fig1 . the same reference numbers are employed for the same components in fig1 and a detailed description of like components will be omitted . in the preferred embodiment of fig4 through fig6 horizontal protrusions 7 are formed on the sides of the barrel - shaped element by making indentations in the bowl - shaped parts 17 , 17 &# 39 ; forming the barrel - shaped element . these protrusions 7 are located at diametrically opposite positions on the sides of the inlet / outlet unit 3 , when the second and third molded plates 10b , 10b &# 39 ; have been joined by butt fusion to join the bowl - shaped parts 17 , 17 &# 39 ; and form the second tubular element 1b . in fig5 two protrusions 7 are shown but the present invention is not limited to two protrusions for each barrel - shaped element . when the inlet / outlet pipe 5 is mounted to the inlet / outlet unit 3 , the inlet / outlet pipe 5 is directly inserted into the inlet / outlet unit 3 until it contacts the protrusions 7 , whereupon the inlet / outlet pipe 5 and inlet / outlet unit 3 are secured to each other by torch blazing or argon soldering . accordingly , the spacer 6 soldered to the inlet / outlet unit 3 in the furnace shown in fig1 and fig1 is unnecessary . because the inlet / outlet pipe 5 has only to be inserted in the inlet / outlet unit 3 until it reaches the protrusions 7 , it is easy to judge how far the inlet / outlet pipe 5 should be inserted , and to position the pipe . further , because the wall of the inlet / outlet unit 3 is partially indented , the rigidity of the inlet / outlet unit 3 is enhanced , i . e . the inlet / outlet unit is reinforced . in the preferred embodiment of fig7 fringes extending radially outwardly from the inlet / outlet unit 3 , and defining the soldering seams 16 therebetween , have been cut off from an area at the end of the inlet / outlet unit 3 so that the ring 4 can be put on the inlet / outlet unit 3 . therefore , even though the inlet / outlet unit 3 receives a force from the inlet / outlet pipe 5 inserted in the inlet / outlet unit 3 , that tends to expand the inlet / outlet unit 3 outwardly , the ring 4 in addition to the protrusions 7 prevents the deformation of inlet / outlet unit 3 . therefore , the circular form of the inlet / outlet unit 3 will be preserved ensuring an airtight sealing between the inlet / outlet pipe 5 and the inlet / outlet unit 3 . in the preferred embodiment of fig8 the fringes defining soldering seam 16 are spaced from the end of the inlet / outlet unit 3 by a distance equal to that at which the protrusions 7 are so spaced such that the inlet / outlet pipe 5 &# 39 ; can be mounted over the barrel - shaped element in contact with the protrusions 7 &# 39 ;. more specifically , the protrusions 7 &# 39 ; of the barrel - shaped element are formed by expanding side walls of the parts 17 , 17 &# 39 ; of the barrel - shaped element outwardly . this constitution also contributes to reinforcing ( imparting rigidity to ) the inlet / outlet unit 3 and to reducing the manufacturing cost of the heat exchanger . in the preferred embodiment shown in fig9 through fig1 , fringes of the plates 10b , 10b &# 39 ; defining the soldering seam 16 on the inlet / outlet unit 3 are cut and removed from the end of the inlet / outlet unit 3 over a distance corresponding to the axial length ( l ) of the ring 4 . the front ends of the fringes are tapered at 16a with the length of the fringes as taken from the surfaces of the barrel - shaped element becoming shorter toward the end of the barrel - shaped element . the length of each of the fringes ( radial dimension ) at the end thereof is equal to or less than the thickness of the ring 4 in its radial direction . the parts 17 , 17 &# 39 ; of the barrel - shaped element have protrusions 23 which have been formed at the same time when the molded plates have been formed by a press . in this preferred embodiment , the protrusions 23 are hemispherical and protrude from the outer surfaces of the parts 17 , 17 &# 39 ;. each of the parts 17 , 17 &# 39 ; of the barrel - shaped element has two protrusions 23 spaced desired distances from each other and from the soldering seams 16 , respectively . the distance from each protrusion 23 to the end of the barrel - shaped element is equal to the distance by which the terminal ends of the soldering seam 16 is spaced from the end of the barrel - shaped element so that the ring 4 , when positioned on the inlet / outlet unit 3 , contacts the ends of the fringes defining the soldering seam 16 as well as the protrusions 23 . hemispherical indentations 24 are also press - formed in the parts 17 , 17 &# 39 ; of the barrel - shaped element so as to protrude radially inwardly . in this preferred embodiment , the indentation 24 is formed between the protrusions 23 , 23 to help position the inlet / outlet pipe 5 when the inlet / outlet pipe 5 is inserted in the inlet / outlet unit 3 . because the ring 4 contacts and is secured to the fringes defining soldering seam 16 and the protrusions 23 when the soldering in the furnace has been completed , the ring 4 cannot be tilted during the subsequent process of inserting the inlet / outlet pip into the inlet / outlet unit 3 and soldering them by torch blazing . as a result , the inlet / outlet unit 3 and the inlet / outlet pipe 5 do not allow the solder joining the ring 4 and the inlet / outlet unit 3 to flow out , whereby the heat exchanger of the present invention is highly reliable . in addition , because the end portions of the fringes are tapered such that the ends of the fringes do not protrude beyond the outer periphery of the ring 4 , the soldering seam 16 is protected from being directly contacted by the flame and the fringes are thus prevented from being melted at the time of torch blazing . in this preferred embodiment , two protrusions 23 that position the ring 4 are formed on each part 17 , 17 &# 39 ; of the barrel - shaped element but one or any number of protrusions can be employed to prevent the ring 4 from being tilted . in the preferred embodiment shown in fig1 and fig1 , each fringe includes a jointing portion 16a protruding from the surface of the barrel - shaped element where the parts 17 , 17 &# 39 ; thereof are joined , and a flange 16b bent from the edge of the joining portion 16a . the soldering seam 16 terminates at a location on the inlet / outlet unit 3 spaced from the end of unit 3 by a distance corresponding to the width of ring 4 ( l1 ). the length ( in the radial direction ) of the fringe at the end of the tapered part 16c thereof is equal to or less than the thickness ( l2 ) of the ring 4 in its radial direction . the outer diameter ( l3 ) of the ring 4 is smaller than the width ( l4 ) taken between the upper and bottom fringes at portions 16a ; in other words , the thickness of the ring 4 in its radial direction ( l2 ) is smaller than the length ( l5 ) as shown in fig1 . accordingly , the fringes do not protrude radially outwardly of the ring 4 at their area of contact , which in turn prevents the soldering seams 16 from being directly contacted by the flame during torch blazing and from being melted . in addition , this also prevents the solder , which has been applied to the soldering seams 16 in the soldering process carried out in the furnace , from being melted and flowing out . in the preferred embodiment shown in fig1 , the flange unit 16b is likewise removed at the end portion 16c of the fringe but the joining portion 16a of the fringe protrudes radially outwardly from the barrel - shaped element a distance equal to or less than the thickness of the ring 4 in its radial direction . the above - described heat exchanger thus not only possesses the same advantages as the other preferred embodiments but also withstands torch blazing better than the aforementioned embodiments due to the fact that the joining portion 16a is cut off at the end portion of the fringe . therefore , the inlet / outlet units will not be damaged when the soldering seams are heated , and the sealing of the joint is sufficient to prevent fluid from leaking therefrom . the present invention has been described in connection with a so - called one side - tank type of heat exchanger , wherein the tanks are all located on one end of the heat exchanger . however , the present invention is applicable to a two side - tank type of heat exchanger having tanks at the opposing ends thereof . it goes without saying that many variations and modifications to the aforementioned embodiment will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art . therefore , the invention can be implemented in forms other than those specifically described in the specification . however , all such variations and modifications of the present invention are seen to be within the true spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims . | 8 |
referring now to fig1 there is illustrated a conventional laser tube structure upon which the subject of this invention is mounted . such structure includes a laser tube generally noted at 1 , which comprises a laser chamber denoted at 2 , in which may be contained a gaseous mixture or medium such as a well - known helium / neon mixture or other medium . other gaseous mixtures may be used without affecting the operation of the apparatus of the present invention . two mirrors 3 and 4 are oppositely disposed in the end portions 5 and 6 respectively of the laser tube . as is well known in the art , lasers are useful , among other purposes , for use in interferometric measurement wherein the precisely controlled and determinable length of the light wavelength in the laser is used as a standard against which measurements of various varieties are made . a laser is useful for such measurements , but only if the laser light wavelength is itself stabilized at an established and predetermined value , which will be accomplished by the stabilization of the laser at a particular frequency . the following discussion with reference to the drawings discloses the requirements for stabilization as practiced heretofore and as disclosed by the invention herein . in the laser device of fig1 by known methods , the material in the laser chamber 2 is excited to a high energy state by an electrical discharge . the longitudinal dimension or length of the laser chamber 2 , and more specifically the distance between the opposing mirrors 3 and 4 is constructed to be made equal to a whole number multiple of the electromagnetic wavelength generated within the laser chamber 2 . according to well - known principles of laser devices , the laser output is of a wavelength ( or wavelengths ) such that an integral number of one - half wavelengths equal the optical length of the laser tube . for example , in a helium - neon laser , there are always one or two wavelengths which satisfy this condition , and which are called resonant wavelengths , and which also lie within the gain bandwidth of the laser . as the optical length of the laser changes , due , for example , to thermal expansion , these resonant wavelengths move across the laser gain bandwidth , turning off when they approach a point where there is insufficient gain , and being replaced by new wavelengths which have moved into the gain curve . a laser can operate within a range of dimensions because it can always find a resonant wavelength at which to operate , but the exact value of that wavelength depends on the exact value of the optical length of the laser tube , that is , the distance between one mirror surface and the other of mirrors 3 and 4 . in order to control the frequency and thus the optical length of the output of the laser , it may be necessary to provide for the adjustment of the optical distance between the two mirrors 3 and 4 . this has been accomplished in prior art devices , as discussed above , by various means , all of which have certain advantages and disadvantages . the basic deficiency of the prior art devices is that the designer must choose between two criteria for the adjustment if the device is to be kept relatively simple in structure for the purposes of reliability . one may choose an adjustment means which permits large adjustments , in the range of 0 . 0 to 0 . 5 mm ., but is relatively slow to react , in the order of 0 . 1 to 1 . 0 seconds . an example of this type of adjustment means is the provision of a heating wire or other heating means disposed around the laser tube itself , which produces a lengthening or contraction of the laser tube , and thus the distance between the opposing mirrors , by the thermal expansion of the laser tube by the heat applied to it . on the other hand , the designer may choose a relatively fast adjustment means in which reactions to needs to change and adjust for the stability are accomplished by the use of a piezoelectric element upon which is mounted one of the mirrors or by mounting the element on a movable diaphragm so that , in both instances , changes in the distance between the mirrors may be made by supplying a voltage signal to the piezoelectric element . the disadvantage of this type of device is that , while response is rapid , in the order of 10 - 5 to 10 - 3 seconds , the maximum length of possible extension and contraction is only 0 . 002 to 0 . 01 mm . in other prior art devices , such as that disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 793 , 595 , a combination of both the piezoelectric and the heat expansion - type adjustment means is utilized . the disadvantage of this combination is that while the combination of the two adjustment devices separately provides both quick and relatively large adjustments over a reasonable range , the device requires relatively complex circuitry to coordinate the two adjustment means to effectuate the adjustment required or desired . further , the adjustment means disclosed in the patent is positioned within the laser tube itself and therefore is difficult to service or repair , and impossible to implement in off - the - shelf laser tubes . by contrast , the present invention combines in a single element the desirable features of the prior art , with the provision of a relatively fast length adjustment over a relatively wide range of adjustment and accomplishes the foregoing with a simple means which may be additionally adapted for many types of existing laser devices . as will be described in detail below , in the device of the present invention , small ( less than half wavelength ) rapid corrections are accomplished by the solenoid device which forms part of the present invention , by ac correction by change in the refractive index of the gaseous medium in the laser tube , and slow ( less than about 50 hz ) corrections are accomplished by the heater which forms a further part of this invention , using dc correction by change in the physical length of the laser tube . as shown by fig1 the laser device includes at the end portions 5 and 6 thereof the mirrors 3 and 4 , respectively . mirrors 3 and 4 , as is well known in the art , are disposed oppositely to one another and at a distance to facilitate resonance of the electromagnetic waves generated within the laser tube . in usual practice , at least one of the mirrors is partially reflecting and partially transmitting to allow the transmission of the laser beam out of the laser tube and into the outside environment . the mirrors must be precisely positioned with respect to the distance between them , as stated above , and must also be axially aligned with one another so that the electromagnetic beam is reflected between the mirrors &# 39 ; centers of curvature . to this end , the mirrors are usually in production mounted in end portions 5 and 6 which includes reduced sections or portions 7 and 8 disposed between the mirrors 3 or 4 and the main body of the laser tube 1 and which reduced sections or portions are made of a metallic material . one purpose of the inclusion of the reduced section 7 is to allow the operator to align the mirrors 3 and 4 either at the factory or otherwise in use . because the portion 7 is made usually of metal ( for reasons well known in the art ), bending of the portion 7 may be made without causing the reduced section to break or shear from the laser tube . in the preferred embodiment , the invention makes use of the reduced metal section 7 to allow for length adjustments between the mirrors 3 and 4 , by utilizing the thermal expansion capabilities of the reduced metal section 7 when heated to expand along the optical axis defined by the mirrors 3 and 4 . the reduced metal section is itself rather thin in thickness , in the range of 0 . 2 to 0 . 5 mm ., and has disposed thereabout a means to heat the reduced section 7 . the utility of having the heating means located where the metal thickness is thin is to apply the heat where the thermal mass of the heated segment is small , so that a given heat input will cause a relatively large immediate temperature increase and corresponding thermal expansion . this contrasts with the devices of the prior art in which the mass of the portion of the laser device being heated is comparatively large , thus making adjustments in these prior art devices slower relative to the invention of the present device . in the embodiment shown , the reduced section 7 has wound thereabout a coil of heating wire 9 , which may be insulated nichrome or a resistance wire with similar properties . in the embodiment shown in fig2 the wire 9 is wound about the reduced section 7 in a singular direction . because of the singular direction of the winding of the wire , a magnetic field will be induced upon the gaseous medium within the laser tube 2 . while this might be desirable in certain instances , for example in order that the adjustment induced by the solenoidal action not be counteracted by the heater action because of opposite directions of adjustment upon heating of the wire 10 , it may be undesirable in others , and therefore the second embodiment shown in fig3 incorporates a wire 10 of a similar construction to wire 9 wound in two opposite directions of winding to eliminate the magnetic field , so that only the heater adjustment is operable under these circumstances . additionally , the wires 9 or 10 as described and shown in fig2 and 3 may be embedded within a thermally - conducting material 11 , as shown in fig4 to improve heat transfer to the reduced metal sections of the laser tube 1 , and to prevent the wires from reaching excessively high temperatures . the heating wire or similar heating means as shown and described is connected to suitable circuitry to allow adjustment of the distance between the mirrors 3 and 4 . such circuitry is shown diagrammatically in fig1 as 12 and may be any suitable circuitry known in the art which accomplishes the purpose of applying a current signal to the heating wires 9 or 10 , whether encased in material 11 or not . a suitable control for controlling the optical length is the closed loop servo control disclosed and claimed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 672 , 618 , entitled laser stabilization servo system , filed mar . 15 , 1983 and assigned to the same assignee of the present invention . an advantage of the present invention is that the adjustment means as shown and described is simple in construction , and thus less expensive to manufacture , may be retrofitted on existing laser devices with little modifications , and , because of its being mounted outside the laser tube , may be easily repaired and adjusted . the invention disclosed herein has the advantages of the adjusting systems currently in use , while maintaining simplicity of operation and being less expensive in cost . the invention allows relatively fast adjustments in length as is performed currently with solenoid - controlled or piezoelectric devices as well as relatively large range of adjustments as is presently performed by present expansion heating devices . in operation , the dynamic range of the adjustment means shown and described is in the range of 0 . 0 to 0 . 05 mm ., and the response time is between 10 - 4 and 10 - 3 seconds . this compares favorably with current adjustment means utilized . utilizing the present invention alone , the laser device is usually stabilized within a period of five minutes from initial excitation of the laser device . it is intended within the scope of the invention that the device of the present invention may be utilized in single as well as two - frequency laser devices . while the foregoing invention has been described with reference to its preferred embodiments , various modifications and alterations will occur to those skilled in the art , and these are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims . | 7 |
fig1 illustrates an exploded view of light emitting diode ( led ) signal 2 . the led signal 2 includes a housing 4 having an inner volume 6 and at least one surface 8 facing an opening 10 of the housing 4 . a circuit board (“ pcb ”) 12 is attached to the at least one surface 8 . the circuit board 12 can be a metal core pcb or other type of pcb . various techniques can be used to attach the circuit board 12 to the at least one surface 8 . for example , the circuit board 12 can be attached through one or more rivets , screws , adhesives , snaps , tape , wires , other circuit boards , etc . alternatively , the circuit board 12 can be integrated within the surface 8 of the housing 4 . in another alternative , the circuit board 12 sits in a predefined position on the surface 8 and is held in place through various other components within the housing 4 . for instance , the circuit board 12 can be held in place by one or more mounting brackets , heat sinks , a control module , a power supply , etc . a suitable heat sink includes a heat sink with fins . the circuit board 12 includes one or more leds 14 , which are coupled to the circuit board 12 via through - hole ( e . g ., soldered and wire wrapped ) and / or surface mount ( e . g ., short pins , flat contacts , matrix of balls ( bgas ), etc .) technology . the circuit board 12 is positioned on the surface 8 such that the leds 14 emit light energy through the opening 10 . essentially any number of leds 14 can be coupled to the circuit board 12 . in addition , one or more of the leds 14 can be a similar and / or different color . different led manufacturers provide leds 14 with distinctive light patterns . an optional lens 15 can be placed over each led 14 to change the light pattern so that different leds can be used without adversely affecting efficiency and / or the uniformity of the signal and / or light patterns can be changed based on the application . to facilitate controlling the light from the leds , an injection molded optical element typically is used . a first optical element 16 is positioned adjacent to the opening 10 of the housing 4 . the optical element 16 includes a collecting and / or collimating surface that collects and / or collimates light energy emitted by the leds 14 . a second optical element 18 is positioned adjacent to the first optical element 16 , on a side of the first optical element 16 opposite the leds 14 . the second element 18 includes a spreading or diffusing surface , which suitably spreads light energy transmitted through the first optical element 16 . a third optical element 20 is positioned adjacent to the second optical element 18 , on a side of the second optical element 18 opposite the first optical element 16 . it connects to the housing 4 and secures the first and second optical elements 16 and 18 in place . a sealing technique such as an o - ring can be used to facilitate attaching the third optical element 20 to the housing 4 and sealing the attachment region . typically , the third optical element 20 includes a clear , neutral outer cover . however , it can additionally or alternatively include at lease one of a tinted or colored surface , a textured surface , and / or optics such as a filter . it is to be appreciated that one or more of the first , second , and third optical elements can have substantially planar surfaces . the third optical element 20 also shields the first and second optical elements 16 and 18 , the leds 14 , the circuit board 12 or other components residing between the third optical element 20 and the surface 8 of the housing 4 from the environment . thus , when an object ( e . g ., a stone , a tree branch , a bird , etc .) contacts the optical portion of the signal 2 , the object is shielded from the first and second optical elements 16 and 18 by the third optical element 20 . if the object damages the third optical element 20 , it can be replaced at a cost relatively lower than replacing the first and / or second optical elements 16 and 18 , for example . in addition , in many instances a damaged third optical element still provides adequate protection from the environment , does not substantially degrade light output from the signal 2 , and does not have to be replaced . the third optical element 20 can also protect the first and second optical elements 16 and 18 , the leds 14 , the circuit board 12 or other components from any of rain , snow , the wind , or the sun . conventional traffic signals typically do not employ an outer neutral cover . instead , the diffusing and / or collimating optical element is exposed to the environment and susceptible to damage from the environment . as noted above , replacing diffusing and / or collimating optical elements is relatively more costly than replacing a neutral cover protecting such optical elements . in addition , damaging the diffusing and / or collimating optical elements may render the light output inadequate for its application . for instance , the light output may no longer be visible to the intended viewer . thus , the novel invention described herein provides advantages over and / or overcomes deficiencies with conventional traffic signals . it is to be appreciated the signal 2 can be adapted to retrofit into an existing traffic light and / or incorporated into a new traffic light . to allow an easy retrofit without requiring significant changes to the preexisting ac power distribution and logic circuits , the led signal assemblies can incorporate a power supply ( not shown ) to drive the leds at a lower , controlled , direct current power level . fig2 illustrates a non - limiting example of a suitable first optical element 16 . as depicted , a surface of the first optical element 16 can include one or more fresnel rings 22 . the light energy from the leds 14 is collimated by the one or more fresnel rings 22 . in one instance , the one or more fresnel rings 22 include one or more dioptric rings 24 and / or one or more catadioptric rings 26 that collimate the light . fig3 illustrates a cross section view of the first optical element 16 , showing both dioptric rings 24 and catadioptric rings 26 . returning to fig2 , the dioptric rings 24 generally refract light , and catadioptric rings 26 generally refract and substantially internally reflect the rays of light . typically , the dioptric rings 24 are employed relatively nearer to the center of the first optical element 16 , as depicted in fig2 , and the catadioptric rings 26 are employed farther from the center of the first optical element 16 , as depicted in fig2 . after the light passes through the first optical element 16 , the light is substantially collimated . an optical element characteristic that can affect the efficiency of the first optical element 16 includes , but is not limited to , light collection angles of the optical faces of each of the dioptric rings 24 and catadioptric rings 26 . fig4 illustrates the light collection angle “ α ” of the optical face 28 of a catadioptric ring and the light collection angle “ β ” of the optical face 30 of a dioptric ring . as depicted , the angle of the catadioptric rings 26 typically is more acute than the angle of the dioptric rings 24 . in addition , with the dioptric rings 24 , the radii represent a much larger percentage of the collection angle than on the catadioptric rings 26 . typically , the dioptric rings 24 and the catadioptric rings 26 do not have a constant height . in addition , the catadioptric rings 26 typically are taller than the dioptric rings 24 , and the rings 24 and 26 typically are as tall as practically possible to minimize the number of fillet radii . a typical height ratio of the dioptric rings height to catadioptric ring height is about 1 . 5 : 1 to about 2 : 1 . another optical element characteristic that affects the efficiency of the first optical element 16 is a transition region between the dioptric rings 24 and the catadioptric rings 26 . for a given focal length , lens diameter , inner and / or outer fillet radii , and optic height , this transition region typically is determined based on one or more assumptions , including that the light source is a point source . however , the leds 14 are not a point source , but approximate a point source and , thus , the transition region typically is additionally tuned . the light energy that falls within the prescribed optical pattern is measured and compared against optical designs that have slightly larger and slightly smaller transition regions to tune the transition region . typical transition regions reside in a range from about f = 0 . 5 to about f = 1 . 5 ( e . g ., typically about 0 . 84 ), where f is a ratio of focal length to a diameter of the dioptric rings 24 . fig5 illustrates suitable locations for obtaining a focal length 32 and a diameter 34 for computing f . fig6 illustrates a non - limiting example of a suitable second optical element 18 . the second optical element 18 includes spreading optics 38 that generate a light output pattern that is generally gaussian shaped through a horizontal axis and relatively non - symmetrical through a vertical axis with a predominance of light below the horizontal axis . fig7 illustrates exemplary light output patterns through the horizontal axis and the vertical axis , and fig8 graphically depicts typical views of horizontal axis at 40 and vertical axis 42 of second optical element 18 . returning to fig6 , suitable spreading optics 38 of the second optical element 18 include , but is not limited to , pillow optics , prism optics , cylindrical optics , etc . pillow optics are based on a spheroid or a toroid , wherein a square or rectangular portion of the spheroid or toroid is utilized as the optic . fig9 illustrates an exemplary pillow optic 44 . each optic 44 is variously shaped on the horizontal and vertical axes to control the light . the shape of each optic 44 is determined based at least in part on an optical intensity at various positions along the vertical and horizontal axes . one or more , including all of the optics 44 can be similarly and / or differently shaped . alternatively , a cluster approach can be used . with the cluster approach , smaller optics are positioned between each of the optics 44 . typically , all of the clusters are the same in order to provide a uniform lit appearance regardless of viewing angle . if one or more leds 14 in a cluster becomes non - functional ( e . g ., produces less than adequate light ), the light output remains substantially lit , provided there is still at least one functioning led . the cluster also provides a more aesthetically pleasing appearance than a signal with a patterned array of leds spread behind the entire face of the lens . returning to fig1 , typically it is desirable to illuminate substantially the entire optical areas of the first and second optical elements 16 and 18 . in order to facilitate such coverage , the first and second optical elements 16 and 18 are suitably positioned at a distance from the leds 14 that allows maximum illumination of the cover with a minimum , or preferably no , light lost by illuminating areas other than the optical elements 16 ands 18 . in order to mitigate spreading the light beyond the optical areas of the first and second optical elements 16 and 18 , an optional lens can be positioned over the leds 14 to adjust the light pattern accordingly . fig1 illustrates an embodiment in which the first and second optical elements 16 and 18 are incorporated into a single optical element 46 , which is positioned between the cover 20 and the opening 10 . as described above , the one or more leds 14 are grouped about a common focal point or central axis perpendicular to the optical element . both collimation and distribution element are achieved through the single optical element 46 . the invention has been described with reference to the various embodiments . modifications and alterations may occur to others upon reading and understanding the preceding detailed description . it is intended that the invention be constructed as including all such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof . | 5 |
particular embodiments of the present disclosure are described hereinbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings . in the following description , well - known functions or constructions are not described in detail to avoid obscuring the present disclosure in unnecessary detail . fig1 is a schematic diagram of a remote controlled surgical system 100 that allows a surgeon m to perform a surgical procedure on patient p using a remote 200 . access to a subcutaneous surgical site within patient p is provided via a number ( typically 3 to 5 ) of small ( typically 5 - 12 mm ) incisions 15 , through which at least one remote controlled ( rc ) electrosurgical instrument 10 is manually passed . additionally , a camera 150 is inserted in at least one incision 15 to give the surgeon m a view of the surgical site . the video signal from the camera may be sent to an augmented reality ( ar ) controller 600 ( see fig5 and 6 ) to add additional data . the video signal and additional data are then displayed on a user interface 140 . the ar displayed image 142 may include labels on instruments , labels and / or margins of organs , tumors , or other anatomical bodies , and / or boundary zones around delicate anatomical bodies . the ar displayed image 142 may be in 2d or 3d . as the camera 150 is moved around the surgical site , the labels and data overlaid onto the video image move to the appropriate location . the surgeon m controls the rc electrosurgical instrument 10 by rotating and / or moving the remote 200 up , down , left , right , diagonally , and / or rotating . the movement of the remote 200 may be configured to move in a manner similar to a hand - held electrosurgical instrument . additionally , the surgeon m can press a button on the remote 200 to activate an electrical signal to coagulate or cut tissue , staple tissue , or perform another function of the instrument . the surgeon m can be located in the same room as a patient or in a remote location such as another state or country . the remote 200 may be configured to send data to a base 300 attached to the rc electrosurgical instrument 10 . the data may be sent to the base 300 through a direct electrical connection or by bluetooth ®, ant3 ®, knx ®, zwave ®, x10 ® wireless usb ®, irda ®, nanonet , tiny os ®, zigbee ®, 802 . 11 ieee , and other radio , infrared , uhf , vhf communications and the like . fig2 a - c show three possible embodiments of remote 200 , however , other embodiments may be possible . fig2 a discloses a first embodiment of a remote 220 that is generally circular in shape with a triangular front that may interconnect with the base 300 of the rc electrosurgical instrument 10 . the circular shape allows the remote 220 to fit into the palm of the surgeon &# 39 ; s m hand , where the surgeon m can rotate his / her wrist to move the tool in a corresponding manner by easily pushing one or more buttons 225 , 227 , 229 , 231 . the remote 220 includes at least one momentum sensor 224 and an infrared sensor 222 . the remote may be configured with one or more buttons 225 , 227 , 229 , 231 that may be located on the top , side , and / or bottom of the remote . button 225 may be used to activate an electrical signal to coagulate or cut tissue , staple tissue , or perform other surgical functions . for example , button 227 may be used to move the end effector assembly 100 in very small increments . additionally , the remote 220 includes a haptic feedback mechanism 232 that provides feedback about position , force used , instruction , and other similar uses . in an alternative embodiment , visual communication may be used to identify which instrument the remote is operating , problems with where the rc instrument 10 is located , battery life of remote , which remote in a master / slave relationship is controlling the instrument , and other problems with the rc instrument 10 or system . alternatively , the remote 220 can be configured with audio feedback ( not shown ) to inform the surgeon m of problems or pre - recorded specific instrument functions . the remote 220 further includes data ports 226 a and 226 b for communicating with the instrument base 300 . the data ports 226 a and 226 b may be connected directly to the instrument base 300 or wirelessly connected . fig2 b discloses a second embodiment of a remote 240 for use with the remote controlled surgical system 100 . similar to the remote 220 in fig2 a , the remote 240 includes data ports 226 a and 226 b , momentum sensor 224 , infrared sensor 222 , and / or haptic feedback mechanism 232 . remote 240 is shaped with a handle 245 and a trigger 244 . the trigger 244 is similar to button 225 on remote 220 , and may be used to activate an electrical signal to coagulate or cut tissue , staple tissue , or perform another surgical function . remote 240 further includes buttons 227 , 229 , and 231 used to perform other functions of the rc instrument 10 . the size and shape of the handle 245 can be ergonomically shaped for a right - handed or left - handed surgeon and / or based on the size of the surgeon &# 39 ; s hand . fig2 c discloses a third embodiment of a remote 260 . similar to the remote 240 in fig2 b , the third remote 260 may include a housing 265 , a momentum sensor 224 , haptic feedback mechanism 232 , handle 245 , and / or trigger 244 . trigger 244 is similar to button 225 on remote 220 , and may be used to activate an electrical signal to coagulate or cut tissue , staple tissue , or other procedure . rotating wheel 262 is similar to button 227 on the first remote , and may be used to move the end effector assembly 100 in very small increments . data port 230 wirelessly connects remote control 260 with the base 300 ( see fig3 ) of the rc electrosurgical instrument 10 . similar to the second remote 240 , the size and shape of the handle 245 can be ergonomically shaped for a right - handed or left - handed surgeon and / or based on the size of the surgeon &# 39 ; s hand . in alternative embodiments , remote 260 may also include opening 270 defined therein , where a surgeon m can insert the same type end effector assembly 100 and shaft 12 as used within the patient p during surgery . this would allow the surgeon or others the ability see how the end effector is moving . referring to fig3 , a rc surgical instrument 10 , such as forceps , includes a shaft 12 that has a distal end 14 configured to mechanically engage an end effector assembly 100 operably associated with the forceps 10 and a proximal end 16 that mechanically engages the base 300 . in the drawings and in the descriptions that follow , the term “ proximal ,” as is traditional , will refer to the end of the forceps 10 which is closer to a base 300 , while the term “ distal ” will refer to the end that is farther from the base . alternatively , the system may be used with a remote controlled pencil or other electrosurgical instrument . drive assembly 130 is in operative communication with the remote 200 through data port 340 for imparting movement of one or both of a pair of jaw members 110 , 120 of end effector assembly 100 . the drive assembly 130 may include a compression spring ( not shown ) or a drive wire 133 to facilitate closing the jaw members 110 and 120 around pivot pin 111 . drive wire 133 is configured such that proximal movement thereof causes one movable jaw member , e . g ., jaw member 120 , and operative components associated therewith , e . g ., a seal plate 128 , to move toward the other jaw member , e . g ., jaw member 110 . with this purpose in mind , drive rod or wire 133 may be made from any suitable material and is proportioned to translate within the shaft 12 . in the illustrated embodiments , drive wire 133 extends through the shaft 12 past the distal end 14 . both jaw members 110 and 120 may also be configured to move in a bilateral fashion . base 300 receives an electrical signal from a generator ( not shown ). generator may be connected to base 300 by a cable ( not shown ). by not including the generator within base 300 , the size of base 300 may be smaller . additionally , base 300 may be used with an existing generator system . alternatively , generator may be part of base 300 . remote control 200 ( see fig3 a ) may be in operative communication with an ultrasonic transducer ( not shown ) via data port 340 when the rc surgical instrument 10 is an ultrasonic instrument ( not shown ). alternatively , base 300 may be arranged with multiple rc surgical instruments 10 attached . each rc surgical instrument 10 may be removable or permanently attached to base 300 . fig4 illustrates a control system 305 for the rc surgical instrument 10 including the microcontroller 350 which is coupled to the position and speed calculators 310 and 360 , the loading unit identification system 370 , the drive assembly 130 , and a data storage module 340 . in addition , the microcontroller 350 may be directly coupled to a sensor 315 , such as a motion sensor , torque meter , ohm meter , load cell , current sensor , etc . the microcontroller 350 includes internal memory which stores one or more software applications ( e . g ., firmware ) for controlling the operation and functionality of the rc surgical instrument 10 . the loading unit identification system 370 identifies to the microcontroller 350 which end effector assembly 100 is attached to the distal end 14 of the rc instrument 10 . in an embodiment , the control system 300 is capable of storing information relating to the force applied by the end effector assembly 100 , such that when a specific end effector assembly 100 is identified the microcontroller 350 automatically selects the operating parameters for the rc surgical instrument 10 . for example , torque parameters could be stored in data storage module 320 for a laparoscopic grasper . the microcontroller 350 also analyzes the calculations from the position and speed calculators 310 and 360 and other sensors 315 to determine the actual position , direction of motion , and / or operating status of components of the rc surgical instrument 10 . the analysis may include interpretation of the sensed feedback signal from the calculators 310 and 360 to control the movement of the drive assembly 130 and other components of the rc surgical instrument 10 in response to the sensed signal . alternatively , the location of the rc surgical instrument 10 may be calculated using the method disclosed in u . s . ser . no . 12 / 720 , 881 , entitled “ system and method for determining proximity relative to a critical structure ” filed on mar . 10 , 2010 , which is hereby incorporated by reference . the microcontroller 350 is configured to limit the travel of the end effector assembly 100 once the end effector assembly 100 has moved beyond a predetermined point as reported by the position calculator 310 . specifically , if the microcontroller determines that the position of the end effector assembly 100 is within a safety zone determined by the ar controller 200 , the microcontroller is configured to stop the drive assembly 130 . in one embodiment , the rc surgical instrument 10 includes various sensors 315 configured to measure current ( e . g ., an ampmeter ), resistance ( e . g ., an ohm meter ), and force ( e . g ., torque meters and load cells ) to determine loading conditions on the end effector assembly 100 . during operation of the rc surgical instrument 10 it is desirable to know the amount of force exerted on the tissue for a given end effector assembly 100 . detection of abnormal loads ( e . g ., outside a predetermined load range ) indicates a problem with the rc surgical instrument 10 and / or clamped tissue which is communicated to the user . the data storage module 320 records the data from the sensors 315 coupled to the microcontroller 350 . in addition , the data storage module 320 may record the identifying code of the end effector assembly 100 , user of surgical tool , and other information relating to the status of components of the rc surgical instrument 10 . the data storage module 320 is also configured to connect to an external device such as a personal computer , a pda , a smartphone , or a storage device ( e . g ., a secure digital ™ card , a compactflash card , or a memory stick ™) through a wireless or wired data port 340 . this allows the data storage module 320 to transmit performance data to the external device for subsequent analysis and / or storage . the data port 340 also allows for “ in the field ” upgrades of the firmware of the microcontroller 350 . embodiments of the present disclosure may include an augmented reality ( ar ) control system 610 as shown in fig5 - 6 . the rc surgical instrument 10 is connected to an ar controller 600 via the data port 660 which may be either wired ( e . g ., firewire , usb , serial rs232 , serial rs485 , usart , ethernet , etc .) or wireless ( e . g ., bluetooth ®, ant3 ®, knx ®, z - wave x10 ®, wireless usb ®, wi - fi , irda ®, nanonet ®, tinyos ®, zigbee ®, 802 . 11 ieee , and other radio , infrared , uhf , vhf communications and the like ). additionally , remote 200 ( 220 , 240 , 260 ) is connected to the ar controller 600 via data port 660 which may be either wired ( e . g ., firewire ®, usb , serial rs232 , serial rs485 , usart , ethernet , etc .) or wireless ( e . g ., bluetooth ®, ant3 ®, knx ®, z - wave , x10 ®, wireless usb ®, wi - fi ®, irda ®, nanonet ®, tinyos ®, zigbee ®, 802 . 11 ieee , and other radio , infrared , uhf , vhf communications and the like ). fig5 illustrates a schematic diagram of an ar control system 610 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure . with reference to fig5 , the augmented reality ( ar ) controller 600 is configured to store data transmitted to the controller 600 by a rc surgical instrument 10 and a remote 200 ( 220 , 240 , 260 ) as well as process and analyze the data . the rc surgical instrument 10 is a robotic instrument . the ar controller 600 is also connected to other devices , such as a video display 140 , a video processor 120 and a computing device 180 ( e . g ., a personal computer , a pda , a smartphone , a storage device , etc .). the video processor 120 may be used for processing output data generated by the ar controller 600 for output on the video display 140 . additionally , the video processor 120 may receive a real time video signal from a camera 150 inserted into the patient during the surgical procedure . the computing device 180 may be used for additional processing of the pre - operative imaged data . in one embodiment , the results of pre - operative imaging such as an ultrasound , mm , x - ray , or other diagnosing image may be stored internally for later retrieval by the computing device 180 . the ar controller 600 includes a data port 660 ( fig6 ) coupled to the microcontroller 650 which allows the ar controller 600 to be connected to the computing device 180 . the data port 660 may provide for wired and / or wireless communication with the computing device 180 providing for an interface between the computing device 180 and the ar controller 600 for retrieval of stored pre - operative imaging data , configuration of operating parameters of the ar controller 600 and upgrade of firmware and / or other software of the ar controller 600 . components of the ar controller 600 are shown in fig6 . the ar controller 600 includes a microcontroller 650 , a data storage module 655 a user feedback module 665 , an osd module 640 , a hud module 630 , and a data port 660 . the data storage module 655 may include one or more internal and / or external storage devices , such as magnetic hard drives , or flash memory ( e . g ., secure digital ® card , compact flash ® card , or memorystick ®). the data storage module 655 is used by the ar controller 600 to store data from the rc surgical instrument 10 and remote 200 ( 220 , 240 , 260 ) for later analysis of the data by the computing device 180 . the data may include information supplied by a sensor 315 ( fig4 ), such as a motion sensor , torque sensor , and other sensors disposed within the rc surgical instrument 10 . the microcontroller 650 may supplant , complement , or supplement the control circuitry 305 of the rc surgical instrument 10 shown in fig4 . the microcontroller 650 includes internal memory which stores one or more software applications ( e . g ., firmware ) for controlling the operation and functionality of the rc surgical instrument 10 . the microcontroller 650 processes input data from the computing device 180 and adjusts the operation of the rc surgical instrument 10 in response to the inputs . the rc surgical instrument 10 is configured to connect to the ar controller 600 wirelessly or through a wired connection via a data port 340 . the microcontroller 650 is coupled to the user feedback module 665 which is configured to inform the user of operational parameters of the rc surgical instrument 10 . the user feedback module 665 may be connected to a user interface . the user feedback module 665 may be coupled to the haptic mechanism 232 within the remote 200 ( 220 , 240 , 260 ) to provide for haptic or vibratory feedback . the haptic feedback may be used in conjunction with the auditory and visual feedback or in lieu of the same to avoid confusion with the operating room equipment which relies on audio and visual feedback . the haptic mechanism 232 may be an asynchronous motor that vibrates in a pulsating manner . in one embodiment , the vibrations are at a frequency of about 30 hz or above . the haptic feedback can be increased or decreased in intensity . for example , the intensity of the feedback may be used to indicate that the forces on the instrument are becoming excessive . in alternative embodiments , the user feedback module 265 may also include visual and / or audible outputs . the microcontroller 650 outputs data on video display 140 and / or the heads - up display ( hud ) 635 . the video display 140 may be any type of display such as an lcd screen , a plasma screen , electroluminescent screen and the like . in one embodiment , the video display 140 may include a touch screen and may incorporate resistive , surface wave , capacitive , infrared , strain gauge , optical , dispersive signal or acoustic pulse recognition touch screen technologies . the touch screen may be used to allow the user to provide input data while viewing ar video . for example , a user may add a label identifying the surgeon for each tool on the screen . the hud display 635 may be projected onto any surface visible to the user during surgical procedures , such as lenses of a pair of glasses and / or goggles , a face shield , and the like . this allows the user to visualize vital ar information from the ar controller 600 without loosing focus on the procedure . the ar controller 600 includes an on - screen display ( osd ) module 640 and a hud module 630 . the modules 640 , 630 process the output of the microcontroller 650 for display on the respective displays 140 and 635 . more specifically , the osd module 640 overlays text and / or graphical information from the ar controller 600 over video images received from the surgical site via camera 150 ( fig1 ) disposed therein . specifically , the overlaid text and / or graphical information from the ar controller 600 includes computed data from pre - operative images , such as x - rays , ultrasounds , mris , and / or other diagnosing images . the computing devices 180 stores the one or more pre - operative images . in an alternative embodiment , the data storage module 655 can store the pre - operative image . the ar controller 600 processes the one or more pre - operative images to determine margins and location of an anatomical body in a patient , such as an organ or a tumor . alternatively , the computing device 180 can process and analyze the pre - operative image . additionally , the ar controller can create safety boundaries around delicate structures , such as an artery or organ . further , the ar controller 600 can decipher the one or more pre - operative images to define structures , organs , anatomical geometries , vessels , tissue planes , orientation , and other similar information . the ar controller 600 overlays the information processed from the one or more pre - operative images onto a real time video signal from the camera 150 within the patient . the augmented video signal including the overlaid information is transmitted to the video display 140 allowing the user to visualize more information about the surgical site including area outside the vision of the camera 150 . additionally , as the camera moves around the surgical site , the labels and / or data overlaid is moved to the appropriate location on the real time video signal . fig7 is a flow diagram of a process 700 for controlling an electrosurgical instrument with a remote 200 ( 220 , 240 , 260 ) according to an embodiment of the invention . after the process 700 starts at step 705 , a pre - operative image is generated from a diagnosing imaging source , such as from an mri , ultrasound , x - ray , cat scan , etc . at step 710 . the pre - operative image is taken of an anatomical section of the patient , which may include organs , tissue , vessels , bones , tumors , muscles , etc . multiple images can be generated from one or more sources based on the information required by the surgeon m . next , the pre - operative image is analyzed to generate data to assist the surgeon m during surgery at step 715 . the analyzing may be done by the computing device 180 or the microprocessor 650 . the data may include margins and location of the anatomical section . prior to starting the surgery , a camera 150 is inserted within the patient . a real time video signal of the patient during the surgical procedure is received at ar controller 600 during the surgical procedure at step 720 . the analyzed data is displayed with the real time video signal at step 725 . for example , if the anatomical section is a tumor then the location and margins of the tumor are calculated and then the name and margins are augmented onto the video signal to assist the surgeon m in locating the tumor . a rc electrosurgical instrument 10 is inserted into a body cavity or incision at step 730 . a user m moves , twists , and / or selects buttons on the remote control 200 at step 735 . the surgeon m may move the remote 200 in a manner similar to actions done with a handheld electrosurgical instrument . before the process 700 ends at step 745 , the rc surgical instrument 10 moves , twist , and / or performs other action based on the movements performed by the remote 200 at step 740 . the movements of the remote 200 are sent wirelessly or the remote is directly connected to the rc surgical instrument 10 . fig8 is a flow diagram of process 800 for determining if the remote controlled electrosurgical instrument is within an augmented safety zone according to an embodiment of the invention . after the process 800 starts at step 805 , a pre - operative image of an anatomical section of a patient is generated at step 810 . the pre - operative image can be generated from any type of diagnosing image , such as an x - ray , mri , cat scan , ultrasound , etc . the pre - operative image analyzed to determine a safety zone around organs , tissue , and / or other delicate anatomical structures at step 815 . prior to starting the surgical procedure , a camera 150 is inserted within the patient . during the surgical procedure , a real time video signal is received by the ar controller 600 via video processor 120 at step 825 . the ar controller 600 augments the safety zone onto the video signal at step 830 . for example , the safety zone may be represented as a cross hatched area or in a different color , such as a yellow area around an organ . a rc electrosurgical instrument 10 is inserted into a cavity or incision 15 within the patient p at step 830 . the location of the surgical instrument 10 within the patient is measured at step 835 using the position calculator 310 , speed calculator 360 , and other sensors 315 . alternatively , the location of the rc instrument 10 and / or end effector assembly 100 may be calculated using the method disclosed in u . s . ser . no . 12 / 720 , 881 , entitled “ system and method for determining proximity relative to a critical structure ” filed on mar . 10 , 2010 , which is hereby incorporated by reference . the ar controller 200 determines if the rc surgical instrument 10 is within the safety zone at step 840 . if the rc surgical instrument 10 is not within the safety zone , then allow the surgeon m to move , twist , and / or select buttons on remote 200 at step 845 . the movement of the remote may be similar to movement of a handheld electrosurgical instrument . the rc electrosurgical instrument 10 then moves , twists , and / or performs action based on the movement or actions from the remote at step 850 . then , the system measures the new location of the rc electrosurgical instrument 10 at step 835 . if the rc electrosurgical instrument 10 is within the safety zone , then the ar controller 600 notifies the surgeon at step 855 . this notification can be visual , audible , or haptic feedback . additionally , before process 800 ends at step 865 , the ar controller 600 , if necessary , can stop the drive assembly 130 at step 860 . fig9 illustrates a schematic diagram of a master / slave remote control system 900 according to an embodiment of the invention . similar to the remote controlled surgical system 100 shown in fig1 , the master / slave remote control system 900 includes a patient p with at least one incision 15 , a rc electrosurgical instrument 10 , a base 300 , a camera 150 , and a display 140 with an augmented displayed image 142 . additionally , the master / slave remote control system 900 includes a first user that is the master m ( surgeon ) that uses a master remote 960 and at least one slave user 950 a , 950 b that uses a slave remote 970 a , b . as the master m moves , tilts , selects buttons on the master remote 960 , the slave remote may receive haptic feedback to teach the slave user how to move the slave remote 970 a . additionally , the master remote 960 may allow the master m to transfer control to slave remote 970 a and then to 970 b or back to the master remote 960 . the master m can be located in the same room with slave 950 a and / or 950 b or the master m can be located in a remote location , such as another state or country . fig1 is a flow diagram of a process 1000 for sharing control of an electrosurgical instrument between a master and a slave according to an embodiment of the invention . the process 1000 starts at step 1010 , displaying a real time video signal with data from a pre - operative image at step 1020 . the master remote 960 selects a slave remote 970 a to control the rc electrosurgical instrument at step 1030 . the slave user 950 a moves , twists , or selects buttons on the slave remote 970 a to control the rc electrosurgical instrument 10 . the master m may override the slave remote 970 a to regain control of the rc electrosurgical instrument at step 1040 . before the process 1000 ends at step 1060 , the master m moves , tilts , and / or selects buttons on the master remote 960 , haptic feedback is sent to the slave remote 970 a , b at step 1050 to train the slave user 950 a , b how to use the remote . while several embodiments of the disclosure have been shown in the drawings and / or discussed herein , it is not intended that the disclosure be limited thereto , as it is intended that the disclosure be as broad in scope as the art will allow and that the specification be read likewise . therefore , the above description should not be construed as limiting , but merely as exemplifications of particular embodiments . those skilled in the art will envision other modifications within the scope and spirit of the claims appended hereto . | 0 |
the present embodiment will be described in case the concept of chaos of the present invention is applied to a ` pachinko ` machine . fig1 is a schematic diagram showing the pachinko machine of the present embodiment . reference numeral 1 designates a ball shooting grip , and numeral 2 designates a playing board face , which is equipped therein with rewarding catchers 4 , 6 , 7 and 8 , a game indicator 5 , rewarding catchers 3 having functions to start the game unit , and a great - hit catcher 9 . the pachinko balls shot by the shooting machine are bounced in various directions to fly downward over the board face 2 by nails arranged in the board face 2 . when the pachinko ball lands in any of the rewarding catchers 3 , 4 , 6 , 7 and 8 , reward balls are supplied to a ball feed / reserve chute 12 . especially when a ball lands in the rewarding catcher 3 , the game unit is started in addition to the supply of reward balls . this game unit changes indications of three figures in the game indicator 5 and interrupts the changes after lapse of a predetermined time period . the game unit commands the opening of a control valve for the great - hit catcher 9 if a predetermined combination of figures is achieved at the interruption . if this special condition is attained , the great hit causes the pachinko machine to open the great - hit catcher 9 thereby to establish a situation in which the player takes an advantage of catching more pachinko balls . as shown in fig1 the pachinko machine is generally identical without any substantial change in appearance to those used in the prior art . fig4 is a flow chart for applying the concept of chaos of the present invention to the pachinko machine . the pulse wave data fetched from a sensor 40 for collecting the information of the player are converted into a chaos attractor by a numerical operator 41 . the chaos attractor thus converted is then compared with a predetermined defining condition of the chaos , and an index calculated by a calculator 42 from the ljapunov index indicating the degree of satisfying that condition is fed to a computer 43 for controlling the pachinko machine . the indication or information of this computer 43 is fed to changing means 44 for changing the content of the game . thus , this game content is changed according to the situation of the player at that time . the computer 43 may be fed with the data from the pachinko machine itself as other data . these data are enumerated by the reward data of balls to the rewarding catchers , the great - hit data of the game unit or the situation of the control valve of the great - hit catcher 9 . the computer 43 enables the pachinko machine to cope with the various situations by processing those data and sending the commands or data for the various changes to the changing means 44 . in the present embodiment , the chaos attractor obtained from the pulse waves of the player is utilized to change the responses for meeting the pachinko machine . in order to get informed about the psychosomatic state of the player , according to the present embodiment , the ball shooting grip 1 is equipped with a pulse wave sensor for measuring the pulse waves at the fingertip of the player . the ball shooting grip 1 is schematically shown in an enlarged scale in fig2 . this grip 1 can be turned to command the shot itself of the pachinko balls and the shooting intensity . the grip 1 is equipped at its outer circumference with a knob 20 having a function to aid the turning motion . the pachinko balls are usually shot by turning the grip 1 to the right . for this shooting action , the player actuates the grip 1 by applying his fingertip 22 to the lower side 21 of the knob 20 . thus , the pulse wave sensor 25 is fitted in that portion of the knob 20 , at which the fingertip 22 abuts against the lower side 21 . in the present embodiment , the pulse wave sensor is composed of an infrared - emitting diode and a photosensor so that the reflection of the infrared ray emitted from the diode may be sensed by the photosensor to acquire the information of the pulse waves of the player . in an alternative mode of embodiment , the knob of the grip is formed with a finger hole 24 , in which the pulse wave sensor 25 is fitted , as shown in fig3 . in this modification , the sensor can be held in complete contact with the fingertip so that the pulse waves of the player can be acquired more reliably . in another structure , the pulse wave sensor can be disposed in at least such a portion of the ball shooting grip as is grasped by the player . moreover , the sensor to be used should not be limited to that using the photo - coupler but can also utilize a pressure sensor . the pulse wave information thus achieved from the player is converted into the chaos attractor by the arithmetic operation means so that it is recognized as the chaos attractor information indicating the present psychosomatic state of the player . next , the chaos attractor recognized is compared with the chaos attractor which has already been classified and registered . then , the ljapunov number responding to a predetermined level is achieved by the arithmetic operating means so that the responses to be taken by the pachinko machine is changed according to that numerical value . the changes in the responses of the pachinko game and its machine will be specifically described in the following . if the prevailing psychosomatic state of the player is in an &# 34 ; unexcited &# 34 ; situation so that this situation is recognized through the arithmetic operator by arithmetically processing the data obtained from the aforementioned sensor , the rewarding catcher 6 , for example , other than the ordinary game unit starting chucker catcher 3 is set to a concurrent game unit starting chucker catcher . the game unit is also started when a pachinko ball lands in the reset rewarding catcher 6 . the subsequent responses are identical to the ordinary ones so that the great hit is rewarded if the specific combination is obtained among the figures . otherwise , a predetermined number of more balls are returned . thus , the psychosomatic state of the player obtained from the sensor mounted in the shooting grip is arithmetically processed to assign the game to the level under the predetermined condition , e . g ., the &# 34 ; unexcited &# 34 ; level as in this case . then , a command is issued to take a response different from that of the ordinary pachinko machine so that the gate unit can be unintentionally started to attract the interest of the player . in the present embodiment , the unexpected game is started by the pachinko machine so that the game can be changed from that of the ordinary pachinko to make variations . in the embodiment described above , the response of the pachinko game is changed in the game but should not be limited thereto . for example , the circumstances of the player such as the air conditioning , illuminations or musics can also be changed to prevent the player from losing his or her interest . the present embodiment is exemplified by applying the concept of chaos of the present invention to a rotary drum type game machine . if the prevailing psychosomatic state of the player is in the &# 34 ; excited &# 34 ; situation , this situation is recognized through the machine or the numerical operator by arithmetically processing the data obtained from the aforementioned sensor . then , the turning velocity of the rotary drum type game machine can be accelerated to make the player enthusiastic in the game so that he or she may be kept bot . moreover , the content of tho game each be changed by making the time period for the turning of the game machine to halt shorter than the ordinary one so that the player may see the game result earlier . the present embodiment is exemplified by applying the concept of chaos of the present invention to the facilities or a game parlor equipped with a plurality of game machines . specifically , the game parlor is usually arranged with a number of game machines in a block or matrix shape . these game machines are wholly or partially changed into those capable of grasping the prevailing psychosomatic states of the players . the data of these game machines are processed by another computer disposed in the game parlor to grasp the distribution of the games in specific psychosomatic situations . if the distribution of the &# 34 ; unexcited &# 34 ; players is grasped , for example , the kind of music to be served to the parlor is changed to provide the circumstances for the players to get &# 34 ; excited &# 34 ; or &# 34 ; thrilled &# 34 ;. this changing method can fit the prevailing situations of the players by changing the parlor entirely or partially according to the distribution of the players in a specific state . in all the three embodiments described above , the concept of chaos is applied , but this application should not be limitative . even if the application or the concept of chaos is impossible , the conditional level is determined in advance to classify the players so that the game machines can be given the change in the response like the case of applying the concept of chaos . in this modification , various responses can be achieved by changing the predetermined level and the kings of information from the players . according to the construction of the present invention , as has been described hereinbefore , it is possible to provide the contents and circumstances conforming to the prevailing psychosomatic situations of the players . moreover , the contents , responses and circumstances of the games can be changed according to the situations of the players so that the players can continue their interests in the games for a long time without any loss . the game contents are not limited to one pattern but can be changed according to the psychosomatic situations of the players or any of the levels predetermined by the players . thus , it is possible to realize a novel game stressed on the players . | 0 |
this attribute , when true , indicates that the system capability for contact verification signal is enabled . false indicates that the station has no and , in case of encoding the mac and the phy mib , it is able to newly add a definition for a dot11 contactverificationinterval ( or dot11wsmnotificationperiod ) related to a cvs transmission interval as shown in table 9 . as mentioned in the foregoing description , after the dependent sta ( e . g ., the mode i sta ) received an available channel list ( or wsm ) from the enabling sta ( e . g ., the mode ii sta ), the dependent sta ( e . g ., the mode i sta ) can consistently receive a cvs from the enabling sta ( e . g ., the mode ii sta ) with a period less than a preset time interval ( e . g ., cvstimeinterval ). for instance , the cvstimeinterval value can be set to 60 seconds . the mode i sta should receive the cvs on every 60 seconds or with a period less than 60 seconds . the mode i sta can judge that a corresponding channel list is continuously valid in a manner of consistently receiving the cvs , which corresponds to the map id of the currently possessed available channel list , with the set period . if the mode i sta does not receive the cvs corresponding to the map id of the currently possessed available channel list for the cvstimeinterval , the mode i sta judges that the channel list corresponding to the map id is not valid anymore . in particular , the cvstimeinterval can be represented as an expiration date of the available channel list . if the mode i sta does not possess a valid available channel list , the mode i sta should obtain an available channel list in a manner of performing the mode i caq process again . a case of not capable of receiving the cvs , which corresponds to the map id of the currently possessed available channel list , for the cvstimeinterval by the mode i sta may include a case of not capable of receiving the cvs itself ( e . g ., a case of getting out from the coverage of the mode ii sta by the mode i sta ) and a case that the map id of the cvs is not matched with the map id of the currently possessed available channel list although the cvs is received . in this case , the mode i sta judges that the currently possessed available channel list is not valid anymore . the mode i sta should obtain new available channel information corresponding to the map id included in the cvs in a manner of transmitting the mode i caq again and receiving a mode i caq response . in case that the mode ii sta moves , the cvs and the mode i caq can be used to inform the mode i sta of an updated available channel list . for instance , assume that the map id of the available channel list provided to the mode i sta is k . subsequently , if the mode ii sta moves more than a prescribed distance and if the location of the mode ii sta is modified , the mode ii sta can obtain an available channel list in a modified location again by accessing the db . if the channel list newly obtained from the db by the mode ii sta is different from the channel list of which the mode ii sta conventionally possessed , the map id of the newly obtained channel list can be set to k + 1 . by doing so , the mode ii sta can transmit the cvs to the mode i sta in a manner of setting the map id value included in the cvs to k + 1 . having received the cvs , the mode i sta checks that k + 1 , which is the map id different from k of the map id of the available channel list possessed by the mode i sta , is included in the cvs and can recognize that the available channel list is updated . hence , the mode i sta can transmit a mode i caq request to the mode ii sta . the mode ii sta can transmit a mode i caq response to the mode i sta in response to the mode i caq request . values of a map id field , a channel number field , a maximum power level field , and a validity field included in the mode i caq response are newly set to the value corresponding to a new available channel list . meanwhile , the mode ii sta can obtain a channel available for one or more locations from the db via the mode ii caq . by doing so , if the location of the mode ii sta were modified in the future , the mode ii sta does not access the db since the mode ii sta already obtained the channel list capable of being used in the modified location . yet , a case that the mode ii sta does not access the db in the modified location may correspond to a case that channel validity of a corresponding channel list is not expired for travel time or a case that an update does not occur in the db for the travel time . if the channel validity is expired , the mode ii sta can access the db to obtain new available channel information in the modified location . if db update occurred , the db can inform the mode ii sta of the change of the available channel information ( for instance , the db can inform the mode ii sta in a form of an announcement ). as mentioned earlier , in case that the mode ii sta has obtained the channel list available for one or more locations in advance , if the information of the available channel among the available channel list obtained in advance is modified due to a location change or the db update , the modified available channel information should be reported to the mod i sta . it &# 39 ; s because the mod i sta possesses the available channel list at the time of receiving a response for a mode i caq request only . and , in terms of the mode i sta , although whether the available channel list possessed by the mode ii sta is modified or not can be checked via whether the map id of the cvs is modified , since the cvs does not include the channel information , the mode i sta should make a request for the modified channel list information to the mode ii sta again . hence , having received the cvs of the modified map id , the mode i sta can transmit the mode i caq request to the mode ii sta . the mode ii sta can inform the mode i sta of a channel list capable of being used in one or more locations ( in particular , multiple locations ) at a time . a scheme for informing an available channel list to the mode i sta by the mode ii sta includes a scheme of responding a caq in response to a caq request of the mode i sta or a scheme of responding an unsolicited caq . the unsolicited caq response means a message of which the mode ii sta informs available channel information without the caq request of the mode i sta . fig9 is a diagram for an example of a mode i caq frame format used for delivering a channel list available in one or more locations . the mode i caq frame format of fig9 can be defined as a new frame format to which a number of locations field in the mode i caq frame format of fig7 is added and fields ( the map id field , the channel number field , the maximum power level field , and the validity field ) corresponding to the channel list are repeated . for clarity , explanation on the fields ( category , public action , and reason result code ) duplicated with fig7 is omitted in the example of the mode i caq frame format . number of locations field may have a value indicating the number ( i . e ., k ( k ≧ 1 )) of locations to which the mode ii sta queries the db . since one available channel list is given to one location , the value ( i . e ., k ) of the number of locations field has a value identical to the number ( the number of repeating of { one ‘ map id ’ and n number of ‘ channel number , maximum power level , and validity ’ field }) of available channel list in the field following the number of locations field . the length field may have a value indicating the length of the fields following the length field . in the mode i caq frame format in fig9 , the length field has a value of k *( n * 3 + 1 ). yet , the example shown in fig9 is just an exemplary to explain the principle of the present invention . a form of a channel list repeating in a frame format , which is repeated to represent the channel list ( or wsm ) for multiple locations , can be variously defined . for instance , in case of k = 1 in the example of fig9 , the length field can be represented as the length field includes information indicating the length ( i . e ., the length of the map id + the length of the channel number field , the maximum power level field , and the validity field ) of the channel list . for instance , if it is assumed that one channel list includes n number of channels , since the channel number field , the maximum power level field , and the validity field are repeated n times ( n *( 1 + 1 + 1 ) and the length of the map id is 1 , the length field may have a value of n * 3 + 1 . in this case , a maximum value of the n is limited to the maximum value capable of being represented by the map id . in particular , in the example of fig9 , the mode i caq frame format in case of k = 1 has a configuration practically identical to the aforementioned configuration of the mode i caq frame format in fig7 . more extensively , in case of k & gt ; 1 ( i . e ., k ≧ 2 ), { one ‘ map id ’ and n number of ‘ channel number field , maximum power level , and validity field ’} can be repeated k times after the length field . since the length of the map id field , the channel number field , the maximum power level field , and the validity field is one octet , respectively , the length field may have a value of k *( n * 3 + 1 ). the map id field is a unique number of each channel list . and , a value different from each other is given to a channel list different from each other . in particular , since one available channel list is provided in one location , a map id of a channel list in one location and the map id of the channel list in another location are provided with a value different from each other . and , in case that an available channel list is updated , the map id can be provided with a value different from the value of the map id previously used . for instance , the map id can be set to increase by 1 on every update of the available channel list . yet , this is just an exemplary and may be non - limited to this . according to the example that the map id increases by 1 on every update of the available channel list , in case that a channel list is updated after a maximum value ( e . g ., 2 8 − 1 ) of the map id is provided to the channel list , 1 is provided to a value of the map id for an updated channel list and the map id value increasing by 1 is provided to a channel list to be updated . in particular , the value of the map id field explained in fig7 , which is the example of the mode i caq frame format for an available channel list in one location , is a scheme for providing 0 after a maximum value ( e . g ., 2 8 − 1 ). on the other hand , the value of the map id field explained in fig9 , which is the example of the mode i caq frame format for an available channel list in one or more locations , is a scheme for providing 1 after a maximum value ( e . g ., 2 8 − 1 ) of the map id field . in the example of fig9 , the map id field having a value of 0 can be set to be used to indicate whether a channel list is updated and may not be used as an identification number of the channel list . as shown in the example of fig9 , the mode i caq for multiple locations can be used by a request of the mode i sta or can be used by a decision of the mode ii sta , which knows a moving area of the mode ii sta and is capable of directly selecting an operation channel . in case of the former , the mode i sta can transmit a mode i caq request message to the mode ii sta before an operation is started and the mode ii sta can transmit a mode i caq response message such as the example of fig9 to the mode i sta in response to the mode i caq request message . in case of the latter , after obtaining an available channel list for multiple locations from the db on a random timing point , the mode ii sta can transmit ( transmit in a form of an unsolicited caq response or an announcement ) the mode i caq response message to the mode i sta . the latter case can be generally used more than the former case , by which the present invention may be non - limited . after obtaining available channel list for multiple locations from the db and providing a map id different from each other to a channel list corresponding to each location , the mode ii sta can inform the mode i sta of the corresponding channel lists at a time via the mode i caq message such as the example of fig9 . the map id of which the mode ii sta informs the mode i sta can be identical to the identification number numbered by the db according to an available channel list when the db transmits the available channel list to the mode ii sta . or , besides the identification number numbered by the db , the mode ii sta can generate , provide , and manage a map id according to each available channel list . for instance , in case that the mode ii sta provides the map id to a plurality of available channel lists for multiple locations at a time , the map id can be sequentially numbered . this is because the mode ii sta intends to easily manage the map id in case the available channel list is updated by the db . and , if the available channel list is updated in a state that the map id is all assigned up to the maximum value ( e . g ., 2 8 − 1 ), a value of the map id field is sequentially assigned not from 0 but from 1 . in this case , in order to prevent the channel list assigned as map id = 1 from being handled as a channel list identical to the channel list of previously assigned as map id = 1 , the mode ii sta transmits a cvs configured by map id = 0 to the mode i sta . hence , although the map id of the mode i caq transmitted thereafter has a value identical to the previous map id , the mode ii sta can inform that it is a different channel list indicator . and , map id = 0 can be used as a usage for indicating that a correlation between the channel list and the map id is newly defined instead of being assigned to the available channel list . in particular , in case of reusing a conventional map id value in a manner of assigning the map id from 1 again since the map id is over the maximum value , the mode ii sta can transmit the cvs configured by map id = 0 to inform the mode i sta of a channel list modification . and , for instance , multiple locations included in a caq request frame can be sequentially mapped to a plurality of available channel lists ( wsm ) included in a caq response frame . in particular , if the multiple locations included in the caq request are sequentially called a first location , a second location , . . . , a k location , the caq response can sequentially include an available channel list for the first location , an available channel list for the second location , . . . , an available channel list for the k location . similar to this , an order of the map id included in a cvs frame can be mapped to the order ( or the order of a plurality of available channel lists in the caq response frame ) of the location information in the caq request frame as well . fig1 is a diagram of a cvs information element ( ie ) format for one or more available channel lists . a cvs format in fig1 ( a ) is different from the cvs format in fig8 ( a ) in that the map id field can be repeated . since the rest of the fields are identical to the fields of the example of fig8 , duplicated explanation is omitted . in the cvs format in fig1 ( a ), it is not excluded a case that one map id field is included only . and , a cvs ie format in fig1 ( b ) is an example of which a cvs delivery interval field is added to the cvs format in fig1 ( a ). the mode ii sta can provide the map id of one or more channel lists to the mode i sta using the cvs format in fig1 . the mode i sta can judge that a corresponding channel list is continuously valid in a manner of consistently receiving a cvs , which corresponds to the map id of a currently possessed available channel list , with a period less than a preset time interval ( e . g ., cvstimeinterval ). and , in case that although the mode i sta receives the cvs itself for the cvstimeinterval but cannot receive a map id of a specific channel list in the received cvs for the cvstimeinterval ( e . g ., 60 seconds ), the mode i sta can judge that the corresponding channel list is not valid anymore . if the mode i sta cannot receive the cvs itself for the cvstimeinterval , the information on the channel lists obtained via the mode i caq becomes not valid anymore . in this case , the mode i sta can perform the mode i caq process again . in particular , the cvstimeinterval can be represented as an expiration date of the available channel list . hence , in order to maintain one or more channel lists valid for the time more than the cvstimeinterval , one or more map ids for one or more channel lists should be delivered to the mode i sta in a manner of being included in the cvs . to this end , the cvs of the format depicted in fig1 can be used . having received the cvs , the mode i sta checks the map ids included in the corresponding cvs . and then , the mode i sta judges the channel list ( s ) corresponding to the map id , which does not correspond to the map id included in the cvs among the channel lists of which the mode i sta possessed in advance ( i . e ., the mode i sta possesses a plurality of channel lists and a plurality of map ids corresponding to a plurality of the channel lists via a latest mode i caq ), as invalid . the mode i sta can discard the channel list ( s ) or simply may not use the channel list ( s ). the mode ii sta can deliver the information on a plurality of the available channel lists to the mode i sta in advance via the mode i caq response ( a response for the mode i caq request of the mode i sta or an unsolicited response ). the mode ii sta can inform the mode i sta of whether the preliminarily delivered a plurality of the available channel lists are continuously valid using the cvs . in particular , it is able to represent that the mode ii sta renewals the expiration date of the channel list capable of being used by the mode i sta on every cvstimeinterval using the cvs . in this case , each of the map ids preliminarily provided in the process of the mode i caq does not need to be mandatorily included in the cvs . in particular , although the mode ii sta should consistently transmit the cvs on every cvstimeinterval ( e . g ., 60 seconds ), only a map id of an available channel in one location can be included in the cvs . the mode i sta can identify that the available channel list applied in a current location ( and current timing point ) corresponds to which one of a plurality of the available channel lists obtained via the mode i caq . and , the map id included in the cvs not always corresponds to the channel list currently capable of being used by the mode i sta . besides the channel list currently capable of being used by the mode i sta , the map id for a different channel list except the currently available channel list among the channel lists previously transmitted to the mode i sta can be consistently provided to the mode i sta via the cvs as well . for instance , as shown in fig6 ( b ), if an available channel in ( p1 , r2 ) is a subset of an available channel in ( p1 , r1 ), the operation as mentioned in the above can be performed . for instance , assume a case that a map id of an available channel in ( p1 , r1 ) region is 1 , 2 , 3 , the map id of the available channel in ( p1 , r2 ) is 1 , 2 , and the map id of the available channel in ( p1 , r3 ) is 1 . in this case , if the mode i sta is currently positioned at the ( p1 , r1 ) region , the cvs received by the mode i sta includes the map id = 1 , 2 , and 3 . the map id 1 and 2 correspond to the available channel list in the ( p1 , r2 ) region as well . similarly , among the map id = 1 , 2 , and 3 , which are included in the cvs received by the mode i sta positioned at the ( p1 , r1 ) region , the map id = 1 corresponds to the available channel list ( i . e ., a different channel list ) in the ( p1 , r3 ) region as well . as mentioned in the foregoing description , the cvs may include a currently available channel list and a plurality of map id fields corresponding to the different channel lists . in particular , including a map id in the cvs can be called a renewal of a channel list corresponding to the corresponding map id . by performing a renewal of the corresponding channel list using the cvs from a transmission timing of the channel list on every cvstimeinterval , it is able to manage the corresponding channel list to be consistently valid . or , among a plurality of the map ids corresponding to a plurality of the channel lists preliminarily provided to the mode i sta , a map id not included in a previous cvs can be included in a later cvs . for instance , in case that the mode i sta does not discard a channel list corresponding to the map id not included in the cvs and does not simply use the channel list , the mode i sta can perform a renewal for the channel list , which is not used before receiving a latest cvs although the mode i sta possesses the channel list . in this case , the mode i sta may simply operate in a manner that the mode i sta uses a channel list ( s ) corresponding to the map id ( s ) included in the latest cvs and does not use the channel list ( s ) corresponding to the map id ( s ) not included in the latest cvs . meanwhile , if a channel list is modified due to a movement of the mode ii sta , the mode ii sta can inform the mode i sta of a modified available channel list ( e . g ., in a manner of an announcement ) using the mode i caq . yet , if the modified available channel list is a subset of the available channel list prior to the modification and there exists a channel list coincident with the modified available channel list among the channel lists corresponding to the map id included in the cvs , the mode ii sta does not inform the mode i sta of the modified available channel list via the mode i caq but informs the mode i sta of which channel is not valid anymore via the cvs . in this case , the map id of the channel list including the channel , which is not valid anymore , is not included in the cvs . having received the aforementioned cvs , the mode i sta judges that the channel list corresponding to the map id , which is not included in the cvs , is not valid anymore . and then , the mode i sta does not use ( or may discard the channel list ) the channel list . in particular , in terms of the mode i sta , the channel list capable of being used by the mode i sta is a union of the channel list corresponding to the map id included in the lately received cvs . for instance , the mode i sta can obtain available channel information on multiple locations in advance using the mode i caq message such as the example of fig9 . if a location of the mode i sta is modified , the mode i sta can continuously check ( i . e ., tracking ) whether a plurality of available channel lists for the multiple locations are valid in a manner of not using a new mode i caq message in a modified location but receiving the cvs ( e . g ., the cvs of fig1 ) only . if the channel list capable of being used by the mode i sta is changed since the location of the mode i sta and / or the mode ii sta is modified , the mode ii sta can transmit a map id of the modified channel list to the mode i sta via the cvs ( in this case , assume that the channel list corresponding to the corresponding map id is provided to the mode i sta in advance using the mode i caq ). having received the cvs , the mode i sta can check whether there exists a channel list corresponding to the map id received via the cvs among the available channel list in the multiple locations obtained in advance via the mode i caq . if the mode i sta possesses the available channel list corresponding to the map id included in the cvs , the mode i sta can use the channel list currently used in a manner of replacing into a channel list corresponding to the map id included in the cvs . if the mode i sta does not possess the available channel list corresponding to the map id included in the cvs or the map id of the cvs is set to 0 , the mode i sta can receive a new available channel list from the mode ii sta . the mode i sta can obtain a new available channel list by receiving a mode i caq response from the mode ii sta with / without a request . this mode i caq process can be called an updated map id obtaining process or a map id reset process . in case of the mode i caq as a usage of updating a map id , if the mode ii sta receives a mode i caq request message , the mode ii sta transmits an updated map id and available channel list information corresponding to the updated map id to the mode i sta via a mode i caq response message . having received the mode i caq response message , the mode i sta can add the updated map id and the available channel list corresponding to the updated map id to the conventional valid available channel lists . meanwhile , after receiving the cvs of which the map id = 0 , the map id of the channel list newly received via the mode i caq response may have a number identical to the map id of the conventional channel list . in this case , the conventional channel list can be replaced ( or reset ) in a manner of matching the newly obtained channel list with the corresponding map id . in the foregoing description , the mode i sta obtains an available channel list in one or more locations and corresponding map id in advance using the latest mode i caq process and a method of informing the mode i sta of validity of the obtained available channel list via the cvs is described . subsequently , a case of newly configuring the available channel list itself , which is obtained using the mode i caq process , is explained . for instance , it is able to assume a case that the mode ii sta moves the available channel list to not a location of which the mode ii sta obtained the available channel list in advance but a new location or a case that the mode ii receives a notification from the db notifying that the available channel list is updated . in this case , although the mode ii sta transmits cvs to the mode i sta , since the mode ii sta cannot be sure the validity of the available channel list corresponding to the map id included in the cvs , it is necessary for the mode ii sta to have a process of obtaining the available channel list again . hence , the mode ii sta can obtain a new available channel list ( an available channel list in a modified location or an available channel list updated in the db although there is no location change ) by accessing the db again . if the available channel list newly obtained by the mode ii sta from the db is not matched with the conventional available channel list , the mode ii sta can transmit the cvs including the updated map id to the mode i sta . since the mode i sta does not have a channel list of the map id included in the cvs , the mode i sta transmits a mode i caq request message to the mode ii sta and can receive a mode i caq response message including the information on the updated available channel list from the mode ii sta . or , if the available channel list newly obtained by the mode ii sta from the db is matched with the conventional available channel list , the mode ii sta can transmit the cvs using the conventional map id as it is . having received the cvs , the mode i sta does not perform a mode i caq request . in the following description , a mode i caq process for one or more locations according to the aforementioned example of the present invention and various examples to which a cvs transmission and reception process is applied are explained . fig1 is a flowchart indicating a mode i caq process and a cvs transceiving process according to one example of the present invention . in the example of fig1 , assume that the mode i sta is positioned within the coverage of the mode ii sta and the mode ii sta is capable of exchanging information with an authorized db via the internet and the like . in the step s 1001 , the mode i sta can transmit a caq request 1 to the mode ii sta and this corresponds to a mode i caq request . in the step s 1002 , the mode ii sta can transmit an available channel list query for multiple locations to the authorized db ( e . g ., db ). this corresponds to a mode ii caq request . for instance , the mode ii sta is positioned at a p1 in the example of fig6 ( a ) and can query a channel list available in 2 locations ( i . e ., ( p1 , r1 ) and ( p2 , r2 )) to the db . in the step s 1003 , the db can deliver an available channel list for multiple locations to the mode ii sta in response to the query of the mode ii sta . this corresponds to a mode ii caq response . for instance , the available channel list provided by the db to the mode ii sta assumes a case that the channel number of the channels capable of being used in ( p1 , r1 ) is { 1 , 2 , and 3 } and the channel number of the channels capable of being used in ( p2 , r2 ) is { 3 , 4 , and 5 }. in the step s 1004 , the mode ii sta can transmit a channel list capable of being used by the mode i sta among the available channel list for the multiple locations obtained from the db to the mode i sta . this corresponds to a mode i caq response . for instance , the information included in the caq response 1 can be summarized in table 10 as follows . meanwhile , although the step s 1002 may be initiated by the step s 1001 , the mode ii sta can transmit the available channel list query to the db despite that the step s 1001 is not performed . and , if the mode ii sta already obtained the available channel list for the multiple locations from the db , the mode ii sta can perform the mode i caq response of the s 1004 in response to the mode i caq request without performing the mode ii caq process of the s 1002 and the s 1003 . or , the mode ii sta may deliver the available channel list for the multiple locations to the mode i sta without performing the s 1001 ( or , without performing the s 1001 , the s 1002 , and the s 1003 ). this corresponds to an unsolicited mode i caq response . as mentioned in the foregoing description , the available channel list for the multiple locations can be transmitted to the mode i sta in the step s 1004 in various situations . in the step s 1005 , the mode ii sta can transmit a cvs ( cvs 1 ) to the mode i sta . the cvs 1 can include information where map id = 1 only . hence , the mode i sta can determine a channel capable of being used by the mode i sta where the channel number { 1 , 2 , 3 } corresponding to the map id = 1 is available in a current location and current timing point . by doing so , the mode i sta can perform a ws communication . in the step s 1006 , a geo - location change may occur due to a movement of the mode ii sta to a different location . for instance , assume that the mode ii sta stays in the ( p1 , r1 ) position before the step s 1006 and moves to a ( p2 , r2 ) position in the step s 1006 ( more specifically , assume that the mode ii sta moves to the ( p2 , r2 ) position except a part overlapped with the ( p1 , r1 ) region ). according to the location change , the available channel list may be modified . since the mode ii sta has already obtained the available channel list in the ( p2 , r2 ) position in the step s 1003 , the mode ii sta does not need to query a new available channel list to the db due to the location change of the step s 1006 . in the step s 1007 , the mode ii sta can transmit a cvs ( cvs 2 ) including a map id of an available channel list in a current location to the mode i sta . the cvs 2 can include information where map id = 2 only . hence , the mode i sta can determine a channel capable of being used by the mode i sta where the channel number { 3 , 4 , 5 } corresponding to the map id = 2 is available in a current location and current timing point . by doing so , the mode i sta can perform a ws communication . while the mode ii sta is staying in the ( p2 , r2 ) region , update of the channel list , which is available in the ( p2 , r2 ) position , may occur . in the step s 1008 , the db can transmit an updated available channel list to the mode ii sta . this corresponds to an unsolicited mode ii caq response . for instance , the updated available channel list received by the mode ii sta in the step s 1008 ( e . g ., channel number { 3 , 4 , 6 } in the position ( p2 , r2 )) may be not matched with the available channel list ( e . g ., channel number { 3 , 4 , 5 } in the position ( p2 , r2 )) previously obtained in the step s 1003 . in this case , the mode ii sta can assign a map id to the updated available channel list as shown in the following table 11 . in the step s 1009 , the mode ii sta can transmit a cvs ( cvs 3 ) to the mode i sta to inform that the available channel list is updated in the ( p2 , r2 ). the cvs 3 can include information where map id = 3 only . in this case , the mode i sta includes the available channel list where map id = 1 , which is included in the caq response received in the step s 1004 , and the available channel list where the map id = 2 only . hence , when the mode i sta checks the map id included in the received cvs 3 , since the mode i sta does not have map id = 3 , the mode i sta cannot determine an available channel list corresponding to the map id = 3 . hence , the mode i sta should obtain new available channel information . in the step s 1010 , the mode i sta can transmit a caq request 2 to the mode ii sta . this corresponds to the mode i caq request . in the step s 1011 , the mode ii sta can transmit the caq response 2 to the mode i sta . this corresponds to the mode i caq response . in this case , information of a following table 12 should be included in the caq response 2 . meanwhile , explanation on the aforementioned fig1 can be identically applied to the example of fig6 ( b ). for instance , s 1001 to s 1005 and s 1007 to s 1011 can be identically applied to the example . it can be understood that the channel list is modified due to the movement of the mode ii sta from the ( p1 , r1 ) position to the ( p1 , r2 ) in the step s 1006 ( in particular , the channel list is modified when the mode ii sta moves from the ( p1 , r2 ) region to the region except the ( p1 , r1 ) region ). fig1 is a flowchart indicating a mode i caq process and a cvs transceiving process according to a different example of the present invention . in the example of fig1 , for a part of which a separate explanation does not exist , the explanation for the example of fig1 can be applied as it is . in the example of fig1 , assume a case that the mode ii sta starts from p1 of the example of fig6 ( b ) and moves in a manner of passing through ( p1 , r1 ) region , ( p1 , r2 ) region , and ( p1 , r3 ) region . in particular , an anticipated moving path of the mode ii sta is shown in fig6 ( b ) and assume that the mode ii sta has already obtained a channel list available in the anticipated moving path ( for instance , assume that the mode ii sta already obtained available channel lists from the db ). in the step s 1101 , the mode i sta can transmit a mode 1 caq request 1 ( caq request 1 ) to the mode ii sta . in the step s 1102 , the mode ii sta can transmit a mode i caq response ( caq response 1 ) to the mode i sta . for instance , a channel list available in each location including the anticipated moving path of the mode ii sta can be included in the caq response 1 as shown in the following table 13 . as shown in the table 13 , in case of the multiple locations are configured as depicted in fig6 ( b ), an available channel in a wider region can be set to a subset of an available channel of a narrower region . for instance , when a channel available in wherever in the wider region is determined , since the region is wider , possibility of existence of an incumbent user or interference of a neighboring channel may increase . yet , this is just an exemplary for the understanding of the present invention . the present embodiment can be applied to various cases where an available channel list in one location becomes a subset of an available channel list in a different location . the step s 1102 can be performed in response to the step s 1101 or can be performed by an unsolicited form . in the step s 1103 , the mode ii sta can transmit a cvs ( cvs 1 ) to the mode i sta . the cvs 1 can include map id = 1 , 2 , and 3 . hence , the mode i sta can determine a channel capable of being used by the mode i sta where the channel number { 1 , 2 , 3 } corresponding to the map id = 1 , 2 , and 3 is available in a current location and current timing point ( e . g ., for cvstimeinterval ). by doing so , the mode i sta can perform a ws communication . in the step s 1104 , a geo - location change occurs due to the movement of the mode ii sta moving to a ( p1 , r2 ) position ( in particular , in case that the mode ii sta , which exists in the ( p1 , r1 ) region , moves to the ( p1 , r2 ) region in a manner of getting out an r1 radius ) and an available channel list can be modified according to the movement of the mode ii sta . in the step s 1105 , the mode ii sta can transmit a cvs ( cvs 2 ) to inform the mode i sta of the change of the available channel list . the cvs 2 can include the map id = 2 and 3 . hence , the mode i sta can determine a channel capable of being used by the mode i sta where the channel number { 1 , 2 } corresponding to the map id = 2 and 3 is available in a current location and current timing point ( e . g ., for cvstimeinterval ). by doing so , the mode i sta can perform a ws communication . and , the mode i sta simply does not use or can discard the channel number { 3 } not corresponding to the map id of the cvs . in the step s 1106 , a geo - location change occurs due to the movement of the mode ii sta moving to a ( p1 , r3 ) position ( in particular , in case that the mode ii sta , which exists in the ( p1 , r2 ) region , moves to the ( p1 , r3 ) region in a manner of getting out an r2 radius ) and an available channel list can be modified according to the movement of the mode ii sta . in the step s 1107 , the mode ii sta can transmit a cvs ( cvs 3 ) to inform the mode i sta of the change of the available channel list . the cvs 3 can include the map id = 3 . hence , the mode i sta can determine a channel capable of being used by the mode i sta where the channel number { 1 } corresponding to the map id = 3 is available in a current location and current timing point ( e . g ., for cvstimeinterval ). by doing so , the mode i sta can perform a ws communication . and , the mode i sta simply does not use or can discard the channel number { 2 , 3 } not corresponding to the map id of the cvs . meanwhile , while the mode ii sta is staying in the ( p1 , r3 ) region , update of the channel list , which is available in the ( p1 , r3 ) position , may occur . in the step s 1108 , the db can transmit an updated available channel list to the mode ii sta . this corresponds to an unsolicited mode ii caq response . for instance , the updated available channel list received by the mode ii sta in the step s 1108 ( e . g ., channel number { 4 , 5 } in the position ( p1 , r3 )) may be not matched with the available channel list ( e . g ., channel number { 1 } in the position ( p1 , r3 )) previously obtained . in this case , the mode ii sta can assign a map id to the updated available channel list as shown in the following table 14 . in the step s 1109 , the mode ii sta can transmit an unsolicited mode i caq response ( caq response 2 ) to the mode i sta to inform that the available channel list is updated . in this case , information of a following table 15 should be included in the caq response 2 . meanwhile , explanation on the aforementioned fig1 can be identically applied to the example of fig6 ( a ). for instance , it can be understood that the channel list is modified due to the movement of the mode ii sta from the ( p1 , r1 ) position to the ( p2 , r2 ) in the step s 1104 ( in particular , the channel list is modified when the mode ii sta moves from the ( p2 , r2 ) region to the region except the ( p1 , r1 ) region ). in this case , the available channel information in ( p2 , r2 ) may correspond to a subset of the available channel information in ( p1 , r1 ). as mentioned earlier , a cvs scheme for informing the validity of the available channel in the r2 radius except the r1 radius can be used . for the method of transceiving a caq request / response and a cvs according to one embodiment of the present invention explained in relation to fig1 and fig1 , each of the items explained by the various embodiments of the present invention can be independently applied or two or more embodiments can be implemented in a manner of being simultaneously applied . for clarity , duplicated content is omitted . fig1 is a block diagram of a wireless device configuration according to one embodiment of the present invention . an ap 700 can include a processor 710 , a memory 720 , and a transceiver 730 . an sta 750 can include a processor 760 , a memory 770 , and a transceiver 780 . the transceiver 730 / 780 can transmit / receive a radio signal . for instance , the transceiver can implement a physical layer according to an ieee 802 system . the processor 710 / 760 can implement a physical layer and / or a mac layer according to an ieee 802 system in a manner of being connected to the transceiver 730 / 760 . the processor 710 of the ap 700 can be configured to determine wsm for the sta 750 . the transceiver 730 of the ap 700 can be configured to transmit information on the wsm to the sta 750 and configured to transmit a cvs frame including a map id of a currently valid wsm to the sta 750 after the wsm is transmitted . meanwhile , the transceiver 780 of the sta 750 can be configured to receive the information on the wsm from the ap 700 and configured to receive a cvs frame including a map id of a currently valid wsm from the ap 700 after the wsm information is received . the processor 760 of the sta 750 can compare a value of the map id field included in the cvs frame with a map id possessed by the sta 750 . in this case , a field for indicating a time interval of which the cvs frame is transmitted is included in the cvs frame . the cvs frame can be transmitted on every corresponding transmission time interval . besides , the processor 710 of the ap 700 can be configured to control the ap 700 to perform an operation according to various embodiments of the present invention related to the caq request / response and the cvs transmission and reception . and , a module for implementing the operation of the ap and the sta according to the aforementioned various embodiments of the present invention is stored in the memory 720 / 770 and can be executed by the processor 710 / 760 . the memory 720 / 770 is included in the inside of the processor 710 / 760 or is installed in the external of the processor 710 / 760 . the memory can be connected to the processor 710 / 760 by a well - known means . for the aforementioned detail configuration of the ap device and the sta device , each of the items explained by the various embodiments of the present invention can be independently applied or two or more embodiments can be implemented in a manner of being simultaneously applied . for clarity , duplicated content is omitted . embodiments of the present invention can be implemented using various means . for instance , embodiments of the present invention can be implemented using hardware , firmware , software and / or any combinations thereof . in the implementation by hardware , a method according to each embodiment of the present invention can be implemented by at least one selected from the group consisting of asics ( application specific integrated circuits ), dsps ( digital signal processors ), dspds ( digital signal processing devices ), plds ( programmable logic devices ), fpgas ( field programmable gate arrays ), processor , controller , microcontroller , microprocessor and the like . in case of the implementation by firmware or software , a method according to each embodiment of the present invention can be implemented by modules , procedures , and / or functions for performing the above - explained functions or operations . software code is stored in a memory unit and is then drivable by a processor . the memory unit is provided within or outside the processor to exchange data with the processor through the various means known in public . detailed explanation on the preferred embodiment of the present invention disclosed as mentioned in the foregoing description is provided for those in the art to implement and execute the present invention . while the present invention has been described and illustrated herein with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . for instance , those skilled in the art can use each component described in the aforementioned embodiments in a manner of combining it with each other . hence , the present invention may be non - limited to the aforementioned embodiments of the present invention and intends to provide a scope matched with principles and new characteristics disclosed in the present invention . although various embodiments of the present invention are described in a manner of mainly concerning ieee 802 . 11 system , the embodiments can be applied to various mobile communication systems where a caq request / response and a cvs transmission / reception are performed in a whitespace band in the same manner . | 7 |
fig1 illustrates an example view of global positioning system ( gps ), usable by navigation devices . such systems are known and are used for a variety of purposes . in general , gps is a satellite - radio based navigation system capable of determining continuous position , velocity , time , and in some instances direction information for an unlimited number of users . formerly known as navstar , the gps incorporates a plurality of satellites which work with the earth in extremely precise orbits . based on these precise orbits , gps satellites can relay their location to any number of receiving units . the gps system is implemented when a device , specially equipped to receive gps data , begins scanning radio frequencies for gps satellite signals . upon receiving a radio signal from a gps satellite , the device determines the precise location of that satellite via one of a plurality of different conventional methods . the device will continue scanning , in most instances , for signals until it has acquired at least three different satellite signals ( noting that position is not normally , but can be determined , with only two signals using other triangulation techniques ). implementing geometric triangulation , the receiver utilizes the three known positions to determine its own two - dimensional position relative to the satellites . this can be done in a known manner . additionally , acquiring a fourth satellite signal will allow the receiving device to calculate its three dimensional position by the same geometrical calculation in a known manner . the position and velocity data can be updated in real time on a continuous basis by an unlimited number of users . as shown in fig1 , the gps system is denoted generally by reference numeral 100 . a plurality of satellites 120 are in orbit about the earth 124 . the orbit of each satellite 120 is not necessarily synchronous with the orbits of other satellites 120 and , in fact , is likely asynchronous . a gps receiver 140 is shown receiving spread spectrum gps satellite signals 160 from the various satellites 120 . the spread spectrum signals 160 , continuously transmitted from each satellite 120 , utilize a highly accurate frequency standard accomplished with an extremely accurate atomic clock . each satellite 120 , as part of its data signal transmission 160 , transmits a data stream indicative of that particular satellite 120 . it is appreciated by those skilled in the relevant art that the gps receiver device 140 generally acquires spread spectrum gps satellite signals 160 from at least three satellites 120 for the gps receiver device 140 to calculate its two - dimensional position by triangulation . acquisition of an additional signal , resulting in signals 160 from a total of four satellites 120 , permits the gps receiver device 140 to calculate its three - dimensional position in a known manner . fig2 illustrates an example block diagram of electronic components of a navigation device 200 , in block component format . it should be noted that the block diagram of the navigation device 200 is not inclusive of all components of the navigation device , but is only representative of many example components . the navigation device 200 is located within a housing ( not shown ). the housing includes a processor 210 connected to an input device 220 and a display screen 240 . the input device 220 can include a keyboard device , voice input device , touch panel and / or any other known input device utilized to input information ; and the display screen 240 can include any type of display screen such as an lcd display , for example . the input device 220 and display screen 240 are integrated into an integrated input and display device , including a touchpad or touchscreen input wherein a user need only touch a portion of the display screen 240 to select one of a plurality of display choices or to activate one of a plurality of virtual buttons . in addition , other types of output devices 250 can also include , including but not limited to , an audible output device . as output device 241 can produce audible information to a user of the navigation device 200 , it is equally understood that input device 240 can also include a microphone and software for receiving input voice commands as well . in the navigation device 200 , processor 210 is operatively connected to and set to receive input information from input device 240 via a connection 225 , and operatively connected to at least one of display screen 240 and output device 241 , via output connections 245 , to output information thereto . further , the processor 210 is operatively connected to memory 230 via connection 235 and is further adapted to receive / send information from / to input / output ( i / o ) ports 270 via connection 275 , wherein the i / o port 270 is connectible to an i / o device 280 external to the navigation device 200 . the external i / 0 device 270 may include , but is not limited to an external listening device such as an earpiece for example . the connection to i / 0 device 280 can further be a wired or wireless connection to any other external device such as a car stereo unit for hands - free operation and / or for voice activated operation for example , for connection to an ear piece or head phones , and / or for connection to a mobile phone for example , wherein the mobile phone connection may be used to establish a data connection between the navigation device 200 and the internet or any other network for example , and / or to establish a connection to a server via the internet or some other network for example . the navigation device 200 may establish a “ mobile ” or telecommunications network connection with the server 302 via a mobile device 400 ( such as a mobile phone , pda , and / or any device with mobile phone technology ) establishing a digital connection ( such as a digital connection via known bluetooth technology for example ). thereafter , through its network service provider , the mobile device 400 can establish a network connection ( through the internet for example ) with a server 302 . as such , a “ mobile ” network connection is established between the navigation device 200 ( which can be , and often times is mobile as it travels alone and / or in a vehicle ) and the server 302 to provide a “ real - time ” or at least very “ up to date ” gateway for information . the establishing of the network connection between the mobile device 400 ( via a service provider ) and another device such as the server 302 , using the internet 410 for example , can be done in a known manner . this can include use of tcp / ip layered protocol for example . the mobile device 400 can utilize any number of communication standards such as cdma , gsm , wan , etc . as such , an internet connection may be utilized which is achieved via data connection , via a mobile phone or mobile phone technology within the navigation device 200 for example . for this connection , an internet connection between the server 302 and the navigation device 200 is established . this can be done , for example , through a mobile phone or other mobile device and a gprs ( general packet radio service )- connection ( gprs connection is a high - speed data connection for mobile devices provided by telecom operators ; gprs is a method to connect to the internet . the navigation device 200 can further complete a data connection with the mobile device 400 , and eventually with the internet 410 and server 302 , via existing bluetooth technology for example , in a known manner , wherein the data protocol can utilize any number of standards , such as the gsrm , the data protocol standard for the gsm standard , for example . the navigation device 200 may include its own mobile phone technology within the navigation device 200 itself ( including an antenna for example , wherein the internal antenna of the navigation device 200 can further alternatively be used ). the mobile phone technology within the navigation device 200 can include internal components as specified above , and / or can include an insertable card ( e . g . subscriber identity module or sim card ), complete with necessary mobile phone technology and / or an antenna for example . as such , mobile phone technology within the navigation device 200 can similarly establish a network connection between the navigation device 200 and the server 302 , via the internet 410 for example , in a manner similar to that of any mobile device 400 . for grps phone settings , the bluetooth enabled device may be used to correctly work with the ever changing spectrum of mobile phone models , manufacturers , etc ., model / manufacturer specific settings may be stored on the navigation device 200 for example . the data stored for this information can be updated . fig2 further illustrates an operative connection between the processor 210 and an antenna / receiver 250 via connection 255 , wherein the antenna / receiver 250 can be a gps antenna / receiver for example . it will be understood that the antenna and receiver designated by reference numeral 250 are combined schematically for illustration , but that the antenna and receiver may be separately located components , and that the antenna may be a gps patch antenna or helical antenna for example . further , it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the electronic components shown in fig2 are powered by power sources ( not shown ) in a conventional manner . as will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art , different configurations of the components shown in fig2 are considered within the scope of the present application . for example , the components shown in fig2 may be in communication with one another via wired and / or wireless connections and the like . thus , the scope of the navigation device 200 of the present application includes a portable or handheld navigation device 200 . in addition , the portable or handheld navigation device 200 of fig2 can be connected or “ docked ” in a known manner to a motorized vehicle such as a car or boat for example . such a navigation device 200 is then removable from the docked location for portable or handheld navigation use . fig3 illustrates an example block diagram of a server 302 and a navigation device 200 capable of communicating via a generic communications channel 318 . the server 302 and a navigation device 200 can communicate when a connection via communications channel 318 is established between the server 302 and the navigation device 200 ( noting that such a connection can be a data connection via mobile device , a direct connection via personal computer via the internet , etc .). the server 302 includes , in addition to other components which may not be illustrated , a processor 304 operatively connected to a memory 306 and further operatively connected , via a wired or wireless connection 314 , to a mass data storage device 312 . the processor 304 is further operatively connected to transmitter 308 and receiver 310 , to transmit and send information to and from navigation device 200 via communications channel 318 . the signals sent and received may include data , communication , and / or other propagated signals . the transmitter 308 and receiver 310 may be selected or designed according to the communications requirement and communication technology used in the communication design for the navigation system 200 . further , it should be noted that the functions of transmitter 308 and receiver 310 may be combined into a signal transceiver . server 302 is further connected to ( or includes ) a mass storage device 312 , noting that the mass storage device 312 may be coupled to the server 302 via communication link 314 . the mass storage device 312 contains a store of navigation data and map information , and can again be a separate device from the server 302 or can be incorporated into the server 302 . the navigation device 200 is adapted to communicate with the server 302 through communications channel 318 , and includes processor , memory , etc . as previously described with regard to fig2 , as well as transmitter 320 and receiver 322 to send and receive signals and / or data through the communications channel 318 , noting that these devices can further be used to communicate with devices other than server 302 . further , the transmitter 320 and receiver 322 are selected or designed according to communication requirements and communication technology used in the communication design for the navigation device 200 and the functions of the transmitter 320 and receiver 322 may be combined into a single transceiver . software stored in server memory 306 provides instructions for the processor 304 and allows the server 302 to provide services to the navigation device 200 . one service provided by the server 302 involves processing requests from the navigation device 200 and transmitting navigation data from the mass data storage 312 to the navigation device 200 . another service provided by the server 302 includes processing the navigation data using various algorithms for a desired application and sending the results of these calculations to the navigation device 200 . the communication channel 318 generically represents the propagating medium or path that connects the navigation device 200 and the server 302 . both the server 302 and navigation device 200 include a transmitter for transmitting data through the communication channel and a receiver for receiving data that has been transmitted through the communication channel . the communication channel 318 is not limited to a particular communication technology . additionally , the communication channel 318 is not limited to a single communication technology ; that is , the channel 318 may include several communication links that use a variety of technology . for example , the communication channel 318 can be adapted to provide a path for electrical , optical , and / or electromagnetic communications , etc . as such , the communication channel 318 includes , but is not limited to , one or a combination of the following : electric circuits , electrical conductors such as wires and coaxial cables , fiber optic cables , converters , radio - frequency ( rf ) waves , the atmosphere , empty space , etc . furthermore , the communication channel 318 can include intermediate devices such as routers , repeaters , buffers , transmitters , and receivers , for example . for example , the communication channel 318 includes telephone and computer networks . furthermore , the communication channel 318 may be capable of accommodating wireless communication such as radio frequency , microwave frequency , infrared communication , etc . additionally , the communication channel 318 can accommodate satellite communication . the communication signals transmitted through the communication channel 318 include , but are not limited to , signals as may be required or desired for given communication technology . for example , the signals may be adapted to be used in cellular communication technology such as time division multiple access ( tdma ), frequency division multiple access ( fdma ), code division multiple access ( cdma ), global system for mobile communications ( gsm ), etc . both digital and analogue signals can be transmitted through the communication channel 318 . these signals may be modulated , encrypted and / or compressed signals as may be desirable for the communication technology . the server 302 includes a remote server accessible by the navigation device 200 via a wireless channel . the server 302 may include a network server located on a local area network ( lan ), wide area network ( wan ), virtual private network ( vpn ), etc . the server 302 may include a personal computer such as a desktop or laptop computer , and the communication channel 318 may be a cable connected between the personal computer and the navigation device 200 . alternatively , a personal computer may be connected between the navigation device 200 and the server 302 to establish an internet connection between the server 302 and the navigation device 200 . alternatively , a mobile telephone or other handheld device may establish a wireless connection to the internet , for connecting the navigation device 200 to the server 302 via the internet . the navigation device 200 may be provided with information from the server 302 via information downloads which may be periodically updated upon a user connecting navigation device 200 to the server 302 and / or may be more dynamic upon a more constant or frequent connection being made between the server 302 and navigation device 200 via a wireless mobile connection device and tcp / ip connection for example . for many dynamic calculations , the processor 304 in the server 302 may be used to handle the bulk of the processing needs , however , processor 210 of navigation device 200 can also handle much processing and calculation , oftentimes independent of a connection to a server 302 . as indicated above in fig2 , a navigation device 200 includes a processor 210 , an input device 220 , and a display screen 240 . the input device 220 and display screen 240 are integrated into an integrated input and display device to enable both input of information ( via direct input , menu selection , etc .) and display of information through a touch panel screen , for example . such a screen may be a touch input lcd screen , for example , as is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art . further , the navigation device 200 can also include any additional input device 220 and / or any additional output device 241 , such as audio input / output devices for example . fig4 a and 4b are perspective views of a navigation device 200 . as shown in fig4 a , the navigation device 200 may be a unit that includes an integrated input and display device 290 ( a touch panel screen for example ) and the other components of fig2 ( including but not limited to internal gps receiver 250 , microprocessor 210 , a power supply , memory systems 220 , etc .). the navigation device 200 may sit on an arm 292 , which itself may be secured to a vehicle dashboard / window / etc . using a large suction cup 294 . this arm 292 is one example of a docking station to which the navigation device 200 can be docked . as shown in fig4 b , the navigation device 200 can be docked or otherwise connected to an arm 292 of the docking station by snap connecting the navigation device 292 to the arm 292 for example ( this is only one example , as other known alternatives for connection to a docking station are within the scope of the present application ). the navigation device 200 may then be rotatable on the arm 292 , as shown by the arrow of fig4 b . to release the connection between the navigation device 200 and the docking station , a button on the navigation device 200 may be pressed , for example ( this is only one example , as other known alternatives for disconnection to a docking station are within the scope of the present application ). in accordance with the invention , it is desired to make the display of enhanced map information on the display screen of the pnd dynamic such that there is more or less enhancement of the information displayed depending on the velocity of the device , and thus the vehicle in which the user may be travelling . ideally , there is less enhancement as the velocity increases , and above a certain threshold velocity , there is minimal or no enhancement of the map information whatsoever . however , at lower speeds the display of very detailed and highly enhanced map information can be of great benefit to a user because it can improve his situational awareness and level of perceived familiarity with an otherwise unfamiliar locality . also , the clarity of a particular navigation instruction can be radically improved by displaying highly detailed map information , as the likelihood of confusion in interpreting navigation instructions , or more precisely the turns a user must make , particularly in densely populated areas , cities , and other areas where there are many possible turns in a very short distance , only one of which is correct . advantageously , the invention mimics normal human behaviour on discovering one is lost or in an unfamiliar locality . in such instances , normal human behaviour is to stop and look around , and attempt to re - orientate oneself . accordingly , when stationary , a maximum amount of detail and enhancement is required in the displayed map information . the textures on buildings are displayed with higher detail ( higher quality ) when the speed is low . we standing still the textures are optimal . when driving with higher speed , e . g . & gt ; 100 km / h , no bitmaps are displayed at all , only building geometry is displayed . velocity = 0 - 10 km / h : display maximum details in building texture , ( e . g . doors , roofs , textures , shadows ) velocity = 10 - 50 km / h : display only moderate details ( subtle patterns of brick , possibly with subtle edges ) velocity =+ 50 km / h : no details oust one color for a building block , no shadow ) it is worth mentioning that the omission of map information as the speed of the device increases is a known feature already present in the applicant &# 39 ; s current products . accordingly , for the avoidance of doubt , this invention is concerned with the extent to which map information , or one or more specific features available within the enhanced map information , is enhanced , as opposed to the extent to which the quality of the standard , non - enhanced map information is reduced , depending on the speed of travel of the device . | 6 |
the skin care formulations , and an emulsifier composition therefor , provides the user with a skin feel of lubricity and emollience , and provide moisturization without added moisturizer . the emulsifier composition of the invention is a mixture of a high hlb emulsifier , particularly , lecithin , in a weight amount of about 3 . 7 to 21 %, preferably 4 . 5 to 17 %, and optimally about 6 . 8 to 12 %, and a blend of low hlb emulsifiers , to 100 %. the blend of low hlb emulsifiers has a resultant hlb of about 1 . 5 to 5 , preferably 1 . 5 to 4 , and , optimally about 2 . 5 to 3 . 5 . in skin care formulations , which contain water and oil components , the emulsifier composition of the invention provides and retains the desired bilayer gel network of the oil - in - water system , and its desired hlb ratios , even over a wide ph range , e . g . from 2 to 12 . the hlb stabilization in the emulsifier composition provides skin care formulations which can accept acid or base components therein as an alpha hydroxy acid , or a depilatory , in the formulation . in the preferred form of the invention , the low hlb blend of emulsifiers includes emulsifiers having a non - ionizable group , e . g . an alcohol , such as behenyl alcohol ( hlb 1 . 9 ); as well as emulsifiers having an ionizable group therein , e . g . carboxyl , such as stearic acid , palmitic acid ( hlb 3 . 2 ); or maleated soybean oil ( hlb 1 . 9 ); or esters such as glyceryl monostearate ( hlb 3 . 4 ) or sorbitan monostearate ( hlb = 4 . 7 ). the skin care formulation is made by suitable mixing of about 1 - 10 % by weight of the emulsifier composition , preferably 2 - 7 %. in one embodiment , the gellant comprises about 8 - 30 % behenyl alcohol , about 15 - 30 % glyceryl monostearate , about 15 - 40 % of a mixture of palmitic and stearic acids and 0 - 30 % of maleated soybean oil . in another embodiment , the gellant comprises 8 - 27 % behenyl alcohol , about 18 - 25 % glyceryl monostearate , about 3 - 10 % of a mixture of lauryl , myristyl and cetyl alcohols , about 18 - 35 % of a mixture of palmitic and stearic acids and about 12 - 20 % of maleated soybean oil . the gel network formed by the emulsifier composition herein begins a phase transition above 45 ° c . therefore , to ensure high temperature stability for the skin care formulation , it is preferred to add a small amount of a hydrocolloid stabilizer such as stabileze ® 06 -- international specialty products which is a crosslinked polyvinyl maleic anhydride / methyl vinyl ether polymer . the invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the following examples . the following emulsifier compositions of examples 1 - 6 were prepared by mixing the several components therein thoroughly at room temperature . ______________________________________swellant wt . % gellants wt . % hlb______________________________________example 1lecithin 9 . 89 behenyl alcohol 24 . 18 1 . 9 glyceryl stearate 28 . 46 3 . 4 palmitic acid 15 . 11 3 . 3 stearic acid 12 . 36 3 . 2 total 90 . 11 2 . 9example 2lecithin 11 behenyl alcohol 23 1 . 9 glyceryl stearate 21 3 . 4 palmitic acid 14 . 85 3 . 3 stearic acid 12 . 15 3 . 2 maleated soybean oil 18 1 . 9 total 89 2 . 68example 3lecithin 2 sorbitan stearate 98 4 . 7example 4lecithin 9 . 79 behenyl alcohol 24 . 18 1 . 9 glyceryl stearate 21 . 98 3 . 4 palmitic acid 15 . 11 3 . 3 stearic acid 12 . 36 3 . 2 maleated soybean oil 16 . 48 1 . 9 total 90 . 21 2 . 66example 5hydrogenated 9 behenyl alcohol 24 1 . 9lecithing glyceryl stearate 24 3 . 4 palmitic acid 17 . 2 3 . 3 stearic acid 10 . 8 3 . 2 lauryl alcohol 1 . 5 3 . 3 myristyl alcohol 2 2 . 9 cetyl alcohol 1 . 5 2 . 5 total 91 2 . 3example 6lecithin 7 behenyl alcohol 23 1 . 9 glyceryl stearate 21 3 . 4 palmitic acid 17 . 8 3 . 3 stearic acid 11 . 7 3 . 2 lauryl alcohol 1 3 . 3 myristyl alcohol 1 . 5 2 . 9 cetyl alcohol 1 2 . 5 maleated soybean oil 16 1 . 9 total 93 2 . 52______________________________________ typical skin care formulation using the emulsifier compositions of examples 1 - 6 were prepared as described below in examples 7 - 10 . ______________________________________skin care formulation______________________________________phase awater 67 . 3glycerin 1 . 0stabileze ® qm ( isp ) 0 . 2phase bceraphyl ® 230 ( isp ) 4 . 0ceraphyl ® 494 ( isp ) 6 . 0ceraphyl ® 368 ( isp ) 10 . 0composition of example 6 ( isp ) 5 . 0phase cwater 5 . 0naoh ( 10 %) 0 . 5phase dgermaben ® iie ( isp ) 1 . 0total 100 % ______________________________________ heat phase a at 70 ° c . until clear . add phase b and homogenize at 70 ° c . with homogenization add phase c at 70 ° c . allow to cool with mixing . add phase d with mixing when temperature is 40 ° c . or lower . ______________________________________all natural skin cream______________________________________phase acomposition of example 4 5 . 0sunflower oil 3 . 0almond oil 5 . 0grape seed oil 4 . 0jojoba oil 6 . 0vitamin e acetate 2 . 0phase bglycerin 3 . 0carbopol ® 5984 ( 3 % soln ) 3 . 34water 68 . 11phase cphenonip 0 . 5perfume ( dragoco ) 0 . 05total 100______________________________________ heat phases a and b to 80 ° c . add a to b with continuous stirring . homogenize 1 minute . cool to room temperature with continuous stirring . add phase c at room temperature . the user experienced a skin feel of lubricity and emollience upon application of the formulation to the skin . ______________________________________moisturizer cream______________________________________phase acomposition of example 5 4ceraphyl ® ga - d 2ceraphyl ® 791 4ceraphyl ® 494 6ceraphyl ® 368 8phase bglycerin 3stabileze ® qm ( 1 . 25 wt %) 10pvp k 30 1water 61 . 5phase cphenonip 0 . 5total 100______________________________________ heat phases a and b to 80 ° c . add a to b with continuous stirring . homogenize 1 minute . cool to room temperature with continuous stirring . add phase c at room temperature . a feeling of lubricity and emollience was felt by the user . ______________________________________skin care cream with glycolic acidingredient wt . % ______________________________________di water 52 . 80glycerin 1 . 00veegum ultra 1 . 00cmc 99 - 7hof 0 . 50ceraphyl 230 4 . 00ceraphyl 494 6 . 00ceraphyl 368 10 . 00prolipid 131 5 . 00di water 2 . 00glycolic acid ( 70 %) 5 . 70naoh ( 10 % sol &# 39 ; n ) 11 . 00germaben ii - e 1 . 00total 100 . 00______________________________________ 1 . combine cmc and glycerin of phase a . sprinkle veegum into di with stirring at rt . begin heating to 70 °- 75 ° c . with stirring . add glycerin / cmc to phase a with stirring during heating . 2 . combine phase b , heat to 75 °- 80 ° c ., stir until uniform . 3 . when phase a uniform and stirring at 70 °- 75 ° c . and phase b is uniform at 75 °- 80 ° c ., add phase b to phase a with homogenizer and turn off heat . when batch thickens , switch to sweep agitation for cool - down . while the invention has been described with particular reference to certain embodiments thereof , it will be understood that changes and modifications may be made which are within the skill of the art . accordingly , it is intended to be bound only by the following claims , in which : | 8 |
referring to the drawings , fig1 illustrates a stand - off 10 including a base 12 and a tube or extension 14 . the base 12 , fig2 includes an integral post 16 about which the tube 14 is molded . the base 12 further includes a polygonal head 18 , the head 18 illustrated being hexagonal , to resist rotation of the stand - off after it is embedded in a sheeted material 20 , fig2 . the post 16 includes an undercut circular groove 22 directly below the head 18 , as viewed in fig2 so that the head 18 overhangs the groove 22 , the post 16 and the tube 14 , as shown . when the head 18 is forced into the sheeted material 20 , the head 18 displaces a portion of the sheeted material 20 into the undercut groove 22 , whereby the base 12 becomes secured to the sheeted material 20 , as is known and illustrated in fig2 . the end portion 24 of the post 16 opposite the head 18 is made of reduced diameter and includes two circular grooves 26 and 28 spaced apart by a rib 30 . the end portion 24 also includes an end rib 32 defining , in part , the lower groove 28 . the base 12 also includes a flat end face 34 . the base 12 has an internally threaded bore 36 throughout its length , as shown in fig2 . also , the outer surface 38 of the base 12 between the grooves 22 and 26 is cylindrical . the annular end wall 40 which defines , in part , the groove 26 forms a shoulder upon which is seated the molded tube 14 . as illustrated , the molded tube 14 has mating ribs 50 and 52 which extend into and interlock with the grooves 26 and 28 and the ribs 30 and 32 of the post 16 . further , the tube 14 is formed with an outer tapered conical surface 54 which has the same diameter as cylindrical surface 38 of the post 16 at its upper end but which tapers inwardly , as shown . preferably the tube 14 has an opening 55 throughout its length . the tube 14 is coaxial with the base 12 and the opening 55 is in communication with the threaded bore 36 . the opening 55 is defined by an inner cylindrical surface 56 of the tube 14 which has a diameter larger than the root diameter of the threads in the base 12 , so that clearance is provided for a screw ( not shown ) which extends into and through the opening 55 of the tube 14 and into mating engagement with the threaded bore 36 . the inner surface 56 tapers outwardly , as shown . the molding apparatus , shown diagrammatically in fig4 includes a block 70 with a cylindrical opening 72 into which extends the post 16 of the base 12 . the head 18 is seated against the mold block 70 , as shown in fig4 and is supported in this position by a block 82 having a suitable recess 84 to receive the head 18 . from the opposite end of the mold block 70 ( the end opposite the base 12 ), a core pin 64 extends into the opening 72 , the core pin 64 having a portion 66 of reduced diameter and a flat annular end face 65 seated upon the end face 34 of the base 12 . the outer surface of the portion 66 together with its end face 65 form a sharp corner to define the inside corner at the juncture of the molded tube 14 and the end face 34 . the outer surface of the portion 66 is tapered so as to produce the tapered or conical surface 56 . the taper , as indicated in fig2 increases along the length of the stand off . the core pin 64 is slidably received within the opening 72 . the shoulder 62 together with the reduced diameter portion 66 and the wall defining the opening 72 together with the end portion 24 of the base 12 defines the tube 14 . the tube 14 is formed by injecting into the space , through an opening 80 , suitable molten material , preferably a zinc alloy . the molten material is permitted to cool and harden to form the tube 14 and thereafter the base 12 and tube 14 are ejected from the mold . thus it is seen that the tube 14 is formed in the space defined by the end face 65 of the core pin 64 , the reduced diameter portion 66 , the annular wall 67 of the mold block 70 , the surface 34 , the end wall 40 and the surfaces defining the two grooves 26 and the two ribs 30 and 32 . as mentioned previously , the base 12 is a screw machine item and made of a material such as steel which is relatively hard . on the other hand , the tube 14 is molded from a zinc alloy or the like and is much softer relative to the base 12 . the material of the tube 14 is also much less expensive than the steel of the base 12 . the tube 14 could , of course , be molded of other materials , such as plastic ( non - metallic ) materials . as indicated previously , the inside wall 56 and the outside wall 54 are uniformly tapered , as shown in fig2 so that the wall at the end opposite the base 12 is thinner than the wall adjacent the end face 34 . this uniform taper facilitates removal of the stand - off from the mold . assuming that the length of the base 12 is about 0 . 250 inches , that the largest diameter of the post 16 is about 0 . 280 inches and that the overall length of the stand off is about 1 . 125 inches , a taper angle of about 20 minutes ( 1 / 3 of a degree ) has been found to be satisfying for both the surfaces 54 and 56 . | 8 |
fig1 through 3 , discussed below , and the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present invention in this patent document are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of the invention . those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present invention may be implemented in any suitably arranged amplifier . fig1 illustrates selected portions of the receive signal path of exemplary radio frequency ( rf ) transceiver 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention . rf transceiver 100 may represent any conventional rf communication device , including a cell phone , a wireless network card , a two - way pager , and the like . the rf receive path through rf transceiver 100 comprises low - noise amplifier ( lna ) 105 , which receives an incoming rf signal from antenna 106 . the rf receive path further comprises band pass filter ( bpf ) 110 , rf amplifier 115 , rf mixer 120 , local oscillator ( lo ) 125 , band pass filter ( bpf ) 110 , intermediate frequency ( if ) mixer 135 , local oscillator ( lo ) 140 , automatic gain control ( agc ) circuit 145 , and digital signal processor 150 . lna 105 amplifies the incoming rf signal from antenna 106 to an intermediate level . bpf 110 filters the output of lna 105 to remove noise outside of the desired receiver frequency range . rf amplifier 115 further amplifies the output of bpf 110 by a variable amount of gain determined by the gain control signal agc 1 . rf mixer 115 down - converts the output of rf amplifier 115 by mixing it with the local oscillator reference signal from lo 125 to produce an intermediate frequency ( if ) signal . rf mixer 115 effectively shifts the rf signal centered around the receiver rf operating frequency down to an intermediate frequency ( if ) signal . at this point , the signal output by rf mixer 115 may have spurious signals outside of the desired frequency range which have been amplified and / or introduced by the amplification steps . bpf 130 is an extremely narrow filter that blocks all but the desired frequencies of interest from reaching if mixer 135 . if mixer 135 down - converts the if output of bpf 130 by mixing it with the local - oscillator reference signal from lo 140 to produce a baseband signal . agc circuit 145 further amplifies the output of if mixer 145 by a variable amount of gain determined by the gain control signal agc 2 . digital signal processor ( dsp ) 150 receives the baseband signal stream from agc 145 and further processes the baseband signal stream according to the type of rf communication device in which rf transceiver 100 is implemented . in a typical implementation , dsp 150 receives multiple baseband signal streams . for example , if rf transceiver 100 performs quadrature phase shift keying ( qpsk ) demodulation , dsp 150 receives an in - phase ( i ) baseband signal and a quadrature ( q ) baseband signal . furthermore , rf transceiver 100 may be one of several rf transceivers implemented within the same rf communication device , such as the base station of a cellular telephone system or a wireless local area network ( lan ) card . to reduce overall system expense , the multiple rf transceivers may share a common dsp to perform baseband processing . if the baseband data streams are packet based serial data streams , there is no guarantee that the input serial data streams to dsp 150 are synchronized or are derived from the same clock domain fig2 illustrates selected portions of the transmit signal is path of exemplary rf transceiver 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention . the transmit path comprises digital signal processor ( dsp ) 250 , radio frequency ( rf ) modulator 205 , local oscillator ( lo ) 210 , rf amplifier 215 , voltage - controlled attenuator ( vca ) 220 , and rf amplifier 225 . dsp 250 receives multiple input signal streams from one or more baseband signal sources , such as a baseband in - phase ( i ) signal and a baseband quadrature ( q ) signal from a baseband source and a quadrature source , respectively . as in the case of dsp 150 , if the baseband data streams are packet based serial streams , there is no guarantee that the input serial streams to dsp 250 are synchronized or are derived from the same clock domain . dsp 250 multiplexes together the input streams and outputs a combined baseband signal to rf modulator 205 . rf modulator 205 mixes the combined baseband signal with a reference carrier signal received from lo 210 to produce an rf output signal . the rf output signal is then amplified by rf amplifier 215 to an intermediate level in the range of vca 220 . vca attenuates the amplified rp output from rf amplifier 215 and the attenuated rf output of vca 220 is amplified by rf amplifier 225 to a level suitable for transmission by antenna 106 . the attenuation factor applied by vca 220 is controlled by the value of the gain control signal . fig3 illustrates exemplary interface circuit for multiplexing multiple unsynchronized data streams from different clock domains according to one embodiment of the present invention . the interface circuitry multiplexes input serial data streams from the clock domain associated with slave chip 305 with input serial data streams from the clock domain associated with master chip 310 . the input serial streams associated with master chip 310 are arbitrarily designated as the “ master ” serial data streams and the input serial data streams associated with slave chip 305 are designated as the “ slave ” serial data streams and are reclocked with the master data streams . according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention , master chip 310 may be a part of dsp 150 or dsp 250 . alternatively , master chip 310 may be part of an interface circuit that is external to dsp 150 or dsp 250 . slave chip 305 produces two serial data streams , cout and dout , that form two input serial data streams to master chip 310 . the cout and dout serial data streams are synchronous with each other and with a serial clock ( sclk ) signal and a serial frame strobe ( sfs ) signal that also are output by slave chip 305 . in the exemplary embodiment described below , the sout and dout serial data streams comprise 48 - bit words that are clocked out of slave chip 305 at a rate of one bit per cycle of the sclk signal . each 48 - bit word is delineated by a strobe of the sfs signal . those skilled in the art will readily understand , however , that the selection of 48 - bit words is by way of illustration only and that word sizes greater than or less than 48 bits may also be used in alternate embodiments of the present invention . the 48 - bit serial data streams , cout and dout , are serially loaded into an input buffer stage in master chip 310 that makes each bit available as it is received . in the exemplary embodiment , the cout signal is stored in first - in , first - out ( fifo ) buffer 320 and the dout signal is stored in first - in , first - out ( fifo ) buffer 325 . in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , buffers 320 and 325 may comprise 1 × 48 bit random access memory ( ram ) devices . a first strobe of the sfs signal and a first clock cycle of the sclk signal from slave chip 305 reset index counter 315 to an address of 0 ( i . e ., binary value = 000000 ) and write the first bits of cout and dout into buffers 320 and 325 . thereafter , the next 47 clock cycles of the sclk signal increment the output address of index counter 315 from 0 to 47 ( i . e ., binary value = 101111 ) and write the next 47 bits of cout and dout into buffers 320 and 325 . buffer 320 has a parallel output that forms the 48 - bit word , wordc [ 47 : 0 ]. as each bit of the cout input serial data stream is written into buffer 320 , that bit becomes available at the output , wordc [ 47 : 0 ]. similarly , buffer 325 has a parallel output that forms the 48 - bit word , wordd [ 47 : 0 ]. as each bit of the dout - input serial data stream is written into buffer - 325 , that bit becomes available at the output , wordd [ 47 : 0 ]. wordc [ 47 : 0 ] and wordd [ 47 : 0 ] are applied to the input channels of multiplexer ( mux ) 330 . similarly , two other 48 - bit words , worda [ 47 : 0 ] and wordb [ 47 : 0 ] are applied to the input channels of mux 330 . worda [ 47 : 0 ] and wordb [ 47 . 0 ] are generated from input serial data streams that come from serial data sources ( not shown ) located elsewhere in master chip 310 or from serial data sources ( not shown ) external to master chip 310 . mux 330 is a 192 : 8 multiplexer that has twenty - four ( 24 ) input channels , each of which is eight bits wide , and an output channel that is eight bits wide . the 8 - bit output of mux 330 is applied to one of the input channels , arbitrarily designated b [ 7 : 0 ], of multiplexer ( mux ) 335 . master chip 310 also comprises master clock source 345 , output index counter 350 , frame sync logic 355 , and flip - flop ( ff ) 340 . master clock source 345 produces a master serial clock ( sclk ) signal for master chip 310 . the master sclk signal clocks output index counter 350 and ff 340 . for each 48 - clock cycles of master clock source 345 , output index counter 350 increments from 0 ( 000000 ) to 47 ( 101111 ) before resetting back to zero . the counter output of output index counter 350 is applied to frame sync logic 355 , which generates a master serial frame strobe ( sfs ) signal ” once every 0 . 48 clock cycles . the master sfs signal delineates each 48 - bit word in the serial data stream , data out , at the output of ff 340 . frame sync logic 355 also generates channel select signals that are applied to mux 330 and mux 335 . according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , frame sync logic 355 applies five channel select signals to mux 330 that are operable to select one of the 24 input channels of mux 330 . frame sync logic 355 also applies a channel select signal to mux 335 that is operable to select either input channel a ( i . e ., a [ 7 : 1 ]) or input channel b ( i . e ., [ 7 : 0 ]). according to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention , frame sync logic 355 sequentially selects the 24 input channels of mux 330 such that each of the 48 - bit words applied to the input channels of mux 330 are output to mux 335 in 8 - bit bytes from the most significant byte to the least significant byte . thus , the first six channel select signals from frame sync logic 355 transfer the six bytes of worda [ 47 : 0 ] to mux 335 in the following order : worda [ 47 : 40 ], worda [ 39 : 32 ], worda [ 31 : 24 ], worda [ 23 : 16 ], worda [ 15 : 8 ], and worda [ 7 : 0 ]. the second group of six channel select signals from frame sync logic 355 transfers the six bytes of wordb [ 47 : 0 ] to mux 335 in the following order : wordb [ 47 : 40 ], wordb [ 39 : 32 ], wordb [ 31 : 24 ], wordb [ 23 : 16 ], wordb [ 15 : 8 ], and wordb [ 7 : 0 ]. the third group of six channel select signals from frame sync logic 355 transfers the six bytes of wordc [ 47 : 0 ] to mux 335 in the following order : wordc [ 47 : 40 ], wordc [ 39 : 32 ], wordc [ 31 : 24 ], wordc [ 23 : 16 ], wordc [ 15 : 8 ], and wordc [ 7 : 0 ]. finally , the fourth group of six channel select signals from frame sync logic 355 transfers the six bytes of wordd [ 47 : 0 ] to mux 335 in the following order : wordd [ 47 : 40 ], wordd [ 39 : 32 ], wordd [ 31 : 24 ], wordd [ 23 : 16 ], wordd [ 15 : 8 ], and wordd [ 7 : 0 ]. each byte of worda [ 47 : 0 ], wordb [ 47 : 0 ], wordc [ 47 : 0 ], and wordd [ 47 : 0 ] is output to mux 335 for eight clock cycles of master clock source 345 . during the first clock cycle , frame sync logic 355 also selects channel b of mux 335 , such that the byte applied at b [ 7 : 0 ] is transferred by mux 335 to the 8 - bit input of ff 340 . at the end of the first clock cycle , ff 340 is strobed such that the selected 8 - bit input is transferred to out [ 7 : 0 ] at the output of ff 340 . the most significant bit , out [ 7 ], is coupled to the serial output , data out . out [ 6 : 0 ], the six least significant bits of the output of ff 340 , are coupled to a [ 7 : 1 ], the seven most significant input bits of channel a , respectively , such that a hard wired left - shift operation is performed . a [ 0 ] is hard - wired to a logic 1 . alternatively , a [ 0 ] may be hard - wired to a logic 0 . at the end of the first clock cycle , frame sync logic 355 selects channel a of mux 335 and continues to select channel a ( i . e ., a [ 7 : 0 ]) for the next seven clock cycles of the master sclk signal . during each of the next seven clock cycles of the master sclk signal , out [ 6 : 0 ] is left - shifted , applied to the data input of ff 340 , and output to out [ 7 : 0 ]. because of the left shift operation , each of the original out [ 6 : 0 ] is shifted out on out [ 7 ]. the net effect is that each of the six 8 - bit bytes in worda [ 47 : 0 ] is selected by mux 330 and mux 335 and then is serialized by ff 340 and mux 335 . thus , all forty - eight bits of worda [ 47 : 0 ] are serially shifted out at the master serial data output , data out . this process is then repeated for wordb [ 47 : 0 ] wordc [ 47 : 0 ], and wordd [ 47 : 0 ]. advantageously , since the master input serial data streams , worda [ 47 : 0 ] and wordb [ 47 : 0 ], are output first , the slave input serial data streams , wordc [ 47 : 0 ] and wordd [ 47 : 0 ], may be stored in buffers 320 and 325 until needed . in multi - chip applications , the is slave input serial data streams may be split into multiple streams and transferred at a slower rate to increase timing margins . also , since buffers 320 and 325 are fifo devices , master chip 310 may begin clocking out the beginning of the slave streams before slave chip 305 has completed transmission of cout and dout to buffers 320 and 325 . this provides a substantial amount of synchronization tolerance between master chip 310 and slave ship 0 . 305 . although the present invention has been described in detail , those skilled in the art should understand that they can make various changes , substitutions and alterations herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention in its broadest form . | 7 |
reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . referring to fig1 a , a short - shank ham is shown according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . a person of ordinary skill in the art recognizes that the short - shank ham 100 is not drawn to scale and may have any configuration of the bones contained therein , as known to one of ordinary skill in the art . short - shank ham 100 typically comprises three bones : a shank bone 170 , a femur bone 130 , and an aitch bone 140 . the aitch bone 140 is positioned substantially at the butt end 150 of the short - shank ham 100 . the shank bone 170 extends substantially from a shank tip 160 of the short - shank ham 100 to the femur bone 130 , which is positioned at a different angle from the shank bone 170 . at the butt end 150 of the short - shank ham 100 , the femur bone 130 is proximate to the aitch bone 140 . in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , the short - shank ham may be spirally - sliced 120 substantially the length of the short - shank ham 100 and substantially centered about the femur bone 130 . a short - shank ham 100 may be separated along a transverse plane 110 , resulting in a butt - end piece 101 and a shank - end piece 102 . referring also to fig1 b and 1 c , shown are views of the cut faces of the butt - end piece 101 and shank - end piece 102 , respectively , according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . the aitch bone 140 and shank bone 170 are shown crosshatched to indicate that they are inside the meat and thus would not be visible on the cut faces . a separation along the transverse plane 110 separates the femur bone 130 into the butt - end piece of the femur 131 and the shank - end piece of the femur 132 . in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , the ham may be spirally sliced and the separation along transverse plane 110 may separate a short - shank ham 100 between spiral slices 120 . in another exemplary embodiment of the invention , a ham that is not spirally sliced may be separated along the transverse plane 110 . in an embodiment of the invention , the butt - end piece 101 comprises between approximately 35 % and approximately 55 % by weight of the short - shank ham 100 . in another embodiment of the invention , the butt - end piece 101 comprises between approximately 40 % and approximately 50 % by weight of the short - shank ham 100 . in yet another embodiment of the invention , the butt - end piece 101 comprises between approximately 43 % and approximately 47 % by weight of the short - shank ham 100 . in still another embodiment of the invention , the butt - end piece 101 comprises approximately 45 % by weight of the short - shank ham 100 . referring now to fig1 b , 1 d and 1 e , pieces of a short - shank ham may be made according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention by separating the butt - end piece 101 . the butt - end piece 101 may be separated along the longitudinal plane 111 , resulting in a first piece 103 and a second piece 104 . the separation along longitudinal plane 111 is made such that the aitch bone is divided into pieces of substantially equal weight . the longitudinal plane 111 is substantially perpendicular to the cut face of the butt - end piece 101 . according to an embodiment of the invention , the angle between the longitudinal plane 111 and the long axis of the butt - end piece 112 is between approximately 40 degrees and approximately 50 degrees . according to another embodiment of the invention , the angle between the longitudinal plane 111 and the long axis of the butt - end piece 112 is between approximately 43 degrees and approximately 47 degrees . according to yet another embodiment of the invention , the angle between the longitudinal plane 111 and the long axis of the butt - end piece 112 is approximately 45 degrees . separation of the butt - end piece 101 along the longitudinal plane 111 divides the aitch bone 140 into a first aitch bone piece 141 and a second aitch bone piece 142 . in an embodiment of the invention , the weights of the first aitch bone piece 141 and the second aitch bone piece 142 would differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. separation of the butt - end piece 101 along the longitudinal plane 111 also divides the butt - end piece of the femur 131 into a first butt - end piece of the femur 133 and a second butt - end piece of the femur 134 . in an embodiment of the invention , the weights of the first butt - end piece of the femur 133 and the second butt - end piece of the femur 134 would differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. referring now to fig1 c , 1 f and 1 g , pieces of a short - shank ham may be made according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention by separating the shank - end piece 102 . the shank bone 170 is shown crosshatched to indicate that it is inside the meat and thus would not be visible on the cut face . the shank - end piece 102 may be separated along a first longitudinal plane 113 or a second longitudinal plane 114 , resulting in a first piece 103 and a second piece 104 . the plane along which the separation is made is substantially perpendicular to the cut face of the shank - end piece 102 . according to an embodiment of the invention , the angle between the plane along which the separation is made and the long axis of the shank - end piece 115 is between approximately 40 degrees and approximately 50 degrees . according to another embodiment of the invention , the angle between the plane along which the separation is made and the long axis of the shank - end piece 115 is between approximately 43 degrees and approximately 47 degrees . according to yet another embodiment of the invention , the angle between the plane along which the separation is made and the long axis of the shank - end piece 115 is approximately 45 degrees . according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention , the shank - end piece 102 may instead be separated along the long axis of the shank piece 115 , in which case the shank bone would also be divided between the resultant pieces . in an embodiment of the invention , the weights of two pieces of the shank bone would differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. whether the shank - end piece 102 is separated along the first longitudinal plane 113 , the second longitudinal plane 114 , or the long axis 115 of the shank piece , separation of the shank - end piece 102 divides the shank - end piece of the femur 132 into a first shank - end piece of the femur 135 and a second shank - end piece of the femur 136 . in an embodiment of the invention , the weights of the first shank - end piece of the femur 135 and the second shank - end piece of the femur 136 would differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. referring to fig1 d , 1 e , 1 f , and 1 g , a short - shank ham is shown divided into four pieces according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention . in an embodiment of the invention , in the pieces made from a single ham the weights of the heaviest and the lightest pieces differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. in another embodiment of the invention , in the pieces made from a single ham the total weight of bone in the piece having the most bone and the piece having the least bone differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. in yet another embodiment of the invention , in the pieces made from a single ham the ratio of meat to bone in the piece having the highest ratio of meat - to - bone and the piece having the lowest ratio of meat - to - bone would differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. referring to fig2 a , a shank bone out ( sbo ) ham is shown according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . a person of ordinary skill in the art recognizes that the sbo ham 200 is not drawn to scale and may have any configuration of the bones contained therein , as known to one of ordinary skill in the art . sbo ham 200 typically comprises two bones : a femur bone 230 , and an aitch bone 240 . the aitch bone 240 is positioned substantially at the butt end 250 of the sbo ham 200 . at the butt end 250 of the sbo ham 200 , the femur bone 230 is proximate to the aitch bone 240 . in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , the sbo ham may be spirally - sliced 220 substantially the length of the sbo ham 200 and substantially centered about the femur bone 230 . a sbo ham 200 may be separated along a transverse plane 210 , resulting in a butt - end piece 201 and a shank - end piece 202 . referring also to fig2 b and 2 c , shown are views of the cut faces of the butt - end piece 201 and shank - end piece 202 , respectively , according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . the aitch bone 240 is shown crosshatched to indicate that it is inside the meat and thus would not be visible on the cut face . a separation along the transverse plane 210 separates the femur bone 230 into the butt - end piece of the femur 231 and the shank - end piece of the femur 232 . in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , the ham may be spirally sliced and the separation along transverse plane 210 may separate a sbo ham 200 between spiral slices 220 . in another exemplary embodiment of the invention , a ham that is not spirally sliced may be separated along the transverse plane 210 . in an embodiment of the invention , the butt - end piece 201 comprises between approximately 35 % and approximately 55 % by weight of the sbo ham 200 . in another embodiment of the invention , the butt - end piece 201 comprises between approximately 40 % and approximately 50 % by weight of the sbo ham 200 . in yet another embodiment of the invention , the butt - end piece 201 comprises between approximately 43 % and approximately 47 % by weight of the sbo ham 200 . in still another embodiment of the invention , the butt - end piece 201 comprises approximately 45 % by weight of the sbo ham 200 . referring now to fig2 b , 2 d and 2 e , pieces of a sbo ham may be made according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention by separating the butt - end piece 201 . the butt - end piece 201 may be separated along the longitudinal plane 211 , resulting in a first piece 203 and a second piece 204 . the separation along longitudinal plane 211 is made such that the aitch bone is divided into pieces of substantially equal weight . the longitudinal plane 211 is substantially perpendicular to the cut face of the butt - end piece 201 . according to an embodiment of the invention , the angle between the longitudinal plane 211 and the long axis of the butt - end piece 212 is between approximately 40 degrees and approximately 50 degrees . according to another embodiment of the invention , the angle between the longitudinal plane 211 and the long axis of the butt - end piece 212 is between approximately 43 degrees and approximately 47 degrees . according to yet another embodiment of the invention , the angle between the longitudinal plane 211 and the long axis of the butt - end piece 212 is approximately 45 degrees . separation of the butt - end piece 201 along the longitudinal plane 211 divides the aitch bone 240 into a first aitch bone piece 241 and a second aitch bone piece 242 . in an embodiment of the invention , the weights of the first aitch bone piece 241 and the second aitch bone piece 242 would differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. separation of the butt - end piece 201 along the longitudinal plane 211 also divides the butt - end piece of the femur 231 into a first butt - end piece of the femur 233 and a second butt - end piece of the femur 234 . in an embodiment of the invention , the weights of the first butt - end piece of the femur 233 and the second butt - end piece of the femur 234 would differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. referring now to fig2 c , 2 f and 2 g , pieces of a sbo ham may be made according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention by separating the shank - end piece 202 . the shank - end piece 202 may be separated along a first longitudinal plane 213 or a second longitudinal plane 214 , resulting in a first piece 203 and a second piece 204 . the plane along which the separation is made is substantially perpendicular to the cut face of the shank - end piece 202 . according to an embodiment of the invention , the angle between the plane along which the separation is made and the long axis of the shank - end piece 215 is between approximately 40 degrees and approximately 50 degrees . according to another embodiment of the invention , the angle between the plane along which the separation is made and the long axis of the shank - end piece 215 is between approximately 43 degrees and approximately 47 degrees . according to yet another embodiment of the invention , the angle between the plane along which the separation is made and the long axis of the shank - end piece 215 is approximately 45 degrees . according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention , the shank - end piece 202 may instead be separated substantially along the long axis of the shank piece 215 . whether the shank - end piece 202 is separated along the first longitudinal plane 213 , the second longitudinal plane 214 , or the long axis 215 of the shank piece , separation of the shank - end piece 202 divides the shank - end piece of the femur 232 into a first shank - end piece of the femur 235 and a second shank - end piece of the femur 236 . in an embodiment of the invention , the weights of the first shank - end piece of the femur 235 and the second shank - end piece of the femur 236 would differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. referring to fig2 d , 2 e , 2 f , and 2 g , a sbo ham is shown divided into four pieces according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention . in an embodiment of the invention , in the pieces made from a single ham the weights of the heaviest and the lightest pieces differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. in another embodiment of the invention , in the pieces made from a single ham the total weight of bone in the piece having the most bone and the piece having the least bone differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. in yet another embodiment of the invention , in the pieces made from a single ham the ratio of meat to bone in the piece having the highest ratio of meat - to - bone and the piece having the lowest ratio of meat - to - bone would differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. referring to fig3 a , a short - shank ham is shown according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . a person of ordinary skill in the art recognizes that the short - shank ham 300 is not drawn to scale and may have any configuration of the bones contained therein , as known to one of ordinary skill in the art . short - shank ham 300 typically comprises three bones : a shank bone 370 , a femur bone 330 , and an aitch bone 340 . the aitch bone 340 is positioned substantially at the butt end 350 of the short - shank ham 300 . the shank bone 370 extends substantially from a shank tip 360 of the short - shank ham 300 to the femur bone 330 , which is positioned at a different angle from the shank bone 370 . at the butt end 350 of the short - shank ham 300 , the femur bone 330 is proximate to the aitch bone 340 . in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , the short - shank ham may be spirally - sliced 320 substantially the length of the short - shank ham 300 and substantially centered about the femur bone 330 . a short - shank ham 300 may be separated along a transverse plane 310 , resulting in a butt - end piece 301 and a shank - end piece 302 . referring also to fig3 b and 3 c , shown are views of the cut faces of the butt - end piece 301 and shank - end piece 302 , respectively , according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . referring also to fig3 f , shown is a side view of shank - end piece 302 . the aitch bone 340 and shank bone 370 are shown crosshatched to indicate that they are inside the meat and thus would not be visible on the cut faces . a separation along the transverse plane 310 separates the femur bone 330 into the butt - end piece of the femur 331 and the shank - end piece of the femur 332 . in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , the ham may be spirally sliced and the separation along transverse plane 310 may separate a short - shank ham 300 between spiral slices 320 . in another exemplary embodiment of the invention , a ham that is not spirally sliced may be separated along the transverse plane 310 . in an embodiment of the invention , the butt - end piece 301 comprises approximately 55 % to 75 % by weight of the short - shank ham 300 . in another embodiment of the invention , the butt - end piece 301 comprises approximately 60 % to 70 % by weight of the short - shank ham 300 . in yet another embodiment of the invention , the butt - end piece 301 comprises approximately 63 % to 67 % by weight of the short - shank ham 300 . in still another embodiment of the invention , the butt - end piece 301 comprises approximately 65 % by weight of the short - shank ham 300 . referring now to fig3 b , 3 d and 3 e , pieces of a short - shank ham may be made according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention by separating the butt - end piece 301 . the butt - end piece 301 may be separated along the longitudinal plane 311 , resulting in a first piece 303 and a second piece 304 . the separation along longitudinal plane 311 is made such that the aitch bone is divided into pieces of substantially equal weight . the longitudinal plane 311 is substantially perpendicular to the cut face of the butt - end piece 301 . according to an embodiment of the invention , the angle between the longitudinal plane 311 and the long axis of the butt - end piece 312 is between approximately 40 degrees and approximately 50 degrees . according to another embodiment of the invention , the angle between the longitudinal plane 311 and the long axis of the butt - end piece 312 is between approximately 43 degrees and approximately 47 degrees . according to yet another embodiment of the invention , the angle between the longitudinal plane 311 and the long axis of the butt - end piece 312 is approximately 45 degrees . separation of the butt - end piece 301 along the longitudinal plane 311 divides the aitch bone 340 into a first aitch bone piece 341 and a second aitch bone piece 342 . in an embodiment of the invention , the weights of the first aitch bone piece 341 and the second aitch bone piece 342 would differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. separation of the butt - end piece 301 along the longitudinal plane 311 also divides the butt - end piece of the femur 331 into a first butt - end piece of the femur 333 and a second butt - end piece of the femur 334 . in an embodiment of the invention , the weights of the first butt - end piece of the femur 333 and the second butt - end piece of the femur 334 would differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. referring to fig3 d , 3 e , and 3 f , a short - shank ham is shown divided into three pieces according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention . in an embodiment of the invention , in the pieces made from a single ham the weights of the heaviest and the lightest pieces differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. in another embodiment of the invention , in the pieces made from a single ham the total weight of bone in the piece having the most bone and the piece having the least bone differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. in yet another embodiment of the invention , in the pieces made from a single ham the ratio of meat to bone in the piece having the highest ratio of meat - to - bone and the piece having the lowest ratio of meat - to - bone would differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. referring to fig4 a , a shank bone out ( sbo ) ham is shown according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . a person of ordinary skill in the art recognizes that the sbo ham 400 is not drawn to scale and may have any configuration of the bones contained therein , as known to one of ordinary skill in the art . sbo ham 400 typically comprises two bones : a femur bone 430 , and an aitch bone 440 . the aitch bone 440 is positioned substantially at the butt end 450 of the sbo ham 400 . at the butt end 450 of the sbo ham 400 , the femur bone 430 is proximate to the aitch bone 440 . in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , the sbo ham may be spirally - sliced 420 substantially the length of the sbo ham 400 and substantially centered about the femur bone 430 . a sbo ham 400 may be separated along a transverse plane 410 , resulting in a butt - end piece 401 and a shank - end piece 402 . referring also to fig4 b and 4 c , shown are views of the cut faces of the butt - end piece 401 and shank - end piece 402 , respectively , according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . referring also to fig4 f , shown is a side view of shank - end piece 402 . the aitch bone 440 is shown crosshatched to indicate that it is inside the meat and thus would not be visible on the cut face . a separation along the transverse plane 410 separates the femur bone 430 into the butt - end piece of the femur 431 and the shank - end piece of the femur 432 . in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , the ham may be spirally sliced and the separation along transverse plane 410 may separate a sbo ham 400 between spiral slices 420 . in another exemplary embodiment of the invention , a ham that is not spirally sliced may be separated along the transverse plane 410 . in an embodiment of the invention , the butt - end piece 401 comprises approximately 35 % to 55 % by weight of the sbo ham 400 . in another embodiment of the invention , the butt - end piece 401 comprises approximately 40 % to 50 % by weight of the sbo ham 400 . in yet another embodiment of the invention , the butt - end piece 401 comprises approximately 43 % to 47 % by weight of the sbo ham 400 . in still another embodiment of the invention , the butt - end piece 401 comprises approximately 45 % by weight of the sbo ham 400 . referring now to fig4 b , 4 d and 4 e , pieces of a sbo ham may be made according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention by separating the butt - end piece 401 . the butt - end piece 401 may be separated along the longitudinal plane 411 , resulting in a first piece 403 and a second piece 404 . the separation along longitudinal plane 411 is made such that the aitch bone is divided into pieces of substantially equal weight . the longitudinal plane 411 is substantially perpendicular to the cut face of the butt - end piece 401 . according to an embodiment of the invention , the angle between the longitudinal plane 411 and the long axis of the butt - end piece 412 is between approximately 40 degrees and approximately 50 degrees . according to another embodiment of the invention , the angle between the longitudinal plane 411 and the long axis of the butt - end piece 412 is between approximately 43 degrees and approximately 47 degrees . according to yet another embodiment of the invention , the angle between the longitudinal plane 411 and the long axis of the butt - end piece 412 is approximately 45 degrees . separation of the butt - end piece 401 along the longitudinal plane 411 divides the aitch bone 440 into a first aitch bone piece 441 and a second aitch bone piece 442 . in an embodiment of the invention , the weights of the first aitch bone piece 441 and the second aitch bone piece 442 would differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. separation of the butt - end piece 401 along the longitudinal plane 411 also divides the butt - end piece of the femur 431 into a first butt - end piece of the femur 433 and a second butt - end piece of the femur 434 . in an embodiment of the invention , the weights of the first butt - end piece of the femur 433 and the second butt - end piece of the femur 434 would differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. referring to fig4 d , 4 e , and 4 f , a sbo ham is shown divided into three pieces according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention . in an embodiment of the invention , in the pieces made from a single ham the weights of the heaviest and the lightest pieces differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. in yet another embodiment of the invention , in the pieces made from a single ham the ratio of meat to bone in the piece having the highest ratio of meat - to - bone and the piece having the lowest ratio of meat - to - bone would differ , for example , by less than approximately 25 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 20 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 15 %, or in another embodiment by less than approximately 10 %, or in yet another embodiment by less than approximately 5 %, and in still another embodiment by less than approximately 1 %. the invention is not limited to making separations in any particular order . for example , without intention to be limited thereto , the present invention contemplates spiral slicing before or after separating a ham into pieces , or making the separations that divide the femur longitudinally before or after making the separations that divide the femur transversely . in an exemplary embodiment , the bone - in ham 100 , 200 , 300 , 400 is spirally - sliced substantially about the femur bone 130 , 230 , 330 , 430 . methods for spiral - slicing bone - in hams are known to one of ordinary skill in the art . for example , the bone - in ham 100 , 200 , 300 , 400 can be spirally - sliced according to the methods disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 2 , 470 , 078 and 2 , 599 , 328 to hoenselaar , which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety . the spiral - sliced meat of the bone - in ham 100 , 200 , 300 , 400 can extend up to the femur bone 130 , 230 , 330 , 430 , substantially near the femur bone 130 , 230 , 330 , 430 , or any distance from the femur bone 130 , 230 , 330 , 430 . the spiral slicing can extend from one end of the bone - in ham 100 , 200 , 300 , 400 to the other end , or any variation of length and configuration therebetween . separating portions of the bone - in ham along the longitudinal or transverse planes can be accomplished by any means known to one of ordinary skill in the art . in an embodiment of the invention , separating is performed by cutting with a serrated instrument . in another embodiment of the invention , a bone - in ham can be cut with any suitable instrument such as a knife , saw , bandsaw , table saw , blade , or other cutting instruments , or combinations thereof . in another embodiment of the invention , each of the cuts may be made with a different instrument or a different type of instrument , or one or more of the cuts may be made using the same instrument or same type of instrument . although this description uses the term “ quarter ,” it is not intended to be limited to an exact quarter portion of a bone - in ham . in fact , the term is used to reflect that an approximate half of a bone - in ham has been further separated in approximately half . if each approximate half were separated substantially in half , then four substantial quarters are produced . similarly , although this description uses the term “ third ,” it is not intended to be limited to an exact third portion of a bone - in ham . in fact , the term is used to reflect that a bone - in ham has been separated into an approximate two - thirds and an approximate one - third . if the approximate two - thirds was separated substantially in half , then three substantial thirds are produced . the embodiments described above are intended to be exemplary . one skilled in the art recognizes that numerous alternative components and embodiments that may be substituted for the particular examples described herein and still fall within the scope of the invention . | 0 |
a typical xerographic replaceable consumable unit such as a toner cartridge comprises several subassemblies and subcomponents . an example of a prior art toner cartridge is illustrated in fig2 . a more detailed illustration of the toner hopper portion of this cartridge is shown in fig1 . the remanufacturer will take the spent or used cartridge , disassemble it down to a serviceable level and then replace the worn out or broken items . after servicing the cartridge the remanufacturer reassembles the pieces back into a fully functional unit and introduces this refurbished product into the marketplace . the newer replaceable consumable units have an electronic circuit , which is utilized for various functions . some of the prior art describes the use of this circuitry to store information that is unique to the specific toner cartridge . information that may be stored in this electronic circuit includes data such as the serial number of the cartridge , the model type , the yield , the amount of toner remaining and so forth . the printer periodically accesses the information stored in the electronic circuit during the life cycle of the replaceable consumable unit . whenever the cover of a printer is opened or if the power is turned back on , the printer will query the printer cartridge to obtain its current status . this query is due to the fact that the printer does not know if it is the same cartridge that was installed prior to the reinitializing event . the printer needs to know the cartridge characteristics of the replaceable consumable since it must set certain parameters based on this information . this electronic circuit has also been used to thwart any recycling of these replaceable consumable units by third parties not affiliated with the oem . the oem &# 39 ; s have employed various types of methods to make any refurbishment of the cartridges extremely difficult if not impossible . to begin with , the circuit is designed to become disabled by the printer once the toner level has reached an empty state . another level of difficulty is that the two components may employ a unique communication scheme . additionally , the printer might require a validation of the communication . another level of difficulty that the printer could employ could involve an encryption of the communications in addition to the validation . the list of different ways to encode this information and lock out a third party is endless . a second electronic circuit can be introduced to repair the nonfunctional circuit during the refurbishment process . this second electronic circuit would allow the first circuit to still operate , but all communications with the printer would be intercepted . the second electronic circuit has the capability to monitor the communications going back and forth between the printer and the first electronic circuit . by monitoring the communications coming from the printer , the second electronic circuit will intercept , process and resend the data to the first circuit . the first circuit responds accordingly and this is retransmitted to the printer . the microprocessor will also be able to determine when the specific locations corresponding to the toner level are being accessed and will subsequently use its own memory locations to store this information . the processor in the preferred embodiment would provide a new memory location that would store the toner bucket level . once the cartridge using the second electronic circuit has depleted all of the usable toner it will once more write the appropriate value in the correct location in the processor and the processor will disable the ability to change this location . the cartridge will then be sent back to be recycled . in order for the electronic circuit mounted on a replaceable consumable unit to function properly it must effectively communicate with the printer . as is common in any bi - directional communication architecture , both communicating devices must be able to send and receive information according to agreed upon protocol and timing criteria . each printer or family of printers may employ unique protocol schemes . in one embodiment of the present invention the electronic circuit of the replaceable consumable unit will communicate with the printer via a one - wire bus architecture protocol . this is the protocol used by the lexmark t520 / t620 printer family . this protocol is based on a one wire standard developed by dallas semiconductor . the lexmark t520 / t620 printers use a dallas ds2432 chip to facilitate the communications function on the replaceable consumable unit . an embodiment of the present invention must be able to emulate this protocol . the dallas ds2432 chip also employs a verification technique called sha - 1 or secure hash algorithm - 1 . this hash algorithm was first created for the federal government to be used in conjunction with an encryption scheme . the difference between an encryption algorithm and a hash algorithm is that the hash is unidirectional or one way only . once information is encoded into an encryption scheme , the data may be extracted once the key is used to unlock the information . this is in contrast to the hash computation because the data is not recoverable once it is used in computing the hash . the hash algorithm is used as a complex way of verifying data integrity similar to the basic cyclic redundancy check that exists in many of the early data communication designs . the sha - 1 algorithm has become an accepted standard for data transmission verification . it uses a complex scheme of mathematical equations and data manipulations to “ process ” a 64 - byte input and determine a 20 - byte response sequence . what makes this process unique , when applied in conjunction to this dallas part , is that of the 64 - byte input , 8 - bytes are pseudo random data that is stored in a “ secret ” location which is unreadable . these 8 - bytes are downloaded into the part when it is initially stored with data from the factory . anyone who is skilled in the art might be able to decipher the formula for determining this random data being loaded into this secret location by crunching all of the different possible combinations of the 8 - bytes . the total number of combinations would be roughly 1 . 845 × 10 19 . as one could imagine the number crunching might possibly take years if all the possible combinations were tested . when refurbishing replaceable consumable units , remanufacturers have been limited in what they are able to do to repair these circuits once they have become disabled . if a completely new replacement circuit were to be developed , it would have to be able to implement this random number . without the actual knowledge of how it is generated , a remanufacturer would have to generate random numbers until one could be found that would be compatible with a certain set of circuit data . it is analogous to searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack . absent the ability to decipher the hash , a replacement electronic circuitry is essentially worthless . as pointed out previously , these techniques may be proprietary or extremely difficult to understand . thus the printer and electronic circuit must be able to communicate and “ shake hands ” in order for a toner cartridge with such circuitry to be functional within the printer . one aspect of the present invention takes advantage of the nonfunctional electronic circuits capability to speak the unique language as well as employ the encryption protocol . additionally , once the authentication sequence has been deciphered , a fully functional replacement device employing this technique may be offered utilizing this scheme . in order to interface with the electronic circuit some printers use electrical contacts . when the toner cartridge is inserted these printer contacts make an electrical connection with the contacts of the electronic circuit . fig1 is a drawing of an example of a first electronic circuit 2 employing an electrical contact type interface . all of the discrete logic 30 for the electronic circuit is located on the top surface of the first electronic circuit 2 . the first electronic circuit 2 contains two printer interfacing electrical contacts , a first electronic circuit data contact 32 and a first electronic circuit ground contact 31 . because the printer &# 39 ; s electrical contacts ( not shown ) are fixed , the contacts of the first circuit board as well as contacts for any replacement circuit must be within their reach and maintain the proper orientation . these printer contacts may be metal springs , clips , or other types of conductive material so that when the cartridge is inserted into the printer the weight of the cartridge , as well as the closing of the printer cover , will exert enough pressure to ensure sufficient and reliable electrical connection . examining the lexmark t520 / t620 toner cartridge can show an excellent application of the previously discussed principles . fig2 shows the printer cartridge 1 . when fully assembled , the cartridge 1 has a toner hopper assembly 3 and a waste bin assembly 4 . on the side of the waste bin assembly 4 , the electronic circuit 2 is located . fig3 shows in greater detail the location of the first electronic circuit 2 in a side area of the replaceable consumable unit . here the two printer interfacing contacts are clearly shown . other printers such as the hewlett packard 4100 incorporate a wireless communication method to interface to the circuit on the replaceable consumable unit . the same concepts applied in the lexmark t520 / 620 printer have been adapted for use in the wireless applications . in making the recycling process for the replaceable consumable unit more difficult , the hp4100 disables the circuit on the replaceable consumable unit once it has determined that no usable toner remains in the cartridge . to disable the cartridge the printer will write a “ disable ” value to a specific location in the memory of the circuit . once written , this memory address may not be overwritten . simple replacement of this circuit may not be feasible if the communication between the printer and the cartridge employs a unique language or encryption . therefore , the present invention is applicable to this type of printer since the secondary circuit will take advantage of the disabled circuit &# 39 ; s ability to speak the printer language as well as provide a new memory location for this disabling value . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention as applied to the lexmark t520 / 620 contact replaceable consumable unit , a 16 - bit microcontroller such as the texas instruments msp430f1121a is used . this processor provides a way to communicate between the nonfunctional circuit on the replaceable consumable unit and the printer . this part is especially desirable due to its ability to function at low voltages , its low power dissipation and its low cost . in this application the microcontroller has an operating voltage that may vary between 3 . 0 v dc and 4 . 2 v dc . an additional design restriction for this second electronic circuit is that it will only be supplied a limited amount of current . the second electronic circuit together with the first circuit may not exceed the power limitations of the printer supply . the power for these circuits will be derived from the one - wire contacts . under normal operating conditions this particular microcontroller will require approximately 160 μa to function . when evaluating a replacement circuit alternative , caution must be taken not to overdrive the printer data circuit . not only must the communications be conducted over these contacts but the power to run these devices must also be supplied from them as well . fig4 is a schematic drawing of the preferred embodiment of a second electronic circuit . the microprocessor 101 illustrated in this schematic is a 20 pin surface mount device . the interconnect ground contact 34 and the interconnect data contact 35 are referred to in fig5 a and 5b and are electronically connected to the inoperable circuit &# 39 ; s printer interfacing contacts , the first electronic circuit data contact 32 and the first electronic circuit ground contact 31 . the second electronic circuit printer interfacing ground contact 38 and second electronic circuit printer interfacing data contact 39 are the contacts that will engage the printer &# 39 ; s interfacing contacts . contacts 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 46 , and 47 are used to initially program and test the processor . resistor 49 is required for the present design in order to keep the processor out of “ test ” mode and resistor 50 is added for additional maintenance functionality . specifically , this maintenance functionality allows the processor to drive the data line to a logic high and monitor the line to make sure that electrically the port is acting appropriately . due to size constraints in the preferred embodiment of the secondary circuit , a battery is not feasible to power the processor . instead a capacitor 51 is used to store enough voltage potential . in the preferred embodiment , a 22 μf capacitor 51 will provide enough current to keep the processor operational while the communications line is driven low due to communications taking place . in addition , a special reset circuit 102 will be used to reset the processor . the purpose of this circuit is to allow enough time for the power rail to become stable before allowing the processor to start operating . this part will hold the reset line of the processor low for an additional 200 ms after a 2 . 25 vdc threshold has been reached . delaying the processor from starting until the power rail has become stabilized , ensures that the processor has enough power to run . during insertion of the replaceable consumable unit into the printer , the power applied to the data pin may fluctuate for a brief period of time . this circuit simply makes sure that the power rail has had enough time to stabilize before starting the microprocessor . in addition , a shottky diode 53 is placed in the design to prevent any reverse current from flowing from the capacitor to the printer during times when the printer is driving the data line low . another advantage of the preferred embodiment is that no external clock or oscillator is required . all of the communications between the printer and replaceable consumable unit are of an asynchronous nature . the replacement circuit must be able to see when the printer is trying to communicate with it and respond within a certain time window . the msp430f1121a has an internal clock that will allow it to function independently without an external source . this part also provides a “ sleep ” mode that further conserves power . during sleep mode the microcontroller uses only 0 . 7 μa . additionally , it will only take 6 μs for the microcontroller to return to a ready state . fig5 a and 5b illustrate one embodiment of the present invention . fig5 a shows a top perspective view of a second electronic circuit 33 . the second electronic circuit 33 has two interconnect contacts , a interconnect ground contact 34 and an interconnect data contact 35 . a first electronic circuit 2 is then connected to the second electronic circuit 33 by soldering the interconnect ground contact 34 and the interconnect data contact 35 to the two printer interfacing electrical contacts , the first electronic circuit ground contact 31 and the first electronic circuit data contact 32 of the first electronic circuit 2 . fig5 b shows a bottom perspective view of the same embodiment containing a first electronic circuit 2 attached to a second electronic circuit 33 . from this view two printer interfacing electrical contacts , first electronic circuit ground contact 31 and the first electronic circuit data contact 32 are shown . once the first electronic circuit is attached , the second electronic circuit 33 will need to communicate to the printer via the second printer interfacing electrical contacts , a second electronic circuit printer interfacing ground contact 38 and a second electronic circuit printer interfacing data contact 39 . when this embodiment is mounted on the toner cartridge the two printer interfacing electrical contacts of the second electronic circuit will be facing away from the body of the waste bin 4 . the fully assembled product , consisting of the first electronic circuit 2 mounted on the present invention , must be able to fit within the space of the original first electronic circuit 2 . instead of soldering the two parts together , the interconnect ground contact 34 and the interconnect data contact 35 may be slightly raised or convex so that the first electronic circuit might be held in place by glue or another adhesive . fig6 shows an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention as previously illustrated in fig5 a and 5b . the second electronic circuit 33 is installed on top of the first electronic circuit 2 . in this manner the first electronic circuit 2 does not need to be removed from the replaceable consumable unit in order to install the second electronic circuit 33 on the replaceable consumable unit . the second electronic circuit 33 can then be soldered on to the first electronic circuit 2 while the first electronic circuit 2 is still attached to the replaceable consumable unit . fig7 is a second embodiment of the present invention . here the two printer interfacing electrical contacts of the first electronic circuit 2 are connected to the interconnect ground contact 34 and the interconnect data contact 35 via wires 37 . an advantage of this embodiment is that it allows for the invention to be used on cartridges that may not allow much room to position the second electronic circuit . there may be a suitable mounting location for the second electronic circuit away from where the original first electronic circuit was located , as long as connectivity to the printer contact pins can be taken into account . this microcontroller is initially programmed using a unique programmer . in the preferred embodiment the circuit board that the processor will be mounted on will have separate contacts that will allow programming . this is essential because this part will require approximately 6 . 5 v dc in order to bum the appropriate memory locations . the microprocessor may be programmed either serially via the data line of the circuit or via a parallel bus . programming the device via the parallel bus may be accomplished more efficiently by reading and writing in bytes as opposed to bits . conversely , the handshaking that occurs in the serial procedure will slow down the programming process . however , by having a serial process available , the design becomes more adaptable due to the fact that during the refurbishment process the microprocessor may be reprogrammed by the use of a special dongle . the microcontroller may also be reprogrammed while still mounted on the replaceable consumable unit . this saves time and effort by not having to remove the chip , reprogram it and then reattach it . another major advantage of using a microcontroller or a microprocessor in this particular application is that the design may be modified at a later date simply by reprogramming the device . however , there is no restriction or requirement that this particular part or programmable device be used for this application . if flexibility or adaptability is an essential element in the design of the second circuit , then discrete logic may not be the best alternative . by using a microcontroller that contains intelligence , the second circuit may also be utilized to perform additional functions that the original circuit is incapable of doing . in this embodiment the microcontroller will monitor the communication that occurs between the printer and the replaceable consumable unit . it will be able to see what information is flowing to the replaceable consumable unit and take the appropriate action . fig8 illustrates the program flow that the preferred embodiment of the replacement circuit will execute . upon initial start up , the processor will perform its own internal and external diagnostics 200 . once the printer has completed the diagnostic procedure , it will determine if the printer has initiated a communication 201 . in this particular design architecture the circuit on the replaceable consumable device will never initiate communications with the printer . the printer will always be the master . therefore , the processor must monitor the data line to see if the printer is trying to gain the circuit &# 39 ; s attention . once the printer has tried to talk to the replaceable consumable unit , the processor will intercept and analyze the communication 202 . if the cover has been opened and shut or if the printer has gone through a power cycle the printer will initiate an authentication sequence 203 . this will require that the proper hash will be returned to the printer before any further exchange of information will be allowed . in order to get the correct response , the information sent by the printer is passed to the nonfunctional circuit 204 . the processor will become the master and the nonfunctional circuit will become the new slave . the nonfunctional circuit will then calculate the appropriate hash value and send it to the processor 205 . the processor then will receive this information and immediately send it back out to the printer 206 . the processor may additionally store this value should the printer reinitiate the startup sequence again at a later time . the printer will receive the appropriate hash and determine that it will allow information to pass down to the replaceable consumable unit . the next phase will be to read additional information stored on the device such as the current bucket level . for this to occur , the printer starts the communication tango 201 . this time however , no authentication sequence is necessary because the printer is happy with the identity of the cartridge . therefore , the function will be either a read or a write to locations in memory . the processor will determine if it is a read request 207 , access the information 208 and pass it along to the printer . if it is not a read request , it will be a write request and as a result the information will be stored by the processor in the correct location 209 . once either a read or write has occurred , the processor will go back to its wait loop , waiting for the processor to once again initiate communications . an embodiment of the present invention that incorporates the ability to be reprogrammed serially is illustrated in fig9 . this schematic is similar to the one depicted in fig4 . the circuit in fig9 has some major differences . due to size constraints , the shottky diode 53 has been eliminated and the internal diodes of the processor are utilized instead . second , power is sent through several input pins of the processor 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , and 79 . this process will charge the capacitor 51 and activate the reset circuit 102 through the passive vcc pin 80 . the programming voltage necessary to reprogram the part will be provided on the voltage contact 71 . the new program data will be sent down the serial programming contact 74 . the data contact 73 and the ground contact 72 are in the same orientation as the second electronic circuit printer interfacing ground contact 38 and second electronic circuit printer interfacing data contact 39 of the secondary circuit design . this new design as shown in fig9 is used as a complete replacement to the nonfunctional circuit . the design assumes that the processor is able to return the appropriate hash value to the printer and that the use of the nonfunctional circuit is unnecessary . as described above , the resistor 50 may be utilized for additional maintenance functionality . specifically , this maintenance functionality allows the processor to drive the data line to a logic high and monitor the line to make sure that electrically the port is acting appropriately . if the port is not operating correctly , the microprocessor can then utilize another port to send and receive data . for example , the microprocessor 101 may include a first input and output ( i / o ) port 12 connected to the external data contact 73 . a second i / o port 11 is connected to the external data contact 73 . as can be seen in fig9 , multiple i / o ports are connected to the external data contact 73 . the microprocessor controls the electronic circuit and responds to read memory commands and write memory commands received through the external contact on the i / o ports . a third port 17 of the microprocessor 101 is also connected to the external data contact 73 and is adapted to source current . the microprocessor 101 is initially configured to send and receive data through the first i / o port 12 . the microprocessor 101 tests the functionality of the first i / o port 12 by directing the third port 17 to source current and drive the external data contact 73 to a predetermined voltage , and then reads a voltage received by the first i / o port 12 in response to sourced current . if the microprocessor 101 determines the first i / o port 12 is not functioning correctly based on the read voltage , the microprocessor 101 will send and receive data through the second i / o port 11 . additionally , if the microprocessor 101 determines the first i / o port 12 is not functioning correctly , the microprocessor 101 will write a value to a memory of the electronic circuit indicating the first i / o port 12 is not functioning correctly . this value may be printed by the printer when a test page is printed . as described above , the memory stores a value indicating an amount of consumable matter remaining in the printer consumable unit . in one aspect , the third port 17 is connected to the external data contact 73 through the resistor 50 . in another aspect , the microprocessor 101 tests the functionality of all of the i / o ports and selects a functioning i / o port to send and receive data . fig1 is an illustration of the physical board layout of the preferred embodiment . during the reprogramming mode , the replaceable consumable unit is removed from the printer and a programming dongle is applied to the device and the microprocessor may be reprogrammed . printers in general have the ability to determine how much toner remains in the current replaceable consumable unit installed in the printer . one method described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 995 , 772 , issued to barry , et al ., describes how a paddle would measure a delay as it rotated through toner contained in a toner hopper . the amount of delay experienced by the paddle is proportional to the amount of toner remaining in the cartridge . this delay is then used in a mathematical equation to determine how much toner is remaining in the toner hopper . another way of determining toner level is a variation of the paddle . this variation would determine how long and how far the paddle is able to freely rotate from the top of its arch to the point it contacted toner within the toner hopper . instead of a delay , as the paddle made its way through the toner , there would be a brief period of time that the drive shaft would not be moving the paddle since it is rotating freely as it falls . another alternative means to determine how much toner remains is to measure the electrical or magnetic characteristics of the toner remaining in the hopper . the printer would measure the impedance or capacitance across the toner and then determine the appropriate amount of toner remaining accordingly . once a printer has determined how much toner is remaining it has to convey this information to the end user as well as keep a running log for its own purposes . one particular way a printer stores how much toner is remaining is the use of a “ bucket level .” the printer stores a value associated with the amount of toner remaining in the bucket level memory location of the electronic circuit on the replaceable consumable unit . this area of memory is capable of being written to on a very limited basis . initially , this bucket level will be “ full ” on a new or newly refurbished replaceable consumable unit . as toner is consumed the bucket level will be adjusted accordingly . the bucket level can only be decremented and never incremented during the operation of the replaceable consumable unit . if the bucket levels were ever to increase by a certain percentage , then the printer would detect this as an unauthorized attempt to refill the replaceable consumable unit and it will disable the particular replaceable consumable unit . printer manufacturers have determined that most replaceable consumable units , once installed into a printer , may not be refilled during its current life cycle . once the amount of usable toner has been determined to be “ empty ” by the printer , the printer will then store an “ empty ” bucket level value in the electronic circuit . thereafter the printer will disable the replaceable consumable unit from operating by writing to another location in the circuit memory that is analogous to an “ on / off ” switch . in order for the printer to operate the location must correspond to an “ on ” value . once this location has been rewritten with an “ off ” value the replaceable consumable unit will no longer function . the cartridge will then either be recycled or thrown away . the process of making these locations in memory unalterable is analogous to recording information on a 3½ ″ floppy diskette , that has a write protection tab . once the memory protection tab has been changed , the floppy becomes write protected . in order to better understand the additional functionality that a replacement circuit may be able to offer , it is important to understand the significant parts of the replaceable consumable unit . some of these parts in particular may be controlled by the actions of the replacement circuit . the operation of a typical xerographic replaceable consumable unit is described in the prior art u . s . pat . no . 5 , 012 , 289 issued to aldrich , et al . in this patent , the process by which toner is transferred from the toner hopper to the developer roller and then to the opc is outlined in great detail . fig1 is an illustration of a prior art toner hopper assembly of a cartridge that utilizes this type of process . this is the same toner hopper assembly shown in fig1 and fig2 . once the toner hopper assembly 3 is separated from the waste bin assembly 4 the individual components may be identified , cleaned , replaced or refilled . in fig1 , toner is added into the toner fill hole 17 either when the cartridge is new or being refurbished . the toner hopper cap 8 fits over this hole . this toner hopper cap 8 may contain material such as tyvek ® that will allow air to flow in and out of the toner hopper reservoir 20 . the tyvek ® will have large enough pores to allow the air to flow but will restrict any toner particles from escaping . this is essential because any pressure differential between the air inside the toner hopper reservoir 20 and the surrounding air may result in toner leakage from any number of critical places . the material may be affixed to the toner hopper cap with glue or pressure . another alternative is to use a heat seal to hold the tyvek ® in place . the developer roller 24 sits on an axle and is rotated by a developer roller drive gear 12 . at the opposite end of the axle , the developer roller contact bushing 11 engages the developer electrical contact 10 , which allows for a dc potential to be applied across the developer roller 24 providing a charge necessary to negatively charge the toner . sufficient voltage is required to differentially bias the toner and allow it to become electrically charged . as a result the toner will be attracted to the appropriate locations on the opc drum ( not shown ), which will contain the image to be transferred to the print media . the opc drum will be in close proximity to the developer roller 24 when the cartridge 1 is fully assembled . this proximity allows the toner to migrate from the developer roller to the opc drum . once toner has been transferred to the opc drum , print media will be fed into the printer and the toner will become affixed to the media during the fusing process . behind the developer roller is an adder roller 15 . the adder roller 15 is in physical contact with the developer roller 24 and is instrumental in ensuring a good supply of toner is presented to the developer roller . the adder roller 15 also has an adder roller electrical contact 16 that allows a potential supplied by the printer to pass through the adder roller 15 . the adder roller 15 provides an initial negative charge to the toner supply . additionally , the adder roller 15 is pressed against the developer roller 24 and the friction that results contributes additional negative charge to the toner passing between the developer roller 24 and the adder roller 15 . the toner will be electrically charged in a two - stage process . the adder roller 15 provides the initial charge , and the developer roller 24 provides the subsequent charge . in this particular replaceable consumable unit there is no primary charge roller ( pcr ). instead the pcr is resident inside the printer . the main purpose of the pcr is to reapply an even electrical charge to the opc drum so it will wipe clean any latent images left on the drum . as the opc rotates , a laser will etch an image on the drum creating areas of less negatively charged surfaces that correspond to the lines or shapes of the image . as the opc rotates and comes in contact with the developer roller 24 , toner will be attracted to the less negatively charged areas on the surface of the opc . once the toner has become affixed to the opc , paper or other media is introduced into the printing process . the area behind the printer will also be electrically charged to the toner then migrated to the media and is melted into place . during the printing process the voltages applied by the printer to the electrical elements of the cartridge may vary . when a higher voltage is applied to certain components , the resulting electric charge will be greater and more toner will be attracted to the components . as a result the print image will be darker . over the lifetime of the cartridge , the voltages have a tendency to fluctuate and in some cases increase substantially . this may be due to the printer manufacturers intent to ensure that there is enough toner for the components to make good quality prints . it also may be a way to use toner faster thus hastening the replaceable consumable unit &# 39 ; s toner consumption and effectively shortening the life of the cartridge . some printers have the ability to change the voltages being applied to these electrical components . prior art describes changing the voltages on these components in relation to analyzing the images as they are processed off the opc drum , which is usually done as part of a calibration procedure . instead of basing the voltage potential on the image , a new replacement circuit would base the voltage on a specific toner level condition . this would occur when the toner in the toner hopper has reached a “ toner low ” state and conservation of toner is important . by returning the voltages back to their original operating states or to any level that would make the printer use less toner , the print quality would remain the same while reducing background printing . this in turn would conserve the amount of toner being used and prolong the life of the replaceable consumable unit . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , the voltage of the pcr would be maximized ( highest negative voltage ) at the same time the voltage of the developer roller would be minimized ( least negative voltage ). the appropriate values corresponding to this change would be loaded into the replacement electronic circuit once a specific toner value had been achieved . then the next time the printer is opened or the power is cycled , this new value will be read and the changes will then be implemented . an alternative embodiment of the present invention would change the voltage of the pcr to become minimized and the voltage to the developer roller to become maximized . the voltages may be changed in numerous combinations , depending on the specific printer and the desired results . although this invention has been described with respect to the specific embodiments herein , it should be understood that the invention is not limited to these embodiments , they may take other shapes and forms to accommodate the particular requirements at issue . other variations and departures from the specific embodiment disclosed herein may also be used without departing from the spirit of this invention . | 6 |
in accordance with the invention a plasma generating apparatus has been developed that is compact and operates in low vacuum at low voltage and low power that generates active species from air or other gases for use in cleaning vacuum chambers or other reactive processes . the device has utility for cleaning electron microscopes and other high vacuum analytical instruments and high vacuum chambers . it also has utility as an active species source for a variety of other processes and process development where a small rf plasma source is desired the first preferred embodiment of the invention consists of following parts as shown in fig1 . the cylindrical body 12 of the device has iso kf40 vacuum flanges 11 at both ends . a vacuum seal is made between the isi kf flanges 11 by means of an elastomer o - ring 16 that is held in place by a centering ring 18 . the iso kf 40 flanges 11 are held together by standard iso kf clamps which are not shown for clarity . the inside diameter of the body 12 is about 40 mm . the length of the body 12 is about 40 mm . two ⅛ npt threaded holes 13 enter the body from the sides . these holes are used for a gas inlet 3 and a pirani gauge 24 for measuring vacuum . on one end of the cylinder body 12 is mounded a coaxial feedthrough 22 on a mating iso kf 40 flange with a conductor 9 extending coaxially into the middle of the chamber . on the outside end of the feedthrough a coaxial rf connector 20 allows rf power to be fed to the conductor 9 . the base of the conductor 9 inside the chamber near the flange is covered with a high voltage ceramic insulator 10 . an aluminum support cross bar 8 that is ⅛ ″ in diameter with a mounting hole in the center is press - fitted onto the conductor 9 end . this crossbar 8 in turn supports the cylindrical apertured electrode 6 by being fitted into a pair . of holes in the electrode . the electrode 6 is made of aluminum screen that has ⅛ ″ diameter holes punched into it in a regular pattern . the electrode 6 cylinder has a diameter of about 20 mm . the conductor 9 is concentric to the electrode cylinder 6 . on the sides of the device body 12 are mounted the gas inlet 3 manifold and a pirani gauge 24 . the pirani gauge 24 is used to measure the vacuum inside the chamber 4 while the device is operating . the pressure range for making oxygen radicals without sputtering from air efficiently is from 0 . 2 torr to about 1 torr . at these pressures sputtering is surpressed by the very short mean free paths in the vacuum . the gas inlet 3 manifold has solenoid valve 2 for opening and closing the gas flow and a needle valve 1 for controlling the flow of gas into the chamber . the gas feed port 15 may be left either open to the air or connected to another gas source . the device is mounted to the vacuum chamber or electron microscope by means of an adapter flange 14 that has iso kf40 flanges 11 on the end . a vacuum seal is made between the isi kf flanges 11 by means of an elastomer o - ring 16 that is held in place by a centering ring 18 . the iso kf 40 flanges 11 are held together by standard iso kf clamps which are not shown for clarity . the second preferred embodiment is shown in fig2 . in this version of the device the length of he plasma chamber 4 is extended by clamping two iso kf 40 cylinders 12 together and making a longer cylindrical electrode 6 . each segment . of the body has a single threaded hole 13 for the gas inlet and pirani gauge . the gas inlet 3 is placed closest to the rf feedthrough 22 and the pirani gauge 24 is mounted on the other segment . this extended version is for systems where larger vacuum pumps allow for high pumping speeds and high gas flow through the plasma . by making the plasma region longer the gas molecules have a longer residence time in the plasma and more active species are produced . the third embodiment of the device uses cf type flanges with copper gaskets instead iso kf40 flanges with o - rings . cf 2¾ : flanges are also suitable for cylinders with about 40 mm diameter bodies . cf flanges with copper gaskets allow the device to be mounted on ultra high vacuum systems . in the fourth embodiment of the device iso kf 50 flanges are used . the use of iso kf 50 flanges allows the inside diameter of the chamber cylinder 4 to be increased to about 50 mm . inches . this in turn allows the diameter of the electrode 6 to be increased . the cylindrical rf electrode 6 has been described in a previous patent application . in the preferred embodiments of the present invention it is made of punched aluminum screen that has been bent into a cylindrical shape . the punched holes in the screen are about ⅛ ″ diameter . because it is cut from sheet screening there are many sharp edges that form high electric gradient fields to facilitate plasma ignition . the cylinder forms a hollow cathode surrounded by many small hollow cathodes . in addition , when rf is supplied to the electrode , rf eddy currents rotate around the apertures to provide inductive as well as capacitive coupling of the rf to the plasma . | 7 |
a suitable continuously operating reactor for the process according to the invention is , in particular , a twin - screw extruder . advantageously , the ratio of the screw length to the outside screw diameter of the extruder is from 20 to 50 and particularly from 25 to 40 . moreover , the extruder is preferably designed so that the residence time of the material at a screw speed of & gt ; 10 rpm is less than 5 min , preferably less than 3 min . and so that axial backflow is minimized . the insoluble , isocyanate groups - free , powdery reaction resin can be fed to the twin - screw extruder by means of a twin - screw metering device , for example at a rate of 150 g / min . the extruder contains conveying screw elements ( screw diameter , for example : 31 . 8 mm , screw length : 880 mm ) and is provided with five thermostattable barrel zones heated , for example , at 160 ° c . at a screw speed of 90 rpm , the residence time of the material is , for example , & lt ; 1 minute . the extrudate emerging through a slot die passes over a cooled slide - off ramp and is rapidly cooled to a temperature below 50 ° c ., which causes the epoxy resin mixture to solidify into continuous ribbon - shaped strips . on a take - off belt , these strips are pulled under a counter - roll and thus coarsely comminuted . the pre - comminuted product is ground to the desired particle size in an impact mill . the free - flowing , storage - stable , soluble or fusible , latently reactive , oxazolidinone structures - containing prepolymeric epoxy resin mixture is stored with exclusion of moisture . the process according to the invention involves the use of an insoluble , isocyanate groups - free , powdery reaction resin . said powdery reaction resin is prepared from a filler - containing , heat - polymerizable reaction resin mixture of polyepoxy resin and polyisocyanate resin with a molar ratio of epoxide groups to isocyanate groups of & gt ; 1 , preferably 1 . 5 to 4 . 0 . the polyepoxy resin is a mixture of di - and polyfunctional epoxy resins , the ratio of polyfunctional to difunctional epoxy resin being from 0 . 1 to 1 . 7 and preferably from 0 . 2 to 0 . 75 , based on epoxide groups . the reaction resin mixture of polyepoxide and polyisocyanate resin is made to react at a temperature of up to 180 ° c . in the presence of a substituted imidazole as catalyst , said imidazole being used in an amount of 0 . 5 to 2 . 5 %, based on the polyepoxy resin . whereas according to the prior art , as indicated in particular by the practical examples of said prior art , low catalyst concentrations are used , namely from 0 . 01 to 0 . 35 % ( wo 90 / 15089 ) or 0 . 1 % ( ep 0 296 450 a1 ), in both cases based on the polyepoxide , substantially higher amounts of catalyst are needed to prepare reactive , curable prepolymeric epoxy resin mixtures . hence , in the process according to the invention , the catalyst concentration is from 0 . 5 to 2 . 5 % ( by weight ), preferably from 1 . 0 to 1 . 8 %, based on the mixture of di - and polyfunctional epoxy resins . such high catalyst concentrations are required to ensure the curing of the latently reactive prepolymeric epoxy resin mixture within an industrially relevant time without post - catalysis -- which for filler - containing systems is expensive . on a pilot - plant scale , the isocyanate groups - free , insoluble powdery reaction resin is advantageously prepared in a mixing vessel , preferably in a vertical kneader , a continuous reactor being used for larger amounts of material . the preparation and processing of the reaction resin mixture in a vertical kneader is carried out as follows . the di - and polyfunctional epoxy resins and the polyisocyanate resin are charged to the vertical kneader which is equipped with a thermostattable and evacuable kneading trough and with kneading blades and permits continuous measurement of the temperature of the reaction resin mixture . the mixture is heated to a temperature of up to 100 ° c ., blended by mixing ( i . e . agitation ) and degassed . the filler and optionally other additives are then added in portions to the heated reaction resin mixture , and the mixture is degassed for at least 1 hr at reduced pressure and at a temperature of up to 100 ° c . with continuing mixing . the catalyst is then blended in , and the temperature of the mixing vessel is adjusted to 160 °- 180 ° c . the conversion of the reaction resin mixture into the powdery reaction resin occurs at reaction temperatures above 130 ° c . usually within a few minutes , while the steady mixing in the mixing vessel produces a free - flowing product . to discontinue the reaction , the temperature of the mixing vessel is rapidly reduced by means of a cooling thermostat , and the powdery reaction resin is brought to a temperature below 50 ° c . with mixing . the epoxide group conversion required at the time the reaction is discontinued is determined in preliminary tests . the absence of isocyanate groups in the powdery reaction resin is established by ir spectrophotometry . before use , the free - flowing , storage - stable , insoluble powdery reaction resin obtained in this manner can be stored with exclusion of moisture for long periods , as needed . when a continuous reactor is used to prepare the isocyanate groups - free , insoluble powdery reaction resin , the resin mixture can be prepared and fed to the reactor in different ways . in one case -- to prepare a resin component -- the di - and polyfunctional epoxy resins , the polyisocyanate resin and the filler are degassed in a thermostattable and evacuable mixing vessel at a temperature of up to 100 ° c . with mixing . in a second mixing vessel the catalyst component is prepared by dissolving or dispersing the catalyst in one of the resin components of the formulation or in part thereof , with degassing . the two components are then fed to a static mixing tube , and the reaction resin mixture being discharged from the mixing tube is metered into a reactor . in another case , the resin component is prepared as in the first case . the catalyst component is prepared by vigorously blending the catalyst with part of the filler used in the formulation . the two components are then fed into a twin - screw extruder , for example by means of a peristaltic pump or a twin - screw powder metering device . in contrast to the twin - screw extruder described hereinabove , the extruder used for the preparation of the insoluble powdery reaction resin contains both conveying screw elements and kneading elements and has a greater number of thermostattable barrel zones . the reaction of the resin component with the catalyst component to give the isocyanate groups - free , insoluble reaction resin powder is preferably carried out at a lower temperature than the reaction of the reaction resin powder to form the prepolymeric epoxy resin mixture . the storage - stable , free - flowing reaction resin powder can be metered into the continuous reactor in simple fashion without expensive metering systems . thus , for example for product optimization , free - flowing mixtures of reaction resin powders of different composition or mixtures with fillers and / or other additives can be introduced into and processed in the continuous reactor inexpensively . to prepare the insoluble powdery reaction resin , a polyepoxy resin mixture , namely a mixture of di - and polyfunctional epoxy resins is used , as previously indicated . suitable epoxy resins are , in particular , bisphenol a and bisphenol f epoxy resins and phenol novolak and cresol novolak epoxy resins or silicone epoxy resins , triglycidyl isocyanurate , tetra - glycidyldiaminodiphenylmethane and polyglycidylphosphorus resins . particularly suitable silicone epoxy resins are those having the following structure : ## str1 ## wherein n is an integer from 0 to 25 , q =--( ch 2 ) 3 sir 2 o ( sir 2 o ) n sir 2 r 1 , n and r having the afore - indicated meaning and r 1 denoting a group bearing epoxy functionality and having 6 carbon atoms . the silicone epoxy resin is used in an amount of up to 20 %, preferably 1 to 7 %, based on the filler - free reaction resin mixture of polyepoxy resin and polyisocyanate resin . preferred polyisocyanate resins are isomer mixtures of diphenylmethane diisocyanate . also suitable are , for example , toluylene diisocyanate isomer mixtures and prepolymers of diphenylmethane diisocyanate isomer mixtures . mixtures of said polyisocyanate resins can also be used . substituted imidazoles are used as catalysts ( i . e . reaction accelerators ) for the process of the invention . preferred are 2 - ethyl - 4 - methylimidazole , 2 - phenylimidazole and 1 - cyanoethyl - 2 - phenylimidazole . other suitable catalysts are , for example , 1 , 2 - dimethylimidazole , 1 - cyanoethyl - 2 - methyl - imidazole , 2 - isopropylimidazole and 1 - benzyl - 2 - phenyl - imidazole . the catalyst is used in amount of 0 . 5 to 2 . 5 %, preferably 1 . 0 to 1 . 8 %, based on the polyepoxy resin , namely on the mixture of the di - and polyfunctional epoxy resins . suitable fillers are , in particular , mineral fillers , such as fused quartz with angular ( i . e . splintery ) and / or spherical particles ( of varying particle size distribution ). moreover , ceramic fillers such as aluminum oxide and mixtures of ceramic and mineral fillers can be used . fibrous fillers , such as short glass fibers , are also suitable . the composition of the reaction resin mixture of polyepoxy resin and polyisocyanate resin used in the process according to the invention differs markedly from that of the reaction mixtures used according to the prior art . in fact , to prepare the reaction resin mixture , mixtures of di - and polyfunctional epoxy resins are used , namely mixtures of epoxy resins of different chemical structure and different functionality . such mixtures , however , are not known from the prior art . moreover , neither the particularly well suited catalyst 1 - cyanoethyl - 2 - phenylimidazole nor the silicone epoxy resins of the indicated type which are important for the processing properties nor the tetraglycidyldiaminodiphenylmethane , which is particularly advantageous for raising the glass transition temperature , are mentioned in the prior art . the preparation of free - flowing , storage stable , isocyanate groups - free , isocyanurate structures - containing powdery reaction resins obtained from a mixture of a di - and a polyfunctional epoxy resin and a polyisocyanate resin in a molar ratio of epoxide groups to isocyanate groups of & gt ; 1 by use of a substituted imidazole as catalyst has thus far not been described . what is known is the preparation of filler and catalyst - containing resin mixtures from epoxy and isocyanate resins that are solid at room temperature by use of an imidazole . in this case , the components are mixed by kneading at 80 ° c . ( see : jp - os [ japanese unexamined patent application ] 50 - 059499 and jp - os 51 - 128400 ). these catalyst - containing resin mixtures are molded and cured at a temperature of up 180 ° c . such processes , in contrast to the process according to the invention , do not give isocyanate groups - free , insoluble powdery reaction resins , but , rather , fusible resin mixtures that are processed by molding . those skilled in the art could not have predicted the possibility of preparing a soluble or fusible prepolymeric epoxy resin mixture from the insoluble , isocyanate groups - free ( chemically crosslinked ) powdery reaction resins by reaction extrusion according to the process of the invention . surprisingly , the polyfunctional epoxy resins such as said silicone epoxy resins and tetraglycidyldiaminodiphenylmethane contained in the powdery reaction resin and the use of a high catalyst concentration at a temperature of up to 200 ° c . do not cause further curing of the powdery reaction resin , but result in a storage - stable , soluble or fusible , curable epoxy resin mixture which can be cured without post - catalysis , which for filler - containing reaction resins would be expensive . the invention will be illustrated in greater detail by the following examples . to a vertical kneader were charged 1530 g of bisphenol a epoxy resin ( epoxide content : 5 . 78 mol / kg ), 99 g of a silicone epoxide ( epoxy content : 1 . 9 mol / kg ) prepared as described in example 9 of european unexamined patent application ep - os 0 399 199 , 495 g of tetraglycidyldiaminodiphenylmethane ( epoxide content : 8 . 2 mol / kg ) and 360 g of a diphenylmethane diisocyanate isomer mixture ( isocyanate content : 7 . 9 mol / kg ), and the mixture was heated to 80 ° c . with mixing . to this mixture were then added in portions and with mixing 4347 g of spherical fused quartz , 1863 g of angular fused quartz and 90 g of carbon black . the mixture was degassed at 80 ° c . for 1 hr with mixing . then 3 . 3 g of 1 - cyanoethyl - 2 - phenylimidazole was added to the reaction resin mixture , and the mixture was degassed for 10 min with mixing . the temperature of the mixing vessel was then adjusted to 160 ° c ., and the reaction resin mixture was heated with mixing . the reaction resulting in the powdery reaction resin started at about 130 ° c . the course of the reaction was followed continuously by temperature measurement . the reaction was discontinued 1 min after the reaction resin mixture had solidified . this was done by cooling the mixing vessel with the aid of a cooling thermostat . the temperature of the reaction resin was then reduced to below 50 ° c . with continuing mixing . continuing mixing produced the insoluble reaction resin as a free - flowing , storage - stable powder ( epoxide content : 1 . 28 mol / kg ). as indicated by ir spectrophotometry , this product was devoid of isocyanate groups . by means of a powder - metering device , the isocyanate groups - free , insoluble powdery reaction resin prepared as described in example 1 was fed to a co - currently rotating twin - screw extruder ( screw length : 880 mm , outside screw diameter : 31 . 8 mm ) at a constant rate of 30 g / minute . the extruder screws were provided exclusively with conveying elements . the five barrel zones of the extruder were set at 160 ° c . the temperatures in the individual barrel zones were as follows : zone 1 : 152 ° c ., zone 2 : 158 ° c ., zone 3 : 160 ° c ., zone 4 : 160 ° c ., zone 5 : 155 ° c . the screw speed was 90 rpm and the residence time of the material in the extruder was 1 . 0 minute . the extrudate was removed through a double slot die ( cross - section : 2 mm × 2 mm each ), cooled to a temperature below 50 ° c . by means of a cooled take - off ramp and then coarsely comminuted on an attached elastic haul - off belt by means of a counter - roll . the pre - comminuted extrudate was ground to the desired particle size in an impact mill . the resulting free - flowing , latently reactive , curable prepolymeric epoxy resin mixture ( epoxide content : 0 . 86 mol / kg ); melting range : 75 °- 95 ° c .) was stored at room temperature with exclusion of moisture . to a vertical kneader were charged 825 . 2 g of bisphenol a epoxy resin ( epoxide content : 5 . 78 mol / kg ), 50 . 1 g of a silicone epoxide ( epoxide content : 1 . 9 mol / kg ) prepared as described in example 9 of ep - os 0 399 199 , 262 . 1 g of tetraglycidyldiaminodiphenylmethane ( epoxide content : 8 . 2 mol / kg ) and 286 . 4 g of a diphenylmethane diisocyanate isomer mixture ( isocyanate content : 7 . 9 mol / kg ), and the mixture was heated to 85 ° c . with mixing . to this mixture was added in portions 7560 g of aluminum oxide ( particle size & lt ; 150 μm ) and the mixture was degassed 1 hr at 85 ° c . to the reaction resin mixture was added 16 . 2 g of 2 - phenylimidazole , and the mixture was degassed 10 min with mixing . the reaction resin mixture was then worked up as in example 1 . this gave an isocyanate groups - free , insoluble reaction resin in the form of a free - flowing powder ( epoxide content : 0 . 7 mol / kg ). by means of a powder - metering device , the isocyanate groups - free , insoluble powdery reaction resin prepared as described in example 3 was added to a twin - screw extruder described in example 2 at a constant rate of 60 g / minute . the five barrel zones of the extruder were set at 165 ° c . the temperatures in the individual barrel zones were as follows : zone 1 : 155 ° c ., zone 2 : 162 ° c ., zone 3 : 165 ° c ., zone 4 : 165 ° c ., zone 5 : 159 ° c . the screw speed was 95 rpm and the residence time of the material in the extruder was 0 . 9 minute . work - up as in example 2 gave a free - flowing , latently reactive , curable prepolymeric epoxy resin mixture ( epoxide content : 0 . 49 mol / kg ; melting range : 75 °- 95 ° c .) which was stored at room temperature with exclusion of moisture . to prepare a resin component , 2550 g of bisphenol a epoxy resin ( epoxide content : 5 . 78 mol / kg ), 155 g of a silicone epoxide ( epoxide content : 1 . 9 mol / kg ) prepared as described in example 9 of ep - os 0 399 199 , 810 g of tetraglycidyldiaminodiphenylmethane ( epoxide content : 8 . 2 mol / kg ) and 885 g of an isomer mixture of diphenylmethane diisocyanate ( isocyanate content : 7 . 9 mol / kg ) were charged to a thermostattable and evacuable mixing vessel ( effective capacity : 20 l ) and the mixture was heated to 60 ° c . with mixing . to this mixture were added in portions 6195 g of spherical fused silica , 2655 g of angular fused silica and 135 g of carbon black , and the mixture was degassed 1 hr at 60 ° c . with mixing . to prepare a catalyst component , 1050 g of spherical fused silica , 450 g of angular fused silica , 15 g of carbon black and 55 . 5 g of 1 - cyanoethyl - 2 - phenylimidazole were uniformly mixed . the resin component was added to a twin - screw extruder by means of a peristaltic pump at a steady rate of 42 g / min , and the catalyst component was added to a twin - screw extruder by means of a twin - screw metering device at a constant rate of 5 g / minute the twin - screw extruder was extended by a mixing section located ahead of the processing section and by a discharge section downstream of the processing section . the extrudate was removed from the extruder without using an extrusion die . the screw length was 1232 mm and the outside screw diameter was 31 . 8 mm . the screws of the extruder were built as follows . the feeding zone contained conveying screw elements , the adjacent mixing zone contained kneading elements , the processing zone contained conveying screw elements and the end of the screw was once again provided with kneading elements for the purpose of comminuting the extrudate to a uniform particle size and to remove it from the open extruder . the seven barrel zones of the extruder were set at the following temperatures : zone 1 ( blending zone ): 62 ° c ., zone 2 : 110 ° c ., zones 3 to 7 : 150 ° c . the screw speed was 80 rpm and the residence time of the material in the twin - screw extruder was 1 . 3 minutes . the extrudate was cooled to 40 ° c . by means of a cooled take - off ramp . the resulting isocyanate groups - free , insoluble , powdery reaction resin ( epoxide content : 1 . 38 mol / kg ) was stored at room temperature . by means of a powder - metering device , the isocyanate groups - free , insoluble , powdery reaction resin prepared in example 5 was fed to a twin - screw extruder described in example 2 at a constant rate of 150 g / minute . the five barrel zones of the extruder were set at 170 ° c . the temperatures in the individual barrel zones were as follows : zone 1 : 162 ° c ., zone 2 : 166 ° c ., zone 3 : 170 ° c ., zone 4 : 170 ° c ., zone 5 : 163 ° c . the screw speed was 100 rpm and the residence time of the material in the extruder was 0 . 8 minute . work - up as in example 2 gave a free - flowing , latently reactive , curable prepolymeric epoxy resin mixture ( epoxide content : 0 . 84 mol / kg ; melting range : 75 °- 95 ° c .) which was stored at room temperature with exclusion of moisture . | 1 |
turning now to fig1 there is shown a basic structure for a collapsible support structure frame 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention . the structure 10 may be a truncated icosahedron geodesic structure . geodesic domes are sliced from a complex polyhedra which has a large number of triangular faces , all approximately , but not quite , equilateral . see . kenner , geodesic math and how to use it , university of california press berkeley , 1976 , chapter 7 , the disclosure of the entire volume of which is hereby incorporated by reference . in the structure of the present inventions , however , the triangular faces on the side walls of the structure may be equilateral . the struts bounding the triangular faces in a geodesic dome may follow the paths of great circles 110 ( fig2 ) that are concentric with the center of the domed structure , some whole , but more often interrupted . the cohesion of the whole , like that of a tensegrity , is both compressive and tensile , with the tension system running along the outer surfaces of the struts , which are at the same time in compression . the structure 10 as shown may include a plurality of generally vertical sections 12 a , b , c , d and e . each of the sections 12 a , b , c , d and e may include a first elongated rigid member 14 a , a second elongated rigid member 14 b and a third elongated rigid member 14 c where the third elongated rigid member 14 c may also comprise the first elongated rigid member in an adjoining section 12 b , which may also contain a second elongated rigid member 14 b ′ and a third elongated rigid member 14 c ′. each of the sections 12 a , b , c , d and e may have an upper collapsible member 30 a , b , c , d and e and a lower collapsible member 32 a , b , c , d and e , more fully described below . each of the sections 12 a , b , c , d and e may have a roof section 20 a , b , c , d and e , which may be comprised of a first roof rigid member 22 a and a second roof rigid member 22 b , where the second roof rigid member 22 b may be the first roof rigid member in the adjoining roof section 20 b which can also include a second roof rigid member 22 c . it can bee seen that each of the sections 12 a , b , c , d and e form the essentially vertical side walls of the structure with the collapsible members 30 a , b , c , d and e and the collapsible members 32 a , b , c , d and e forming the sides of a pentagon polygon . the collapsible sections 32 a , b , c , d and e can form the base of the collapsible support structure 10 and the collapsible members 30 a , b , c , d and e may form the top of the essentially vertical side walls of the support structure 10 formed by the adjoining sections 12 a , b , c , d and e . as shown in fig2 a characteristic of a geodesic structural form such as the icosahedron of fig1 - 3 is that the respective upper and lower ends of the opposing vertical sides rigid members , e . g ., 14 c and 14 b ′″ form equivalent opposing arcs of a greater circle concentric with the geometric center of the structure 10 if it were not truncated to form the base with the collapsible members 32 a , b , c , d and e , i . e ., if it had a structure equivalent to the roof structure attached to the base members 32 a , b , c , d and e in the nature of a complete icosahedron . turning now to fig3 there is shown another characteristic of a truncated icosahedron 10 according to such structures as employed in accordance with the present invention . each of the upper and lower collapsible members , respectively 30 a , b , c , d and e and 32 a , b , c , d and e for the sides of a pentagon which is circumscribed by a lesser circles 140 and 150 in the plane of the pentagon and intersected by the corners of the pentagon . it will also be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the respective pentagons formed by the collapsible members 30 a , b , c , d and e and 32 a , b , c , d and e may be of the same size or of a different size , and in the latter event , the vertical walls of the structure as shown in fig1 - 3 could slant slightly inwardly or slightly outwardly toward the top portion of the wall formed by the collapsible members 30 a , b , c , d and e , accordingly . in the truncated icosahedron 10 at six points along the top of the vertical walls formed by the sections 12 a , b , c , d and e five triangles meet at each vertex , e . g ., 80 a or 80 b shown in fig1 - 3 . at the vertexes along the base formed by the collapsible members 32 a , b , c , d and e , only three triangles meet at each vertex . each of the five vertices of five intersecting triangles in a geodesic structure is called a pent after the pentagons that surround them . from each of the pents radiate portions of five great circles each of which has its center at the geometric center of the structure , were it a full icosahedron as opposed to a truncated one as shown . each of the great circles trancend an arch of about 63 . 5 ° before intersecting the opposite end of the rigid structural member , e . g ., 14 c or 14 b ′″ as shown in fig2 radiating from the pent , generally in the plane of the great circle . following the lead of either of the pentagon edges forming the base or the top of the vertical walls formed by sections 12 a , b , c , d and e one may trace a circuit around the geodesic sphere forming a lesser circle 140 and 150 with its center at the center of the pentagram , girdling the sphere in generally parallel planes , e . g ., like the trop latitudes on the globe of the earth . in the pure geodesic dome , the struts forming the arcs of the lesser circles 140 and 150 are almost , but not quite coplanar . of course , the vertically extending struts can be adjusted as necessary and desired to correct this lack of co - planarity . the truncated dome design of the present invention is completed by placing the base formed by the collapsible members 32 a , b , c , d and e on the ground with the collapsible members 32 a , b , c , d and e and 30 a , b , c , d and e in the rigidized configuration . turning now to fig4 ( a ) the apex 82 b of the section 12 a of the vertical walls of the structure 10 is shown in more detail to explain the interrelationship between the rigid members 14 a , b and c , and the collapsible members 30 a and by example 30 b forming the section 12 a . each of the elongated rigid members 14 a , b , and c may consist of an elongated wooden dowel 16 . each of the elongated rigid dowels 16 may have attached to either end thereof an eyelet , e . g ., a screw - in eyelet 18 . an upper flexible circumferential tensional support member , e . g ., a length of rope ( not shown ) may extend through the eyelets 18 on the upper ends of the dowels 16 ( not shown )— forming the elongated rigid structural members 14 a and 14 b , which may be positioned adjacent to each other forming an upright triangular portion 50 a ( fig2 ) of the section 12 a along with the lower collapsible member 32 a . a lower flexible tensional circumferential support member , e . g ., a length of rope 42 or cable , may extend through the lower collapsible support member 32 a ( shown in phantom by dotted / dashed lines ) and through the pair of eyelets 18 on the lower ends of the dowels 16 forming the elongated rigid members 14 b and 14 c . similarly the upper length of rope ( not shown ) extends through the upper collapsible member 30 a between the joined ends of the elongated rigid structural members 14 a and 14 b and the upper end of the elongated rigid structural member 14 c , and the lower length of rope 42 extends between the eyelets 18 on the lower ends of the elongated rigid structural members 14 b and 14 c that are joined together thereby , such that the elongated rigid structural members 14 b and 14 c along with the upper collapsible member 30 a form an inverted triangular portion 52 a ( fig2 ) of the section 12 a . thus it can be seen that the section 12 a can be in the form of a parallelogram , with the corners of the parallelogram formed by upper junctions 80 a and b and the lower junctions 82 a and b , with the upper collapsible member between 80 a and b forming the base of the inverted triangular portion 52 a and the lower collapsible member 32 a forming the base of the upright triangular portion 50 a of the section 12 a . in the embodiment shown in fig4 ( a ) it can be seen that the collapsible member 30 a ( not shown in fig4 ) and 32 a may be formed by a pair of hollow cylindrical tubes 62 and 64 and an outer tubular sleeve 70 . in the embodiment shown in fig4 a the pair of tubes 62 , 64 extend substantially the length of the base of the respective upright and inverted triangular portions 50 a and 52 a and the outer sleeve 70 slideably engages both the tube 60 and the tube 62 when the respective upper or lower collapsible member , e . g ., lower collapsible member 32 a is in the rigidized configuration . the abutment of the tubes 60 and 62 at junction 72 is illustrated in fig4 ( a ). this abutment serves to hold the rigidized collapsible member 32 a in compression when the tensile forces exerted , e . g ., by tightening the rope 42 around the lesser circle traveled by the rope 42 ( along with the similar action of the upper rope ( not shown ) gives the structure 10 its structural rigidity . turning now to fig4 ( b ) it can be seen that the outer sleeve 70 is of a length that it can be slideably moved to enclose only the one or the other of the two tubes 62 and 64 such that the rigidity provided by the sleeve 70 engaging both the tubes 62 and 64 is eliminated . this enables the respective ends of the elongated rigid structural members , e . g ., 14 a , b and c , the former two of which were maintained in separation by the collapsible member 32 a being rigidized , to move toward each other , enabling collapsing and folding of the structure 10 , when done in conjunction with similarly removing the rigidity of each of the collapsible members 30 a , b , c , d and e and 32 a , b , c , d and e . turning now to fig5 there is shown a more detailed view of an embodiment of an upper terminal junction or apex 80 ( a ) according to the present invention . the eyelets 18 for each of the dowels 16 forming verticle poles 14 a and 14 b and roof pole 22 a are joind by having the rope of cable 40 forming the upper flexible circumferential support member threaded through them and passing through the adjacent hollow tubes 64 of the upper collapsible member 30 e and 62 of the upper collapsible member 30 a , with the verticle poles 14 a and 14 b forming a triangular portion of section 12 a and roof pole 22 a extending to the top of the structure 10 . this is shown in further detail in fig6 . turning to fig6 there is shown a perspective view of a portion of the collapsible structure 10 according to the present invention showing an entire vertical section from the ground to the apex of the embodiment 10 . fig6 shows that the roof poles 22 a , b , c , d and e are joined at the top apex of the structure , e . g ., by an apex ring 120 . the apex ring may be , e . g ., s ring that has a hinged opening allowing the ring to be inserted through the eyelets 18 and the upper ends of each of the roof poles 22 a , b , c , d and e . alternatively the apex ring 120 may simply be a piece of rope or cable threaded through the eyelet 18 openings . turning now to fig7 there is shown a plan view of an embodiment of a collapsible support structure 10 according to the present invention in its erected state . turning now to fig8 there is shown a partially cut away side view of an embodiment of a collapsible support structure according to the present invention in an intermediate stage of being collapsed and stored . in this view one section containing portions bottom collapsible support members 32 b and 32 c and upper horizontal collapsible support members 30 b and 30 c are omitted . also , apex ring 88 has been removed . in the view of fig8 there are shown a pair of anchor rings 130 . the anchor rings 130 may be in the form of a circular ring containing crossed members . the anchor rings 130 are constructed so as to easily connect one end of an upper horizontal flexible circumferential support 40 or lower horizontal flexible circumferential support 42 , e . g ., a cable or rope , to the anchor ring , as by tying , welding , crimp locking or the like , and such that the anchor ring will not pass into the adjacent hollow tube 62 or 64 , as the case may be . it will also be understood that the anchor ring 130 , on the lower circumferential support 42 , except for necessary tightening due to loosening or shifting over time in use , may be essentially permanently affixed to the other end of the lower circumferential support 42 , whereas , unless the roof struts 22 a - e are constructed to enable , e . g ., telescoping , the anchor ring 130 on the upper circumferential support may need to be undone each time to enable the roof struts 22 a - e to extend toward an apex position from the storage collapsed position due to their rigid length and the circumference of the upper circumferential support 40 in its tightened position . as described above and as depicted in the drawings in particular fig4 a , 4 b , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 and 9 all of the joints or connections 80 a , b , c , d and e and 82 a , b , c , d , and e between the elongated rigid members 16 , 16 a and the collapsible elongated members 30 and 32 are highly flexible connections or joints . this is due to the fact that the elongated flexible tensioning members 40 and 42 provide the means to form the flexible joint or hinge like connection . as shown in fig8 the sections 12 a , b , c , d and e are laid out with the anchor rings tight against the apexes 82 a and 80 a respectively and with the upper and lower horixontal flexible circumferential support cable or ropes 40 and 42 extending out of one half of the apex 82 e and out of the apex 80 e , and through upper collapsible structural support member 30 e . turning now to fig9 there is shown the initial stage of folding the collapsible horizontal support members between the respective adjacent vertical poles . the roof posts 22 a , b , c , de and e are then folded downwardly to the inside of the collapsed structure as shown in fig1 ( a ), with the lower horizontal flexible support member 42 pulled to tighten the bundle , and with the portion of the upper horizontal flexible support structure wrapped around the upper portion of the collapsed bundle to further tighten the collapsed bundle prior to insertion of the bundle into the storage bag as shown in fig1 ( b ). it will be understood that the folding operation discussed in this paragraph can occur both with the apex ring in place fig9 a or not in fig9 . fig1 , 12 and 13 show alternative possible improved embodiments for the eyelet joiners shown in earlier illustrated embodiments according to the present invention . in fig1 and fig1 there is shown one version of a pop - in connector 160 , which consists of a loop 162 and a pair of straight leg portions 164 , along with a protrusion 166 at the terminal end of the straight leg portion 164 . in the embodiment shown in fig1 the loop 162 can used in conjunction with a locking insert 165 . the locking insert 165 is constructed to have a diameter along at least one axis that allows the structure , which may be constructed of a rigid though partially flexible material such as nylon , so as to fit snuggly within the end of a hollow tube . in the case of fig1 the hollow tube is shown to have replaced the wooden dowels 16 as , e . g ., the vertical structural members . in operation the pop - in connector of fig1 is constructed to have a spring - like mode of operation with the protrusions biased to press against the inner surface of the hollow tube 16 a . insertion into the grooves 167 of the locking insert 165 , the protrusions are forced even more toward engagement with the inner surface of the hollow tube 16 a . in addition , depending upon the direction of the spring action of the leg portions , they may be biased against the surface of the respective groove 167 to further frictionally hold the pop - in connector 160 . in the embodiment of fig1 , the hollow tube has a pair of opposing holes 168 and in this case the legs 164 of the loop 162 of the pop - in connector 160 are springedly biased outwardly so as to engage the protrusions 166 in the holes 168 to hold the pop - in connector in place . as shown it can be seen that the pop - in connectors 160 can be of great use , e . g ., if a pole / strut , e . g ., 14 or 16 a were to break while the structure is erect . without having to essentially disassemble the structure frame 10 by unthreading the entire , e . g ., upper flexible circumferential support 40 or lower flexible circumferential support 42 to rethread it through an eyelet such as the eyelets 18 discussed above , the pop - in connector can be used to selectively engage one of the supports 40 , 42 at the respective end of a pole / strut at only the specific location of the pole / strut being replaced . one possible disadvantage of the pop - in connector 160 described above is that over time the flexible support 40 , 42 , if it is made of fiber as opposed to being a metal cable , could fray on the ends of the tubular pole / strut . alternatively , the metal capable used as a flexible support 40 or 42 may wear down the tubular ends of the pole / strut . to prevent either of these , at the loss of flexibility in replacing poles / struts while the structure is erected , a pop - in connector such as the pop - in connector 170 shown in fig1 may be employed . the pop - in connector of fig1 has two loops 172 and 174 , keeping the flexible circumferential support 40 , 42 away from the tubular end of the respective pole / strut . as can be seen from fig1 popin connector 170 , aside from its two loops , is essentially similar to single loop popin connector 160 . popin connector 170 has straight leg portions 176 and protrusions 178 at the end of terminus of leg portions 176 . additionally , a portion of tube 64 is depicted showing hole 180 into which protrusion 178 would fit to detachabley secure popin connectors 160 or 170 . additionally , popin connector 170 could be used with tube 16 a . it will be understood that the tensioning means at , e . g ., the base and the top of the vertical side walls of the structure 10 may be formed by rope or cable or the like and may be brought into tension simply by pulling on the rope or cable at a vertex , e . g . 80 b and similarly , e . g ., 82 b , with the rope or cable attached , e . g ., to an eyelet 18 on one of the dowels 16 forming part of the vertex , and looped through the other eyelet at the vertex , such that the tensionizing rope or cable exerts tension between each of the vertices , while the collapsible members 30 a , b , c , d and e , or 32 a , b , c , d and e , as applicable , are placed in compression . it will also be understood that the compactibility of the structure 10 of the present invention may be increased , and the height of the vertical walls formed by the sections 12 a , b , c , d and e maintained by making the rigid members , e . g ., 14 a , b and c , themselves collapsible , e . g ., by forming them of a two piece hinged construction as is known in the art for such supporting struts for collapsible structures and frames . in addition , the height of the vertical walls may be increased by adding a third or a fourth or more set of sections defined by another pair of adjacent lesser circle pentagons connected by rigid struts , e . g ., in the triangular pattern as shown in fig1 - 3 . it will also be understood that the roof struts 22 a , b , c , d and e must be joined at the apex 88 of the structure 10 shown in fig1 - 3 , which may be accomplished by simply as looping a rope through eyelets 18 at the terminal ends of the roof struts 22 a , b , c , d and e meeting at the apex 88 , or by any of the well known mechanical structures for forming such a roof apex in collapsible structure frames known in the art . it will be understood , however , that the making of this vertex at the apex 88 of the structure will ordinarily need to be formed before vertical side walls of the structure 10 are rigidized and will ordinarily need to be broken down before the structure 10 is collapsed , since the length of the roof struts 22 a , b , c , d and e will prevent the apex 88 from collapsing through the plane of the lesser circle formed by the top of the vertical wall , i . e ., by collapsible sections 30 a , b , c , d and e , as shown in fig1 - 3 while remaining joined in abutted ends at the apex 88 . the collapsible support structure of the present invention provides a number of advantages beyond simply being collapsible and storable in a relatively compact form in a storage bag and being relatively easy to assemble and rigidize and collapse and store . no ropes or tie downs are needed to hold the erected structure having placed over it one of a number of forms of plastic , fabric or hybrid covers to form , e . g ., a tent or other generally water tight enclosure . the ropes inside the collapsible frame structure of the present invention provide the hold down function simply by the weight of the cover over the structure , or alternatively , if , e . g ., because of high winds , etc . weighted bags filled with , e . g ., sand or water can be place over the bottom horizontal collapsible members . this can be especially beneficial on surfaces that are exceptionally hard , e . g ., pure rock , or exceptionally soft , e . g ., sand , where tie downs are difficult if not impossible to anchor . the structure is also adaptable to a large variety of terrains , including relatively steep slopes , and the ability to suspend hammocks from the upper vertices of the structure are not impacted by the structure being on such a slope . furthermore if the structure , once assembled needs to be moved , e . g ., having been initially erected over an ant hill , it can be lifted and moved fully assembled relatively easily due to its rigidity and light weight . in use the collapsible support structure of the present invention can be a form of rapidly deployable emergency shelter . the ability to hang hammocks from the vertices of the frame enable use in wet conditions even if the frame does not support a covering forming a tent with an integral floor . in operation the collapsible support structure of the present invention can be erected by the following process . the structure is first removed from the storage bag . the user can simply open the carrying bag and stand the collapsed structure in the veticle collapsed position . the five lower horizontal collapsible members will naturally fall away from the vertical poles , with the upper horizontal collapsible members remaining suspended from the upper ends of the vertical poles the user can then spread tot lower horizontal collapsible support members to form the lower pent by moving the vertical poles outwardly from the stored compacted assembly . leaving the upper collapsible horizontal support members in the broken down condition , the user can rigidize the lower horizontal collapsible members to form a rigidized pent at the bottom of the structure . with the apex of the roof poles connected by an apex ring as described above and the upper horizontal collapsible members remaining un - rigidized , and or un - tightened , the roof poles can be moved to above the horizontal plane of the upper horizontal collapsible members . the upper horizontal collapsible members can then be rigidized . both the lower horizontal collapsible members and upper horizontal collapsible members can be rigidized by , e . g ., threading the respective upper or lower flexible circumferential support member , e . g ., rope or cable through an anchor ring at the opposite end of the cable or rope and held in place at one of the apexes / vertexes 80 a , b , c , d and e or 82 a , b , c , d and e and tightening the rope or cable by hand or with a mechanical tightener so that the respective horizontal lesser circle is in compression . this can be done , e . g ., with the user standing inside of the frame under assembly and holding the roof poles upward to form a roof apex , while tightening the upper collapsible horizontal support members . the upper apexes will be generally centered over the centers of the lower collapsible support members and the upper collapsible structural members will be centered generally over the junctions between the bottom collapsible support structural members . a further application of the present invention to form a collapsible structure support can include other geodesic structures that are able to be formed and broken down according to the present invention , e . g ., icosa , octa , tricon , etc ., especially in multi - frequency large structures , e . g ., using cables with somewhat heavier hardware . the present invention has been described with respect to preferred embodiments . it will be understood by those skilled in the art that many variations and modification of the disclosed preferred embodiments may be made without changing or departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention , e . g ., other forms of sleeves and tubes apart from those illustrated which maintain compression by the abutment of the inner tubes within the outer sleeve may be employed as known in the art , e . g ., a sleeve with flouted ends and a more narrow central section such that the tubes coact with the narrowed center portion of the sleeve to create the compressive force . in addition , the sleeve itself could be the internal tubular structure , e . g ., having a protrusion that slides along a slot in one or the other of the two tubes running the length of a collapsible member , e . g ., 32 a , so as to be able to be moved from a position in which the sleeve ( now an internally disposed sleeve ) slideably internally engages both of the other tubes to one in which it so engages only one of the other tubes , similarly to the configuration as shown in fig5 . other such modifications may be made to the mechanical structural elements of the present invention , e . g ., the dowels could be replaced with solid or hollow metal rods , or even generally flat struts , particularly if a hinged construction of the struts is desired , all of which may be made , e . g ., of metal , e . g ., made of aluminum , and / or the eyelets could be replaced with holes bored through the rigid structural members , whether such are wooden of metal , hollow or tubular or flat in construction . the present invention , therefore , should not be limited to any preferred embodiments disclosed in this application and should be considered described and claimed only through the following claims . | 4 |
fig1 presents one elevator system 10 according to the invention , which comprises the elevators 10 a and 10 b of the elevator system 10 , a control system 10 c of the elevator system , a back - end system 15 connected to the control system 10 c , and also call - giving devices 12 in the elevator lobbies and / or in the elevator cars for registering manual elevator calls . an identifier 11 is given for the personal use of a passenger , which identifier is e . g . a remotely - readable rfid identifier and the identification data contained by which identifier can be read by reader units 14 in the elevator lobbies ( in fig1 only the reader unit of the entrance lobby floor f 1 is presented ). the identification data contain e . g . the individual id number of the identifier , which id number the reader unit 14 reads and transmits to the back - end system 15 . alternatively , the reader units can be disposed in the elevator cars , instead of in the elevator lobbies , in which case either a passenger must give a manual elevator call in the elevator lobby , or the elevator lobbies must be provided with optical or other corresponding movement detectors for calling an elevator car to the floor level when a passenger arrives in an elevator lobby to wait for an elevator . in fig1 a movement detector on the topmost floor f 10 is presented with the reference number 18 by way of example , which movement detector detects passengers arriving in the elevator lobby of floor f 10 and sends the detection data to the control system 10 c for ordering an elevator car to the floor f 10 . after an elevator car has arrived at the floor f 10 and the passenger moves into the elevator car , the reader unit in the elevator car reads the id number of the identifier of the passenger , on the basis of which id number the elevator system generates an automatic destination call if the passenger does not give a manual destination call with the call pushbuttons in the elevator car . destination call panels and / or conventional up / down pushbuttons in the elevator lobbies can be used as call - giving devices 12 . fig1 presents only the destination call panel 12 disposed on the floor f 1 ( the entrance lobby floor ), which destination call panel comprises call pushbuttons 12 a for registering a manual destination floor call , as well as a display unit 12 b for indicating the elevator serving the call to the passenger who gave the call . in addition to call pushbuttons 12 a , a destination call panel comprises a classification pushbutton 12 aa , with which a physically handicapped passenger can order handicapped - accessible transport for himself / herself . elevators serving automatic elevator calls can also be indicated with a display unit 12 b and / or the elevator lobbies can be provided with signs ( not presented in fig1 ) for indicating the serving elevators . it is also possible to provide identifiers 11 with a display unit , to which the elevator system transmits information about the elevator serving a passenger . the back - end system 15 comprises a processing unit , software and also a memory means 15 a for saving information connected to automatic elevator calls . the back - end system is connected via a data transfer connection 10 d to the control system 10 c for sending automatic elevator calls from the back - end system to the control system and also , if necessary , for transmitting the status information of the elevators from the control system to the back - end system . when the holder of an identifier 11 ( a passenger ) arrives in the entrance lobby f 1 of a building for the first time , he / she goes to a call - giving device 12 and gives a manual destination call e . g . to floor f 5 . in the same connection , the reader unit 14 in the entrance lobby reads the id number of the identifier and transmits it to the back - end system 15 . the back - end system 15 receives the id number , opens in the memory means 15 a the data record corresponding to the id number and saves in the data record information about the departure floor of the passenger , which in this example case is the entrance lobby f 1 . the control system 10 c allocates to the passenger an elevator car , which takes him / her from the entrance lobby floor f 1 to the floor f 5 . after arriving at floor f 5 the passenger moves e . g . into his / her office . when the passenger returns back to the elevator lobby of floor f 5 , the reader unit 14 in the elevator lobby of floor f 5 detects the identifier 11 of the passenger , reads the id number contained in said identifier and transmits the id number to the back - end system 15 . the back - end system , on the basis of id number , identifies the data record , which comprises information about the departure floor of the previous elevator journey of the passenger and generates an automatic destination call from floor f 5 to the departure floor in question , which in this example case is the entrance lobby floor f 1 . in the same connection , the back - end system updates the new departure floor ( floor f 5 ) in the data record for the following elevator journey . when the passenger e . g . on the following morning arrives in the entrance lobby f 1 of the building , the back - end system generates in the manner described above an automatic destination call from the entrance lobby floor f 1 to the floor f 5 . if a passenger has , in connection with a manual call , pressed the classification pushbutton 12 aa , this is taken into account also when generating automatic calls by ordering for the passenger elevator transport according to the classification , e . g . by lengthening the door times of the doors of the elevator for a physically handicapped passenger . in the preceding example , the elevator lobbies contain reader units 14 , which read the identification data contained in the identifiers 11 of passengers in the elevator lobbies . since the back - end system 15 has the position data of the reader units available for its use , the back - end system can detect the elevator lobby of which floor at which a passenger arrives at any given time ( by elevator or by walking ) or from the elevator lobby of which floor a passenger leaves ( by elevator or by walking ). by means of the reader units the departure floor , on which floor the passenger moves into the elevator car , as well as the destination floor , where he / she leaves the elevator car , of an elevator journey performed by a passenger can thus be determined . a corresponding determination can be performed with the reader units in the elevator cars by detecting with a reader unit the presence of the identifiers of passengers in the elevator car and by identifying the floor at which the elevator car is located at the time of the detection . according to one embodiment of the invention the back - end system 15 registers the elevator journeys made by a passenger during one visit . the term visit refers to the period of time from the moment a passenger arrives in a building to the moment he / she leaves the building . the embodiment comprises a type of “ recording function ”, wherein the elevator journeys made by a passenger during one visit are saved in the memory means 15 a , in the sequence in which they are performed , including information about the departure floor and destination floor of each elevator journey . in the example according to fig1 , the “ recording function ” starts when a passenger arrives at the entrance lobby floor f 1 and the reader unit 14 on the entrance lobby floor f 1 detects the identifier 11 of the passenger . the “ recording function ” ends in the example case according to fig1 when the reader unit 14 on the entrance lobby floor f 1 detects a passenger ( identifier 11 ) leaving the detection area of the reader unit 14 in the entrance lobby f 1 and the identifier 11 of the passenger is not detected after this with any reader unit 14 during a preset period of time . when the passenger visits the building on a following occasion and his / her identifier 11 is detected in the elevator lobbies of different floors , the back - end system generates automatic elevator calls on the basis of the elevator journeys saved in the memory means 15 a taking into account the sequence of saving the elevator journeys for specific floors . if the passenger does not make an elevator journey according to said automatic elevator call ( e . g . he / she does not step into the elevator car allocated to him / her ), the back - end system deletes the elevator journey in question from the plurality of saved elevator journeys . correspondingly , if a passenger gives a manual elevator call and makes an elevator journey , of which a “ recording ” has not been made , the back - end system adds the elevator journey in question to the plurality of saved elevator journeys . the invention is not only limited to be applied to the embodiments described above , but instead many variations are possible within the scope of the inventive concept defined by the claims . thus , for example , the back - end system presented in fig1 as a separate computer system can be either fully or partly integrated into the control system 10 c . also the memory means 15 a , as an exception to fig1 , can be integrated either fully or partly into the control system 10 c and / or into the identifiers 11 , and the reader units 14 can be used e . g . for sending data to be saved in the integrated memory means 15 a to the identifiers 11 . | 1 |
r 1 is h , halogen , methoxy , ethoxy , trifluoromethyl , nitro , amino ; the term “ halogen ” indicates an halogen selected from fluorine , chlorine , bromine or iodine . a first preferred group of compounds of formula ( i ) is that wherein : among them , particularly preferred are compounds ( ia ), wherein r is iodine and r 1 is hydrogen and ( ib ) wherein r is chlorine and r 1 is hydrogen . among them particularly preferred is the compound of formula ( ic ), wherein r is iodine and r 1 is hydrogen . the compounds of formula ( i ) can be prepared by means of conventional methods , such as the reaction of a compound of formula ( iii ) wherein r is as defined above and the hydroxy group is protected with an acetyl , benzyl or benzoyl group , the compounds of formula ( i ) are able to inhibit the vanilloid trpv1 receptor and can be used for the preparation of pharmaceutical compositions for the treatment of inflammatory states , such as chronic pain and inflammatory hyperalgesia . these formulations can be prepared by conventional methods and excipients , such as those disclosed in remington &# 39 ; s pharmaceutical sciences handbook , xvii ed . mack pub ., n . y ., u . s . a . the invention will be hereinafter illustrated by means of the following examples and schemes 1 and 2 . the reactions were routinely monitored by thin - layer chromatography ( tlc ) on silica gel ( precoated f 245 merck plates ) and the products visualized with an iodine or potassium permanganate solution . 1 h nmr spectra were recorded in cdcl 3 , cf 3 cood or dmso - d 6 with a bruker ac 200 spectrometer . peak positions are given in parts per million ( δ ) downfield from tetramethylsilane as internal standard , and j values are given in hz . ir spectra were recorded on a pye unicam sp 300 spectrometer using the kbr wafer technique . mass spectra were obtained with a shimadzu qp5050 di 50 spectrometer . the expression “ light petroleum ether ” refers to petroleum fraction boiling at 40 - 60 ° c . melting points ( m . p .) were determined on a buchi - tottoli instrument and are uncorrected . chromatographies were performed using merck 60 - 200 mesh silica gel . the synthesized compounds showed 1 h nmr spectra in agreement with the assigned structures . elemental analyses were within ± 0 . 4 % of the theoretical values for c , h , and n . acetic anhydride ( 1 ml , 10 . 5 mmol ) was added to a solution of 4 - hydroxy - 3 - methoxy - benzylamine hydrochloride ( 0 . 5 g , 2 . 63 mmol ) in pyridine ( 5 ml ) and the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 6 hours . the solvent was removed under reduced pressure and the residue was suspended in water ( 100 ml ). the aqueous layer was extracted with ethyl acetate ( 3 × 20 ml ) and the combined organic phases were anhydrified ( na 2 so 4 ) and evaporated under reduced pressure to afford the title compound as white solid ( 0 . 45 g , yield 75 %). 1 h - nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ 2 . 01 ( s , 3h , ch 3 ), 2 . 31 ( s , 3h , ch 3 ), 3 . 81 ( s , 3h , och 3 ), 4 . 38 ( d , 2h , j = 6 , ch 2 ), 5 . 90 ( bs , 1h , nh ), 6 . 90 ( m , 3h , aromatic ). ms : m / z 238 . 1 ( m + c 12 h 15 no 4 ). the diacetyl derivative of example 1 . 1 and a catalytic amount of trifluoromethane sulfonic acid ( 5 - 6 drops ) were added to a solution of ipy 2 bf 4 1 , 2 ( 0 . 69 g , 6 . 9 mmol ) in ch 2 cl 2 ( 40 ml ). the resulting mixture was stirred at room temperature for 5 hours , then added with 10 % aq . sodium thiosulfate until it became completely clear . the aqueous layer was extracted with ch 2 cl 2 ( 3 × 25 ml ) and the organic phases were anhydrified ( na 2 so 4 ) and evaporated under vacuum . the residue was recrystallized from a mixture of ch 2 cl 2 / et 2 o to afford the title compound as pale yellow solid ( 0 . 38 g , yield 65 %). 1 h - nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ 2 . 06 ( s , 3h , ch 3 ), 2 . 33 ( s , 3h , ch 3 ), 3 . 82 ( s , 3h , och 3 ), 4 . 41 ( d , 2h , j = 5 . 6 , ch 2 ), 6 . 0 ( t , 1h , nh ), 7 . 04 ( s , 1h , aromatic ), 7 . 44 ( s , 1h , aromatic ). bidimensional noesy ( cdcl 3 ): coupling between the singlet at 7 . 44 ppm and the singlet at 2 . 33 ppm confirms that iodine is at the 2 - position of the aromatic ring . ms : m / z 364 ( m + c 12 h 14 ino 4 ). 37 % hydrochloric acid ( 0 . 2 ml ) was added to a solution of 2 - iodo - 4 - acetyloxy - 5 - methoxy - n - acetyl - benzylamine ( 0 . 1 g , 0 . 27 mmol ) in abs . ethanol ( 5 ml ) and the mixture was refluxed for 12 hours . after cooling , the solvent was evaporated off under reduced pressure and the residue was recrystallized from dry acetone to afford the title compound as pale yellow solid in quantitative yield . 1 h nmr ( dmso - d 6 ) δ 3 . 80 ( s , 3h , och 3 ), 3 . 97 ( m , 2h , ch 2 ), 7 . 21 ( s , 1h , aromatic ), 7 . 29 ( s , 1h , aromatic ), 8 . 46 ( bs , 3h , nh 3 + ), 9 . 38 ( bs , 1h , oh ). ms : m / z 315 . 9 ( m + c 8 h 11 clino 2 ). tea ( 0 . 95 mmol , 0 . 13 ml ) and 4 - tert - butyl isothiocyanate 3 ( 0 . 47 mmol , 0 . 1 g ) were added to a suspension of 2 - iodo - 4 - hydroxy - 5 - methoxybenzylamine hydrochloride ( 0 . 15 g , 0 . 47 mmol ) in dry dmf ( 10 ml ). the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 20 hours and the residue was added with water ( 30 ml ). the aqueous layer was extracted with ethyl acetate ( 3 × 20 ml ) and the combined organic phases were anhydrified ( na 2 so 4 ), then evaporated under reduced pressure . the residue was purified by flash chromatography ( 1 : 1 ethyl acetate / light petroleum ) to afford ia as white solid ( 60 mg , 32 % yield ). 1 h nmr ( dmso - d 6 ) δ 1 . 26 ( s , 9h , tert - butyl ), 3 . 67 ( s , 3h , och 3 ), 4 . 50 ( d , 2h , j = 4 , ch 2 ), 4 . 62 ( d , 2h , j = 4 . 2 , ch 2 ), 6 . 90 ( bs , 1h , aromatic ), 7 . 18 ( s , 1h , aromatic ), 7 . 22 ( d , 2h , j = 4 . 1 , aromatic ), 7 . 33 ( d , 2h , j = 4 . 2 , aromatic ), 7 . 70 ( bs , 1h , nh ), 7 . 91 ( bs , 1h , nh ), 9 . 3 ( s , 1h , oh ). ms : m / z 485 . 4 ( m + c 20 h 25 in 2 o 2 s ). anal . c , h , n , o ( c 20 h 25 in 2 o 2 s ): calculated : c , 49 . 59 ; h , 5 . 20 ; n , 5 . 78 ; o , 6 . 61 . found : c , 49 . 45 ; h , 5 . 11 ; n , 5 . 62 ; o , 6 . 57 . n - chlorosuccinimide ( 3 . 15 mmol , 0 . 42 g ) was added to a solution of 4 - acetyloxy - 3 - methoxy - n - acetyl - benzylamine of example 1 . 1 ( 0 . 5 g , 2 . 1 mmol ) in dry dmf ( 6 ml ) and the mixture was stirred for 30 ′ at 0 ° c . and then for 16 hours at room temperature . when water was added to the reaction ( 40 ml ) the formation of a white precipitate was observed . the solid was filtered off and washed twice with cold water ( 2 × 20 ml ), then dried over p 2 o 5 to afford the title compound as white solid ( 0 . 45 g , 83 % yield ). 1 h nmr ( dmso - d 6 ) δ 1 . 89 ( s , 3h ), 2 . 24 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 76 ( s , 3h , och 3 ), 4 . 27 ( d , 2h , ch 2 , j = 8 ), 7 . 09 ( s , 1h , aromatic ), 7 . 25 ( s , 1h , aromatic ), 8 . 35 ( t , 1h , nh ). bidimensional noesy ( dmso - d 6 ): coupling between the singlet at 2 . 24 ppm and the singlet at 7 . 25 ppm confirms that chlorine is at the 2 - position of the aromatic ring . ms : m / z 272 . 1 ( m + c 12 h 14 clno 4 ). 37 % hydrochloric acid ( 2 . 5 ml ) was added to a solution of 2 - chloro - 4 - acetyloxy - 5 - methoxy - n - acetyl - benzylamine 2b ( 0 . 45 g , 1 . 66 mmol ) in abs . ethanol ( 15 ml ) and the mixture was refluxed for 12 hours . the reaction was cooled and the solvent was evaporated under reduced pressure . the residue was recrystallized from dry acetone to afford the title compound as white crystals in quantitative yield . 1 h nmr ( dmso - d 6 ) δ 3 . 87 ( s , 3h , och 3 ), 4 . 00 ( m , 2h , ch 2 ), 6 . 91 ( s , 1h , aromatic ), 7 . 32 ( s , 1h , aromatic ), 8 . 46 ( bs , 3h , nh 3 + ), 9 . 80 ( bs , 1h , oh ). tea ( 0 . 98 mmol , 0 . 14 ml ) and 4 - tert - butyl isothiocyanate 3 ( 0 . 54 mmol , 0 . 11 g ) were added to a suspension of 2 - chloro - 4 - hydroxy - 5 - methoxybenzylamine hydrochloride 3b ( 0 . 11 g , 0 . 49 mmol ) in dry dmf ( 10 ml ). the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 18 hours , then the solvent was removed under reduced pressure and the residue was purified by flash chromatography ( 4 : 6 ethyl acetate / light petroleum ) to afford ib as pale yellow solid ( 65 mg , 42 % yield ). 1 h nmr ( dmso - d 6 ) δ 1 . 25 ( s , 9h , tert - butyl ), 3 . 68 ( s , 3h , och 3 ), 4 . 59 ( m , 4h , ch 2 ), 6 . 80 ( s , 1h , aromatic ), 6 . 91 ( s , 1h , aromatic ), 7 . 23 ( d , 2h , j = 9 . 8 , aromatic ), 7 . 35 ( d , 2h , j = 9 . 7 , aromatic ), 7 . 65 ( bs , 1h , nh ), 7 . 92 ( bs , 1h , nh ), 9 . 47 ( s , 1h , oh ). ms : m / z 393 . 3 ( m + c 20 h 25 cln 2 o 2 s ). anal . c , h , n , o ( c 20 h 25 cln 2 o 2 s ): calculated : c , 61 . 13 ; h , 6 . 41 ; n , 7 . 13 ; o , 8 . 14 . found : c , 61 . 04 ; h , 6 . 38 ; n , 7 . 04 ; o , 61 . 00 . tea ( 0 . 95 mmol , 0 . 13 ml ) and 4 - trifluoromethyl isothiocyanate 3 ( 0 . 47 mmol , 0 . 103 g ) were added to a suspension of 2 - iodo - 4 - hydroxy - 5 - methoxybenzylamine hydrochloride ( 0 . 15 g , 0 . 47 mmol ) in dry dmf ( 10 ml ). the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 18 hours , then the solvent was removed under reduced pressure and the residue was purified by flash chromatography ( 1 : 1 ethyl acetate / light petroleum ) to afford ic as pale yellow solid ( 90 mg , 40 % yield ). 1 h nmr ( dmso - d 6 ) δ 3 . 74 ( s , 3h , och 3 ), 4 . 63 ( bs , 2h , ch 2 ), 4 . 76 ( d , 2h , j = 4 . 2 , ch 2 ), 6 . 96 ( s , 1h , aromatic ), 7 . 10 ( bs , 1h , nh ), 7 . 22 ( s , 1h , aromatic ), 7 . 36 ( d , 2h , j = 4 . 1 , aromatic ), 7 . 48 ( d , 2h , j = 4 . 2 , aromatic ), 7 . 70 ( bs , 1h , nh ), 8 . 01 ( bs , 1h , oh ). ms : m / z 497 . 2 ( m + c 17 h 16 f 3 in 2 o 2 s ). anal . c , h , n , 0 ( c 17 h 16 f 3 in 2 o 2 s ): calculated : c , 41 . 14 ; h , 3 . 25 ; n , 5 . 64 ; o , 6 . 45 . found : c , 40 . 98 ; h , 3 . 19 ; n , 5 . 57 ; o , 6 . 42 . newborn and adult sprague - dawley rats (˜ 250 g ) were used ( harlam , italy ). all experiments complied with the national guidelines and were approved by the regional ethics committee . newborn rats ( 2 days old ) were terminally anaesthetized and decapitated . trigeminal ganglia were removed and rapidly placed in a cold phosphate buffered solution ( pbs ) before being transferred to collagenase / dispase ( 1 mg / ml dissolved in ca 2 + - mg 2 + - free pbs ) for 35 min . at 37 ° c . 4 . after the enzymatic treatment the ganglia were rinsed three times with ca 2 + - mg 2 + - free pbs and then placed in 2 ml of cold dmem supplemented with 10 % foetal bovine serum ( fbs , heat inactivated ), 2 mm l - glutamine , 100 μ / ml penicillin and 100 mg / ml streptomycin . the ganglia were then dissociated into single cells by several passages through a series of syringe needles ( 23 g down to 25 g ). finally , the medium and ganglia cells sieved through a 40 mm filter to remove debris and taken up with 8 ml of dmem medium and centrifuged ( 200 × g for 5 min .). the final cell pellet was re - suspended in dmem medium ( supplemented with 100 ng / ml mouse nerve growth factor ( mouse - ngf - 7s ) and cytosine - β - d - arabino - furanoside free base ( ara - c ) 2 . 5 mm ). the cells were plated on poly - l - lysine ( 8 . 3 mm ) and laminin ( 5 mm ) coated 25 mm glass cover slips and kept for 2 to 5 days at 37 ° c . in a humidified incubator gassed with 5 % co 2 and air . plated neurons were loaded with fura - 2 - am - ester ( 3 μm ) in ca 2 + buffer solution of the following composition ( mm ): cacl 2 1 . 4 , kcl 5 . 4 , mgso 4 0 . 4 , nacl 135 , d - glucose 5 , hepes 10 with bsa 0 . 1 %, at ph 7 . 4 , for 40 min at 37 ° c ., washed twice with the ca 2 + buffer solution and transferred to a chamber on the stage of a nikon eclipse te300 microscope . the dye was excited at 340 and 380 nm to indicate relative [ ca 2 + ] i changes by the f 340 / f 380 ratio recorded with a dynamic image analysis system ( laboratory automation 2 . 0 , rcs , florence , italy ). capsaicin ( 0 . 1 μm ) and ionomycin ( 5 μm ) were added to the chamber . a calibration curve using a buffer containing fura - 2 - am - ester and determinant concentrations of free ca2 + was used to convert the obtained data from f 340 / f 380 ratio to [ ca 2 + ] i ( nm ) 5 . the effects of ia , ib and ic were tested against capsaicin - induced calcium mobilisation ; ia , ib and ic were incubated for 10 minutes prior to the capsaicin challenge . the inhibitory effect of the reference trpv1 antagonist , capsazepine , was also tested . the irritant effect ( induction of wiping movements ) of capsaicin was assessed by applying capsaicin 0 . 1 % ( 50 μl ) on the rat conjunctiva and the number of wiping movements was recorded during the 60 s period that followed the application . in another set of experiments , the rats were treated intraperitoneally with different doses of ia and ic and capsaicin - induced wiping was studied . drugs and reagents were obtained from the indicated companies : capsaicin , ionomycin , laminin , poly - l - lysine and capsazepine from sigma , italy ; mouse ngf - 7s and collagenase / dispase from roche diagnostics , italy ; dulbecco &# 39 ; s modified eagle &# 39 ; s medium ( dmem ), foetal bovine serum ( fbs ) heat inactivated , l - glutamine ( 200 mm ), penicillin / streptomycin ( 10 , 000 iu / ml ± 10 , 000 ug / ml ), ca 2 + - mg 2 + - free phosphate buffered solution ( pbs ) from gibco , italy ; fura - 2 - am - ester from società italiana chimici , italy . stock solutions of capsaicin ( 10 mm ) were prepared in 100 % ethanol . mother solutions of ia ( 100 mm ), ib ( 100 mm ), ic ( 100 mm ), fura - 2 - am - ester ( 100 mm ) and ionomycin ( 100 mm ) were prepared in dmso . appropriate dilutions were then made in krebs buffer solution . capsaicin ( 0 . 1 μm ) caused an increase in [ ca 2 + ] i in the vast majority ( 95 %) of rat trigeminal neuronal cells , that therefore were identified as trpv1 expressing neurons . the threshold concentrations of ia , ib and ic that produced an inhibitory effect were 0 . 1 nm , 0 . 1 nm and 1 nm respectively . complete inhibition of the response to capsaicin was obtained with 0 . 1 μm ia and 3 μm ic . ic 50 values of ia , ib and ic inhibiting capsaicin - evoked [ ca 2 + ] i mobilization were 3 . 48 ( 1 . 46 - 8 . 30 ) nm , 3 . 86 ( 2 . 13 - 7 . 0 ) nm and 70 ( 50 - 98 ) nm , respectively . the reference trpv1 antagonist , capsazepine , inhibited the capsaicin response with an ic 50 of 2344 ( 2090 - 2659 ) nm . mobilization of [ ca 2 + ] i evoked by 5 mm kcl was not affected by ia , ib and ic . the results are expressed as mean and 95 % fiducial limits . intraperitoneal ia and ic , 15 minutes prior to the capsaicin challenge , significantly reduced capsaicin - induced wiping in rats . the ed 50 values were 2 . 76 ( 2 . 05 - 3 . 35 ) mg / kg for ia and 7 . 20 ( 6 . 34 - 7 . 89 ) mg / kg for ic . in in vitro and in vivo studies , ia , ib and ic were able to inhibit trpv1 activated responses with an affinity that was significantly greater than that of capsazepine , therefore they can be conveniently used for the preparation of medicaments for the treatment of pain . 1 . barluenga , j . ; gonzales , j . m . ; garcia - martin , m . a . ; campos , p . j . ; asensio , g . j . org . chem . 1993 , 58 , 2058 - 2060 . 2 . barluenga , j . ; garcia - martin , m . a . ; gonzales , j . m . ; clapes , p . ; valencia , g . chem . commun . 1996 , 1505 - 1506 . 3 . wrigglesworth , r . ; walpole , c . s . j . ; bevan , s . ; campbell , e . a . ; dray , a . ; hughes , g . a . ; james , i . ; masdin , k . j . ; winter , j . j . med . chem . 1996 , 39 , 4942 - 4951 . 4 . rigoni m . et al ., british journal of pharmacology , 2003 , 138 , 977 - 985 . 5 . kudo y . et al ., japanese journal of pharmacology , 1986 , 41 , 345 - 151 . | 2 |
the compounds of the present invention can be prepared as shown in the following reaction scheme : ## str4 ## compounds of formula i are prepared by the coupling reaction of a compound of formula ii where n , r 1 , and r 6 are as defined above with a compound of the formula iii where m , r 2 , y , and w are as defined above with y and w having a c terminal on the right side and an n terminal on the left side of each residue , the c terminal of w being in the carboxylic acid form . the reaction is carried out in the presence of a carboxylic acid activating agent in an inert solvent . suitable carboxylic acid activating agents include oxalyl chloride , thionyl chloride , carbonyldiimidazole , dicyclohexylcarbodiimide , and 1 - ethyl - 3 -( 3 - dimethylaminopropyl )- carbodiimide . the preferred carboxylic acid activating agent is carbonyldiimidazole . suitable solvents include diethyl ethyl , tetrahydrofuran , 1 , 4 - dioxane , chloroform , methylene chloride , or n , n - dimethylformamide . the preferred solvent is methylene chloride . the reaction is run at a temperature of from about 0 ° c . to about 65 ° c ., preferably at about 25 ° c . ( room temperature ). compounds of the formula iii are either commercially available or can be prepared using methods known in the art , for example , as described in m . bodanszky , peptide synthesis , john wiley and sons , new york ( 1976 ). compounds of formula ii can be prepared as shown in the following reaction scheme : ## str5 ## compounds of formula iic where n and r 6 are as defined above and r 1 is as defined above but for hydrogen are prepared by the alkylation of a compound of formula iib where n and r 6 are as defined above with an alkylating agent and a base in an inert solvent . suitable alkylating agents include alkyl halides ( chlorides , bromides , or iodides ), alkyl tosylates , alkyl mesylates , alkyl triflates , α , β - unsaturated ketones , α , β - unsaturated esters , α , β - unsaturated aldehydes , α , β - unsaturated amides , and α , β - unsaturated nitriles . alkyl halides ( iodides ) are preferred . suitable solvents include methylene chloride , chloroform , carbon tetrachloride , acetonitrile , tetrahydrofuran , diethyl ether , dioxane , n , n - dimethylformamide , ethanol , propanol , methanol . the preferred solvent is acetonitrile . the reaction is conducted between a temperature of about 0 ° c . to about 150 ° c . preferably about 0 ° c . to about 25 ° c . compounds of formula iia where n and r 6 are as defined above are prepared by catalytic reduction of a compound of formula iv where n and r 6 are as defined above under an atmosphere of hydrogen , preferably at a pressure of about 1 to about 3 atmospheres , or using a hydrogen source such as ammonium formate or formic acid in an inert solvent . suitable catalysts include palladium on carbon , palladium hydroxide on carbon , raney nickel , and platinum oxide . the preferred catalyst is palladium hydroxide on carbon . suitable solvents include c 1 to c 6 alcohols , n , n - dimethylformamide , ethyl acetate , and acetonitrile . the preferred solvent is ethanol . the reaction is conducted at a temperature of about 0 ° c . to about 100 ° c ., most preferably at about 50 ° c . compounds of formula iib where n and r 6 are as defined above are prepared by catalytic reduction of a compound of the formula v where n and r 6 are as defined above under an atmosphere of hydrogen , preferably at a pressure of about 1 to about 3 atmospheres , or using a hydrogen source such as ammonium formate or formic acid in an inert solvent . suitable catalysts include palladium on carbon , palladium hydroxide on carbon , raney nickel , and platinum oxide . the preferred catalyst is palladium hydroxide on carbon . suitable solvents include c 1 to c 6 alcohols , n , n - dimethylformamide , ethyl acetate , and acetonitrile . the preferred solvent is ethanol . the reaction is conducted at a temperature of about 0 ° c . to about 100 ° c ., most preferably at about 50 ° c . compounds of formula iv are prepared via the hydride reduction of a compound of the formula vi using methods known in the art , for example , as described in w . a . reimers , &# 34 ; indole aldehydes and ketones &# 34 ; in the series the chemistry of heterocyclic compounds , volume 25 , part iii , weissberger , a . and taylor , e . c . ( eds ), john wiley and sons , new york , pp . 403 - 405 ( 1979 ). compounds of formula v are prepared via the hydride reduction of a compound of the formula vi using methods known in the art , for example , as described in w . a . reimers , &# 34 ; indole aldehydes and ketones &# 34 ; in the series the chemistry of heterocyclic compounds , volume 25 , part iii , weissberger , a . and taylor , e . c . ( eds ), john wiley and sons , new york , pp . 403 - 405 ( 1979 ). compounds of formula vi are prepared using methods known in the art , for example , as described in w . a . reimers , &# 34 ; indole aldehydes and ketones &# 34 ; in the series the chemistry of heterocyclic compounds , volume 25 , part iii , weissberger , a . and taylor , e . c . ( eds ), john wiley and sons , new york , pp . 388 - 389 ( 1979 ). compounds of the formula vii are using prepared methods known in the art , for example , as described in aoyama , t . and shioiri , t ., chem . pharm . bull , 3249 ( 1981 ). other halogens can be used in place of chloride in formula vii and are prepared using methods known in the art , however , chloride is preferred . compounds of formula viii are prepared using methods known in the art , such as , for example , as disclosed in example 8 . the -- co 2 ch 2 ph group in compound of formula vii and the phch 2 -- groups in compound of formula viii are protecting groups for the nitrogen atoms in each of the respective compounds and are preferred . other protecting groups include -- cocf 3 , -- coch 2 ccl 3 , -- co 2 c ( ch 3 ) 3 and -- ch 2 och 2 ph . compounds of formulae vii and viii having these other protecting groups can be prepared using methods known in the art . removal of these other protecting groups to form compounds of formulae iia , iib and iv can also be accomplished using methods known in the art , for example , as described in t . w . greene , protecting groups in organic synthesis , john wiley and sons , new york ( 1981 ), pp . 218 - 287 . the compounds of the formula i which are basic in nature are capable of forming a wide variety of different salts with various inorganic and organic acids . although such salts must be pharmaceutically acceptable for administration to animals , it is often desirable in practice to initially isolate a compound of the formula i from the reaction mixture as a pharmaceutically unacceptable salt and then simply convert the latter back to the free base compound by treatment with an alkaline reagent , and subsequently convert the free base to a pharmaceutically acceptable acid addition salt . the acid addition salts of the base compounds of this invention are readily prepared by treating the base compound with a substantially equivalent amount of the chosen mineral or organic acid in an aqueous solvent medium or in a suitable organic solvent such as methanol or ethanol . upon careful evaporation of the solvent , the desired solid salt is obtained . the acids which are used to prepare the pharmaceutically acceptable acid addition salts of the base compounds of this invention are those which form non - toxic acid addition salts , i . e ., salts containing pharmacologically acceptable anions , such as hydrochloride , hydrobromide , hydroiodide , nitrate , sulfate or bisulfate , phosphate or acid phosphate , acetate , lactate , citrate or acid citrate , tartrate or bitartrate , succinate , maleate , fumarate , gluconate , saccharate , benzoate , methanesulfonate and pamoate [ i . e ., 1 , 1 &# 39 ;- methylene - bis -( 2 - hydroxy - 3 - naphthoate )] salts . those compounds of the formula i which are also acidic in nature , i . e ., where w contains a carboxylate , are capable of forming base salts with various pharmacologically acceptable cations . examples of such salts include the alkali metal or alkaline - earth metal salts and particular , the sodium and potassium salts . these salts are all prepared by conventional techniques . the chemical bases which are used as reagents to prepare the pharmaceutically acceptable base salts of this invention are those which form non - toxic base salts with the herein described acidic compounds of formula i . these non - toxic base salts include those derived from such pharmacologically acceptable cations as sodium , potassium , calcium , magnesium , etc . these salts can easily be prepared by treating the corresponding acidic compounds with an aqueous solution containing the desired pharmacologically acceptable cations , and then evaporating the resulting solution to dryness , preferably under reduced pressure . alternatively , they may also be prepared by mixing lower alkanolic solutions of the acidic compounds and the desired alkali metal alkoxide together , and then evaporating the resulting solution to dryness in the same manner as before . in either case , stoichiometric quantities of reagents are preferably employed in order to ensure completeness of reaction of maximum product of yields of the desired final product . the compounds of the formula i and the pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof ( hereinafter , also referred to as the active compounds of the invention ) are useful psychotherapeutics and are potent serotonin ( 5 - ht 1 ) agonists and may be used in the treatment of depression , anxiety , eating disorders , obesity , drug abuse , cluster headache , migraine , chronic paroxysmal hemicrania and headache associated with vascular disorders , pain , and other disorders arising from deficient serotonergic neurotransmission . the compounds can also be used as centrally acting antihypertensives and vasodilators . the active compounds of the invention can be evaluated as antimigraine agents by testing the extent to which they mimic sumatriptan in contracting the dog isolated saphenous vein strip [ p . p . a . humphrey et al ., br . j . pharmacol ., 94 , 1128 ( 1988 )]. this effect can be blocked by methiothepin , a known serotonin antagonist . sumatriptan is known to be useful in the treatment of migraine and produces a selective increase in carotid vascular resistance in the anesthetized dog . it has been suggested [ w . fenwick et al ., br . j . pharmacol ., 96 , 83 ( 1989 )] that this is the basis of its efficacy . the serotonin 5 - ht 1 agonist activity is measured in in vitro receptor binding assays as described for the 5 - ht 1a receptor using rat cortex as the receptor source and [ 3 h ]- 8 - oh - dpat as the radioligand [ d . hoyer et al . eur . j . pharm ., vol . 118 , 13 ( 1985 )] and as described for the 5 - ht 1d receptor using bovine caudate as the receptor source and [ 3 h ] serotonin as the radioligand [ r . e . heuring and s . j . peroutka , j . neuroscience , vol . 7 , 894 ( 1987 )]. 5 - ht 1 agonist activity is defined by agents with affinities ( ic 50 ) of 250 nm or less with either binding assay . the compositions of the present invention may be formulated in a conventional manner using one or more pharmaceutically acceptable carriers . thus , the active compounds of the invention may be formulated for oral , buccal , sublingual , intranasal , parenteral ( e . g ., intravenous , intramuscular or subcutaneous ) or rectal administration or in a form suitable for administration by inhalation or insufflation . for oral administration , the pharmaceutical compositions may take the form of , for example , tablets or capsules prepared by conventional means with pharmaceutically acceptable excipients such as binding agents ( e . g . pregelatinized maize starch , polyvinylpyrrolidone or hydroxypropyl methylcellulose ); fillers ( e . g . lactose , microcrystalline cellulose or calcium phosphate ); lubricants ( e . g . magnesium stearate , talc or silica ); disintegrants ( e . g . potato starch or sodium starch glycolate ); or wetting agents ( e . g . sodium lauryl sulphate ). the tablets may be coated by methods well known in the art . liquid preparations for oral administration may take the form of , for example , solutions , syrups or suspensions , or they may be presented as a dry product for constitution with water or other suitable vehicle before use . such liquid preparations may be prepared by conventional means with pharmaceutically acceptable additives such as suspending agents ( e . g . sorbitol syrup , methyl cellulose or hydrogenated edible fats ); emulsifying agents ( e . g . lecithin or acacia ); non - aqueous vehicles ( e . g . almond oil , oily esters or ethyl alcohol ); and preservatives ( e . g . methyl or propyl p - hydroxybenzoates or sorbic acid ). for buccal and sublingual administration the composition may take the form of tablets or lozenges formulated in conventional manner . the active compounds of the invention may be formulated for parenteral administration by injection , including using conventional catheterization techniques or infusion . formulations for injection may be presented in unit dosage form e . g . in ampules or in multi - dose containers , with an added preservative . the compositions may take such forms as suspensions , solutions or emulsions in oily or aqueous vehicles , and may contain formulating agents such as suspending , stabilizing and / or dispersing agents . alternatively , the active ingredient may be in powder form for reconstitution with a suitable vehicle , e . g . sterile pyrogen - free water , before use . the active compounds of the invention may also be formulated in rectal compositions such as suppositories or retention enemas , e . g ., containing conventional suppository bases such as cocoa butter or other glycerides . for intranasal administration or administration by inhalation , the active compounds of the invention are conveniently delivered in the form of a solution or suspension from a pump spray container that is squeezed or pumped by the patient or as an aerosol spray presentation from a pressurized container or a nebulizer , with the use of a suitable propellant , e . g . dichlorodifluoromethane , trichlorofluoromethane , dichlorotetrafluoroethane , carbon dioxide or other suitable gas . in the case of a pressurized aerosol , the dosage unit may be determined by providing a valve to deliver a metered amount . the pressurized container or nebulizer may contain a solution or suspension of the active compound . capsules and cartridges ( made , for example , from gelatin ) for use in an inhaler or insufflator may be formulated containing a powder mix of a compound of the invention and a suitable powder base such as lactose or starch . a proposed dose of the active compounds of the invention for oral , parenteral or buccal administration to the average adult human for the treatment of the conditions referred to above ( e . g ., migraine ) is 0 . 1 to 200 mg of the active ingredient per unit dose which could be administered , for example , 1 to 4 times per day . aerosol formulations for treatment of the conditions referred to above ( e . g ., migraine ) in the average adult are preferably arranged so that each metered dose or &# 34 ; puff &# 34 ; of aerosol contains 20 μg to 1000 μg of the compound of the invention . the overall daily does with an aerosol will be within the range 100 μg to 10 mg . administration may be several times daily , for example 2 , 3 , 4 or 8 times , giving for example , 1 , 2 or 3 doses each time . the following examples illustrate the preparation of the compounds of the present invention . commercial reagents were utilized without further purification . chromatography refers to column chromatography preformed using 32 - 63 μm silica gel and executed under nitrogen pressure ( flash chromatography ) conditions . room temperature refers to 20 - 25 ° c . general procedure for the coupling of amino acid derivatives with 5 - aminoindole derivatives to a stirred mixture of the n - protected amino acid ( 1 . 1 mmol , 1 . 4 eq ) in anhydrous methylene chloride ( 5 ml ) was added carbonyl diimidazole ( 180 mg , 1 . 4 mmol , 1 . 1 eq ). the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature under nitrogen until the reaction solution became clear ( 15 minutes to 24 hours , depending on the substrate ), at which time the appropriate 5 - aminoindole derivative ( 0 . 80 mmol ) was directly added to the reaction solution . the resulting reaction solution was stirred at room temperature under nitrogen for 2 hours , and then it was directly chromatographed using silica gel ( approximately 20 g ) and elution with ch 2 cl 2 / ch 3 oh / triethylamine [ 8 : 1 : 1 ] to afford the coupled amino acid / 5 - amino indole derivative . n - benzyloxycarbonylglycine and 5 - amino - 3 -( n - methylpyrrolidin - 2r - ylmethyl )- 1h - indole were used . chromatography as described above afforded the title compound as a clear , pale red foam ( 74 %): r f = 0 . 3 in ch 2 cl 2 / ch 3 oh / triethylamine [ 8 : 1 : 1 ]; 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ9 . 25 ( br s , nh ), 9 . 08 ( br s , nh ), 7 . 69 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 28 ( br s , 5h ), 7 . 12 ( d , j = 8 . 8 hz , 1h ), 7 . 08 ( d , j = 9 . 3hz , 1h ), 6 . 88 ( br s , 1h ), 6 . 32 ( br t , nh ), 5 . 09 ( s , 2h ), 3 . 99 ( br d , j = 4 . 8hz , 2h ), 3 . 07 - 3 . 00 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 56 - 2 . 36 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 36 ( s , 3h ), 2 . 16 ( dd , j = 8 . 7 and 17 . 3 hz , 1h ), 1 . 76 - 1 . 44 ( m , 4h ); lrms ( m / z , relative intensity ) 420 ( 2 ), 418 ( 22 ), 310 ( 4 ), 228 ( 4 ), 171 ( 13 ), 108 ( 25 ), 84 ( 100 ); hrms calculated for c 24 h 28 n 4 o 3 420 . 216 , found 420 , 208 . n - benzyloxycarbonyl - s - histidine and 5 - amino - 3 -( n - methylpyrrolidin - 2r - ylmethyl )- 1h - indole were used . chromatography as described above afforded the title compound ( 46 % ) as an pale yellow foam : r f = 0 . 4 in ch 2 cl 2 / ch 3 oh / ammonium hydroxide [ 8 : 2 : 0 . 1 ]; 13 c nmr ( cd 3 od ) δ172 . 3 , 158 . 3 , 138 . 1 , 136 . 2 , 135 . 7 , 130 . 7 , 129 . 5 , 129 . 0 , 128 . 8 , 128 . 6 , 124 . 8 , 117 . 3 , 113 . 4 , 112 . 3 , 68 . 4 , 67 . 7 , 58 . 3 , 57 . 3 , 40 . 9 , 32 . 2 , 31 . 2 , 30 . 2 , 22 . 4 ; fab lrms ( m / z , relative intensity ) 501 ([ mh + ], 100 ), 417 ( 4 ), 367 ( 6 ), 309 ( 4 ), 273 ( 6 ). anal . calcd for c 28 h 32 n 6 o 3 . 0 . 25h 2 o ; c , 66 . 58 ; h , 6 . 49 ; n , 16 . 63 . found : 66 . 47 ; h , 6 . 56 ; n , 16 . 48 . n - benzyloxycarbonyl - s - alanine and 5 - amino - 3 -( n - methylpyrrolidin - 2r - ylmethyl )- 1h - indole were used . chromatography as described above afforded the title compound ( 33 %) as a white foam : r f = 0 in ch 2 cl 2 / ch 3 oh / ammonium hydroxide [ 9 : 1 : 0 . 1 ]; 13 c nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ177 . 9 , 155 . 9 , 138 . 6 , 136 . 8 , 131 . 4 , 128 . 4 , 127 . 9 , 127 . 6 , 124 . 0 , 113 . 3 , 112 . 3 , 109 . 1 , 103 . 5 , 68 . 6 , 66 . 4 , 56 . 1 , 51 . 3 , 39 . 7 , 30 . 4 , 26 . 4 , 21 . 4 , 19 . 4 . anal . calcd for c 25 h 30 n 4 o 3 . 0 . 5 ethyl acetate [ c 4 h 8 o 2 ]. 0 . 5 methylene chloride [ ch 2 cl 2 ]: c , 63 . 42 ; h , 6 . 77 ; n , 10 . 75 . found : c , 63 . 45 ; h , 6 . 72 ; n , 10 . 79 . n - benzyloxycarbonyl - s - phenylalanine and 5 - amino - 3 -( n - methylpyrrolidin - 2r - ylmethyl )- 1h - indole were used . chromatography as described above afforded the title compound ( 90 %) as a white foam : r f = 0 . 7 in ch 2 cl 2 / ch 3 oh / ammonium hydroxide [ 9 : 1 : 0 . 1 ); 13 c nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ169 . 4 , 156 . 2 , 136 . 6 , 136 . 1 , 134 . 0 , 129 . 4 , 129 . 0 , 128 . 7 , 128 . 5 , 128 . 2 , 128 . 0 , 127 . 6 , 127 . 0 , 123 . 4 , 116 . 5 , 113 . 6 , 111 . 4 , 111 . 3 , 67 . 1 , 66 . 6 , 57 . 4 , 57 . 1 , 40 . 7 , 39 . 1 , 31 . 4 , 29 . 6 , 21 . 8 ; fab lrms ( m / z , relative intensity ) 511 ([ mh + ], 77 ), 281 ( 11 ), 147 ( 100 ); hrms calculated for [ c 31 h 34 n 4 o 3 . h ] + 511 . 2712 , found 511 . 2687 . anal . calcd for c 31 h 34 n 4 o 3 . 0 . 75h 2 o : c , 71 . 04 ; h , 6 . 83 ; n , 10 . 69 . found : c , 71 . 20 ; h , 6 . 88 ; n , 10 . 72 . to a stirred solution of 5 - amino -( r )- 3 -( pyrrolidin - 2 - ylmethyl )- 1h - indole ( 1 . 00 mmol ) and triethylamine ( 0 . 126 g , 1 . 25 mmol , 1 . 25 eq ) in either anhydrous methylene chloride , anhydrous acetonitrile , absolute ethanol , or i - propanol ( 10 ml ) at room temperature under nitrogen is added dropwise the alkylating agent ( 1 . 25 mmol ). the resulting reaction solution is then stirred under nitrogen at room temperature for 1 to 20 hours , depending on substrate . the resulting reaction mixture is directly column chromatographed using silica gel ( approximately 25 g ) and elution with methylene chloride ; methanol : ammonium hydroxide [ 9 : 1 : 0 . 1 ] to afford the 5 - amino -( r )- 3 -( n - alkylpyrrolidin - 2 - ylmethyl )- 1h - indole . a mixture of ( r )- 3 -( n - benzyloxycarbonylpyrrolidin - 2 - ylmethyl )- 5 - dibenzylamino - 1h - indole ( 7 . 90 g , 14 . 91 mmol ) and moist palladium ( ii ) hydroxide on carbon ( pearlman &# 39 ; s catalyst , 3 . 16 g ) in absolute ethanol ( 100 ml ) was shaken under a hydrogen atmosphere ( 3 atm ) for 12 hours at room temperature . the resulting mixture was filtered through diatomaceous earth , and the filtrate was evaporated and dried under reduced pressure to afford the title compound as a white foam ( 3 . 20 g , 100 %): 1 h nmr ( cd 3 od ) δ7 . 18 ( d , j = 8 . 5 hz , 1h ), 7 . 08 ( s , 1h ), 6 . 92 ( d , j = 2 . 0 hz , 1h ), 6 . 69 ( dd , j = 1 . 9 and 8 . 5 hz , 1h ), 3 . 81 - 3 . 69 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 30 - 2 . 95 ( m , 4h ), 2 . 09 - 1 . 55 ( m , 4h ); 13 c nmr ( cd 3 od ) δ140 . 1 , 133 . 4 , 129 . 1 , 125 . 0 , 114 . 6 , 113 . 1 , 109 . 8 , 105 . 1 , 62 . 1 , 46 . 0 , 31 . 1 , 29 . 1 , 24 . 3 ; lrms ( m / z , relative intensity ) 215 ( m + , 2 ), 198 ( 1 ) , 146 ( 100 ), 128 ( 7 ), 117 ( 9 ), 70 ( 60 ). to a stirred solution of ( r )- 3 -( n - benzyloxycarbonylpyrrolidin - 2 - ylcarbonyl )- 5 - dibenzylamino - 1h - indole ( 1 . 50 g , 2 . 75 mmol ) in anhydrous tetrahydrofuran ( 30 ml ) was added lithium borohydride ( 0 . 24 g , 11 . 0 mmol , 4 . 0 eq ) as a solid . the resulting reaction mixture was heated at reflux for 4 hours . a saturated solution of sodium hydrogen carbonate ( 10 ml ) was then added , and this mixture was stirred at room temperature for 30 minutes . this aqueous mixture was then extracted with ethyl acetate ( 3 × 25 ml ), and the organic extracts were combined , dried ( mgso 4 ), and evaporated under reduced pressure . column chromatography of the residue using silica gel ( approximately 50 g ) and elution with ethyl acetate / hexanes [ 1 : 3 ] afforded the title compound ( 1 . 02 g , 70 %) as a white foam : fab lrms ( m / z , relative intensity ) 530 ( mh + , 87 ), 529 ( m + , 100 ), 439 ( 10 ), 409 ( 10 ), 325 ( 32 ), 235 ( 20 ). to a stirred mixture of ( r )- n - carbobenzyloxyproline ( 3 . 59 g , 14 . 41 mmol ) and n , n - dimethylformamide ( 0 . 1 ml ) in methylene chloride ( 45 ml ) was added dropwise oxalyl chloride ( 1 . 87 ml , 21 . 62 mmol , 1 . 5 eq ). the resulting effervescing mixture was stirred at room temperature under nitrogen for 1 . 5 hours . the reaction solution was then evaporated under reduced pressure , yielding the residue [( r )- n - carbobenzyloxyproline acid chloride ] which was dissolved in anhydrous ether ( 50 ml ). this solution was added dropwise to a stirred , preformed solution of 5 - dibenzylaminoindole ( 9 . 00 g , 28 . 81 mmol , 2 . 0 eq ) and ethyl magnesium bromide ( 3 . 0m in ether , 10 . 08 ml , 30 . 25 mmol , 2 . 1 eq ) in anhydrous ether ( 75 ml ), which had been stirring at room temperature under nitrogen for 30 minutes prior to the addition of the ethereal solution of the ( r )- n - carbobenzyloxyproline acid chloride . the resulting reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature under nitrogen for 30 minutes , and then ethyl acetate ( 100 ml ) and a saturated solution of sodium hydrogen carbonate ( 75 ml ) were added . the organic layer was removed , and the aqueous layer was extracted with ethyl acetate ( 100 ml ). the organic extracts were combined , dried ( mgso 4 ), and evaporated under reduced pressure to afford a green oil . trituration of this oil in anhydrous ether ( 50 ml ) afforded the title compound as a white solid ( 3 . 20 g , 21 %): m . p ., 176 . 0 °- 177 . 0 ° c ; lrms ( m / z , relative intensity ) 543 ( 100 , m + ), 453 ( 10 ), 407 ( 7 ), 339 ( 40 ) , 307 ( 10 ) , 247 ( 10 ) , 154 ( 38 ); [ α ] 25 =+ 112 ° ( tetrahydrofuran ( thf ), c = 1 . 0 ); anal . calcd . for c 35 h 33 n 3 o 3 : c , 77 . 32 ; h , 6 . 12 ; n , 7 . 73 . found : c , 77 . 35 ; h , 6 . 30 ; n , 7 . 66 . a mixture of ( r )- 5 - dibenzylamino - 3 -( n - methylpyrrolidin - 2 - ylmethyl )- 1h - indole ( 1 . 08 g , 2 . 64 mmol ) and palladium [ ii ] hydroxide on carbon ( 0 . 6 g ) in absolute ethanol ( 25 ml ) was shaken under a hydrogen atmosphere ( 3 atm ) at 40 ° c . for 4 hours . the resulting mixture was filtered through diatomaceous earth , and the filtrate was evaporated under reduced pressure to afford the title compound ( 0 . 60 g , 2 . 62 mmol , 99 %) as a white foam : 1 h nmr ( dmso - d 6 ) δ10 . 65 ( br s , nh ), 7 . 14 ( d , j = 2 . 2 hz , 1h ), 7 . 12 ( d , j = 8 . 6 hz , 1h ), 6 . 85 ( d , j = 1 . 6 hz , 1h ), 6 . 60 ( dd , j = 2 . 0 and 8 . 6 hz , 1h ), 3 . 63 - 2 . 83 ( m , 7h ), 2 . 78 ( s , 3h ), 2 . 05 - 1 . 67 ( m , 4h ); [ α ] 25 =+ 9 °( meoh , c = 1 . 0 ); hems calculated for c 14 h 19 n 3 : 229 . 1575 ; found : 229 . 1593 . to a stirred mixture of lithium aluminum hydride ( 0 . 96 g , 25 . 2 mmol , 2 . 0 eq ) in anhydrous tetrahydrofuran ( 125 ml ) at 0 ° c . was added dropwise a solution of ( r )- 3 -( n - benzyloxycarbonylpyrrolidin - 2 - ylcarbonyl )- 5 - dibenzylamino - 1h - indole ( 6 . 90 g , 12 . 69 mmol ) in anhydrous tetrahydrofuran ( 25ml ). the resulting reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature under nitrogen for 30 minutes . lithium borohydride ( 0 . 55 g , 25 . 2 mmol , 2 . 0 eq ) was then added , and the reaction mixture was heated at reflux ( 66 ° c .) under nitrogen for 6 hours . the reaction mixture was cooled , and water ( 1 . 5 ml ), a solution of sodium hydroxide ( 20 %, 1 . 5 ml ), and more water ( 4 . 5 ml ) were added , sequentially . the resulting mixture was stirred at room temperature under nitrogen for 1 hour , filtered through diatomaceous earth , and the filtrate was evaporated under reduced pressure to yield a green oil ( 8 . 8 g ). this oil was dissolved in absolute ethanol ( 90 ml ), and cesium carbonate ( 8 . 0 g ) and sodium carbonate ( 8 . 0 g ) were added . the resulting mixture was heated at reflux for 12 hours . the reaction mixture was then evaporated under reduced pressure , and the residue was partitioned between a saturated solution of sodium hydrogen carbonate ( 50 ml ) and ethyl acetate ( 100 ml ). the organic layer was removed , and the aqueous layer was extracted with ethyl acetate ( 100 ml ). the organic extracts were combined , dried ( mgso 4 ), and evaporated under reduced pressure to afford a brown oil . column chromatography of this oil using silica gel ( approximately 200 g ) and elution with methylene chloride / methanol / ammonium hydroxide [ 9 : 1 : 0 . 1 ] afforded the title compound ( 4 . 63 g , 89 %) as a pale green foam : 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ7 . 82 ( br s , nh ), 7 . 35 - 7 . 19 ( m , 10h ), 7 . 20 ( d , j = 8 . 6 hz , 1h ), 6 . 95 ( d , j = 2 . 1 hz , 1h ), 6 . 85 ( dd , j = 2 . 3 and 8 . 7 hz , 1h ), 6 . 80 ( d , j = 2 . 2 hz , 1h ), 4 . 65 ( s , 4h ), 3 . 25 - 3 . 02 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 52 ( dd , j = 9 . 5 and 13 . 9 hz , 1h ), 2 . 39 - 2 . 15 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 30 ( s , 3h ), 1 . 85 - 1 . 40 ( m , 4h ); 13 c nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ143 . 2 , 139 . 7 , 130 . 5 , 128 . 5 , 128 . 2 , 127 . 3 , 126 . 8 , 122 . 9 , 112 . 5 , 112 . 2 , 111 . 8 , 103 . 4 , 67 . 0 , 57 . 4 , 56 . 4 , 40 . 6 , 31 . 4 , 29 . 7 , 21 . 9 ; hrms calculated for c 28 h 31 n 3 409 . 2520 , found 409 . 2475 . to a stirred mixture of 5 - aminoindole ( 3 . 00 g , 22 . 7 mmol ) and triethylamine ( 10 . 5 ml , 74 . 9 mmol , 3 . 3 eq .) in acetonitrile ( 30 ml ) at room temperature under nitrogen was added benzyl bromide ( 8 . 2 ml , 68 . 9 , mmol , 3 . 0 eq .) dropwise . the resulting reaction mixture was heated at reflux under nitrogen for 3 hours . the resulting reaction mixture was filtered , and the filtrate was evaporated under reduced pressure . column chromatography of the residue using silica gel ( approximately 200 g ) and elution with ethyl acetate / hexanes [ gradient 1 : 9 to 1 : 1 ] afforded the title compound as an off white solid ( 6 . 19 g , 87 %): m . p ., 124 . 0 °- 126 . 0 ° c . ; 13 c nmr ( acetone - d 6 ) δ144 . 3 , 140 . 8 , 131 . 8 , 129 . 9 , 129 . 2 , 128 . 3 , 127 . 5 , 125 . 7 , 113 . 5 , 112 . 4 , 106 . 4 , 101 . 9 , 57 . 0 ; tlc [ 15 % ethyl acetate in hexanes ]: r 0 . 3 . | 2 |
this reliable and low - cost solution will allow designing and building environmentally friendly , cost - and energy - efficient systems for producing and maintaining hypoxic environments in occupied enclosed compartments . the invented equipment producing such environments can be used for fire prevention inside of an aircraft and ground vehicles , submarines , space vehicles and stations , data centers , archives , warehouses and other occupied structures . additionally , it can be used for simulating altitude for athletic or equine training or therapy , weight loss and other wellness application benefiting from exposure to hypoxic atmospheres . the invented method can be also applied for controlling carbon dioxide and moisture in normoxic and hyperoxic enclosed environments . the invention utilizes a special air separation device 11 that recycles internal atmosphere from the enclosed environment 10 . the device 11 draws internal air via inlet a and extracts from it a gas mixture rich enriched with carbon dioxide , water vapor and some oxygen , and disposing this gas mixture via outlet b . the remaining fraction , which is reduced in carbon dioxide , water and oxygen , returns back into environment 10 . the loss of the internal atmosphere will be compensated for hermetic environments by fresh ambient air sent by air - supply device ( e . g . blower or fan ) 16 via inlet d . in this case device 16 can be operated by a pressure transducer 17 and / or by a control panel 12 . in semi - airtight compartments fresh air supply can occur automatically leaking through holes and gaps in the compartment structure . the driving force of this automatic fresh air supply will be the pressure difference due to extraction of carbon dioxide and moisture enriched gas mixture from the compartment . device 16 and transducer 17 should be eliminated in this case . the environment 10 should be slightly pressurized in applications such as aircraft , military vehicles or data centers in order to prevent the loss of the atmosphere in aircraft or to prevent dust and contaminants from entering the environment 10 . control panel 12 is equipped with oxygen sensor 13 , carbon dioxide sensor 14 and humidity sensor 15 . additionally it can be equipped with temperature control as described in earlier patents and other gas sensors , such as ammonia sensor for equine stables , etc . using feedback data from sensors 13 , 14 and 15 and preset values , control panel can achieve and maintain a desired hypoxic environment condition by controlling the flow of the fresh air supply via device 16 and operation of the device 11 . fig2 shows another embodiment that can be used in application where a quick achievement of hypoxic condition and / or higher degrees of hypoxia desired ( e . g . for research or acclimatization purposes ). this embodiment utilizes practically the same equipment and has an additional hypoxic generator 28 injecting hypoxic air , when needed , via inlet e , while disposing oxygen enriched fraction via outlet f . in some cases , fresh air supply device 26 can be eliminated and hypoxic generator 28 can supply hypoxic air with different oxygen content or even ambient air . in some applications , hypoxic generator 28 can be replaced with an oxygen concentrator for producing hyperoxic environment that can also be maintained by removing carbon dioxide and moisture using device 21 . in the embodiment shown on fig2 , the air separation device 11 becomes 21 and device 16 becomes 26 . an advanced control panel 22 , having oxygen sensor 23 , carbon dioxide sensor 24 and an optional humidity sensor 25 , can control all three devices 21 , 26 and 28 . an optional pressure transducer 27 may be installed in hermetic compartments . hypoxic generator 28 has been described in detail by previous patents provided above and the size and capacity of it can be about 30 % to 50 % of the required in current application . this system has a valuable benefit of controlling carbon dioxide content in applications where it is essential ( e . g . research , simulated altitude training and medical field ). both , hypoxic generator 28 or device 21 can produce and maintain hypoxic environment even if the compartment 20 is not in use . once necessary parameters achieved , control panel can turn the system off and on in a cycling manner in order to maintain set parameters . once the compartment 20 is in use and co2 and / or humidity level increases , device 21 starts working , reducing co2 and / or humidity content to the desired values . both embodiments allow to creating a comfortable for respiration environment with oxygen content between 10 % and 20 . 9 % and carbon dioxide content in the range from 0 . 035 % to 3 %, for applications that may include fire prevention or hypoxic training and therapy , etc . for both embodiments , a dedicated or split air - conditioning system is recommended in most of the applications in order to control temperature of the internal atmosphere . the air separation device 11 or 21 can be made using a special hollow fiber membrane or special adsorbents , such as carbon molecular sieve , zeolitic crystals , etc . other air separation techniques can be used , since all of them would work using a much higher permeability rate of water vapor and carbon dioxide versus oxygen or nitrogen . for instance , carbon dioxide is about ten times faster in permeating a membrane or other obstacle than oxygen and water vapor is even faster than co2 . nitrogen is about 2 . 5 times slower than oxygen , which allows retaining most of it for producing hypoxic environments . therefore , most suitable for this purpose are oxygen - enrichment or nitrogen membranes with modified flow / pressure parameters . even dryer membranes are suitable for producing hypoxic environments since they will also remove carbon dioxide and some oxygen . the embodiment shown on fig1 can also control oxygen content or even produce normoxic environment . in this case , environment 10 might be not completely airtight and device 16 needs to be adjusted to provide higher ventilation rate . the most suitable technology for the device 21 is either a membrane , highly permeable for co2 , or zeolitic crystals that can adsorb co2 in pressure swing adsorption ( psa ) process . such crystals have tiny holes inside , big enough to allow co2 molecules to enter under a certain pressure , but are small enough to retain them . when pressure drops , co2 will be released and vented outside . such crystals can be made by blending either cobalt or zinc with imidazolates . device 21 equipped with such zeolitic crystals can also be used for maintaining healthy atmosphere in normoxic and hyperoxic environments as well . for instance , this method can be very beneficial for submarines and underwater structures , aircraft and military vehicles , space vehicles and interplanetary stations . one of the biggest benefits of the invented system is its energy efficiency . for instance , a hypoxic room system for 5 people exercising at a time would require at least 2000 liters / min of hypoxic air flow and there still might be a problem with rising carbon dioxide level . such a system , based on a hollow - fiber membrane technology , would require about 35 kw of power . by using the invented method and system the power consumption can be reduced approximately by 50 %. energy can be also saved by using this method of carbon dioxide and moisture extraction from hermetic normoxic environments , such as submarines , aircraft , spacecraft , vehicles and other occupied compartments . the invented system provides a cost - and energy efficient method of maintaining healthy atmospheres in enclosed occupied spaces . | 1 |
before describing in detail embodiments that are in accordance with the present invention , it should be observed that the embodiments reside primarily in combinations of method steps and apparatus components related to a filter for cleaning a fluid , in particular a gaseous fluid possibly having particulate contaminants as disclosed herein . accordingly , the apparatus components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings , showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein . in this document , relational terms such as first and second , top and bottom , and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions . the terms “ comprises ,” “ comprising ,” or any other variation thereof , are intended to cover a non - exclusive inclusion , such that a process , method , article , or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process , method , article , or apparatus . an element preceded by “ comprises . . . a ” does not , without more constraints , preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process , method , article , or apparatus that comprises the element . the filter 1 illustrated in fig1 is in particular a gas filter , preferably an air filter that is arranged in the intake manifold of an internal combustion engine . the filter 1 comprises a two - part filter housing 2 whose housing parts 2 a and 2 b are connected to one another by a releasable closure device 3 . in the area of the intake side 4 a cyclone preseparator 5 is integrated into the filter housing 4 and is comprised of several cyclone cells 6 and 7 through which the fluid to be supplied is passed upon intake into the filter housing 2 . the individual cyclones or cyclones cells 6 , 7 each are provided with vanes through which the axially incoming fluid is imparted with an angular momentum so that dirt particles contained in the fluid as a result of centrifugal force are transported outwardly in the interior of the filter housing 2 . by means of a discharge opening 8 located in the front end section of the filter housing 2 that is correlated with the cyclone preseparator 5 , the separated dirt particles can be removed from the housing . in the interior of the filter housing 2 , downstream of the cyclone preseparator 5 , the filter element is arranged through which the fluid , pre - cleaned in the preseparator , passes axially . by means of outlet opening 9 ( fig2 ) at the end face of the filter housing 2 that is opposite the cyclone preseparator the purified fluid is discharged from the filter 1 . as can be seen in fig4 and 5 in connection with fig3 , each cyclone cell 6 , 7 is comprised of an inlet section 6 a and 7 a , respectively , a flow passage 6 b and 7 b , respectively , and an outlet section 6 c and 7 c . in the flow passage 6 b or 7 b the heavy dirt particles can be separated and subsequently discharged by means of discharge opening 8 in the filter housing . the pre - filtered fluid is then axially supplied by outlet sections 6 c and 7 c that widen in the form of a diffuser to the filter element 10 that is located in the central part of the filter 1 . a secondary element 11 is downstream of the filter element 10 and is passed by the fluid coming from the filter element 10 . the secondary element 11 has the task to protect the internal combustion engine upon exchange or damage of the filter element 10 . subsequently , the fluid is guided through the outlet opening 9 out of the filter 1 . in the foregoing specification , specific embodiments of the present invention have been described . however , one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention as set forth in the claims below . accordingly , the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense , and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention . the benefits , advantages , solutions to problems , and any element ( s ) that may cause any benefit , advantage , or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical , required , or essential features or elements of any or all the claims . the invention is defined solely by the appended claims including any amendments made during the pendency of this application and all equivalents of those claims as issued . | 1 |
in the present invention hyperbolic metamaterials are implemented in a layered structure in vcsel design and construction . these materials are extremely anisotropic , being metallic ( ε & lt ; 0 ) in one direction , while dielectric ( ε & gt ; 0 ) in the orthogonal direction — such anisotropy leading to the opening of the photonic density of sates ( dos ), and the surface of constant frequency becomes open in a select space k . the wave equation describing a hyperbolic metamaterial is as follows : where ε 1 and ε 2 have opposite signs , reducing to the layered hyperbolic metamaterial essentially replaces the commonly used dbr structure . the hyperbolic metamaterial functions similar to the way a dbr structure does , and acts as a highly efficient heat spreader . this is partly because of the geometric similarity in a dbr structure and a layered metamaterial . fig1 depicts the geometry of a distributed bragg mirror and quantum well structures found in a typical oxide - confined vcsel 10 . layers 12 are comprised of either alas or algaas . these layers 12 are typically 100 nm to less than 10 μm thick . the vcsel 10 is supported by a substrate 14 such as an n - gaas substrate . the dbr is formed of alternating layers with respectively high and low indexes of refraction , while the metamaterial structure in fig2 is formed of alternating layers with respectively positive 22 and negative 24 dielectric constants ε in the long wave infrared range ( lwir ). for both structures , the layers are of comparable thickness . the thickness 26 of the layers is less than 10 μm . these layered hyperbolic metamaterials may act as a dbr in the visible range , while having broadband hyperbolic behavior in the lwir range . the comparable thickness of the two structures creates the possibility of a design with a combination of materials for each layer so that the structure works as a dbr for a specific wavelength and as a metamaterial structure with efficient heat transfer properties . fig3 a shows the heat transfer of an ordinary metal / dielectric (“ elliptic ” material ) 30 heat source 32 to a heat sink 34 . as seen in the figure , heat transfer is dominated by the electrons 38 and the phonons 40 . very little , if any , heat transfer is made by the photons 42 . fig3 b , on the other hand , shows a hyperbolic metamaterial medium in which the heat transfer is dominated by the photons . however , fig3 b shows the heat transfer 50 from a heat source 52 , through hyperbolic metamaterial 54 , to a heat sink 56 . here , in addition to the heat transfer made by the electrons 58 and phonons 60 , the heat transfer is dominated by the photons 62 . a reason for the novel phenomena of hyperbolic metamaterials is the broadband singular behavior of their density of photonic states . for instance , the broadband divergence of the photonic density of states leads to a substantial increase in radiative heat transfer compared to the stefan - boltzmann law observed in a vacuum and in dielectric materials . this radiative thermal “ hyper - conductivity ” may approach or even exceed heat conductivity via electrons and phonons , with the additional advantage of radiative heat transfer being much faster . this key characteristic is essential to the present invention . the enhanced photonic density of states in the hyperbolic metamaterials originates from the waves with high wave numbers that are supported by the system . these propagating modes do not have an equivalent in conventional dielectrics . as each of these waves can be thermally excited , a hyperbolic metamaterial will therefore show a dramatic enhancement in the radiative transfer rates ( i . e . transfer of energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation ). this mechanism results in an infinite value of the density of states for every frequency where different components of the dielectric permittivity have opposite signs . the unit cell size in the metamaterials runs from approximately 10 nm ( for semiconductor and metal - dielectric layered structures ) to approximately 100 nm ( for nanowire composites ), and also depends on the fabrication method used . the materials selected for the dual dbr / heat spreader structure should meet the requirement of the metamaterial structure ( materials with positive and negative dielectric constant in the lwir ), but also the requirements of the dbr for the vcsel device ( materials transparent at the emission wavelength of the vcsel ). as seen in fig4 , znse is a favorable optical material in the lwir range , which means that it has a positive dielectric constant ε . fig4 illustrates the dielectric function as a function of wavelength for znse . as seen in fig5 , caf 2 is a favorable broadband having a negative ε material in the lwir due to the reststrahlen effect . that is , the dielectric constant is less than zero and is seen as a function of wavelength in fig5 . using different materials , the same approach can be applied to form a dbr and heat spreader structures that are tuned for vcsel emitting at other wavelengths such as 808 nm or 880 nm . preliminary electromagnetic simulations verify the propagation of lwir photons through this structure in the form of coupled surface waves , which live on the positive and negative interfaces . a preliminary calculation of the thermal conductivity of the structure is given by the following formula : k max is defined by the metamaterial structure scale : k max ˜ 2π /& lt ; d & gt ;, where & lt ; d & gt ; is the average layer thickness ( 42 nm in the above equation ); for this architecture , the projected average conductivity is more than 100 times larger than a conventional dbr structure and nearly the same as that of diamond . however , unlike diamond , the projected thermal conductivity of metamaterial increases with temperature . additionally , the thermal conductivity is temperature dependent . that is , it will increase with the temperature of the device , thereby allowing the vcsel to operate at higher temperature and / or in high ambient temperature environment . this enhancement of thermal conductivity greatly improves the performance of the vcsel . first , the output power of the vcsel is proportional to the square root of the thermal impedance distanced away from the threshold . thus , if the thermal conductivity of the dbr improves 100 - fold , the output power should improve ˜ 10 - fold . with this improvement , vcsel arrays would prove far superior to laser diodes regarding the efficiency , brightness , reliability , and operating temperature in a laser pumping application . in addition , for a solid state laser pumped by this type of vcsel array , numerous benefits are expected depending on the laser operation . moreover , new concepts that reduce cost , weight , and complexity while improving efficiency and reliability can be readily envisioned . also , as wall - plug efficiency rises , significant savings in size and weight can be achieved due to reduction in the required logistic equipment needed to operate the laser , particularly power supply and the cooling system . while the present invention has been described in connection with the preferred embodiments of the various figures , it is to be understood that other similar embodiments may be used or modifications and additions may be made to the described embodiment for performing the same function of the present invention without deviating there from . therefore , the present invention should not be limited to any single embodiment , but rather construed in breadth and scope in accordance with the recitation of the appended claims . | 1 |
in an embodiment of the present invention , the surface of the sealing disc can , for example , be formed with a positive spherical shape and the rear wall of the lever can , for example , be formed at least partly with a negative spherical or conical shape , the radius of curvature of the surface being smaller than the radius of curvature of the lever rear wall . in an alternative embodiment of the present invention , the lever rear wall can , for example , be formed at least partly with a positive spherical shape and the surface of the sealing disc can , for example , be formed with a negative spherical shape , the radius of curvature of the surface being greater than the radius of curvature of the lever rear wall . both embodiments provide a linear contact between the lever and the sealing disc which is obtained even when errors in parallelism exist . an ingress of gases or liquids into the bearing region through the gap between the lever and the sealing disc is thereby reliably prevented . it should be pointed out that throughout the present application , a positive spherical shape of a body refers to a body with a partly spherical surface whose radius of curvature extends through the body , and that a negative spherical shape of a body refers to a body with a partly hollow - spherical shape whose radius of curvature is directed to the side opposite the body . the sealing disc may advantageously be arranged to be movable with respect to the actuating shaft and to surround the actuating shaft radially so that a tilting of the sealing disc relative to the shaft is possible . this leads to a secure sealing and a simultaneous insensitivity in the event of occurring thermal expansions . in an embodiment of the present invention , a spring can , for example , load the lever with the actuating shaft towards the channel . the required tension for generating the pressing force between the lever and the sealing disc is thus generated in a simple manner . in an embodiment of the present invention , the plane surface of the sealing disc axially opposite the spherically curved surface can , for example , rest on the bearing bush in a planar and tensioned manner . a sealing between the bearing bush and the sealing disc is thus also formed without having to use additional components . in an embodiment of the present invention , the bearing bush can , for example , be a carbon bearing bush that is insensitive to thermal and corrosive loads caused by the exhaust gas . in order to provide the tensioning of the entire bearing and sealing unit , the axial end of the bearing bush opposite the sealing disc rests on a stop of the housing bore . the entire unit is thus pressed against this stop by the spring and is tensioned thereby . in an embodiment of the present invention , the actuating shaft can , for example , be formed in a convex shape in the region situated radially inward with respect to the bearing bush . a secure bearing without the occurrence of inner tensions is thus also provided if misalignments exist between the bearing bush and the actuating shaft . in an embodiment of the present invention , the actuating shaft and the housing bore can , for example , each comprise at least one shoulder between the channel and the bearing bush . these shoulders act as a labyrinth seal and increase the flow resistance along the shaft so that an ingress of exhaust gas into the bearing becomes significantly more difficult . in order to prevent an ingress of liquid or salt along the shaft from outside , the lever is connected with the actuating shaft in a material circumferential or a form - fitting tight manner . this connection is tight and has a long useful life . it can further be advantageous if the lever has a sleeve arranged thereon which extends in the direction of the flow channel . the region of the housing that accommodates the bearing is thus additionally shielded from the outside so that a direct contact , for example , with spray water , is avoided . a flap device for an internal combustion engine is thus provided which is sufficiently tight both to the outside and to the inside even under varying thermal conditions because component and assembly tolerances , as well as thermal expansions , and errors in alignment and parallelism , are compensated for in the present structure by the flexibility of the sealing disc position without limiting the sealing effect . the assembly of this sealing and bearing as well as the manufacture of the components is simple so that costs are significantly reduced . this bearing and sealing still have a long useful life . an embodiment of a flap device of the present invention is illustrated in the drawing and will be described hereunder . the flap device of the present invention comprises a flow housing 10 in which a flow channel 12 is formed through which , for example , exhaust gas flows . the flow channel 12 is divided in cross section into two halves by an actuating shaft 14 on which a flap body 16 is fastened by means of a screw 18 , with a material connection also being possible . the actuating shaft 14 is supported in the flow housing 10 by two bearing bushes 20 , 22 , wherein the first bearing bush 20 is arranged in a continuous housing bore 24 through which the actuating shaft 14 extends outward from the flow housing 10 , and the second bearing bush 22 is arranged on the side opposite the continuous housing bore 24 in a blind hole 26 formed in the flow housing 10 . the actuating shaft 14 is correspondingly supported on two sides of the flow housing 14 opposite to each other with respect to the center axis . on the end of the actuating shaft 14 protruding outward , a disc serving as a lever 28 is fastened by a material connection in the form of a circumferential weld joint 30 at the radial end portion of which a pin 32 is fastened via which the actuating shaft 14 can be connected with an actuator through a linkage ( not illustrated herein ), which actuator may be designed in particular as an electric motor . by virtue of the circumferential weld joint 30 , no gas or liquid can flow between the actuating shaft 14 and the lever 28 . the continuous housing bore 24 is of a step - shaped design and accordingly has three sections 34 , 36 , 38 with diameters becoming larger towards the outer side . the first section 34 with the smallest diameter defines the flow channel 12 and is slightly larger than the diameter of the actuating shaft 14 . behind the first section 34 , as seen from the flow channel 12 , not only the continuous housing bore 24 has a shoulder 35 , but also the actuating shaft 14 has shoulder 40 , so that the actuating shaft 14 extends further outward with a larger diameter . this portion of the actuating shaft 14 is arranged radially in the second section 36 of the continuous housing bore 24 . the first shoulder 35 and the second shoulder 40 together form a labyrinth seal that hinders the ingress of exhaust gas in the direction of the first bearing bush 20 . a shoulder of the continuous housing bore 24 is formed between the second section 36 and the third section 38 that serves as a stop 42 . the first bearing bush 20 designed as a carbon bearing rests on this stop 42 in the axial direction . the first bearing bush 20 is fastened by press - fitting in the third section 38 of the continuous housing bore 24 and surrounds and supports the actuating shaft 14 which is of a convex shape in the portion 44 situated radially inward with respect to the first bearing bush 20 . the opposite axial end of the first bearing bush 20 extends slightly beyond this bearing portion of the flow housing 10 in the axial direction and rests on a sealing disc 46 radially surrounding the actuating shaft 14 with a slight distance therebetween , wherein the face 48 of the sealing disc 46 that faces the first bearing bush 20 is of a planar design . according to the present invention , an axially opposite surface of the sealing disc 46 has a spherically curved surface 50 in its radially outer region . this spherically shaped surface 50 rests directly on a rear wall 52 of the lever 28 . to provide a reliable sealing between the rear wall 52 of the lever 28 and the sealing disc 46 , the rear wall 52 also has a curvature , although a negative spherical curvature , which in the present application always means that the center of the radius of the sphere is arranged on a side of the curved surface opposite to the lever 28 . the radius of curvature of this spherically shaped region of the rear wall 52 should be chosen to be larger than the radius of curvature of the sealing disc 42 in the corresponding region . an annular linear contact thereby always exists between the rear wall 52 of the lever 28 and the sealing disc 46 . at its outer circumference , the lever 28 has a sleeve 54 extending toward the flow housing 10 that at least partly surrounds the first bearing portion 20 of the flow housing 10 in the radial direction . fig1 further shows a schematically illustrated spring 56 which exerts a spring force on the lever 28 in the direction towards the flow channel 12 . the illustration of the spring 56 is schematical since the force application point of the spring 56 and the design and arrangement of the spring 56 are variable to a large extent . it is , for example , conceivable that spring 56 can be designed as a compression spring or as a tension spring . it may at the same time also serve as a return spring and act on the lever 28 , for example , via sleeve 54 . it is essential to the present invention that a force be generated on the actuating shaft 14 or the lever 28 firmly connected therewith , the force acting in the direction of the second bearing bush 22 or in the direction of the flow channel 12 . by this force , which in the shown embodiment is exerted by the spring 56 , the rear wall 52 of the lever 28 with its negative spherical surface is pressed against the spherically shaped surface 50 of the sealing disc . the sealing disc 46 is at the same time pressed with its face 48 against the first axial end of the first bearing bush 20 and at the same is in turn pressed against stop 42 . since the actuating shaft 14 can be tilted slightly in the first bearing bus 20 , and thereby the lever 28 can also be tilted slightly with respect to the axis , and since the sealing disc 46 is arranged to be movable relative to the actuating shaft 14 and to surround the actuating shaft 14 , the face 48 of the sealing disc 46 always rests on the first bearing bush 20 in a planar manner and is in linear circumferential contact with the rear wall 52 of the lever 28 even if slight errors of alignment and parallelism exist . it is thereby achieved that no dirty water , salt , or other contaminants can reach the bearing surface of the first bearing bush 20 from the outside since no gaps are present , be it along the actuating shaft 14 or on the radial outer side . no exhaust gas can further escape to the outside from the flow channel 12 since the circumferential weld joint 30 provides for a sealing along the actuating shaft 14 to the lever 28 and a radial escape of exhaust gas is avoided by the two sealing surfaces , face 48 and spherically shaped surface 50 , of the sealing disc 46 . when the actuating shaft 14 is rotated with the lever 28 via the actuator , a relative movement between the first bearing bush 20 and the sealing disc 26 is obtained , which , due to the large planar contact surface , can , however , slide thereon without much wear and with the sealing effect remaining unchanged . if component and assembly tolerances not taken into account occur during operation or if , for example , due to varying thermal loads , thermal expansion or wear caused by use occur , an ever sufficient sealing is thereby provided in both directions since the position of the sealing disc 46 and the position of the actuating shaft 14 will adapt in a corresponding manner . the ingress of dirt from the outside is hindered by the sleeve which prevents a direct contact with dirty water . the flap device and its sealing have a long service life due to low wear and are simple to mount because of the low number of components . it should be clear that the scope of protection is not restricted to the flap device described , but that various modifications and structural changes are conceivable . the press force can in particular be applied in different ways . the connection between the shaft and the lever can also be realized in different ways . the two spherical surfaces of the lever and the sealing disc may also each be curved in the opposite direction . reference should be had to the appended claims . | 5 |
the anode of the present invention can find particular utility in electrodeposition operation in an electrolytic cell wherein a deposit , e . g ., a deposit of metal such as a zinc - containing deposit , is provided on a cathode . exemplary of such operations is the electrogalvanizing of a substrate metal strip such as a steel strip . the anode can be particularly utilized in an electrodeposition operation wherein the cathode is a moving cathode , such as a moving sheet of steel as in an electrogalvanizing operation of coiled steel in strip form . for convenience , the anode may often be described herein in reference to use in an electrodeposition operation , and for illustrative purposes such operation may often be referred to as an electrogalvanizing operation . however , it is to be understood that the anode is contemplated for use in electrolytic cells utilizing other electrodeposition processes , e . g ., the deposition of metals such as cadmium , nickel or tin , plus metal alloys as exemplified by nickel - zinc alloys , as well as in operations other than electrodeposition such as anodizing , electrophoresis and electropickling . for convenience , the anode will usually be referred to herein as a &# 34 ; massive anode &# 34 ;. by this , it is meant that the fully assembled anode is a collective of a number of individual , smaller anode units which can , in and of themselves , function as anodes . thus it is to be understood that the massive anode need not , in scale , be of any particular size , but need only be assembled from the individual subassembly units . these units for convenience will often be referred to herein as &# 34 ; anode modules &# 34 ;. by this , it is meant a subassembly , which itself may serve as an anode , but which is to be utilized with similar subassemblies , e . g ., collocated in rows of similar or like anode modules , with stacks of rows being employed if desired , to form the massive anode . the anode modules may comprise a plate bearing protruding anode strips which can be referred to as &# 34 ; blades &# 34 ; or &# 34 ; fins &# 34 ; or &# 34 ; lamella &# 34 ;, with the plate being thus a &# 34 ; finned plate &# 34 ; or the like . in reference to the drawings , the same identifying number has generally been used for the same element in each of the figures . for convenience , reference may be made herein to elements of the drawings in vertical or horizontal position , but such is to be understood as not limiting the invention as to its positioning in use . referring then to fig1 a massive anode is shown generally at 1 . this illustrative massive anode 1 is shown in partial assembly . when completed , it would be assembled from twenty - five ( 25 ) anode modules 2 . the anode modules 2 are set side - by - side in horizontal rows , five to a row and the rows are stacked atop one another providing a five row vertical stack for this particular massive anode 1 . for this partial assembly of the figure , only twenty ( 20 ) anode modules 2 are shown . the anode modules 2 each have a generally planar shaped face plate member 3 . on each face plate member 3 , there are a series of parallel , vertical metal elements 4 in the nature of &# 34 ; fins &# 34 ; or &# 34 ; blades &# 34 ; projecting out from the face plate member 3 ( and shown only partially and on only one face plate member 3 in the figure ). cutting into the blade elements 4 , transverse thereto , is a horizontal groove 5 . each horizontal groove 5 contains an insulating strip 10 joined to the face plate member 3 by fasteners 6 . adjacent edges of face plate member 3 in each row of anode modules 2 are set vertically slightly apart one from the other . the horizontal edges of the face plate members 3 are separated into rows of such members 3 by horizontal dielectric strips 7 . the dielectric strips 7 are bolted to a support plate 15 by corrosion resistant bolts 8 . as shown by the partial cutaway of the figure , at the vertical edges of adjacent modules 2 that are side - by - side in rows , there are placed vertical dielectric strips 9 which serve as compression supports , beneath edges of the metal face members 3 . these vertical dielectric strips 9 are affixed to the support plate 15 by support bolts 11 . owing to their compression support function , these strips 9 may also be referred to herein as &# 34 ; compression supports 9 .&# 34 ; along the side of the massive anode 1 are edge mask guides 12 and the anode 1 at its top , has a pair of buss connectors 13 . the buss connectors 13 are provided with apertures 14 through which fasteners , not shown , bind the connectors 13 with the buss work of another cell , or are used for electrical connection external to the cell . referring then to fig2 the massive anode 1 has modules 2 each fastened to a support plate 15 . the anode modules 2 are equipped with blade elements 4 on a face plate member 3 . the individual anode modules 2 at their horizontal edges are separated in rows by dielectric strips 7 . the individual anode modules 2 are connected to the support plate 15 by fasteners 16 , as shown and more particularly described by reference to fig2 a . the fasteners 16 for each module 2 are of the same depth , whereby the face plate members 3 are in an array arranged side - by - side and row - upon - row , making up a total , planar active anode face in a common plane . positioned centrally of each module , are horizontal insulating strips 10 . rearwardly of the support plate 15 , the metal plate fasteners terminate in a bolt 17 . the dielectric strips 7 include edge strips 7a located atop and at the bottom of the stacks of anode modules 2 . at its top , the support plate 15 is connected through fasteners 18 with a buss connector 13 . the buss connector 13 has apertures 14 for external connection or the like . for purposes of convenience , the vertical compression supports 9 are not shown in this figure , where they would occupy the space between the support plate 15 and the face plate member 3 . in fig2 a , the anode module face plate member 3 has projecting blade elements 4 . the face plate member 3 is connected through a metal connector , or boss , 16 to a support plate 15 . interposed between the metal connector 16 and support plate 15 , is a voltage - minimizing metal coating 21 . the metal connector 16 and coating 21 space the face plate member 3 apart from the support plate 15 , permitting the plate member 3 to project &# 34 ; forwardly &# 34 ; or &# 34 ; outwardly &# 34 ; from the support plate 15 , as such terms are used herein . the face plate member 3 is fastened to the metal connector 16 at least in part by current - carrying welds 22 . additionally , the metal connector 16 and support plate 15 , are brought together by a fastener 23 . the fastener 23 terminates rearwardly of the support plate 15 in a washer 24 plus threaded bolt 17 . in a groove 5 on the face plate member 3 is a horizontal insulator strip 10 . then as shown in fig2 b , anode module face plate members 3 have blade elements 4 . adjacent parallel horizontal edges of these face plate members 3 are spaced apart by dielectric strips 7 . the dielectric strips 7 are composed of an insulator element 25 fastened by a countersunk bolt 26 which is threaded into the support plate 15 . in fig3 taken along the lines 3 -- 3 in fig1 the anode module face plate members 3 have blade elements 4 . these blade elements 4 have cathode - facing front face areas 31 as the forward most area of the elements 4 and have three - sided slots 32 between the front face areas 31 . at their adjacent edges , the face plate members 3 of the blade elements 4 are slightly spaced apart . positioned at this slight spacing between edges , but situated beneath the face plate members 3 , is an impact - absorbing , dielectric strip 9 or compression support 9 . this compression support 9 is fastened to the support plate 15 by means of a countersunk bolt 33 . as can be best viewed by referring to the fig2 b and 3 , some of the dielectric strip members , i . e ., the dielectric strips 7 of fig2 b can project outwardly beyond the face plate members 3 as well as separate such members 3 at their edges . also , some dielectric strip members , i . e ., the dielectric strips 9 of fig3 can be positioned at edges of face plate members 3 , but the face plate members 3 are themselves separated one from the other . in assembly , the front of the support plate 15 can initially have the dielectric strips 7 bolted to the plate 15 and extending across the face of the plate 15 . then the compression supports 9 can be bolted on the plate 15 and interposed between the dielectric strips 7 . at this point in the assembly , the support plate 15 thus has a network , in the form of a grid of parallelogram - shaped zones of typically horizontal strips 7 and vertical strips 9 mounted on the plate 15 . the busswork , e . g ., buss connector 13 can be secured to the back of the support plate by means of the buss fasteners 18 . for a module 2 , the blade elements 4 may be welded to the metal face member 3 . at the back of the module 2 , a metal connector 16 , which has been plated at one end , has the opposite end welded to the face member 3 . then the blade elements 4 on the face member 3 , including face areas 31 and intervening slots 32 , can receive a coating for providing an active anode surface . next the insulating strips 10 can be secured in the groove 5 on the face member 3 of the module 2 . the module assembly thus prepared may then be secured to the support plate 15 to complete the assembly of the module 2 with the plate 15 . when all modules 2 have been so secured , the plate 15 may then be equipped with edge mask guides 12 and support arms and be ready for installation in an electrolytic cell . owing to the construction of the face members 3 being in individual modules 2 and being spaced apart by the connectors 16 from the support plate 15 , the massive anode 1 has at least substantial inflexibility . by that it is meant that the anode 1 is not free to move in the cell , except as by adjustment through the support arms , but has the projecting modules 2 which if hit for example by a moving cathode will be able to at least slightly deflect to absorb such a blow , as through the face members 3 and the compression supports 9 . the ability to absorb such a blow as may occur at only part of the face of the anode is thus facilitated by the non - interconnection of the modules 2 and their placement in rows and tiers as spaced - apart , separate units . also , the dielectric strips 7 as well as the insulating strips 10 can be compressible , further adding to the slight flexibility of the overall massive anode 1 . the support plate 15 for initiating anode 1 assembly will preferably have an at least substantially flat surface . this can contribute to an at least essentially constant anode to cathode gap across the face of the anode 1 , e . g ., a gap of usually about one inch , but may be more such as 1 . 5 to 3 inches . it is however to be understood that other configuration , e . g ., a curvilinear support plate 15 may be serviceable , generally depending upon the dimensions of the cell for which the anode is to be used . it is contemplated that although other designs may be used , the metal connectors 16 will essentially always be of uniform dimension , and the face plate members 3 for any massive anode 1 will all have at least substantially the same thickness , whereby upon assembly of the massive anode 1 the active anode front faces will be at least essentially in a common plane presenting an at least generally planar front face for the anode 1 . although the modular anodes 2 have been shown with face plate members 3 having blade elements 4 , it is to be understood that such face plate members 3 may be flat or contain raised elements protruding or projecting therefrom in differing configurations other than blades . for , however , maintaining an at least generally constant anode to cathode gap and therefor for providing the at least generally planar anode surface as offered by blades , it is advantageous that other configurations be selected with these criteria in mind . where protruding elements are employed , these are preferably spaced apart from , and parallel to , one another and vertically oriented , so as to accommodate flow , e . g ., gas release , during electrolysis operation . also , where a cathode is moving upwardly from bottom to top across the face of the anode of fig1 vertically oriented parallel elements can facilitate minimizing frictional losses in electrolyte flowing across the face of the anode . although the face plate member 3 has been shown to be a solid , non - perforate plate , it is also contemplated that such member may be perforate , e . g ., a traditional perforate plate , woven wire , expanded metal or metal mesh or the like , so long as when utilized such as in an electrodeposition process wherein a usually constant anode to cathode gap will be preferred , that such a plate maintains at least substantial rigidity sufficient to accommodate such constant gap characteristic . furthermore , although it has been shown to have a square face , it is contemplated that any general parallelogram shape of typically at least substantially vertical and horizontal edges for the face plate member 3 , e . g ., a rhombus , will be suitable . in such a case , the gridwork of the dielectric members 7 , 9 will be of similar shape to the outline of the face plate member 3 . for the face plate member 3 , as well as for the blade elements 4 , it is contemplated that the materials of construction that will be used are non - consumable in the environment and include the refractory metals titanium , columbium , tantalum and the like , which are coated with a catalytically active coating . the face plate member 3 has been shown to contain a central groove 5 for containing the insulator strip 10 . it is , however , to be understood that such strips 10 may be present as two or more , typically in parallel to one another , and neither of which needs to be centrally located on the face plate member 3 . moreover , although the long axis of such strips 10 have been shown to be positioned transverse to the long axis of the blade elements 4 , it is contemplated that other arrangements , e . g ., parallel positioning of elements 4 to strips 10 , may be utilized . in any event , the strips 10 will be on the face plate member 3 apart from said elements 4 and should always be dimensioned sufficiently large enough to project outwardly closest to the cathode for all of the elements of the modular anode . this projection will assist in protecting the anode from cathode contact . the strips 10 , along with the dielectric strips 7 , thus serve as the projecting elements to initially receive and absorb contact from a moving cathode . these strips 7 , 10 are preferably linear or longitudinal - shaped , as shown in the figures , and for the insulator strips 10 , extend from edge - to - edge on the plate member 3 , although other configuration and length is contemplated . likewise , the dielectric strips 7 preferably extend from edge - to - edge of the support plate 15 , although differing strips 7 , e . g ., segmented along the plate 15 , can also be serviceable . moreover , although the dielectric strips 7 are generally t - shaped in cross - section , or l - shaped as for the strips 7a , and the insulator strips 10 as shown as generally rectangular , other shapes are contemplated , e . g ., u - shape or truncated star shape . it is contemplated that these strips 10 and 7 may be of the same or similar insulating materials . usually such will be deformable plastic materials , including the thermoplastics such as polyolefin materials . a representative suitable substance for these strips is ultra high molecular weight polyethyelene , as well as polypropylene or the halogenated resins , e . g ., polytetrafluoroethyelene and fluorinated ethylene - propylene resin . it is also contemplated to use ceramic materials for these strips 10 and 7 , e . g ., strips of alumina or zirconia , which have desirable abrasion resistant property . likewise , the dielectric strips that are the compression supports 9 can be made from the same or similar materials as for these strips 7 , 10 . the supports 9 may also be of differing cross - section than the u - shape as shown , e . g ., b - shaped . the material selected for the compression supports 9 should be resistant to the environment , e . g ., resistant to the electrolyte environment in which the anode will be used . it will also advantageously be deformable , so as to absorb impact such as from the cathode , as well as be resistant to abrasion . for absorbing impact without deleterious abrasion or degradation the strips 7 and 10 can have beveled or chamfered edges . for the metal connectors or bosses 16 , these can be made of a suitably electrically conductive metal that is also resistant to the electrolyte environment . such metals as are contemplated for use for these bosses 16 include the refractory metals , e . g ., titanium and columbium . advantageously , for good electrical conductivity coupled with desirable resistance to the environment , the metal for the conductor will be titanium . such connector 16 can be firmly affixed to the face plate members 3 , as by welding , e . g , laser welding , tungsten inert gas welding or metal inert gas welding . the connector 16 will have a different constituency , i . e ., a different metallurgical make - up , for interface contact with the support plate 15 . such constituency difference is a metallurgical difference at the connector surface that is different from the general composition of the connector . for example if the connector is of titanium or titanium alloy , which is then the general composition of the connector , then the metallurgical difference for a connector surface may be a plated metal surface of a metal other than the titanium or alloy . this metallurgical difference can serve to enhance contact between the connector 16 and adjoining electrically conductive elements . advantageously for best electrically conductive connection , as well as resistance to electrolyte , it is desired that this difference in constituency be provided by coating of the connector surface . however , other change , as by alloying of the surface , may be useful . where a coating is utilized , electrocoating operation is preferred for economy , although other coating operations , e . g ., brush plating , plasma arc spraying or vapor deposition , may be employed . for the preferred metal titanium for the connector 16 , it is advantageous to use a plated noble metal coating . such a noble metal coating is a coating of one or more of the group viii or group ib metals having an atomic weight of greater than 100 , i . e ., the metals ruthenium , rhodium , palladium , silver , osmium , iridium , platinum and gold . preferably for efficiency in enhanced electrical contact , platinum plating is used . for the support plate 15 , it is contemplated to use any metal suitably resistant to the electrolyte and desirably electrically conductive . such metals include the valve metals , e . g ., tantalum , titanium and columbium . advantageously for combining electrical conductivity with resistance to electrolyte , the support plate 15 , in electrogalvanizing operation , is titanium or a titanium clad or plated metal , e . g ., titanium clad steel . the support plate 15 , although preferably a solid titanium sheet for ruggedness combined with electrical conductivity and resistance to electrolyte , may be of other configuration , such as a perforate plate or open framework . the fasteners , e . g ., for coupling the metal connector 16 to the support plate 15 or for binding the compression support 9 to the support plate 15 , can be of the same or similar metals as for the support plate 15 . although such have been shown to be threaded , they may be otherwise , e . g ., riveted to the support plate 15 or be threaded studs that are welded , as to the support plate 15 . for the buss connectors 13 , it is most desirable to use a highly conductive metal , e . g ., copper . these connectors 13 can be bolted to the support plate 15 , as by fasteners 18 of copper , copper alloy or steel , including stainless and high strength steel . since copper metal might be subject to attack , as from the electrolyte in an electrogalvanizing environment , the copper busswork will usually be covered , including cladding , plating , explosion bonding or welding , with a more inert metal , i . e ., a valve metal . hence , explosion bonded titanium sheets , for example , can protect the face of the buss connectors 13 , while edges can have strips of titanium welded thereto for affording complete protection for underlying copper metal . the face plate members 3 , as well as any contiguous , projecting members , e . g ., blade elements 4 , will advantageously for best anodic activity , contain an electrocatalytic coating . such will be provided from platinum or other platinum group metal , or it may be any of a number of active oxide coatings such as the platinum group metal oxides , magnetite , ferrite , cobalt spinel , or mixed metal oxide coatings , which have been developed for use as anode coatings in the industrial electrochemical industry . the platinum group metal or mixed metal oxides for the coating are such as have generally been described in one or more of u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 265 , 526 , 3 , 632 , 498 , 3 , 711 , 385 and 4 , 528 , 084 . more particularly , such platinum group metals include platinum , palladium , rhodium , iridium and ruthenium or alloys of themselves and with other metals . mixed metal oxides include at least one of the oxides of these platinum group metals in combination with at least one oxide of a valve metal or another non - precious metal . where the face plate members 3 are configured with blade elements 4 or the like , it is advantageous that the cathode - facing face areas 31 have an area at least equal to the projected area of the slots 32 . that is , the ratio of the face areas 31 to the projected area of the slots 32 is at least about 1 : 1 . such area ratio for the face areas to the projected slotted areas will lead to reduced anode overvoltage owing to a lowered average operating current density . moreover , occasional short circuits which can damage the coating on the face areas 31 of the blades , will not affect the slotted areas 32 . preferably for best operating life of the coating , such ratio will be at least about 3 : 1 and may even be greater , e . g ., 4 : 1 to 5 : 1 or more . the edge mask guides 12 can serve to guide and align the adjustable edge masks at the edges of the cathode , e . g ., a steel strip cathode . the edge masks may be utilized to reduce or control unwanted electrolytic deposition onto a cathode that is intended to be coated on one side only . thus the edge mask guides 12 can be longitudinal , fin - like side members that fit snugly into the edge of the anode 1 . suitable materials of construction for such guides 12 are the same as for the strips 10 and 7 . hence , a polyolefin material such as ultra high molecular weight polyethylene may be used for these guides 12 where the anode 1 is used in electrogalvanizing operation and the guides are to combine desirable ruggedness of construction with resistance to the electrogalvanizing medium . the anode 1 can also contain support arms , jutting out in a position sideways to the anode 1 as it is depicted in fig1 . such support arms can be positioned both above and below the edge mask guides 12 . these support arms may incorporate adjustable support bearings or cams which allow for adjustment of the anode to cathode gap , even after the anode 1 has been positioned , as in an electrogalvanizing cell tank . these arms can be of similar materials of construction as for the support plate , e . g ., titanium clad steel . | 2 |
referring to fig1 , there is shown a perspective view of multi - section roll - up curtain assembly 10 in accordance with the present invention . roll - up curtain assembly 10 includes first , second and third curtain sections 12 , 14 and 16 disposed in a laterally spaced array over an opening in a building structure . each of the first , second and third curtain sections 12 , 14 and 16 includes an upper curtain and a lower curtain capable of being moved between a rolled - up position , wherein the curtain is opened , and an unrolled position , wherein the curtain sections fully cover the opening in the building structure . thus , the first curtain section 12 includes an upper curtain 18 and a lower curtain 20 . the second curtain section 14 includes upper curtain 22 and lower curtain 24 . finally , the third curtain section 16 includes upper curtain 26 and lower curtain 28 . the lower curtain 20 of the first curtain section 12 includes an upper portion 20 a and lower portion 20 b . similarly , the lower curtain 24 of the second curtain section 14 includes upper portion 24 a and lower portion 24 b . finally , lower curtain 28 includes an upper portion 28 a and a lower portion 28 b . the opening in the building structure over which the roll - up curtain assembly 10 is positioned is defined by an upper support member 40 , a lower support member 42 , and a pair of lateral limits to the opening which are not shown in fig1 for simplicity . the upper and lower support members 40 , 42 are connected to and integral with the building structure , which also is not shown in the figure for simplicity . disposed within each of the aforementioned curtain sections are plural hems which extend the length of the curtain section and which are each adapted to receive a respective elongated , linear , tubular rod extending the length of the curtain section . thus , upper curtain section 22 includes upper and lower hems respectively adapted to receive an upper support rod 55 and a lower drive rod 60 . similarly , upper curtain section 26 includes upper and lower hems which are adapted to receive an upper support rod 57 and a lower drive rod 62 , respectively . finally , upper curtain section 18 includes upper and lower hems which are adapted to receive an upper support rod 56 and a lower drive rod 61 , respectively . each of the aforementioned upper support rods is securely attached to the upper support member 40 , or another structural member within the building structure , by means of a conventional connecting bracket which is not shown in the figure for simplicity . similarly , lower curtain 24 is provided with plural spaced hems which are adapted to receive an upper support rod 58 a , an intermediate drive rod 64 and a lower rod 63 a . lower curtain 28 is adapted to receive an upper support rod 58 b , an intermediate or drive rod 66 and a lower rod 63 b . finally , lower curtain 20 is adapted to receive an upper support rod 58 c , an intermediate drive rod 65 and a lower rod 63 c . each of the aforementioned upper support rods 58 a , 58 b and 58 c of the lower curtains is securely attached to the building structure by conventional means such as mounting brackets which are not shown in the figure for simplicity . it is in this manner that each of the lower curtains is supported by and suspending from the building structure . the weight of each of the lower rods 63 a , 63 b and 63 c maintains each of the lower curtains in a stretched condition when suspended from a respective upper support rod . each of the rods disposed in each of the lower curtains extends the full length of the lower curtain . each of the aforementioned rods is preferably comprised of a high strength , lightweight , rigid material such as structural steel or aluminum . disposed between and connected to each adjacent pair of upper and lower curtains is a respective curtain support / drive mechanism . thus , a first curtain support / drive mechanism 30 is disposed between and connected to upper curtains 18 and 22 and lower curtains 20 and 24 of the first and second curtain sections 12 , 14 . similarly , a second curtain support / drive mechanism 32 is disposed between and coupled to upper curtains 22 and 26 and lower curtains 24 and 28 of the second and third curtain sections 14 , 16 . a similar curtain support / drive mechanism is connected to the outer end of each of the end curtain sections in a manner similar to that shown in fig1 and described below , although this is not shown in fig1 for simplicity . although fig1 shows three curtain sections driven by two or more curtain support / drive mechanisms , a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes first and second curtain sections driven by an inner curtain support / drive mechanism located between the two curtain sections and by two outer curtain support / drive mechanisms each located on an outer end of one of the curtain sections . individual curtain sections several hundred feet in length may be raised and lowered in this preferred embodiment to cover openings of 600 ′ and longer in length . the second curtain support / drive mechanism 32 is shown in greater detail in the front perspective view of fig2 . curtain support / drive mechanism 32 includes a generally vertically oriented guide member 44 connected near its upper end to the upper support member 40 by conventional connecting brackets which are not shown in the figure for simplicity . similarly , the lower end of vertical guide member 44 is securely attached to the lower support member 42 by means of connecting brackets 68 and 70 . fig3 is a perspective view illustrating additional details of an upper drive assembly 100 attached to the vertical guide member 44 . fig6 and 7 are lower perspective views showing additional details of the manner in which the upper drive assembly 100 is attached to and is displaced along the vertical guide member 44 . each of the curtain support / drive mechanisms includes an upper drive assembly and a lower drive assembly . the upper drive assembly includes an upper electrical drive motor 46 , while the lower drive assembly includes a lower electrical drive motor 48 . the upper drive assembly 100 further includes a first gearbox 52 connected to the upper electric drive motor 46 , while the lower drive assembly includes a second gearbox 54 connected to the lower electric drive motor 48 . the combination of the lower electrical drive motor 48 and the second gearbox 54 is coupled to the intermediate drive rods 64 and 66 of the lower curtains 24 and 28 by suitably connecting hardware which will now be described in detail in terms of the upper drive assembly 100 shown in fig4 because the construction and operation of the upper and lower drive assemblies is identical . connected to the first gearbox 52 and rotationally driven by the upper electric drive motor 46 is a drive shaft 102 . attached to respective ends of the drive shaft 102 are a first drive sprocket 104 and a second drive sprocket , which is not shown in fig4 for simplicity . disposed about the first drive sprocket 104 is a first endless chain 106 , while disposed about the second drive sprocket is a second endless chain 110 . respectively disposed above and adjacent to the first drive sprocket 104 and the second drive sprocket are first and second driven sprockets 108 and 112 . endless chains 106 and 110 also respectively engage the first and second driven sprockets 108 and 112 . thus , rotation of the drive shaft 102 produces a corresponding rotation of the first drive sprocket 104 and the second drive sprocket giving rise to a corresponding rotation of the first and second driven sprockets 108 and 112 . the first and second driven sprockets 108 , 112 are securely coupled together by means of the combination of a spacer tube 114 and first and second brass bushings 116 and 118 . thus , the first and second driven sprockets 108 and 112 undergo the same rotational displacement . the first brass bushing 116 is securely connected to lower drive rod 60 of the upper curtain 22 of the second curtain section 14 as shown in fig2 . similarly , the second brass bushing 118 is securely connected to the lower drive rod 62 of the upper curtain 26 of the third curtain section 16 as also shown in fig2 . thus , the upper drive assembly 100 simultaneously rotationally displaces lower drive rods 60 and 62 in a first direction for rolling up the upper curtains and raising the two curtain sections , or in a second , opposed direction for unrolling the two upper curtains in unrolling the two adjacent curtain sections . a similar arrangement allows the lower drive assembly which includes a combination of lower electric drive motor 48 and second gearbox 54 to either roll - up the adjacent lower curtains 24 and 28 respectively onto intermediate drive rods 64 and 66 , or to unroll these curtains from the two intermediate drive rods in lowering the curtain sections . it should be noted that each of the upper and lower portions 24 a and 24 b of lower curtain 24 and each of the upper and lower portions 28 a and 28 b of lower curtain 28 are simultaneously rolled onto or unrolled from the lower drive rods 64 and 66 , respectively , during operation of the lower electric drive motor 48 . while each of the lower curtains has been described and is illustrated as including an upper support rod , an intermediate drive rod and a lower rod , the present invention will work equally as well if the intermediate rod is omitted and the curtain is raised and lowered by means of its lower rod . thus , for example , the present invention contemplates eliminating the intermediate drive rods 64 , 65 and 66 of lower curtains 24 , 20 and 28 and driving , i . e ., raising and lowering , these curtains by means of a drive assembly connected to the lower rods 63 a , 63 b and 63 c of these lower curtains . the advantage of the arrangement shown in fig2 where the drive arrangement is connected to an intermediate drive rod is that the upper and lower portions of each of these curtains are simultaneously rolled up on or unrolled from the rotating drive rod which reduces the time and the number of revolutions to roll - up or unroll the curtain . as shown in the various figures , each drive assembly includes a carriage 146 connected to a drive motor as shown for the case of the upper electric drive motor 46 of the upper drive assembly 100 . a similar carriage arrangement is connected to the lower electric drive motor 48 and operates in a similar manner to allow the drive assembly to move upward and downward within the vertical guide member 44 as described in the following paragraphs . carriage 146 is in the form of a linear , elongated shaft of a high strength material such as structural steel and includes an inner shaft , or axle , 148 which extends the length of the carriage . attached to a first end of shaft 148 is a first roller 150 , while attached to a second , opposed end of the shaft is a second roller 152 . vertical guide member 44 includes a generally flat inner portion 44 c and first and second edge flanges 44 a and 44 b disposed on opposed lateral edges thereof . each of the edge flanges 44 a , 44 b extends outwardly from the flat inner portion 44 c of the vertical guide member 44 and forms a channel which is adapted to receive and engage a respective roller of the carriage 146 . thus , the first edge flange 44 a is adapted to receive and engage the first roller 150 , while the second edge flange 44 b is adapted to receive and engage the second roller 152 . each of the rollers 150 , 152 freely rotates on the carriage &# 39 ; s shaft 148 and allows the carriage 146 to move vertically along the length of the vertical guide member 44 . thus , as the lower drive rods 60 and 62 are rotationally displaced by the upper electric motor 46 of the upper drive assembly 100 , the combination of the upper electric motor and first gearbox 152 and associated hardware attached to the carriage 146 is free to move vertically up in the direction of arrow 154 and down in the direction of arrow 156 in fig6 along and within the vertical guide member 44 . this permits adjacent curtains to be rolled - up onto or unrolled from the two drive rods . the larger weights of longer curtains apply increasingly larger torques to the curtain support and drive mechanism , particularly during raising of the curtain . thus , if as shown in fig6 , lower drive rod 62 rotates in the direction of arrow 92 , the weight of the raised , or partially upraised , curtain will exert a torque counter to the direction of arrow 92 . the torque exerted by the curtain will urge the first roller 150 in a downward direction as shown by direction arrow 94 in fig7 and will urge the second roller 152 in an upward direction as shown by direction arrow 96 in the figure . the vertical guide member 44 opposes any displacement of the rollers out of the plane of the vertical guide member and ensures that the carriage 146 and the upper electric drive motor 46 attached thereto move only vertically during rolling up and unrolling of the attached curtains . in addition , the torque exerted along the lower drive rod 62 in the direction of arrow 98 shown in fig6 urges the carriage 46 and the upper electric drive motor 46 in a direction toward the vertical guide member 44 . in order to accommodate this latter torque , a third roller 160 shown in fig7 is attached to the carriage 146 by means of mounting bracket 158 . this third roller 160 facilitates displacement of the carriage 146 and upper electric drive motor 46 combination along the length of vertical guide member 44 . third roller 160 thus counters the tendency of the aligned lower drive rods 60 and 62 to be rotationally displaced by the weight of the attached curtains and opposes any bending of carriage 146 and movement of the upper electric drive motor 46 toward the flat inner portion 44 c of the vertical guide member 44 . referring to fig4 , there is shown a perspective view of the combination of first and second limit switches 72 and 74 . the first limit switch 72 is attached to a vertical pipe , or tube , 78 by means of a first coupling bracket 80 . similarly , the second limit switch 74 is attached to the vertical pipe 78 by means of a second coupling bracket 82 . the vertical pipe 78 is disposed within and attached to the vertical guide member 44 by conventional means such as connecting brackets which are not shown for simplicity . the first limit switch 72 includes a first pivot arm 88 coupled to a first sensor housing 84 . similarly , the second limit switch 74 includes a second pivot arm coupled to a second sensor housing 86 . each of the first and second pivot arms 88 , 90 is free to pivot upward or downward about its associated sensor housing . thus , the first limit switch 72 provides an indication that the upper curtains 22 and 26 are in the full “ down ” position . another limit switch ( not shown in the figures for simplicity ) located in an upper portion of the roll - up curtain assembly provides an indication of the full “ up ” position of the two upper curtains 22 , 26 . the second limit switch 74 provides an indication of the full “ up ” position of the two lower curtains 24 , 28 . a third limit switch 76 mounted to a lower portion of the vertical pipe 78 as shown in fig2 provides an indication that the lower curtains 24 and 28 are in the full “ down ” position . in the embodiment shown in the figures , the third limit switch 76 is engaged by the lower rod 63 a of the second curtain section &# 39 ; s lower curtain 24 . in the embodiment of the present invention where the lower curtain does not include upper and lower portions with the curtain &# 39 ; s drive rod disposed on its lower edge , the third limit switch 76 would be engaged by the lower curtain &# 39 ; s drive rod located on its lower edge . referring to fig5 , there is shown a combined schematic and block diagram of a control panel 50 coupled to a computer controller 138 for controlling the operation of the roll - up curtain assembly of the present invention . the left portion of the control panel 28 provides control of the first curtain section 12 shown in fig1 , while the right portion of the control panel controls the operation of the second curtain section 14 . a third portion of the control panel 50 provides control for the third curtain section 16 shown in fig1 , but this is not shown in fig5 for simplicity . control panel 50 includes first and second toggle switches 130 and 132 . the first toggle switch 130 allows the user to select either an automatic or manual mode of operation , or to turn the controller for the first curtain section 12 “ off ”. when in the “ automatic ” mode of operation , the operation of the first curtain section is under the control of the computer controller 138 which stores a pre - programmed operating program . the second toggle switch 132 is operable when the first toggle switch 130 is in the “ manual ” mode of operation and allows for closing and opening of the first curtain section under the control of an operator . the right portion of the control panel 50 which controls operation of the second curtain section 14 similarly includes a first toggle switch 134 and a second toggle switch 136 . the first toggle switch 134 allows for the user to select between “ automatic ” or “ manual ” operation of the second curtain section , or to turn the curtain controller “ off ”. the second toggle switch 136 allows for manually controlling the position of the first curtain section 12 when the first toggle switch is in the “ manual ” mode of operation . while particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described , it will be obvious to those skilled in the relevant arts that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention in its broader aspects . therefore , the aim in the appended claims is to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention . the matter set forth in the foregoing description and accompanying drawings is offered by way of illustration only and not as a limitation . the actual scope of the invention is intended to be defined in the following claims when viewed in their proper perspective based on the prior art . | 4 |
a graphic illustration of a general fff device is depicted in fig1 showing flow channel vectors ( v 1 , v 2 , v 3 , v 4 , etc .) representing comparative velocities of stream flow over the cross section of the channel width w . also shown is the force field of strength g , representing gravitational force or some other appropriate force applied to particulate matter flowing down the channel . the subject flow channel is formed between two opposing walls 10 and 12 and has stream flow along the length l of the flow channel as indicated by the flow vectors . as with normal fff , a field gradient of strength g is applied substantially perpendicular to the direction of flow within the channel . in the case of the present invention , the strength of the field is increased to a degree necessary to maintain all the particulate matter against the restraining wall 12 in the fff device . from this point of view , it can be stated that steric fff is the high field limit of normal fff . as the field strength is increased to steric fff conditions , particles are pushed with increasing firmness into contact or near contact against the restraining wall 12 . an optimum steric fff condition is realized when the mean brownian displacement of a given class of particles from the wall 12 becomes less than the mean particle radius of a given class of particles . it is therefore apparent that in steric fff , the radius of the particle becomes determinative as to the rate of differential migration down the flow channel . this term &# 34 ; steric fff38 reflects the condition that particle layer thickness along the opposing wall 12 is controlled by the steric exclusion of particles from the space occupied by the wall . for example , particles of increasing size are illustrated within the flow channel as items 13 , 14 and 15 . in steric fff , each of these particles is retained as the wall structure 12 of the flow channel by the field gradient g , representing gravitational or some other force . because of a difference in radii , each of these respective particle , 13 , 14 and 15 , projects into a different section of the flow stream 16 . particle 13 , for example , projects into and is carried at a stream velocity of approximately v 2 . particles 14 and 15 , however , will be subject to the increased velocity of v 3 and v 4 in view of their larger radii . therefore , large particles ( such as particle 15 ) will migrate along the flow channel in advance of small particles and will emerge from the channel first . it should be noted that this differential migration is an inversion of the normal order of elution of a general fff system . a quantitative description reflecting particle movement within the flow channel is given by the retention ratio r which has been defined as particle velocity / mean solvent velocity . j . c . giddings , sep . sci . and tech ., 13 241 ( 1978 ). this parameter has been approximated by the limiting expression in which &# 34 ; r &# 34 ; represents the particle radius and &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; represents the average distance from the wall 12 to which the particle is displaced by brownian motion . while the second of these two terms controls selectivity and separation in normal fff ( where &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; is greater than 0 ) this term can essentially be eliminated under steric fff . the appropriate expression for retention ratio in steric fff would therefore be from this proportionality relationship , it can be noted that an increase in particle radius &# 34 ; r &# 34 ; causes a comparable increase in the solute velocity as evidenced by the increase in retention ratio r . it is this differentiation which permits the selectivity in steric fff . the practical particle size range of steric fff is largely determined by the w / r ratio of equation ( 2 ). theoretical estimation suggests that the steric ffff method functions best within the range of 120 & gt ;( w / p )& gt ; 12 , or within the approximate range of 100 to 10 . since it is difficult to construct a uniform channel less than 50 micrometers thick ( w ), the preferred minimum radius ( w / r = 100 ) for a particle will be approximately 0 . 5 micrometers ( diameter equal to one micrometer ). by contrast , a 500 micrometer channel is suitable for larger particles ( w / r = 10 ) having a 50 micrometer radius ( 100 micrometer in diameter ). obviously , thicker channels would extend this large particle capability . in view of these ratios , the preferred steric fff system particle range would appear to include 1 to 100 micrometers , at the minimum . this range of particle diameters is particularly significant in biology , industry and environmental control studies . within this range , steric fff represents a significant advancement in fractionation and characterization methods by improving speed and resolution capability . as mentioned previously , steric fff utilizes a similar apparatus to that of conventional fff . the primary difference involves the relative strength of force applied perpendicular to the flow channel with respect to entrained particles . in the range of particles having diameters from 1 to 100 micrometers , gravity provides sufficient force to establish steric fff conditions , unless the particles are in a neutrally buoyant medium . this does not mean , however , that other external fields would not be equally effective . electrical , sedimentation , and other forms of fields or gradients generally applied in fff may be used to meet the steric fff field requirement . with gravitational force , the required presence of a uniform field is automatically satisfied and therefore reduces complexity of equipment . in view of the substantial contact between particles and the surfaces of opposing channel wall 12 , new factors with respect to channel construction and flow dynamics are introduced over conventional fff . the restraining surface of the opposing wall 12 should be inert and flat to reduce tendency of adhesion of particles thereto . furthermore , surface cracks and indentions must be avoided to prevent traping of small particles . in addition , flow velocity should be sufficiently high that the viscous forces which drag and roll the particles along the restraining surface of the wall should ordinarily exceed the gravitational forces which pull the particle against the surface . using such flow velocity will insure that particles are pulled immediately free from any ensnaring influence . these desired high velocities are again in contrast to the lower velocities preferrable in normal fff . particle shape is also a factor to be considered in steric fff . spherical particles as illustrated in fig1 can be expected to migrate along the flow channel at remarkable uniform rates . where particles are of irregular shape , however , more tumbling motion can be expected . in effect , the particles tumble randomly over different extrema at the opposing wall surface to develop a less predictable movement pattern . if , however , flow velocities are maintained high enough to exceed gravitational forces g the particle will probably not have time to &# 34 ; settle &# 34 ; between tumbles . it will therefore be carried along at a fairly constant velocity and at a height just skimming the surface . in this case , the radius of the particle defining migration velocity in equation ( 2 ) would tend to be that along the longest axis of the particle . an example of the steric fff device is shown in fig2 and 3 . the flow channel 25 is formed by the opening of a spacer 26 which is sandwiched between thick pieces of plate glass 27 . this combination is clamped between lucite bars 28 by means of a series of bolts 29 . the dimensions of these components as applied in an experimental model of the subject device were as follows : solvent material and particles are injected through an inlet 30 , and flow along the length of the channel to an outlet 31 . techniques for injection , detection and collection of samples are the same as disclosed in previous publication , as well as the referenced patent and patent application . tests were conducted utilizing glass beads which had been roughly sized by air elutriation in previous experiments . a solvent of 0 . 05 % sds in distilled water was fed into the channel at the rate of 60 ml / hr by a chromatronix cheminert metering pump . samples were collected upon elution and were checked microscopically at 90x and were subsequently photographed . size distributions were measured by comparing the photographs with a photograph of a microscopic scale standard . fig4 shows a parent glass bead sample having a broad range of particle sizes which was introduced into the steric fff system . photomicrographs of beads collected from two different volume elements of the effluent stream of the apparatus are shown in fig4 ( b ) and 4 ( c ). fractionation according to size has been clearly achieved . the respective bead diameters of the two figures are 29 ± 4 micrometers and 19 ± 2 micrometers . a second portion of the referenced parent sample of beads was mixed with a second set of smaller beads to provide a trimodal composition . the results of fractionation through the steric fff device is illustrated in fig5 showing three separate peaks corresponding to the respective sizes of the segregated sample beads . it is important to note that during normal steric fff operation , the illustrated apparatus is maintained at a 90 ° orientation with respect to the applied field . this eliminates a common force component between the flow vectors and the field vector . a second embodiment of the steric fff method can be achieved by modifying this orientation to a sloping channel , having flow movement opposing a component of the field force vectors . this embodiment is illustrated in fig6 which shows a steric fff device 35 similar to that of fig2 positioned in a sloping configuration and having an inlet 36 for channel flow located at the base section of the apparatus . channel flow , represented by vector v f , is no longer perpendicular in orientation to the applied field g . because of this tilt at some angle θ , particles 27 carried along the flow channel will sediment quickly to the wall and then tend to sediment down along the length of the wall toward inlet 36 . in this manner , such particles will avoid the open space of the channel and will therefore not be subjected to the diverse flows in this channel region . instead , particles of a given size and shape will form layers of a given thickness against the wall , resulting in a more constant effective displacement velocity of the flow stream . with the introduction of uniformity in flow displacement with respect to a specific class of particle sizes , very slight shifts in over all flow rates will serve to shift the net velocity of a given particle type from positive to negative . in this way , a programmed flow would elute particles of gradually increasing size which could be collected as uniform fractions . the same results could be achieved by a programmed tilting of the channel axis through a series of changing angles θ toward the horizontal axis . in such steric elutriation systems , the mean upward flow velocity acting to lift each particle is proportional to the effective diameter of that particle . the upward force is proportional to the product of the mean upward flow velocity and the particle diameter , and is thus proportional to the particle diameter squared . as in normal elutriation , the sedimentation force is proportional to the cube of the particle diameter . therefore , in steric elutriation a doubling in the particle size means that the sedimentation force will increase by a factor of eight and the &# 34 ; lift &# 34 ; force will increase by a factor of four . in normal elutriation the lift force will increase only by a factor of two , thus giving a bigger differential between the forces of normal elutriation systems . this benefit of normal elutriation , however , is overcome by the preferred uniformity of flow displacement which is obtained in steric elutriation . as an example of the programmed elution of particles of different size by means of the steric elutriation method , consider a particle mixture of two distinct sizes . during operation of the system , the largest particles will be inclined to sediment downward against channel flow . if the similar particles are exactly at equilibrium between the sedimentation force and the lift force , then the larger particles will settle rapidly , leaving the smaller particles in place along the length of the channel . by slightly increasing the flow to raise the lift force above the sedimentation force for the smaller particles , these particles will be eluted , while the larger particles are retained in the channel . when no other small particles are detected in the effluent , the flow rate can be increased to discharge the larger particles . by programming flow velocity increase or the axis of tilt in small incremental changes , particles of different sizes could be selectively eluted while the larger particles are retained and gradually carried by classes of size upward along the flow channel . as a slight modification of the steric elutriation system , tapered channels in width or thickness could be utilized in order to cause a continuous variation in the magnitude of the lifting flow force . by this method , particles of different sizes could be brought into different equilibrium positions , permitting stationary bands of separated particles to collect along the length of the channel . after the equilibrium conditions are established , the channel could be tilted slightly toward one edge 37 , collecting the particles in pockets or collection ports 38 for subsequent analysis . this same concept of steric elutriation can be adapted for application in a centrifuge , where field of greater strength may be applied . the value of such methods would be directed to very small particles which require extremely large fields in order to obtain the imposition of the particles at the opposing wall surface . utilizing this method , fluid types could be extended to gases as well as liquids and could be operated under laminar or turbulent flow conditions , depending upon the size of the particles . it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that numerous variations from the method and apparatus disclosed herein are possible . these include not only variations in force fields such as the suggested centrifugal application , but likewise include variations in geometric configurations of channel structure . fig7 for example , depicts annular flow channel 40 having a field gradient applied radially outward from the annular axis . the particles 41 and 42 are advanced along the channel in accordance with their interaction with different flow rates 43 of the stream . the displacement of the larger particle 42 is in advance of the smaller particle 41 in view of the steric fff effect . it is to be understood , therefore , that the present disclosure is only by way of example and that substantial variations are possible from the structure and method disclosed herein without departing from the scope of the hereinafter claimed subject matter . | 6 |
in describing preferred embodiments illustrated in the drawings , specific terminology is employed for the sake of clarity . however , the disclosure of this patent specification is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology so selected and it is to be understood that each specific element includes all technical equivalents that operate in a similar manner . referring now to the drawings , wherein like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views , particularly to fig3 , a description is made of a laser diode driving circuit 1 according to a preferred embodiment . the driving circuit 1 , capable of driving a laser diode ld , includes a first pseudo laser diode ld 1 , a second pseudo laser diode ld 2 , a current supply 2 , a first current mirror circuit 3 , a second current mirror circuit 4 , a third current mirror circuit 5 , a fourth current mirror circuit 6 , an nmos transistor n 5 , an nmos transistor n 6 , an amplifier amp , a first switch swa , and a second switch swb . as shown in fig3 , the current supply 2 and an nmos transistor n 1 of the fourth current mirror circuit 6 are serially connected between a positive supply voltage vdd and a negative supply voltage vss . the current supply 2 outputs an input current i 1 according to a control signal sc received from the outside . the fourth current mirror circuit 6 includes parallel - connected nmos transistors n 2 to n 4 in addition to the nmos transistor n 1 . the nmos transistor n 2 provides a current i 2 to the first current mirror circuit 3 . the nmos transistor n 3 provides a current i 4 to the second current mirror circuit 4 . the nmos transistor n 4 provides a current i 6 to the third current mirror circuits 5 . the gate and the drain of the nmos transistor n 1 are connected to each other . the gate of the nmos transistor n 1 is further connected to each of the gates of the nmos transistors n 2 , n 3 , and n 4 . each of the sources of the nmos transistors n 1 , n 2 , n 3 , and n 4 is connected to the negative supply voltage vss . the first current mirror circuit 3 includes pmos transistors p 1 to p 4 , and provides a current i 3 to the first pseudo laser diode ld 1 . the pmos transistors pi and p 3 are serially connected between the positive supply voltage vdd and the gate of the nmos transistor n 2 . the pmos transistors p 2 and p 4 are serially connected between the positive supply voltage vdd and the anode of the first pseudo laser diode ld 1 . the pmos transistor p 2 has the gate connected to the gate of the pmos transistor p 1 , and the drain connected to the connecting point of the pmos transistors p 1 and p 2 . the pmos transistor p 3 has the gate connected to the gate of the pmos transistor p 4 , and the drain connected to the connecting point of the pmos transistors p 3 and p 4 . the second current mirror circuit 4 includes pmos transistors p 5 and p 6 , and provides a current i 5 to the second pseudo laser diode ld 2 . the sources of the pmos transistors p 5 and p 6 are each connected to the positive supply voltage vdd . the gates of the pmos transistors p 5 and p 6 are connected to each other . the drain of the pmos transistor p 5 is connected to the connecting point of the pmos transistors p 5 and p 6 . the second switch swb and the nmos transistor n 3 are serially connected between the drain of the pmos transistor p 5 and the negative supply voltage vss . the second pseudo laser diode ld 2 is connected between the drain of the pmos transistor p 6 and the negative supply voltage vss . the third current mirror circuit 5 includes pmos transistors p 7 and p 8 , and provides an output current ild to the laser diode ld . the sources of the pmos transistors p 7 and p 8 are each connected to the positive supply voltage vdd . the gates of the pmos transistors p 7 and p 8 are connected to each other . the drain of the pmos transistor p 7 is connected to the connecting point of the pmos transistors p 7 and p 8 . the first switch swa and the nmos transistor n 4 are serially connected between the drain of the pmos transistor p 7 and the negative supply voltage vss . the laser diode ld is connected between the drain of the pmos transistor p 8 and the negative supply voltage vss . the amplifier amp controls an operation of the noms transistors n 5 and n 6 . the positive input terminal of the amplifier amp is connected to the connecting point at which the drain of the pmos transistor p 4 and the anode of the first pseudo laser diode ld 1 are connected . the negative input terminal of the amplifier amp is connected to the connecting point at which the drain of the pmos transistor p 6 and the anode of the second pseudo laser diode ld 2 are connected . the output terminal of the amplifier amp is connected to the gates of the nmos transistors n 5 and n 6 , respectively . the nmos transistor n 5 is connected in parallel to the nmos transistor n 3 . the nmos transistor n 6 is connected in parallel to the nmos transistor n 4 . the first switch swa controls on or off of the laser diode ld . the second switch swb , which is regularly turned on , adjusts the impedance z 1 of the first switch swa , when the first switch swa is turned on . preferably , the impedance z 1 is adjusted to be smaller than the impedance z 2 of the second switch swb . the second current mirror circuit 4 preferably has a transistor element size smaller than that of the third current mirror circuit 5 . accordingly , the current consumption m 2 i of the circuit 4 is less than the current consumption m 3 i of the circuit 5 . further , the transistor sizes of the circuits 4 and 5 are preferably set such that the ratio between the current i 5 and the current ild is substantially equal to the ratio between the current consumption m 2 i and the current consumption m 3 i . in such a case , the ratio between the anode - current / anode - voltage characteristic ( hereinafter , simply referred to as the “ characteristic ”) of the second pseudo laser diode ld 2 and the characteristic of the laser diode ld is substantially equal to the ratio between the current consumption m 2 i and the current consumption m 3 i , as indicated by the equation : ( i 5 / vld 2 )/( ild / vld )= m 2 i / m 3 i . furthermore , the ratio between the impedance z 1 of the first switch swa and the impedance z 2 of the second switch swb is , preferably , substantially equal to the inverse of the ratio between the current consumption m 2 i and the current consumption m 3 i , as indicated by the equation : z 2 / z 1 = m 3 i / m 2 i . as shown in fig3 , the first current mirror circuit 3 includes two current mirror circuits stacked vertically , to compensate the channel length modulation effect . however , any kind of circuits , capable of compensating the channel length modulation effect , may be used , including a cascode current mirror circuit or a wilson current mirror circuit , for example . as described above , the current i 1 , supplied by the current supply 2 , is input to the drain of the nmos transistor n 1 as a drain current . the drain current is input to the first current mirror circuit 3 through the nmos transistor n 2 as the current i 2 . the current i 2 is further supplied to the first pseudo laser diode ld 1 as the current i 3 . similarly , the drain current is further input to the second current mirror circuit 4 through the nmos transistor n 3 , as the current i 4 . the current i 4 is further supplied to the second pseudo laser diode ld 2 as the current i 5 . the nmos transistor n 2 has an element size larger than that of the nmos transistor n 3 . accordingly , the current i 2 ( i . e . the drain current of the nmos transistor n 2 ) is larger than the current i 4 ( i . e . the drain current of the nmos transistor n 3 ). as a result , the current i 3 ( i . e . the anode current of the first pseudo laser diode ld 1 ) becomes larger than the current i 5 . assuming that the characteristics of the first and second pseudo laser diodes ld 1 and ld 2 are substantially equal to each other , the anode voltage vld 1 of the first pseudo laser diode ld 1 becomes larger than the anode voltage vld 2 of the second pseudo laser diode ld 2 . as shown in fig3 , the anode voltage vld 1 is input to the positive input terminal of the amplifier amp . the anode voltage vld 2 is input to the negative input terminal of the amplifier amp . the amplifier amp , which controls the gate voltage of the nmos transistor n 5 , can control the amount of the current i 4 , and thus , the amount of the current i 5 . in this way , the anode voltage vld 1 and the anode voltage vld 2 are made substantially equal to each other . the amplifier amp , which controls the gate voltage of the nmos transistor n 6 , may also control the amount of the current i 6 , and thus , the amount of the current ild . preferably , the current i 6 is set such that the ratio in drain current between the nmos transistor n 5 and the nmos transistor n 6 is substantially equal to the ratio between the current consumption m 2 i and the current consumption m 3 i . in this way , the current ild becomes substantially proportional to the current i 5 . since the current i 5 is substantially equal to the current i 3 , and the current i 3 is substantially proportional to the current i 1 , the output current ild is substantially proportional to the input current i 1 . in this exemplary case , each of the characteristics of the first and second pseudo laser diodes ld 1 and ld 2 is substantially equal to the characteristic of the laser diode ld . referring to fig4 , the characteristic of the laser diode ld may be determined based on a forward voltage vf and a resistance rld ( indicated as the slope v / i ). the forward voltage vf or the resistance rld varies for each laser diode , depending on manufacturing conditions of the laser diode or environmental factors affecting the laser diode , for example . in order to respond to variations in the characteristics of the laser diode ld , each of the first and second pseudo laser diodes ld 1 and ld 2 ( collectively , referred to as the “ pseudo laser diode ”) may have a configuration illustrated in fig5 , according to a preferred embodiment . the pseudo laser diode of fig5 includes a resistor circuit ra and a voltage supply vs . one terminal of the resistor circuit ra is connected to the positive electrode of the voltage supply vs , while the other terminal of the resistor circuit ra functions as the anode of the pseudo laser diode . the negative electrode of the voltage supply vs functions as the cathode of the pseudo laser diode . the voltage supply vs may change an amount of supply voltage , corresponding to the characteristic of the laser diode ld . referring to fig6 , the voltage supply vs includes an nmos transistor 15 , an amplifier 16 , and a d / a ( digital / analog ) converter dac . the positive input terminal of the amplifier 16 is connected to the d / a converter dac . the output terminal of the amplifier 16 is connected to the gate of the nmos transistor 15 . the drain of the nmos transistor 15 functions as the positive electrode of the voltage supply vs , while the source of the nmos transistor 15 functions as the negative electrode of the voltage supply vs . the voltage of the voltage supply vs may be changed by changing the output voltage of the d / a converter dac . if the voltage of the voltage supply vs can be freely changed in the above - described manner , the forward voltage of the pseudo laser diode can be changed accordingly , for example , from vf 0 to vf 1 as illustrated in fig7 , depending on the forward voltage vf of the laser diode ld shown in fig4 . in another example , the resistor circuit ra may be changed to have a different amount of resistance , corresponding to the resistance rld of the laser diode ld . in order to change resistance , the pseudo laser diode may have a configuration illustrated in fig8 , for example . the pseudo laser diode of fig8 includes a plurality of resistors r 0 to rn with n being an integer greater than 1 , a plurality of switches sw 0 to swn , and the voltage supply vs . the terminals of the resistors rø to rn are connected to the voltage supply vs , while the other terminals of the resistors r to rn are connected to the terminals of the corresponding switches sw 0 to swn . the other terminals of the switches sw 0 to swn function as the anode of the pseudo laser diode . the amount of resistance may be controlled by turning on or off at least one of the switches sw 1 to swn . the resistance values of the resistors rø to rn may be equal to one another , or they may be different from one another . for example , when the resistance values of the resistors rø to rn are previously determined such that the resistance value ratios for the resistors r 0 to rn are 1 : 1 : ½ . . . ½ n − 1 , a wide range of resistance values may be obtained for the pseudo laser diode by controlling the switches sw 0 to swn . referring to fig9 , when the switch sw 0 is turned on , the resistance defined by the line l 0 is obtained . when the switches sw 0 and sw 1 are turned on , the resistance defined by the line l 1 is obtained . when the switches sw 0 to sw 2 are turned on , the resistance defined by the line l 2 is obtained . when the switches sw 0 to swn are turned on , the resistance defined by the line ln is obtained . referring to fig8 , the other terminals of the switches sw 0 to swn are connected at the anode side . however , they may be arranged at the cathode side as illustrated in fig1 . further , any one of the switches sw 0 to swn may be implemented as a mos transistor , as illustrated in fig1 . in addition , the switches sw 0 to swn may be controlled by a programmable register 25 , as illustrated in fig1 . referring to fig1 , the gates of the nmos transistors n 0 to nn are connected to the register 25 . in order to turn on one or more of the transistors n 0 to nn , the register 25 is previously programmed to send corresponding one or more of high level signals g 0 to gn to the corresponding one or more of the gates . alternatively , any one of the switches sw 0 to swn may be implemented in other ways , including as a fuse , as long as the resistance of the pseudo laser diode can be controlled . in order to respond to variations in the characteristics of the laser diode ld , the pseudo laser diode may have a configuration illustrated in fig1 , according to another preferred embodiment . the pseudo laser diode of fig1 includes a plurality of switches sw 0 to swn connected in parallel to one another , and a plurality of nmos transistors n 0 to nn connected in parallel to one another . the terminals of the switches sw 0 to swn are connected , respectively , to the nmos transistors n 0 to nn . the other terminals of the switches sw 0 to swn are connected to one another at the anode of the pseudo laser diode . the characteristic of the pseudo laser diode may be controlled by turning on at least one of the switches sw 0 to swn . in this exemplary case , any one of the switches sw 0 to swn may be implemented as an nmos transistor , as illustrated in fig1 . further , the switches sw 0 to swn may be controlled by the programmable register 25 , as illustrated in fig1 . referring to fig1 , the gates of the nmos transistors sn 0 to snn are connected to the register 25 . in order to turn on one or more of the transistors sn 0 to snn , the register 25 is programmed to send corresponding one or more of high level signals g 0 to gn to the corresponding one or more of the gates of the transistors sn 0 to snn . further , any one of the switches sw 0 to swn of fig1 may be implemented as a transmission gate , as illustrated in fig1 . referring to fig1 , the pseudo laser diode includes a plurality of nmos transistors n 0 to nn and ng 0 to ngn , a plurality of transmission gates tg 0 to tgn , and a plurality of inverters inv 0 to invn . the drains of the nmos transistors n 0 to nn are connected to one another at the anode side of the pseudo laser diode . the sources of the nmos transistors n 0 to nn are connected to one another at the cathode side . the corresponding one of the transmission gates tg 0 to tgn is connected between the gate and the drain of each of the nmos transistors n 0 to nn . when any one of the transmission gates tg 0 to tgn is turned on , the gate and the drain of the corresponding one of the nmos transistors n 0 to nn is connected to each other to function as a diode . when any one of the transmission gates tg 0 to tgn is turned off , and the corresponding one of the nmos transistors ng 0 to ngn is turned on , the corresponding one of the nmos transistors n 0 to nn is connected to the negative voltage supply vss , such as the ground . accordingly , the corresponding one of the nmos transistors n 0 to nn becomes isolated . in this way , the characteristic of the pseudo laser diode may be controlled , depending on the characteristic of the laser diode ld . when the forward voltage vf of the laser diode ld is larger than a predetermined value , another set of nmos transistors n 10 to n 1 n may be introduced , as illustrated in fig1 . in this exemplary case , instead of controlling the nmos transistors n 0 to nn , the nmos transistors n 10 to n 1 n may be controlled to obtain a desired characteristic . referring now to fig1 , a laser diode driving circuit 21 is explained according to another preferred embodiment . the driving circuit 21 , capable of driving the laser diode ld , includes the current supply 2 , the first pseudo laser diode ld 1 , the second pseudo laser diode ld 2 , the second current mirror circuit 4 , the third current mirror circuit 5 , the amplifier amp , the nmos transistor n 5 , the nmos transistor n 6 , the first switch swa , and the second switch swb . as shown in fig1 , the circuit 21 has a configuration less complex than the configuration of the circuit 1 of fig3 . the amplifier amp , which controls the gate voltage of the nmos transistor n 5 , can adjust the current i 5 , to make the anode voltage vld 1 and the anode voltage vld 2 substantially equal to each other . further , the amplifier , which controls the gate voltage of the nmos transistor n 6 , can adjust the current i 6 , i . e . the current ild , to be substantially proportional to the current i 5 . in this way , the current ild is made substantially proportional to the current i 1 . referring now to fig1 , a laser diode driving circuit 31 is explained according to another preferred embodiment . the driving circuit 31 , capable of driving the laser diode ld , includes the current supply 2 , the second current mirror circuit 4 , the third current mirror circuit 5 , the nmos transistor n 5 , the nmos transistor n 6 , the first switch swa , the second switch swb , a fifth current mirror circuit 32 . as shown in fig1 , the circuit 31 has a configuration less complex than the configuration of the circuit 21 of fig1 . the current supply 2 is connected between the positive supply voltage vdd and the output terminal of the fifth current mirror circuit 32 . the connecting point between the current supply 2 and the fifth current mirror circuit 32 is further connected to the gates of the nmos transistors n 5 and n 6 , respectively . the sources of the pmos transistors p 5 and p 6 are each connected to the positive supply voltage vdd . the pmos transistor p 5 has the gate connected to the gate of the pmos transistor p 6 , and the drain connected to the connecting point between the pmos transistors p 5 and p 6 . the second switch swb and the nmos transistor n 5 are serially connected between the drain of the pmos transistor p 5 and the negative supply voltage vss . the sources of the pmos transistors p 7 and p 8 are each connected to the positive supply voltage vdd . the pmos transistor p 7 has the gate connected to the gate of the pmos transistor p 8 , and the drain connected to the connecting point between the pmos transistors p 7 and p 8 . the first switch swa and the nmos transistor n 6 are serially connected between the drain of the pmos transistor p 7 and the negative supply voltage vss . referring to fig1 , the fifth current mirror circuit 32 includes nmos transistors n 0 to nn , nb 0 to nbn , sn 0 to snn , and snb 0 to snbn , and a register 25 . each one of the nmos transistors snb 0 to snbn and the corresponding one of the nmos transistors nb 0 to nb 1 are serially connected to each other between the current supply 2 and the negative supply voltage vss . each one of the nmos transistors sn 0 to snn and the corresponding one of the nmos transistors n 0 to nn are serially connected to each other between the drain of the pmos transistor p 6 and the negative supply voltage vss . each of the gates of the nmos transistors sn 0 to snn is connected to the corresponding one of the gates of the nmos transistors snb 0 to snbn . each of the connecting points of the nmos transistors sn 0 to snn and the nmos transistors snb 0 to snbn is further connected to the register 25 . each of the gates of the nmos transistors n 0 to nn is connected to the corresponding one of the gates of the nmos transistors nb 0 to nbn . each of the connecting points of the nmos transistors n 0 to nn and the nmos transistors nb 0 to nbn is further connected to the corresponding one of the connecting points of the nmos transistors n 0 to nn and the nmos transistors sn 0 to snn . each of the nmos transistors nb 0 to nbn functions as the first pseudo laser diode ld 1 shown in any one of fig3 and 16 . each of the nmos transistors n 0 to nn functions as the second pseudo laser diode ld 2 shown in any one of fig3 and 16 . the register 25 is previously programmed to send a high level signal to at least one of the nmos transistors sn 0 to snn to turn on the corresponding one of the nmos transistors n 0 to nn . similarly , the register 25 sends a high level signal to at least one of the nmos transistors snb 0 to snbn to turn on the corresponding one of the nmos transistors nb 0 to nbn . for example , when the register 25 sends a high level signal to the nmos transistor snk and the nmos transistor snbk , with k being an integer between 0 and n , the current i 1 , supplied by the current supply 2 , is input to the drain of the nmos transistor nbk as a drain current . the drain voltage of the nmos transistor nbk is output as the anode voltage vld 1 as illustrated in fig1 . the voltage vld 1 is further input to the gate of the nmos transistor n 5 , which is connected to the second current mirror circuit 4 . as a result , the current i 4 , i . e . the current i 5 , is made substantially equal to the current i 1 . still referring to fig1 , the voltage vld 1 is further input to the gate of the nmos transistor n 6 , which is connected to the third current mirror circuit 5 . thus , the current i 6 becomes substantially proportional to the current i 4 . since the circuit 4 and the circuit 5 are substantially similar in circuit configuration , the current ild becomes substantially proportional to the current i 1 . the fifth current mirror circuit 32 may have a configuration other than the configuration of fig1 . for example , the fifth current mirror circuit 32 may include any kind of circuits , capable of compensating the channel length modulation effect . for example , a cascade current mirror circuit shown in fig1 may preferably be used . alternatively , the channel length modulation effect may be suppressed by controlling the gate channel length of any one of the nmos transistors of the circuit 32 . in another example , referring to fig2 , the fifth current mirror circuit 32 may include a plurality of nmos transistors n 0 to nn , nb 0 to nbn , and ng 0 to ngn , a plurality of transmission gates tg 0 to tgn , and a plurality of inverters inv 0 to invn . the drains of the nmos transistors nb 0 to nbn are connected to one another . the sources of the nmos transistors nb 0 to nbn are connected to one another , and further to the negative supply voltage vss . the drains of the nmos transistors n 0 to nn are connected to one another . the sources of the nmos transistors n 0 to nn are connected to one another , and further to the negative supply voltage vss . the corresponding one of the transmission gates tg 0 to tgn is connected between the gate and the drain of each of the nmos transistors n 0 to nn . further , when the forward voltage vf of the laser diode ld is larger than a predetermined value , another set of nmos transistors n 10 to n 1 n may be introduced , as illustrated in fig2 , for example . any one of the above - described laser diode driving circuits and other light source driving circuits according to the present disclosure may be incorporated in any kind of light emitting system . for example , a light emitting system may include a controller , which outputs a control signal . based on the control signal , the light source driving circuit of the present disclosure generates an input current , and further generates an output current equal to or proportional to the input current . numerous additional modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings . it is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims , the disclosure of this patent specification may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein . for example , elements and / or features of different illustrative embodiments may be combined with each other and / or substituted for each other within the scope of this disclosure and / or appended claims . further , the invention of this disclosure and / or appended claims may be implemented using one or more conventional general purpose microprocessors and / or signal processors programmed according to the teachings of the present disclosure , as will be appreciated by those skilled in the relevant art ( s ). appropriate software coding can readily be prepared by skilled programmers based on the teachings of the present disclosure , as will also be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art ( s ). alternatively , as described above , the invention of this disclosure and / or appended claims may be implemented by asic , prepared by interconnecting an appropriate network of conventional component circuits or by a combination thereof with one or more conventional general purpose microprocessors and / or signal processors programmed accordingly . this patent specification claims priority to japanese patent application no . jpap2004 - 058970 filed on mar . 3 , 2004 , in the japanese patent office , the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference . | 7 |
the principles of the present invention are applicable to a variety of computer hardware and software configurations . the term “ computer hardware ” or “ hardware ,” as used herein , refers to any machine or apparatus that is capable of accepting , performing logic operations on , storing , or displaying data , and includes without limitation processors and memory ; the term “ computer software ” or “ software ,” refers to any set of instructions operable to cause computer hardware to perform an operation . a “ computer ,” as that term is used herein , includes without limitation any useful combination of hardware and software , and a “ computer program ” or “ program ” includes without limitation any software operable to cause computer hardware to accept , perform logic operations on , store , or display data . a computer program may , and often is , comprised of a plurality of smaller programming units , including without limitation subroutines , modules , functions , methods , procedures . thus , the functions of the present invention may be distributed among a plurality of computers and computer programs . the invention is described best , though , as a single computer program that configures and enables one or more general - purpose computers to implement the novel aspects of the invention . for illustrative purposes , the inventive computer program will be referred to as the “ decision support engine ( dse ),” which comprises smaller programming units that will be referred to as the “ connection manager ,” “ query manager ,” and “ application program interface ( api ).” additionally , the dse and its components will be described with reference to an exemplary network of hardware devices , as depicted in fig1 . a “ network ” comprises any number of hardware devices coupled to and in communication with each other through a communications medium , such as the internet . a “ communications medium ” includes without limitation any physical , optical , electromagnetic , or other medium through which hardware or software can transmit data . for descriptive purposes , exemplary network 100 has only a limited number of nodes , including workstation computer 105 , workstation computer 110 , server computer 115 , and persistent storage 120 . network connection 125 comprises all hardware , software , and communications media necessary to enable communication between network nodes 105 - 120 . unless otherwise indicated in context below , all network nodes use publicly available protocols or messaging services to communicate with each other through network connection 125 . dse 200 , including connection manager 205 , query manager 210 , and api 215 , typically are stored in a memory , represented schematically as memory 220 in fig2 . the term “ memory ,” as used herein , includes without limitation any volatile or persistent medium , such as an electrical circuit , magnetic disk , or optical disk , in which a computer can store data or software for any duration . a single memory may encompass and be distributed across a plurality of media . thus , fig2 is included merely as a descriptive expedient and does not necessarily reflect any particular physical embodiment of memory 220 . as depicted in fig2 , though , memory 220 may include additional data and programs . of particular import to dse 200 , memory 220 may include workflow application 230 , with which dse 200 interacts . an “ application ,” as used herein , includes without limitation any computer program , or any combination or aggregation of computer programs , designed to interact with an end - user , especially to implement business operations or rules . api 215 comprises a set of utility programs , methods , or objects that a developer can use to integrate dse 200 functionality into workflow application 230 . dse 200 and workflow application 230 also may share common resource data 240 . fig3 depicts the interaction of workflow application 230 with dse 200 to provide decision support to a user of workflow application 230 . referring to fig3 for illustration , dse 200 services queries from workflow application 230 . more specifically , dse 200 services queries from workflow processes 305 - 315 within workflow application 230 . each workflow process 305 - 315 interfaces with dse 200 through api 215 . an application developer can use api 215 to specify one or more external data sources and submit a query to dse 200 . the term “ data source ” includes without limitation any medium used to store structured data or any computer program operable to retrieve data from such a structured data storage medium , such as a file , database , memory , data mining application , database server , or application server . in fig3 , database 320 , data mining application 325 , internet web services 330 , and application service provider 335 all are exemplary data sources . fig4 provides a detailed illustration of the interaction between a workflow process and dse 200 . workflow process 410 , which may be any of the workflow processes 305 - 315 depicted in fig3 and described above , submits a query , which also identifies one or more external data sources , to dse 200 through api 215 ( 415 ). query manager 210 receives the query and extracts the identity of each data source 420 , which may include any of the data sources 320 - 335 depicted in fig3 and described above ( 425 ). connection manager 205 then opens a connection to each data source 420 ( 430 ). query manager 210 next relays the query to each data source 420 ( 435 ), which processes the query and returns the results to query manager 210 . finally , query manager 210 relays the results to workflow process 410 through api 215 ( 440 ). a preferred form of the invention has been shown in the drawings and described above , but variations in the preferred form will be apparent to those skilled in the art . the preceding description is for illustration purposes only , and the invention should not be construed as limited to the specific form show and described . the scope of the invention should be limited only by the language of the following claims . | 6 |
hereinbelow several embodiments of the inverter circuit according to the present invention , will be explained , referring to the drawings . fig1 is a block diagram indicating the circuit of the first embodiment of the present invention ; fig2 is a cross - sectional view indicating a part of the ic ; and fig4 is a diagram indicating overcurrent protection circuits 9 - 1 to 9 - 3 in detail . in fig1 and 4 , reference numeral 1 denotes an ac power supply ; 2 and 3 dc voltage sources ; 4 - 1 to 4 - 6 switching elements ; 5 - 1 to 5 - 6 diodes ; 6 - 1 to 6 - 3 lower arm drive circuits ; 7 - 1 to 7 - 3 upper arm drive circuits ; 8 a level shift circuit ; 9 - 1 to 9 - 3 overcurrent protection circuits ; 10 a motor ; 11 a control circuit ; 12 an inverter ic ; 13 a rectifying circuit ; 14 an sio 2 oxide layer ; 15 a base ( polycrystalline silicon ), 16 a collector terminal ; 17 an emitter terminal ; and 18 a gate terminal . further , 19 denotes a temperature detecting circuit ; 20 a signal processing circuit ; 21 a reference current setting circuit ; 22 , 23 - 1 to 23 - 3 fets ; 24 - 1 to 24 - 3 , 25 - 1 to 25 - 3 bipolar transistors ; 26 a nand circuit ; and 33 a hall element disposed within the case of the motor . in fig1 the region enclosed by a broken line represents a three - phase monolithic inverter ic ( hereinbelow called ic ) 12 integrated according to the present invention . in the first embodiment of the present invention , igbts ( insulated gate bipolar transistors ) 4 - 1 to 4 - 6 are used for the output semiconductor switching elements in the inverter . igbts having a multiemitter structure are used for the purpose of detecting current flowing therethrough for igbts 4 - 1 to 4 - 3 among them . by the method using switching elements having a multiemitter structure as described above , since the ratio of the current flowing through the sense terminal to the main circuit current flowing through the emitter electrode is almost equal to the emitter area ratio of the element , if the emitter area ratio is chosen to be e . g . 1000 : 1 , it is possible to set the current flowing on the detection side at 1 / 1000 of the main circuit current and an effect can be obtained that electric power capacity of a resistor for detection and loss are reduced with respect to those required in the case where the main circuit current is detected by the prior art technique . now the reason why the overcurrent protection circuits 9 - 1 to 9 - 3 are disposed only on the lower arm side , as described above , will be described . in the usual inverter operation , since the main circuit current ( load current ) supplied from the power supply flows always through either one of the lower arm switching elements , it is possible to detect abnormal current by upper and lower arm short - circuit , interphase short - circuit , etc . to protect the switching elements thereagainst . although abnormal current by a ground short - circuit accident of a load and at the upper arm back current mode cannot be detected by these overcurrent protection circuits , since a gate short - circuiting circuit for the upper arm drive circuit serves to turn off the upper arm switching elements at this time , no overcurrent protection circuits are required for the upper arm switching elements . further diodes 5 - 1 to 5 - 6 are connected between the collector and the emitter of these igbts , respectively , in anti - parallel . igbt 4 - 4 and igbt 4 - 1 are connected in series through the rectifying circuit 13 between the two terminals of the ac power supply to form a closed circuit . igbt 4 - 5 and igbt 4 - 2 as well as igbt 4 - 6 and igbt 4 - 3 are connected in parallel thereto to form the main circuit of the three - phase inverter . the respective connecting points of igbt 4 - 1 and igbt 4 - 4 , igbt 4 - 2 and igbt 4 - 5 as well as igbt 4 - 3 and igbt 4 - 6 are output points of the inverter circuit , with which the motor 10 is connected . the motor 10 is a brushless motor , which rotates , receiving the output of the ic 12 and in which the hall element 33 mounted in the motor case detects the rotational position of the rotor , the motor position detection signal being inputted in the control circuit 11 . in order to turn on and off igbt 4 - 1 to 4 - 3 , which are the lower arm output semiconductor switching elements , the igbt drive circuits 6 - 1 to 6 - 3 for the lower arm switching elements are connected between the gate and the emitter of igbts 4 - 1 to 4 - 3 , respectively . further , the overcurrent protection circuits 9 - 1 to 9 - 3 detecting currents flowing through igbts 4 - 1 to 4 - 3 to protect them against latch - up due to overcurrent are connected with current detecting emitter electrodes of igbts 4 - 1 to 4 - 3 , respectively . the dc power supply 2 is a power supply , whose low potential side is connected with that of the rectifying circuit 13 in common , and it is connected with the lower arm igbt drive circuits 6 - 1 to 6 - 3 and the overcurrent protection circuits 9 - 1 to 9 - 3 to supply driving currents therefor . outside of the ic 12 , there is disposed the control circuit 11 controlling the turning on and off of igbts 4 - 1 to 4 - 6 . the control circuit 11 is connected with the hall element 33 disposed within the case of the motor 10 as well as the lower arm igbt drive circuits 6 - 1 to 6 - 3 and the overcurrent protection circuits 9 - 1 to 9 - 3 within the ic 12 and also with the upper arm igbt drive circuits 7 - 1 to 7 - 3 through the level shift circuit 8 . in a usual inverter device , since it is necessary to give the upper arm switching elements a driving signal with a potential difference , which is equal to the voltage applied between the output terminals of the lower arm switching elements , the level shift circuit 8 described above is necessary . further , the low potential side of the dc power supply 3 acting as the power supply for driving the upper arm igbts is connected with the high potential side of the rectifying circuit 13 and the high potential side of the dc power supply 3 is connected with the upper arm igbt drive circuits 7 - 1 to 7 - 3 . fig2 shows a part of the cross - section of the monolithic inverter ic 12 indicated in fig1 showing the connection relation for igbts 4 - 4 , and 4 - 5 . this ic 12 is constructed by the dielectric isolating method . igbts 4 - 4 and 4 - 5 are formed in interiors enclosed by trapezoidal sio 2 oxide layers 14 , respectively , and on the polycrystalline silicon base 15 . in this way igbts 4 - 4 and 4 - 5 are formed so as to be electrically completely isolated from other constituent elements . igbts 4 - 4 and 4 - 5 indicated in the figure are formed in the lateral structure , in which current flows laterally . although the collector electrode 16 is used in common , the other two electrodes are isolated electrically from each other so as to be separated emitter electrodes 17 - 1 , 17 - 2 and gate electrodes 18 - 1 , 18 - 2 . that is , according to the first embodiment of the present invention described above it is possible to integrate a three - phase bridge inverter circuit having a small size and a high withstand or breakdown voltage , which is not influenced by noise , on one chip . further , in this figure , the temperature detecting circuit 19 is connected with the overcurrent protection circuits 9 - 1 to 9 - 3 . by detecting precisely temperature variations of the main body of the circuit integrated on one chip by means of the temperature detecting circuit 19 in this way , the overcurrent set value can be varied , depending on the current level varying with the temperature variations , and at the same time , it is possible to stop the operation of the ic to intend the protection of the elements , when the ic is heated over a predetermined temperature . it is not always necessary to dispose the temperature detecting circuit 19 and the overcurrent protection circuits 9 - 1 to 9 - 3 within the ic chip . fig3 shows another embodiment of the present invention . in the embodiment indicated in this figure a self - sustaining power supplying circuit 60 is disposed in the inverter circuit integrated on one chip indicated in fig1 . by integrating this self - sustaining power supplying circuit in the ic the power supply for driving the upper arm switching elements , which was necessary heretofore , becomes unnecessary and an effect is obtained that it is sufficient to dispose only a capacitor 3c instead of the power supply 3 , which was necessary heretofore for utilizing this ic . next the operation of this power supplying circuit will be explained . a control signal from the control circuit 11 is given to a self - sustaining power supply drive circuit 61 through the level shift circuit 8 . at first , the self - sustaining power supply drive circuit 61 gives a switch 66 an on signal . when the switch 66 is turned on , current flows from the dc power supply 2 through a loop consisting of a diode 64 , a capacitor 62 and the switch 66 . next , when the switch 66 is turned off and a switch 65 is turned on by a signal from the self - sustaining power supply drive circuit 61 , current flows through another loop consisting of the capacitor 62 , a diode 63 , the capacitor 3c and the switch 65 and electric charge stored in the capacitor 62 is transferred to the capacitor 3c . the capacitor 3c is charged by repeating this operation and the upper arm switching elements are driven by using this electric charge . fig4 illustrates a specific construction of the overcurrent protection circuits 9 - 1 to 9 - 3 indicated in fig1 . in fig4 the reference current setting circuit 21 is connected with the temperature detecting circuit so as to receive detected temperature signals from the temperature detecting circuit 19 and the output thereof is connected with the drain and the gate of fet 22 . fet 22 is connected with fet 23 - 1 , fet 23 - 2 and fet 23 - 3 so as to form a current mirror circuit . transistors 24 - 1 to 24 - 3 are connected with fets 23 - 1 to 23 - 3 , respectively , and further these transistors are connected with transistors 25 - 1 to 25 - 3 , respectively , so as to form current mirror circuits . the connecting points of fet 23 - 1 to 23 - 3 with the transistors 24 - 1 to 24 - 3 are connected with input terminals of the nand circuit 26 and the output terminal of the nand circuit is connected with the signal processing circuit 20 . reference numeral 27 represents a signal input terminal from the control circuit 11 . in fig1 the temperature detecting circuit 19 detects the temperature of the ic 12 and detected temperature information thus obtained is transmitted to the overcurrent protection circuits 9 - 1 to 9 - 3 . in this way the overcurrent protection circuits 9 - 1 to 9 - 3 vary the overcurrent detection level , depending on the transmitted temperature information . that is , the overcurrent protection starting temperature is set so that the overcurrent protection circuits 9 - 1 to 9 - 3 lower the overcurrent detection level at a high temperature with respect to the overcurrent detection level , when the temperature of the ic 12 is low , and that the protection is started at a smaller current with increasing temperature . in this way , in the present embodiment , the inverter can be controlled with a high efficiency . each of the overcurrent protection circuits 9 - 1 to 9 - 3 includes the reference current setting circuit 21 , the current mirror circuit described above and a comparator having one of fets 23 - 1 to 23 - 3 and one of the transistors 24 - 1 to 24 - 3 . the temperature information detected by the temperature detecting circuit 19 is transmitted to the reference current setting circuit 21 to vary the value of the reference current , depending on the temperature . the operation point of the comparator includes fets 23 - 1 to 23 - 3 and the transistors 24 - 1 to 24 - 3 is varied by this reference current value . in this way , in the second embodiment of the present invention , it is possible to start the protection at a small current , when the ic 12 is heated at a high temperature . fig5 is a cross - sectional view of a brushless motor showing a third embodiment of the present invention . in fig5 reference numeral 28 - 1 denotes a motor case ; 28 - 2 a stator ; 29 a coil ; 30 a permanent magnet ; 31 a shaft ; 32 a rotor ; 33 a hall element ; 34 a package of the inverter ic ; 35 a shield cable ; 36 a printed board ; and 37 - 1 and 37 - 2 bearings . the brushless motor indicated in fig5 includes the motor case 28 - 1 , th stator 28 - 2 and the rotor 32 . the coil 29 is wound on the rotor 28 - 2 and the shaft 31 and the permanent magnet 30 are mounted on the rotor . the rotor 28 - 2 and the shaft 31 are coupled rotatably through the bearings 37 - 1 and 37 - 2 . the printed board 36 is mounted inside of the motor case 28 - 1 and the ic 12 according to the present invention and the hall element 33 are mounted on the printed board 36 . the ic 12 is accommodated in the package 34 having a cooling fin and secured to the motor case 28 - 1 by screws . also , the coil 29 and the shield line 35 are connected with the printed board 36 . next , an operation of the third embodiment of the present invention constructed as described above will be explained . electric power and control signals are inputted to the brushless motor indicated in the figure through the shield line 35 from the exterior and the signal representing the position of the rotor 32 detected by the hall element 33 is outputted to the exterior of the motor . the ic 12 generates ac electric power controlling the motor to rotate it by receiving this control signal and performing the inverter operation so as to control the brushless motor with a variable speed . since the inverter circuit using the ic 12 can be incorporated within the motor case , as described above , the brushless motor is very suitable for reducing the size of the system and increasing the performance . fig6 is a block diagram indicating the circuit of the fourth embodiment of the present invention . in fig6 denotes an upper arm main circuit and 39 denotes a resistor . the other reference numerals represent the parts identical to those indicated in fig1 to 4 . the circuit of the fourth embodiment of the present invention indicated in fig6 has a construction almost identical to that indicated in fig4 and therefore explanation thereof in detail will be omitted . what is different from the circuit indicated in fig4 consists in that the drain of fet 22 is taken out in the form of a terminal 40 to the exterior of the ic 12 and that the resistor 39 is connected between this terminal 40 and the low potential side terminal of the dc power supply 2 . the upper arm main circuit includes igbts 4 - 4 to 4 - 6 , the diodes 5 - 4 to 5 - 6 and the upper arm igbt drive circuits 7 - 1 to 7 - 3 . in the fourth embodiment indicated in fig6 the overcurrent detecting circuits are constructed basically identically to those used in the second embodiment of the present invention explained , referring to fig4 but the method for setting the reference current is different . by using this setting method , apart from the fact that the overcurrent level can be varied arbitrarily from the exterior , the temperature rise of the resistor 39 is smaller than that observed within the ic 12 and it is possible to suppress variations in the reference current due to variations in the temperature to small values . further , in the present embodiment , it is possible to set the value of the overcurrent for the three phases by using one resistor and thus conserve parts . fig7 is a block diagram indicating the fifth embodiment of the present invention and fig8 a to 8j show waveforms for explaining the operation thereof . in fig7 reference numeral 41 denotes an overcurrent detecting circuit ; 42 - 1 to 42 - 8 not circuits ; 43 a resistor ; 44 a capacitor ; 45 - 1 to 45 - 10 nand circuits ; 46 - 1 to 46 - 3 nor circuits ; 47 a lower arm main circuit of the inverter ; and the other reference numerals parts identical to those indicated in fig1 to 4 . the circuit according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention illustrated in fig7 indicates the signal processing circuit 20 in fig4 or 6 in detail . this signal processing circuit 20 has four input terminals 48 - 1 to 48 - 4 and generates six signals , starting from the four signals at the input terminals by means of the nor circuits 46 - 1 to 46 - 3 and the nand circuits 45 - 6 to 45 - 10 to form six signals at the output of the not circuits 42 - 3 to 42 - 8 . among these signals the output signals of the not circuits 42 - 3 , 42 - 5 and 42 - 7 are inputted in the level shift circuit 8 . on the other hand , the output signals of the not circuits 42 - 4 , 42 - 6 and 42 - 8 are inputted to the lower arm igbt drive circuit . numeral 47 represents a lower arm main circuit , while numeral 38 represents an upper arm main circuit including igbts , diodes and igbt drive circuits . ( see , for example , the chain block 38 shown in fig4 ) among the four input signals the three input signals through the input terminals 48 - 1 to 48 - 3 are inputted to one nand circuit 45 - 3 of the nand circuits 45 - 2 and 45 - 3 constituting an rs flip - flop through the nand circuit 45 - 4 . on the other hand output signals of the overcurrent detecting circuit 41 are brought together in one signal by the nand circuit 26 . the output signal thereof is divided into two signals , one of which is inputted directly to a first input terminal of the nand circuit 45 - 1 and the other of which is inputted to a second input terminal of the nand circuit 45 - 1 through a not circuit 42 - 1 , a resistor 43 , a capacitor 44 and a not circuit 42 - 2 , the capacitor 44 being connected between the connection point between the resistor 43 and the not circuit 42 - 2 and the ground . the output of the nand circuit 45 - 1 is inputted to the nand circuit 45 - 2 constituting the rs flip - flop described above . the output of the flip - flop is inputted to the nor circuits 46 - 1 to 46 - 3 and at the same time outputted to the exterior of the ic 12 through an output terminal 48 - 5 . in the signal waveforms for explaining the operation of the fifth embodiment of the present invention indicated in fig8 a to 8j , the signals inputted to the input terminals 48 - 1 to 48 - 4 indicated in fig7 have waveforms indicated by u , v , w and pwm in fig8 a to 8d , respectively . the waveforms of the output signals of the not circuits 42 - 3 , 42 - 5 and 42 - 7 are indicated by u +, v + and w + and the waveforms of the output signals of the not circuits 42 - 4 , 42 - 6 and 42 - 8 are indicated by u -, v - and w -, respectively , in fig8 e to 8j . now the operation of the fifth embodiment of the present invention described above will be explained . the four kinds of input signals u , v , w and pwm inputted through the input terminals 48 - 1 to 48 - 4 are transformed into the six waveforms u +, v +, w +, u -, v - and w - by the nor circuits 46 - 1 to 46 - 3 , the nand circuits 45 - 5 to 45 - 10 and the not circuits 42 - 3 to 42 - 8 . the output of the overcurrent detecting circuit 41 is at the h ( high ) level at the normal state and the output of the nand circuit 45 - 2 constituting the rs flip - flop is at the l ( low ) level . at this time the nor circuits 46 - 1 to 46 - 3 act as not circuits . in this way the six signals described above are outputted and the ic 12 performs the inverter operation . however , when the overcurrent detecting circuit 41 detects overcurrent and is driven , the output of the nand circuit 26 is turned to be at the h level and the flip - flop is inverted so that the output signal of the nand circuit 45 - 2 is turned to be at the h level . at this time all the outputs of the nor circuits 46 - 1 to 46 - 3 are turned to be at the l level , regardless of the state of the input signals u , v and w . as a result , all the six output signals described above of the not circuits 42 - 3 to 42 - 8 are turned to be at the l level so that the inverter operation of the ic 12 is interrupted . in the fifth embodiment of the present invention described above there is disposed the output terminal for indicating it outside of the ic 12 that the interruption state is realized , by outputting the output of the flip - flop to the exterior . in order to remove the interruption state described above , it is sufficient to input h level signals to all the input terminals 48 - 1 to 48 - 3 stated above . in this way the output of the nand circuit 45 - 4 is turned to the l level , the output of the flip - flop is reset ; the output signal of the nand circuit 45 - 2 returns to the l level ; and the ic 12 is turned to the state where it can be driven . further , in the fifth embodiment of the present invention , a mask circuit is added to the signal processing stage in the overcurrent detecting circuit 41 . this circuit is operated as follows . that is , the overcurrent state takes place in the inverter circuit and as soon as the output of the nand circuit 26 is changed from the l level to the h level , as described above , the signal , which is turned to the h level , is inputted to one of the inputs of the nand circuit 45 - 1 . however , since there is disposed a time constant circuit having the resistor 43 and the capacitor 44 , a signal at the h level delayed by a predetermined time is inputted to the other input of the nand circuit 45 - 1 , after the output of the nand circuit 26 has been changed to the h level . for this reason , the output of the nand circuit 45 - 1 is delayed by a predetermined time with respect to the output of the nand circuit 26 . in the case where the time where the output of the nand circuit 26 is turned to the h level is shorter than this delay time , the output of the nand circuit 45 - 1 is not changed . in the fifth embodiment of the present invention described above , since it is possible to form the signals for driving the six igbts for the three phases by inputting the four kinds of signals , it is possible to decrease the number of input signal lines and the number of externally mounted parts such as a photocoupler for inputting signals , etc . further , according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention it is possible to interrupt all the arms by detecting overcurrent by means of a circuit including a small number of elements and further to omit the reset terminal , which resets the whole circuit after an interruption of the inverter operation by setting all the three input signals at the h level to reset the flip - flop . still further , according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention no erroneous operations take place , because overcurrent in a predetermined time is masked so that noise in the overcurrent detecting circuit and current at the diode recovery are not considered as overcurrent . furthermore , although , in general , excessive current flows through the switching elements at the beginning of the conduction , according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention , owing to the masking function described above , the overcurrent protection means doesn &# 39 ; t operate in a predetermined time after the beginning of the conduction of the switching elements and therefore it is possible to prevent interruption of the operation of the inverter circuit due to excessive current at the conduction of the switching elements . the fifth embodiment of the present invention has the effects as described above and all of these effects are particularly useful , in the case where the embodiment is realized in the form of a monolithic ic . fig9 is a block diagram indicating the circuit in the sixth embodiment of the present invention . in fig9 reference numeral 49 denotes an overcurrent protection circuit ; 50 a reset circuit ; 51 a signal distributing circuit ; and the other reference numerals parts identical to those used in fig7 . the circuit construction in the sixth embodiment of the present invention indicated in fig9 is almost identical to that indicated in fig7 and explanation thereof in detail will be omitted . in fig9 the signal distributing circuit 51 is constructed similarly to that indicated in fig7 . in this sixth embodiment the reset circuit 50 is a circuit for resetting the flip - flop having the nand circuits 45 - 2 and 45 - 3 and what is different from that used in the fifth embodiment explained referring to fig7 consists in that the reset signal is not inputted from the exterior , but the state of the overcurrent protection circuit 49 is observed and the reset signal is outputted automatically , when predetermined conditions are fulfilled . that is , when predetermined conditions are fulfilled such that current , voltage , temperature , etc . are in a normal state , that the overcurrent protection circuit 49 returns from an abnormal state to a normal state , that a predetermined time has been lapsed , after the flip - flop has been inverted , and so forth , the reset circuit 50 gives the nand circuit 45 - 3 a signal , which resets the flip - flop and turns the inverter ic 12 to the state where it can be operated . for this reason , according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention , even in the case where it is in an abnormal state and the operation of the inverter circuit is stopped , when the abnormal state disappears , the inverter circuit can be operated automatically . according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention described above , in the case where it is desired not to stop the motor even if the overcurrent protection circuit is driven due to overcurrent , etc ., the inverter circuit can be restarted automatically after the lapse of a predetermined time or the recovery of the overcurrent protection circuit . as explained above , according to the embodiments of the present invention , a three - phase bridge inverter circuit having a high withstand or breakdown voltage for controlling motor can be integrated in one chip and therefore it is possible to fabricate inverter circuits cheaply in mass production . in addition , since it can be driven by inputting directly a dc voltage obtained by rectifying the commercial ac 100 v , no voltage lowering transformer is necessary and therefore it is possible to reduce significantly the volume of a system using an inverter circuit . further , since it is formed in an ic using a dielectric isolating substrate , it is possible to reduce the isolating distance between constituent elements in the ic with respect to that obtained by using a conventional pn isolation substrate and thus to decrease the chip area . still further , since , in the dielectric isolating substrate , interference between constituent elements is extremely small , the property for preventing erroneous operations due to noise in the inverter circuit can be improved . furthermore it is possible to form arbitrarily constituent elements of various structures in a same chip and as the result to effect easily circuit design in a short period of time . further , since not only the inverter but also protecting circuits such as the overcurrent detecting circuit , the temperature detecting circuit , etc . are incorporated in the monolithic ic , when excessive current flows through output switching elements , when the temperature of the chip is raised abnormally , etc ., it is possible to shorten significantly the delay time from the point of time , where an abnormality in the ic is detected , to the point of time , where a self protecting operation is effected , and to detect the temperature of the chip without interruption to control the peak value of the current flowing through the output switching elements , depending on the temperature . in this way , it is possible to improve the usability of the inverter and to increase the reliability thereof . | 7 |
by this invention , there is provided a process for the preparation of a compound of structural formula ic , or a salt thereof , t , u , v and w are each independently selected from the group consisting of : ( 1 ) nitrogen , and ( 2 ) methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of : ( a ) halogen , ( b ) lower alkyl , ( c ) hydroxy , and ( d ) lower alkoxy , and wherein at least two of t , u , v , and w are methine ; wherein x is chlorine or bromine , and t , u , v , and w are as defined above , by treating the compound of formula ic with a halogenating agent in a solvent ; ( b ) forming a spirolactone ester of formula p wherein r 3 is selected from the group consisting of tert - butyl , methyl cyclohexyl , methyl cyclopentyl , and neopentyl , and t , u , v and w are as defined above , by treating the spirolactone acid halide of formula e with a base and an alcohol in a solvent ; ( c ) forming a spirolactone acid of formula ic wherein t , u , v and w are defined as above , by hydrolyzing the spirolactone ester of formula f with an aqueous acid ; and ( d ) isolating the resulting product . in one embodiment of the present invention , the process comprises increasing the amount of trans isomer ia wherein t , u , v and w are each independently selected from the group consisting of : ( 1 ) nitrogen , and ( 2 ) methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of : ( a ) halogen , ( b ) lower alkyl , ( c ) hydroxy , and ( d ) lower alkoxy , and wherein at least two of t , u , v , and w are methine . in another embodiment of the present invention , t , v and w are methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of ( a ) halogen , ( b ) lower alkyl , ( c ) hydroxy , and ( d ) lower alkoxy ; and in a class of this embodiment , t , v and w are unsubstituted methine ; and u is nitrogen . in another embodiment of the present invention , t , u , v and w are methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of ( a ) halogen , ( b ) lower alkyl , ( c ) hydroxy , and ( d ) lower alkoxy . in one class of this embodiment , the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with halogen . in another embodiment of the present invention , the solvent in step ( a ) is selected from the group consisting of chloroform , ethyl acetate , tetrahydrofuran , dimethoxyethane , diglyme , 2 - methyl tetrahydrofuran , 1 , 4 - dioxane and diethoxymethane . in a class of this embodiment , the solvent in step ( a ) is tetrahydrofuran . in another embodiment of the present invention , the halogenating agent in step ( a ) is selected from the group consisting of phosphorus oxychloride , oxalyl chloride , phosphorus trichloride , phosphorus tribromide , thionyl chloride , thionyl bromide and oxalyl bromide . in a class of this embodiment , the halogenating agent in step ( a ) is phosphorus oxychloride . in a subclass of this class , the amount of phosphorus oxychloride is between about 0 . 7 equivalents to about 2 . 0 equivalents relative to spirolactone acid ic . in another subclass of this class , the amount of phosphorus oxychloride is about 1 . 15 equivalents relative to spirolactone acid ic . in another subclass of this class , the amount of phosphorus oxychloride is about 1 . 05 equivalents relative to spirolactone acid ic . in another embodiment of the present invention , the spirolactone acid halide of formula e in step ( a ) is a spirolactone acid chloride . in another embodiment of the present invention , the reaction of step ( a ) further comprises a catalyst . in a class of this embodiment , the catalyst is dimethyl formamide . in a subclass of this class , the amount of dimethyl formamide is between about 0 . 2 equivalents to about 5 equivalents relative to spirolactone acid of formula ic . in another subclass of this class , the amount of dimethyl formamide is about 1 equivalent relative to spirolactone acid of formula ic . in another embodiment of the present invention , the reaction of step ( a ) is run at a temperature between about 20 ° c . to about 80 ° c . in a class of this embodiment , the reaction of step ( a ) is run at a temperature of about 40 ° c . in a subclass of this class , the reaction of step ( a ) is run at a temperature of about 40 ° c . for about 2 hours . in another embodiment of the present invention , the base of step ( b ) is selected from the group consisting of n , n , n ′, n ′- tetramethylethylenediamine , triethyl amine , n , n - diisopropylethyl amine , n , n - dimethylethyl amine , pyridine , collidine , 1 , 8 - diazabicyclo [ 5 . 4 . 0 ] undec - 7 - ene , n - methylmorpholine , and n , n , n ′, n ′- tetramethyl - 1 , 6 - hexanediamine . in a class of this embodiment , the base of step ( b ) is n , n , n ′, n ′- tetramethylethylene - diamine . in a subclass of this class , the amount of n , n , n ′, n ′- tetramethylethylene - diamine is between about 1 equivalent to about 10 equivalents relative to spirolactone ester of formula f . in another subclass of this class , the amount of n , n , n ′, n ′- tetramethyl - ethylenediamine is about 3 . 5 equivalents relative to spirolactone ester of formula f . in another embodiment of the present invention , the alcohol of step ( b ) is selected from the group consisting of tert - butyl alcohol , methyl cyclohexanol , methyl cyclopentanol , and neopentyl alcohol . in a class of this embodiment , the alcohol of step ( b ) is tert - butyl alcohol . in a subclass of this class , the amount of tert - butyl alcohol is between about 1 equivalent to about 10 equivalents relative to spirolactone ester of formula f . in another subclass of this class , the amount of tert - butyl alcohol is about 1 . 5 equivalents relative to spirolactone ester of formula f . in one embodiment of the present invention , the solvent in step ( b ) is selected from the group consisting of tetrahydrofuran , dimethoxyethane , diglyme , 2 - methyl tetrahydrofuran , 1 , 4 - dioxane and diethoxymethane . in a class of this embodiment , the solvent in step ( b ) is tetrahydrofuran . in another embodiment , the reaction of step ( b ) further comprises a salt . in a class of this embodiment , the salt is selected from the group consisting of lithium bromide , lithium chloride , lithium iodide , lithium perchlorate and lithium tetrafluoroborate . in a subclass of this class , the salt is lithium chloride . in a subclass of this subclass , the amount of lithium chloride is between about 0 . 5 equivalents to about 5 equivalents relative to spirolactone ester of formula f . in another subclass of this subclass , the amount of lithium chloride is about 1 equivalent relative to spirolactone ester of formula f . in another embodiment of the present invention , the reaction of step ( b ) is run at a temperature between about 20 ° c . to about 80 ° c . in a class of this embodiment , the reaction of step ( b ) is run at a temperature of about 40 ° c . in a subclass of this class , the reaction of step ( b ) is run at a temperature of about 40 ° c . for about 2 hours to about 24 hours . in another subclass of this class , the reaction of step ( b ) is run at a temperature of about 40 ° c . for about 19 hours . in another embodiment of the present invention , the aqueous acid of step ( c ) is selected from the group consisting of sulfuric acid , hydrochloric acid , hydrobromic acid , phosphoric acid and formic acid . in a class of this embodiment , the aqueous acid of step ( c ) is sulfuric acid . in another embodiment of the present invention , the hydrolysis of step ( c ) is run at a temperature between about 20 ° c . and about 100 ° c . in a class of this embodiment , the hydrolysis of step ( c ) is run at a temperature of about 50 ° c . in a subclass of this class , the hydrolysis of step ( c ) is run at a temperature of about 50 ° c . for about 2 hours . in another embodiment of the present invention , the product of step ( d ) is isolated by adjusting the ph of the solution of step ( c ) to between about 0 and 4 with a base and extracting the reaction mixture to afford the compound ic . in a subclass of this class , the base is sodium hydroxide . in another subclass , the ph of the solution of step ( c ) is adjusted to between about 2 to about 3 . in a subclass of this subclass , the ph of the solution of step ( c ) is adjusted to about 2 . 4 . by this invention , there is further provided a process for the preparation and separation of a spirolactone of formula ia , or a salt thereof , and a spirolactone of formula ib , or a salt thereof , t , u , v and w are each independently selected from the group consisting of ( 1 ) nitrogen , and ( 2 ) methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of ( a ) halogen , ( b ) lower alkyl , ( c ) hydroxy , and ( d ) lower alkoxy , and wherein at least two of t , u , v , and w are methine ; wherein t , u , v and w are as defined above , to form a mixture ; ( f ) adding an acid to the mixture of step ( e ) to form a mixture ; and ( g ) aging the mixture of step ( f ) for a time and under conditions effective to afford the compound ia wherein t , u , v and w are as defined above , or a salt thereof . in one embodiment of the present invention , t , v and w are methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of ( a ) halogen , ( b ) lower alkyl , ( c ) hydroxy , and ( d ) lower alkoxy ; and in a class of this embodiment , t , v and w are unsubstituted methine ; and u is nitrogen . in another embodiment of the present invention , t , u , v and w are methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of ( a ) halogen , ( b ) lower alkyl , ( c ) hydroxy , and ( d ) lower alkoxy . in one class of this embodiment , the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with halogen . in another embodiment of this invention , the solvent of step ( e ) is selected from the group consisting of dimethoxyethane , acetonitrile , tetrahydrofuran , or a mixture thereof . in a class of this embodiment , the solvent of step ( e ) is tetrahydrofuran . in another class of this embodiment , the solvent of step ( e ) is acetonitrile . in another embodiment of this invention , the acid of step ( f ) is selected from the group consisting of hydrochloric acid , hydrobromic acid , tartaric acid , methane sulfonic acid , toluene sulfonic acid , succinic acid , and sulfuric acid . in a class of this embodiment , the acid of step ( f ) is hydrochloric acid . in another embodiment of this invention , the step ( g ) is aged at a temperature of about 10 ° c . to 60 ° c . in a class of this embodiment , step ( g ) is aged for a period between about 1 hour to about 48 hours . in a subclass of this class , step ( g ) is aged at a temperature of about 25 ° c . for about 3 hours . in another embodiment of this invention , the process further comprises step ( h ) of isolating the compound of formula ia , or a salt thereof . in a class of this embodiment , the compound of formula ia is isolated by filtering and concentrating the filtrate to give a slurry . in a subclass of this class , the slurry is diluted with a solvent and aged for a time and under conditions to give the compound of formula ia . in another subclass of this class , the slurry is diluted with hexane and aged for about 20 hours at about 0 ° c . in a subclass of this subclass , the compound of formula ia is isolated by filtering the slurry to give the product . in another subclass of this class , the slurry is concentrated , diluted with acetonitrile and aged for a time and under conditions to give the compound of formula ia . by this invention , there is also provided a process for the preparation of a compound of structural formula ic , or a salt thereof , t , u , v and w are each independently selected from the group consisting of ( 1 ) nitrogen , and ( 2 ) methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of ( a ) halogen , ( b ) lower alkyl , ( c ) hydroxy , and ( d ) lower alkoxy , and wherein at least two of t , u , v , and w are methine ; comprising the steps of ( a ) combining a strong base with a compound of formula a wherein t , u , v and w are as defined above , in an aprotic solvent to form a solution ; ( b ) reacting a compound of formula b ( a ) lower alkyl , and ( b ) — ch 2 - phenyl , wherein the phenyl group is unsubstituted or substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of ( 1 ) lower alkyl , ( 2 ) lower alkoxy , and ( 3 ) — no 2 , with the solution of step ( a ) to form an ester of formula c in solution wherein t , u , v and w are as defined above ; ( c ) adding water to the solution of the ester of formula c in step ( b ) to form an acid of formula d wherein t , u , v and w are as defined above ; ( d ) forming a spirolactone acid of formula ic wherein t , u , v , and w are as defined above , by treating the acid of formula d with an aqueous acid ; ( e ) forming an spirolactone acid halide of formula e wherein x is chlorine or bromine , and t , u , v , and w are as defined above , by treating the compound of formula ic with a halogenating agent in a solvent ; ( f ) forming a spirolactone ester of formula f wherein r 3 is selected from the group consisting of tert - butyl , methyl cyclohexyl , methyl cyclopentyl , and neopentyl , and t , u , v and w are as defined above , by treating the spirolactone acid halide of formula e with a base and an alcohol in a solvent ; ( g ) forming a spirolactone acid of formula ic wherein t , u , v and w are defined as above , by hydrolyzing the spirolactone ester of formula f with an aqueous acid ; and ( h ) isolating the resulting product . in one embodiment of the present invention , the process comprises increasing the amount of trans isomer ia wherein t , u , v and w are each independently selected from the group consisting of : ( 1 ) nitrogen , and ( 2 ) methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of : ( a ) halogen , ( b ) lower alkyl , ( c ) hydroxy , and ( d ) lower alkoxy , and wherein at least two of t , u , v , and w are methine . in another embodiment of the present invention , t , v and w are methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of ( a ) halogen , ( b ) lower alkyl , ( c ) hydroxy , and ( d ) lower alkoxy ; and in a class of this embodiment , t , v and w are unsubstituted methine ; and u is nitrogen . in another embodiment of the present invention , t , u , v and w are methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of ( a ) halogen , ( b ) lower alkyl , ( c ) hydroxy , and ( d ) lower alkoxy . in one class of this embodiment , the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with halogen . in another embodiment of the present invention , steps ( a ) and ( b ) are run at a temperature of between about − 50 ° c . and − 80 ° c . in a class of this embodiment , step ( a ) is aged at a temperature less than about − 55 ° c . in a subclass of this class , step ( a ) is aged for a period between about 5 minutes to 18 hours . in another embodiment of this invention , the aprotic solvent of step ( a ) is selected from the group consisting of tetrahydrofuran , toluene , heptane , dimethoxyethane , benzene , and hexane , diethyl ether , xylene , or a mixture thereof . in a class of this embodiment , the aprotic solvent of step ( a ) is tetrahydrofuran . in another embodiment of this invention , the strong base of step ( a ) is selected from the group consisting of n - buli , sec - buli , t - buli , lihmds , nahmds , khmds and litmp . in a class of this embodiment , the strong base of step ( a ) is n - buli . in another embodiment of this invention , step ( a ) further comprises adding a salt selected from the group consisting of libr , licl , lii , libf 4 , liclo 4 , and cecl 3 . in a class of this embodiment , the salt of step ( a ) is libr . in another embodiment of this invention , r 2 is selected from the group consisting of : — ch 3 , — ch 2 ch 3 , —( ch 2 ) 2 ch 3 , — ch ( ch 3 ) 2 , —( ch 2 ) 3 ch 3 , and — ch ( ch 3 ) 3 . in a class of this embodiment , r 2 is — ch 2 ch 3 . in another embodiment of the present invention , water is added to the solution of the ester of formula c in step ( c ) at a temperature of about 60 ° c . to about − 50 ° c . in a class of this embodiment , water is added at a temperature of about − 550 ° c . in another embodiment of the present invention , step ( c ) is run at a temperature between about 0 ° c . to 50 ° c . after the addition of water . in a class of this embodiment , step ( c ) is run at a temperature of about 40 ° c . after the addition of water . in a subclass of this class , step ( c ) is run for a period between about 1 hour to 4 hours . in another embodiment of the present invention , the aqueous acid of step ( d ) is selected from the group consisting of hydrochloric acid , sulfuric acid , methane sulfonic acid , trifluoromethane sulfonic acid , or a mixture thereof . in a class of this embodiment , the aqueous acid of step ( d ) is sulfuric acid . in a subclass of this class , the acid is added at a temperature of about less than 30 ° c . in another subclass of this class , the acid is added at a temperature of about less than 30 ° c ., and aged at a temperature between about 50 ° c . to about 70 ° c . for a period of about 1 hour to about 4 hours . in another embodiment of the present invention , the spirolactone acid halide of formula e in step ( e ) is a spirolactone acid chloride . in another embodiment of the present invention , the solvent in step ( e ) is selected from the group consisting of chloroform , ethyl acetate , tetrahydrofuran , dimethoxyethane , diglyme , 2 - methyl tetrahydrofuran , 1 , 4 - dioxane and diethoxymethane . in a class of this embodiment , the solvent in step ( e ) is tetrahydrofuran . in another embodiment of the present invention , the halogenating agent in step ( e ) is selected from the group consisting of phosphorus oxychloride , oxalyl chloride , phosphorus trichloride , phosphorus tribromide , thionyl chloride , thionyl bromide and oxalyl bromide . in a class of this embodiment , the halogenating agent in step ( e ) is phosphorus oxychloride . in a subclass of this class , the amount of phosphorus oxychloride is between about 0 . 7 equivalents to about 2 . 0 equivalents relative to spirolactone acid ic . in another subclass of this class , the amount of phosphorus oxychloride is about 1 . 15 equivalents relative to spirolactone acid ic . in another subclass of this class , the amount of phosphorus oxychloride is about 1 . 05 equivalents relative to spirolactone acid ic . in another embodiment of the present invention , the reaction of step ( e ) further comprises a catalyst in a class of this embodiment , the catalyst is dimethyl formamide . in a subclass of this class , the amount of dimethyl formamide is between about 0 . 2 equivalents to about 5 equivalents relative to spirolactone acid of formula ic . in another subclass of this class , the amount of dimethyl formamide is about 1 equivalent relative to spirolactone acid of formula ic . in another embodiment of the present invention , the reaction of step ( e ) is run at a temperature between about 20 ° c . to about 80 ° c . in a class of this embodiment , the reaction of step ( e ) is run at a temperature of about 40 ° c . in a subclass of this class , the reaction of step ( e ) is run at a temperature of about 40 ° c . for about 2 hours . in another embodiment of the present invention , the base of step ( f ) is selected from the group consisting of n , n , n ′ n ′- tetramethylethylenediamine , triethyl amine , n , n - diisopropylethyl amine , n , n - dimethylethyl amine , pyridine , collidine , 1 , 8 - diazabicyclo [ 5 . 4 . 0 ] undec - 7 - ene , n - methylmorpholine , and n , n , n ′, n ′- tetramethyl - 1 , 6 - hexanediamine . in a class of this embodiment , the base of step ( f ) is n , n , n ′, n ′- tetramethylethylene - diamine . in a subclass of this class , the amount of n , n , n ′, n ′- tetramethylethylene - diamine is between about 1 equivalent to about 10 equivalents relative to spirolactone ester of formula f . in another subclass of this class , the amount of n , n , n ′, n ′- tetramethylethylene diamine is about 3 . 5 equivalents relative to spirolactone ester of formula f . in another embodiment of the present invention , the alcohol of step ( f ) is selected from the group consisting of tert - butyl alcohol , methyl cyclohexanol , methyl cyclopentanol , and neopentyl alcohol . in a class of this embodiment , the alcohol of step ( f ) is tert - butyl alcohol . in a subclass of this class , the amount of tert - butyl alcohol is between about 1 equivalent to about 10 equivalents relative to spirolactone ester of formula f . in another subclass of this class , the amount of tert - butyl alcohol is about 1 . 5 equivalents relative to spirolactone ester of formula f . in one embodiment of the present invention , the solvent in step ( f ) is selected from the group consisting of tetrahydrofuran , dimethoxyethane , diglyme , 2 - methyl tetrahydrofuran , 1 , 4 - dioxane and diethoxymethane . in a class of this embodiment , the solvent in step ( f ) is tetrahydrofuran . in another embodiment , the reaction of step ( f ) further comprises a salt . in a class of this embodiment , the salt is selected from the group consisting of lithium bromide , lithium chloride , lithium iodide , lithium perchlorate and lithium tetrafluoroborate . in a subclass of this class , the salt is lithium chloride . in a subclass of this subclass , the amount of lithium chloride is between about 0 . 5 equivalents to about 5 equivalents relative to spirolactone ester of formula f . in another subclass of this subclass , the amount of lithium chloride is about 1 equivalent relative to spirolactone ester of formula f . in another embodiment of the present invention , the reaction of step ( f ) is run at a temperature between about 20 ° c . to about 80 ° c . in a class of this embodiment , the reaction of step ( f ) is run at a temperature of about 40 ° c . in a subclass of this class , the reaction of step ( f ) is run at a temperature of about 40 ° c . for about 2 hours to about 24 hours . in another subclass of this class , the reaction of step ( f ) is run at a temperature of about 40 ° c . for about 19 hours . in another embodiment of the present invention , the aqueous acid of step ( g ) is selected from the group consisting of sulfuric acid , hydrochloric acid , hydrobromic acid , phosphoric acid and formic acid . in a class of this embodiment , the aqueous acid of step ( g ) is sulfuric acid . in another embodiment of the present invention , the hydrolysis of step ( g ) is run at a temperature between about 20 ° c . and about 100 ° c . in a class of this embodiment , the hydrolysis of step ( g ) is run at a temperature of about 50 ° c . in a subclass of this class , the hydrolysis of step ( g ) is run at a temperature of about 50 ° c . for about 2 hours . in another embodiment of the present invention , the product of step ( h ) is isolated by adjusting the ph of the solution of step ( g ) to between about 0 and 4 with a base and extracting the reaction mixture to afford the compound ic . in a subclass of this class , the base is sodium hydroxide . in another subclass , the ph of step ( g ) is adjusted to between about about 2 to about 3 . in a subclass of this subclass , the ph is adjusted to about 2 . 4 . by this invention , there is further provided a process for the preparation and separation of a spirolactone of formula ia , or a salt thereof , and a spirolactone of formula ib , or a salt thereof , t , u , v and w are each independently selected from the group consisting of ( 1 ) nitrogen , and ( 2 ) methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of ( a ) halogen , ( b ) lower alkyl , ( c ) hydroxy , and ( d ) lower alkoxy , and wherein at least two of t , u , v , and w are methine ; wherein t , u , v and w are as defined above , to form a mixture ; ( j ) adding an acid to the mixture of step ( i ) to form a mixture ; and ( k ) aging the mixture of step ( j ) for a time and under conditions effective to afford the compound ia wherein t , u , v and w are as defined above , or a salt thereof . in one embodiment of the present invention , t , v and w are methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of ( a ) halogen , ( b ) lower alkyl , ( c ) hydroxy , and ( d ) lower alkoxy ; and in a class of this embodiment , t , v and w are unsubstituted methine ; and u is nitrogen . in another embodiment of the present invention , t , u , v and w are methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of ( a ) halogen , ( b ) lower alkyl , ( c ) hydroxy , and ( d ) lower alkoxy . in one class of this embodiment , the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with halogen . in another embodiment of this invention , the solvent of step ( i ) is selected from the group consisting of dimethoxyethane , acetonitrile , tetrahydrofuran , or a mixture thereof . in a class of this embodiment , the solvent of step ( i ) is tetrahydrofuran . in another class of this embodiment , the solvent of step ( i ) is acetonitrile . in another embodiment of this invention , the acid of step ( j ) is selected from the group consisting of hydrochloric acid , hydrobromic acid , tartaric acid , methane sulfonic acid , toluene sulfonic acid , succinic acid , and sulfuric acid . in a class of this embodiment , the acid of step ( o ) is hydrochloric acid . in another embodiment of this invention , the step ( k ) is aged at a temperature of about 10 ° c . to 60 ° c . in a class of this embodiment , step ( k ) is aged for a period between about 1 hour to about 48 hours . in a subclass of this class , step ( k ) is aged at a temperature of about 25 ° c . for about 3 hours . in another embodiment of this invention , the process further comprises step ( 1 ) of isolating the compound of formula ia , or a salt thereof . in a class of this embodiment , the compound of formula ia is isolated by filtering and concentrating the filtrate to give a slurry . in a subclass of this class , the slurry is diluted with a solvent and aged for a time and under conditions to give the compound of formula ia . in another subclass of this class , the slurry is diluted with hexane and aged for about 20 hours at about 0 ° c . in a subclass of this subclass , the compound of formula ia is isolated by filtering the slurry to give the product . in another subclass of this class , the slurry is concentrated , diluted with acetonitrile and aged for a time and under conditions to give the compound of formula ia . in another embodiment of this invention , there is provided a compound of structural formula , or a salt thereof , wherein x is selected from the group consisting of chlorine and bromine , and t , u , v and w are each independently selected from the group consisting of : ( 1 ) nitrogen , and ( 2 ) methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of : ( a ) halogen , ( b ) lower alkyl , ( c ) hydroxy , and ( d ) lower alkoxy , and wherein at least two of t , u , v , and w are methine . in one class of this embodiment , t , v and w are methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of ( a ) halogen , ( b ) lower alkyl , ( c ) hydroxy , and ( d ) lower alkoxy ; and in a subclass of this class , t , v and w are unsubstituted methine ; and u is nitrogen . in another class of this embodiment , t , u , v and w are methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of ( a ) halogen , ( b ) lower alkyl , ( c ) hydroxy , and ( d ) lower alkoxy . in a subclass of this class , the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with halogen . in another embodiment of this invention , there is provided a compound of structural formula in another embodiment of this invention , there is provided a composition comprising about 83 % to 52 % of compound ia t , u , v and w are each independently selected from the group consisting of : ( 1 ) nitrogen , and ( 2 ) methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of : ( a ) halogen , ( b ) lower alkyl , ( c ) hydroxy , and ( d ) lower alkoxy , and wherein at least two of t , u , v , and w are methine . in one class of this embodiment , t , v and w are methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of ( a ) halogen , ( b ) lower alkyl , ( c ) hydroxy , and ( d ) lower alkoxy ; and in a subclass of this class , t , v and w are unsubstituted methine ; and u is nitrogen . in another class of this embodiment , t , u , v and w are methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of ( a ) halogen , ( b ) lower alkyl , ( c ) hydroxy , and ( d ) lower alkoxy . in a subclass of this class , the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with halogen . in another embodiment of this invention , there is provided a composition comprising about 79 % of compound 1 - 8 in yet another embodiment of this invention , there is provided a composition comprising about 83 % of compound 1 - 8 as used herein “ t , u , v and w ” refer to a nitrogen or a methine , wherein the methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of halogen , lower alkyl , hydroxy , and lower alkoxy , and wherein at least two of t , u , v , and w are methine . “ methine group is unsubstituted or optionally substituted with a substituent selected from the group consisting of halogen , lower alkyl , hydroxy and lower alkoxy ” refers to unsubstituted methine or methine having a substituent which can be selected from the group consisting of halogen , lower alkyl , hydroxy and lower alkoxy . the aforesaid substituent includes preferably halogen , and the like . “ halogen ” or “ halide ” refers to fluorine atom , chlorine atom , bromine atom and iodine atom . halogen atom as the aforesaid substituent includes preferably fluorine atom , chlorine atom , and the like . “ lower alkyl ” refers to a straight - or branched - chain alkyl group of c 1 to c 6 , for example , methyl , ethyl , propyl , isopropyl , butyl , isobutyl , sec - butyl , tert - butyl , pentyl , isopentyl , hexyl , isohexyl , and the like . lower alkyl as the aforesaid substituent includes preferably methyl , ethyl , and the like . “ lower alkoxy ” refers to a straight - or branched - chain alkoxy group of c 1 to c 6 , for example , methoxy , ethoxy , propoxy , isopropoxy , butoxy , sec - butoxy , isobutoxy , tert - butoxy , pentyloxy , isopentyloxy , hexyloxy , isohexyloxy , and the like . lower alkoxy as the aforesaid substituent includes preferably methoxy , ethoxy , and the like . “ cycloalkyl ” refers to a monocyclic saturated carbocyclic ring of c 3 to c 6 , wherein one carbocyclic ring carbon is the point of attachment . examples of cycloalkyl include , but are not limited to , cyclopropyl , cyclobutyl , cyclopentyl , cyclohexyl , and the like . “ cycloheteroalkyl ” refers to a monocyclic saturated ring containing at least one heteroatom selected from n , s and o of c 3 to c 6 , in which the point of attachment may be carbon or nitrogen . examples of “ cycloheteroalkyl ” include , but are not limited to , pyrrolidinyl , piperidinyl , piperazinyl , imidazolidinyl , tetrahydrofuranyl , morpholinyl , and the like . “ aryl ” refers to a mono - or bicyclic aromatic rings containing only carbon atoms . the term also includes aryl group fused to a monocyclic cycloalkyl or monocyclic cycloheteroalkyl group in which the point of attachment is on the aromatic portion . examples of aryl include phenyl , naphthyl , indanyl , indenyl , tetrahydronaphthyl , 2 , 3 - dihydrobenzofuranyl , dihydrobenzopyranyl , 1 , 4 - benzodioxanyl , and the like . the aryl ring may be unsubstituted or substituted on one or more carbon atoms . “ heteroaryl ” refers to a mono - or bicyclic aromatic ring , wherein each ring has 5 or 6 carbons , containing at least one heteroatom selected from n , o and s . examples of heteroaryl include pyrrolyl , isoxazolyl , isothiazolyl , pyrazolyl , pyridyl , oxazolyl , oxadiazolyl , thiadiazolyl , thiazolyl , imidazolyl , triazolyl , tetrazolyl , furanyl , triazinyl , thienyl , pyrimidyl , pyridazinyl , pyrazinyl , benzoxazolyl , benzothiazolyl , benzimidazolyl , benzofuranyl , benzothiophenyl , furo ( 2 , 3 - b ) pyridyl , quinolyl , indolyl , isoquinolyl , and the like . the heteroaryl ring may be unsubstituted or substituted on one or more carbon atoms . as used herein , the term “ anion ” refers to a mono - anion or a di - anion . the compounds in the processes of the present invention include stereoisomers , diastereomers and geometerical isomers , or tautomers depending on the mode of substitution . the compounds may contain one or more chiral centers and occur as racemates , racemic mixtures and as individual diastereomers , diastereomeric mixtures , enantiomeric mixtures or single enantiomers , or tautomers . the present invention is meant to comprehend all such isomeric forms of the compounds in the compositions of the present invention , and their mixtures . therefore , where a compound is chiral , the separate enantiomers , and diastereomers , substantially free of the other , are included within the scope of the invention ; further included are all mixtures of enantiomers , and all of the mixtures of diastereomers . also included within the scope of the invention are salts , polymorphs , hydrates and solvates of the compounds and intermediates of the instant invention . compounds of the structural formula i and structural formula ii include stereoisomers , such as the trans - form of compounds of the general formulas ia and iia : the salts of compounds of formula i , ia , ib , and ic refer to the pharmaceutically acceptable and common salts , for example , base addition salt to carboxyl group when the compound has a carboxyl group , or acid addition salt to amino or basic cycloheteroalkyl when the compound has an amino or basic cycloheteroalkyl group , and the like . the base addition salts include salts with alkali metals ( including , but not limited to , sodium , potassium ); alkaline earth metals ( including , but not limited to , calcium , magnesium ); ammonium or organic amines ( including , but not limited to , trimethylamine , triethylamine , dicyclohexylamine , ethanolamine , diethanolamine , triethanolamine , procaine , n , n ′- dibenzylethylenediamine ), and the like . the acid addition salts include salts with inorganic acids ( including , but not limited to , hydrochloric acid , sulfuric acid , nitric acid , phosphoric acid , perchloric acid ), organic acids ( including , but not limited to , maleic acid , fumaric acid , tartaric acid , citric acid , ascorbic acid , trriluoroacetic acid , acetic acid ), sulfonic acids ( including , but not limited to , methanesulfonic acid , isethionic acid , benzenesulfonic acid , p - toluenesulfonic acid , p - toluenesulfonic acid monohydrate , p - toluene sulfonic acid hydrate , camphor sulfonic acid ), and the like . in the schemes and examples below , various reagent symbols and abbreviations have the following meanings : n - buli or buli : n - butyl lithium sec - buli : sec - butyl lithium t - buli : tert - butyl lithium t - buoh : tert - butyl alcohol dbu : 1 , 8 - diazabicyclo [ 5 . 4 . 0 ] undec - 7 - ene dmf : dimethyl formamide dmso : dimethyl sulfoxide - et : — ch 2 ch 3 g : grams h : hours hcl : hydrochloric acid h 2 so 4 : sulfuric acid khmds : potassium hexamethyl disilazide libr : lithium bromide licl : lithium chloride lihmds : lithium hexamethyl disilazide litmp : lithium tetramethyl piperadide nahmds : sodium hexamethyl disilazide - me : methyl ml : milliliter mmol : millimole mol : moles / liter pocl 3 : phosphorus oxychloride thf : tetrahydrofuran tmeda tetramethylethylenediamine or n , n , n ′, n ′- tetramethylethylenediamine the compounds of the present invention can be prepared by employing the general process in scheme 1 . the novel process of the present invention can be exemplified in scheme 2 , which illustrates the preparation of the spirolactones of structural formula i , ia , ib and ic , and salts thereof . the salts of ia and ib may be separated and individually reacted with an amine , h 2 nar 1 . for example , the neutralization , activation and subsequent reaction of the salt of ia with h 2 nar 1 yields compounds of formula ii . in scheme 2 , the 4 - ethyl ester substituted cyclohexanone is converted to the carboxylic acid before ring lactonization to form the spirolactone ic , via intermediate c . isonicotinamide 1 - 1 is deprotonated with a base , such as n - butyllithium , in the presence of a salt , such as libr , in a solvent such as thf , and at a temperature between about − 55 ° c . to − 65 ° c ., to form a metallated anilide . the metallated anilide is added to a solution of ethyl 4 - oxocyclohexanecarboxylate 1 - 2 in a solvent such as thf , at a temperature below about − 55 ° c ., followed by the addition of water to form the diacid 1 - 3 . the diacid 1 - 3 is then treated with an aqueous acid , such as sulfuric acid , at a temperature below about 30 ° c ., to form the lactone ring of spirolactone acid 14 , as a mixture of about 1 : 1 cis to trans spirolactone acids . spirolactone acid 14 is then activated by forming an acid halide 1 - 5 , by treatment with a halogenating agent in a solvent such as thf in the presence of dmf . the acid halide is preferentially an acid chloride formed by treatment of the acid with phosphorus oxychloride . the acid chloride 1 - 5 is treated with a base such as n , n , n ′, n - tetramethylethylenediamine , in the presence of an alcohol , such as tert - butanol , and a salt , such as licl , in a solvent such as thf , to form an ester 1 - 6 via a ketene intermediate . the ester 1 - 6 is subsequently hydrolyzed with an aqueous acid , such as aqueous sulfuric acid , at a temperature of about 50 ° c ., to form acid 1 - 7 ( ic ) as a 80 : 20 trans / cis mixture . the acid 1 - 7 may be further purified and separated into acids 1 - 8 ( ia , trans ) and 1 - 9 ( ib , cis ) by forming a salt of 1 - 9 with an acid , such as hydrochloric acid , and separating the compounds by recrystallizing from a solvent such as acetonitrile , tetrahydrofuran , heptane or a mixture thereof . this process provides ia substantially free from iib and provides ib substantially free from ia . the following examples are provided to illustrate the invention and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner . the isonicotinamide 1 - 1 ( 100 g , 0 . 50 mol , kingchem ), thf ( 0 . 5 l ) and a 1 m libr solution ( prepared by dissolving 1 . 50 mol of libr in 1 . 5 l of thf ) were mixed in a flask . the resulting solution was degassed with nitrogen and cooled to − 65 ° c . n - buli ( 1 . 56 m in hexane ; 666 ml , 1 . 04 mol ) was then added while maintaining the batch temperature below − 55 ° c . the resulting solution was then aged at a temperature less than − 55 ° c . for a period between 1 to 7 hours to give a metalated anilide mixture . a solution of ethyl 4 - oxocyclohexanecarboxylate 1 - 2 ( 100 ml , 0 . 63 mol , ems dottikon ag ) in thf ( 1 l ) was cooled in a separate flask to a temperature below − 60 ° c . to the solution was added the above metalated anilide mixture , while maintaining the batch temperature below − 55 ° c . the resulting solution was aged at a temperature below − 55 ° c . for 1 hour and then carefully quenched into h 2 o ( 1 l ). the resulting mixture was warmed to 40 ° c . and aged at 40 ° c . for a period between 1 to 4 hours . after cooling to room temperature , the organic layer was removed and the aqueous layer ( 1 . 3 l ; ph ˜ 11 ) was washed with thf ( 1 l ) to give an aqueous solution of the diacid 1 - 3 . to the aqueous solution of the diacid 1 - 3 from step a was added h 2 o ( 500 ml , 5 ml / g of anilide ) and 47 % aqueous h 2 so 4 to adjust to ph 2 - 3 , maintaining the temperature below 30 ° c . the resulting white suspension was aged at a temperature of 30 ° c .- 70 ° c . for a period of 1 to 4 hours . after cooling the batch , thf ( 2500 ml ) and 20 % aqueous nacl ( 600 ml ) were added to extract the product acid 1 - 4 . after the separation of the two layers , the water layer was re - extracted with thf ( 1000 ml ). the combined thf extracts ( 3500 ml ) were concentrated to 1250 ml . the mixture turned to a suspension of spirolactone acid 1 - 4 during the distillation . selected signals : 1 h nmr ( 300 . 13 mhz , dmso - d 6 ): λ 12 . 31 ( br , 1h ), 9 . 10 ( d , 1h ), 8 . 85 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 82 ( m , 1h ). 2 . 70 ( m , 0 . 45h ), 2 . 43 ( m , 0 . 55h ), 1 . 65 - 2 . 25 ( m , 8h ). spirolactone acid 1 - 4 ( 800 g of a 55 a % cis : 45 a % trans mixture ) was added to a 50 l vessel containing thf ( 17 . 6 l ). the slurry was treated with dmf ( 260 ml , 3 . 2 mol ) and then at 22 ° c ., with pocl 3 ( 350 ml ) over 10 min to form the acid chloride 1 - 5 . the solution was warmed to 40 ° c . over 45 min , aged for 2 h and then cooled to 24 ° c . in a separate 12 l flask was sequentially added : thf ( 3 . 3 l ), tmeda ( 1 . 7 l ), t - butanol ( 465 ml ) and licl ( 143 g ). after aging at 25 ° c . for 1 h , this resulting solution was added to the solution of acid chloride 1 - 5 at 24 - 30 ° c . over 25 min and aged for 19 h at 35 - 39 ° c . the reaction mixture was cooled to 0 ° c . and quenched by adding 4 . 2 l 33 % h 2 so 4 slowly over 20 min during which time the internal temperature rose to 22 ° c . the resulting solution was heated to 50 ° c . for 3 h . the solution was then cooled to 22 ° c . and ph adjusted to 2 . 4 with 6 n naoh ( 7 . 0 kg ). the organic layer was separated and washed with 2 × 8 l of aqueous hcl / nacl ( ph 2 . 5 ). thf ( 3 . 3 l ) was added to the organic layer to raise the solution volume to about 26 l and it was charged to a 50 l flask . the organic layer was azeotropically dried via a constant volume distillation at atmospheric pressure until the kf was 0 . 3 %. ( utilized about 51 kg thf ) to provide a solution of spirolactone acid 1 - 7 . step d : separation of compound 1 - 7 into compounds 1 - 8 and 1 - 9 the solution of spirolactone 1 - 7 was cooled to 22 ° c . and concentrated hcl ( 60 ml ) was slowly added to the solution . the resulting slurry was aged at 25 ° c . for 3 h , and the precipitate was removed via filtration and washed with thf ( 1 × 1 l ). the filtrate containing spirolactone acid 1 - 8 was concentrated to 6 . 5 l in vacuo ( internal temp = 38 - 42 ° c . ), and the resulting slurry was cooled to 22 ° c . over 1 h and aged for 1 h . heptane ( 6 l ) was added over 2 h and the slurry was cooled 0 ° c . and aged for 20 h , followed by vacuum filtration , rinsing the product cake with thf - heptane ( 2 / 3 ; 2 × 600 ml ) and drying in vacuo at 45 ° c . to provide the spirolactone acid 1 - 8 . 1 h nmr ( 400 . 13 mhz ; dmso - d 6 ): a 12 . 34 ( br , 1h ), 9 . 04 ( d , j = 1 . 0 hz , 1h ), 8 . 85 ( d , j = 5 . 0 hz , 1h ), 7 . 82 ( dd , j = 5 . 0 hz , 1 . 0 hz , 1h ), 2 . 70 ( br m , 1h ), 2 . 08 - 1 . 89 ( overlapping m , 6h ), 1 . 82 - 1 . 76 ( overlapping m , 2h ). 13 c nmr ( 100 . 62 mhz ; dmso - d 6 ): 175 . 9 , 167 . 9 , 150 . 6 , 147 . 5 , 144 . 9 , 133 . 1 , 119 . 1 , 87 . 2 , 38 . 1 , 33 . 1 , 23 . 9 . alternatively , spirolactone 1 - 8 may be crystallized from acetonitrile according to the following procedure . the filtrate containing spirolactone acid 1 - 8 in step d ( 250 ml ; 15 g / l trans acid ) was concentrated to 44 ml via distillation and cooled to 40 ° c . acetonitrile ( 7 . 5 ml ) was added with 50 mg seed . the slurry was aged at 40 ° c . for 2 . 5 h , cooled to 22 ° c . and aged for 2 h . the remaining thf was removed by a constant volume distillation feeding in acetonitrile until the thf level was & lt ; 2 a %. the batch was cooled to 0 ° c . and aged for 2 hours prior to filtration , then washed with chilled acetonitrile ( 1 × 10 ml ), and dried in vacuo to give spirolactone acid 1 - 8 . 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 . | 2 |
with reference to fig1 a traditional guitar amplifier tone control circuit of the type introduced in the mid 1950 &# 39 ; s by the fender electric instrument company includes an input terminal 1 where electronic signal voltages are applied from either the plate or the cathode of the preceding stage . signal is coupled through a small value capacitor 2 ( 250 pf ) ( traditional values are shown in parentheses ) to the top end 3 of treble control variable attenuator ( 250 k ohm ) whose adjustable wiper element 4 provides the output of the entire tone control network . signal is also coupled from the input terminal 1 through fixed resistor 5 ( 100 k ohm ) to a pair of capacitors 6 ( 0 . 1 uf ) and 7 ( 0 . 047 uf ) which operate as low pass filter elements in conjunction with variable resistors 8 ( 250 k ohm ) and 9 ( 10 k ohm ) which function respectively as bass and middle tone controls by adjustably shunting their respective frequency bands to ground 10 or enabling these frequencies to appear in varying strengths and proportions at the lower end 11 of the treble tone control . the position of the treble control wiper 4 further determines the balance of treble vs . combined bass and mid frequencies that are outputted from the tone control circuit and coupled to the input end 12 of the volume control variable attenuator ( 1 megohm ) whose shunt end 13 is connected to ground 10 and whose variable wiper element 14 provides the output of the combined tone / volume circuit as shown at output terminal 15 . a bright switch 16 activates a high pass capacitor 17 ( 120 pf ) providing an alternate path for boosting high frequencies around the resistance 12 , 14 . with reference to fig2 a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown . a 5 volt supply shown at 1a feeds one end of the reference resistor ladder 2 while the same 5 volt supply shown at 1b supplies an adjustable trim pot 3 . the trim pot 3 is nominally adjusted to provide a reference 2 . 5 volts ( one half of a supply ) at its adjustable element 4 which is coupled to the inverting terminal 5 of an operational amplifier 6 configured as a differential amplifier . further minor adjustments of the trim pot 3 can be made to compensate for manufacturing inaccuracies in locating the center tap connection 21 so that the two cell segments 19 and 20 may become more precisely equal in resistance . a four - bit latch 7 ( which receives data from a system data bus , not shown ) selects any one of the fixed reference resistors of the ladder 3 , say for example r13 , 8 , which is coupled via a one - of - eight analog switch 9 ( to of which are provided 9 and 10 giving a total resolution of sixteen increments ) such that supply voltage from 1a flows through the selected resistor 8 and is conducted to the non - inverting terminal 11 of the differential operational amplifier 6 . voltage from the output 12 of the differential amplifier 6 is coupled through a current limiting resistor 13 to the anode 14 of the led 15 whose cathode 16 is connected to ground 17 . this led 15 is the light emitting element of a light dependent resistor ( ldr ) 18 which contains a center - tapped photo sensitive cell shown as two variable resistors 19 and 20 connected together by a conductor 21 which is connected to ground 17 . in a center tapped ldr cell , it may be assumed that the two halves of the resistance 19 and 20 will always be substantially the same resistance value as they are both exposed to the same single light source 15 and both are one and the same piece of photo sensitive material which merely has a conductor lead 21 connected at its mid point . other factors such as age , temperature and degree of &# 34 ; light adaptation &# 34 ; will also remain substantially identical for the two halves of a center tapped ldr cell . therefore , the overall action of the differential amplifier 6 will be to drive the ldr &# 39 ; s led 15 until the reference half 19 of the cell achieves a resistance exactly equal to that of the selected fixed reference resistor 13 , such that one - half of supply ( 2 . 5 volts ) is then applied to the non - inverting terminal 11 . then -- and only then -- will the voltages applied to both inverting input 5 and non - inverting input 11 of the differential amplifier 6 be equal : the inverting terminal 5 receiving one half of the supply ( 2 . 5 volts ) as set by the trim pot 3 , while the non - inverting input 11 receives one half of the supply from the mid - point of the two now equal value resistors in series , one being the selected fixed reference resistor 8 and the other being the variable reference resistor cell segment 19 as controlled by the differential operation of the amplifier 6 . further , the continuing differential action will simultaneously correct any drift in the resistance of the reference half 19 of the cell and thereby compensate for the effects of temperature variation , &# 34 ; light adaptation &# 34 ; changes as well as deviation from one device to another in production . because the &# 34 ; active &# 34 ; ( or audio ) half 20 of the center tapped variable light dependent resistance cell will be equal in value to the reference half 19 of the cell , the resistance values at 20 and 19 will both be the same and each be equal to the selected fixed reference resistance 8 selected from the fixed reference resistor ladder 3 by the digitally controlled network . those skilled in the at will understand that this differential / servo control circuit works to provide equal ratios in the two control and reference resistance dividers 3 , 4 and 8 , 19 respectively and that the condition of &# 34 ; one half &# 34 ; of the supply was chosen merely as a convenience ; any other setting of the control divider 3 , 4 would produce a corresponding ratio of resistance values in the reference divider 8 , 19 . in order to achieve high resistance values in the system , a negative feedback loop 22 around the differential amplifier 6 incorporates a capacitor 23 which , together with the associated resistance , provides a time constant which has the effect of &# 34 ; lowering the gain in the time domain &# 34 ;-- lengthening the response time through the loop -- such that the action of the differential amplifier 6 driving the ldr &# 39 ; s led 15 compensates for -- and synchronizes with , the time lag inherent in the photo sensitive cell &# 39 ; s delayed response to changing light conditions . this has the desired effect of creating a substantially steady resistance over a wide range of high resistance values where otherwise the result would be a continually varying cell resistance as the led 15 illuminates too brightly at first ( overcompensating for the very high &# 34 ; off &# 34 ; resistance of the cell 19 ) then -- due to the time lag of the cell &# 39 ; s 19 delayed response to light -- stays illuminated for too long , then turns off ( and is actually &# 34 ; driven in the reverse direction &# 34 ; by the action of the differential amplifier 6 ) as the &# 34 ; light adapting &# 34 ; cell material now swings to too low a resistance condition , then begins again to swing excessively high in resistance toward its &# 34 ; off &# 34 ; condition which causes the differential amplifier to again over drive the led 15 . . . and so on , resulting in an oscillation of the circuit which produces virtual noise at the active cell 20 instead of the desired stable high value resistance . diode 24 is placed across led 15 to protect it ( 15 ) from reverse overvoltage as the action of the differential amplifier 6 tries to compensate for a resistance in the variable reference cell 19 that has risen above that of the fixed reference resistor 13 . with reference now to fig3 a pair of dual cell ldr &# 39 ; s 20 , 21 are arranged in a like manner to that described under fig2 including -- for each -- the use of servo loop and differential amplifier with negative feedback . however , in the circuit application of fig3 the two &# 34 ; active &# 34 ; or audio cells 30 , 31 are shown tied together in series to form the equivalent of an adjustable attentuator whose adjustable wiper element ( being the common connection between the two cells ) is positioned at any of sixteen discrete increments along the total combined cell resistance as determined by the chosen insertion position of the 5 volt supply 4 along the reference string 1 of seventeen fixed resistors connected in series . a more specific description follows . to aid in understanding this arrangement , reference is made to that section of fig3 entitled &# 34 ; series reference resistor string , simplified .&# 34 ; what is shown here as a single resistor 1 , in actuality a string of seventeen fixed reference resistors connected in series as shown in the detailed portion of fig3 as r1 , r2 , etc . through r 17 . in both the simplified and the detailed drawings of fig3 each of the opposite ends 2 , 3 of the reference resistor string 1 , is connected to the non - inverting input 5 , 6 of a separate differential amplifier 7 , 8 . the simplified drawing shows the five volt supply 4 being connected to some selectable point along the resistor 1 by contact point 9 . in the detailed drawing this is accomplished when any one position of either one of the two one - of - eight analog switches 10 , 11 is selected by the 4 - bit latch 12 as instructed by the system data bus ( not shown ). thus , five volts from supply 4 flows to any one of sixteen points between the seventeen resistors r1 - r17 and is distributed to the non - inverting terminals 5 , 6 of the differential amplifiers 7 , 8 in exact proportion as determined by the combination of total series resistance between supply 4 and the ends 2 , 3 of the series reference resistor string . each end 2 , 3 of the series reference resistor string employs a 5 . 6 k ohm resistor r1 , r17 as a minimum to prevent the supply 4 from overdriving one or the other non - inverting inputs 5 , 6 of the two differential amplifier 7 , 8 when the most extreme positions are selected at either end of the resistance string , for example a point 13 between r1 , r17 representing the uppermost end 3 of the series resistor reference string 1 , r1 - r17 . an off - setting pair of equal value resistors 15 , 16 are placed between the variable reference photo cells 18 , 19 of each dual - cell ldr 20 , 21 and the respective non - inverting terminal 5 , 6 of the associated differential amplifier 7 , 8 . circuit function is virtually identical to that described under fig2 ( except in fig3 there are a pair of servo / differential / ldr circuits ) including the use of a pair of current limiting resistors 22 , 23 , and a pair of reverse overvoltage protection diodes 24 and 25 . negative feedback is again utilized around each differential amplifier to accommodate the photocell &# 39 ; s time lag in responding to changing light conditions form a flashing led . in the circuit of fig3 a very high resistance value , digitally controllable potentiometer is shown -- one with a 250 kohm overall resistance -- and suitable for use as the treble control 3 of the traditional analog circuit as illustrated schematically in fig1 . in order to allow a more rapid swing of the dual ldr based digitally controlled adjustable attenuator across wide ranges of resistance value , the time constant of the capacitors 26 and 27 in the feedback loops of their respective differential amplifiers 7 , 8 has ben altered by the inclusion of resistors 28 and 29 respectively . thus the overall resistance of the digitally controllable variable attenuator comprising the two series - connected active photo cells 30 , 31 is established by the total combined resistance in the reference string 1 . the position of the selectable active wiper element along the fixed total resistance is determined by the specific insertion point of the 5 volt reference supply voltage along the series reference resistance string 1 . having fully described one embodiment of the present invention , it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous alternatives and equivalents exist which do not depart from the invention set forth above . it is therefore to be understood that the invention is not to be limited by the foregoing description , but only by the appended claims . | 7 |
an electrolyte having a ph within the range of 11 - 13 was prepared by dissolving 4 grams of sodium hydroxide in a liter of water . a tubular electrode , containing about 25 % pb - powder and 75 % pbo - powder pf fine grain as the active material , was subjected to forming according to conventional procedures . an unformed tube electrode , similar to the one used in example 1 , was dipped into water and kept immersed at least for 30 minutes or until all of the surfaces were wet . the electrode was then formed in a single solution of an alkaline electrolyte adjusted to a ph of between 11 and 13 by dissolving 4 grams of sodium hydroxide and 77 grams of sodium sulfate in a liter of water . an unformed tube electrode , as in the previous examples , was dipped in a solution made by dissolving 4 grams of sodium hydroxide and 15 grams of sodium sulfate in a liter of water . at these concentrations , the solubility of the lead monoxide ( pbo ) had a maximum solubility of 10 - 2 moles . after being thoroughly wet with this solution , the electrode was dried and formed in an electrolyte made by dissolving 4 grams of sodium hydroxide and 77 grams of sodium sulfate in a liter of water . in all of the above examples , the formed electrodes contained an increased percentage of the α - pbo 2 and exhibited exceptional mechanical strength and porosity . in the electrode produced in example 3 , substantially all of the original lead materials charged into the tube electrode was converted to a mechanically strong alpha - lead dioxide ( α - pbo 2 ). without being bound by the correctness of the reasons given for the production of the improved positive electrodes in accordance with the present invention , it is believed that what takes place during forming may be explained in the following manner . because forming occurs in an alkaline medium , the production of the lead dioxide form known as α - pbo 2 is promoted . although a high proportion of α - pbo 2 results in a lower initial capacity in the electrodes . the electrodes subsequently are worked up and the mechanical , and electrical properties are more favorable with α - pb 2 . in alkaline forming , the conversion of the active material generally occurs inward from the outer zone of the electrode . at the same time , electrodes made according to the present invention possess a coarser crystalline structure inside the active material than at the surface which is pronounced around the lead conductors in the rods of the tubular electrodes . this presumably is caused by fact that a salt is dissolved in the electrolyte whose anion yields a very slightly soluble lead compound . starting from an electrolyte that contains naoh and na 2 so 4 . which has proved to be very suitable , this phenomenon can be explained as follows . by addition of sodium sulfate or other similar salt , there is a rise of the ph inside the electrode when the electrode is dipped in the electrolyte . the equilibrium potential for formation of lead dioxide drops prouncedly with rising ph , and forming therefore occurs outward , from the interior of the electrode . since the lead oxides also are more readily soluble at higher ph , this brings about such conditions for crystal formation that a coarser structure is formed in the interior of the electrode . it has beem shown that especially favorable conditions for forming are obtained if the ph of the electrolyte that is utilized is 11 - 13 . the invention has been described in the foregoing specification and in the specific examples . it will be obvious that the specific conditions , electrolytes , and dissolved salts can be varied without departing from the spirit of the invention , and that any electrolyte having a ph about within the range of 11 - 13 , or which has dissolved in it a salt whose anion yields a very slightly soluble lead compound will fall within the scope of the invention . as will be apparent to those skilled in the art , the examples are illustrative only and should not be construed as a limitation on the scope of the invention , and that the invention is not limited except as set forth in the claims which follow . | 7 |
fig2 is a block diagram of a motor control system in accordance with the present invention . multiphase motor 10 is comprises rotor 20 and stator 30 . the stator has a plurality of phase windings that are switchably energized by driving current supplied from d - c power source 40 via electronic switch sets 42 . the switch sets are coupled to controller 44 via gate drivers 46 . controller 44 has one or more user inputs and a plurality of inputs for motor conditions sensed during operation . current in each phase winding is sensed by a respective one of a plurality of current sensors 48 whose outputs are provided to controller 44 . the controller may have a plurality of inputs for this purpose or , in the alternative , signals from the current sensors may be multiplexed and connected to a single controller input . rotor position sensor 46 is connected to another input of controller 44 to provide position signals thereto . the output of the position sensor is also applied to speed approximator 50 , which converts the position signals to speed signals to be applied to another input of controller 44 . the sequence controller may comprise a microprocessor or equivalent microcontroller , such as texas instrument digital signal processor tms320lf2407apg . the switch sets may comprise a plurality of mosfet h - bridges , such as international rectifier irfiz48n - nd . the gate driver may comprise intersil mosfet gate driver hip40821b . the position sensor may comprise any known sensing means , such as a hall effect devices ( allegro microsystems 92b5308 ), giant magneto resistive ( gmr ) sensors , capacitive rotary sensors , reed switches , pulse wire sensors including amorphous sensors , resolvers , optical sensors and the like . hall effect current sensors , such as f . w . bell sm - 15 , may be utilized for currents sensors 48 . the speed detector 50 provides an approximation of the time derivative of the sensed position signals . fig3 is a partial circuit diagram of a switch set and driver for an individual stator core segment winding . stator phase winding 34 is connected in a bridge circuit of four fets . it is to be understood that any of various known electronic switching elements may be used for directing driving current in the appropriate direction to stator winding 34 such as , for example , bipolar transistors . fet 53 and fet 55 are connected in series across the power source , as are fet 54 and fet 56 . stator winding 34 is connected between the connection nodes of the two series fet circuits . gate driver 46 is responsive to control signals received from the sequence controller 44 to apply activation signals to the gate terminals of the fets . fets 53 and 56 are concurrently activated for motor current flow in one direction . for current flow in the reverse direction , fets 54 and 55 are concurrently activated . gate driver 46 alternatively may be integrated in sequence controller 44 . the motor of the present invention is suitable for use in driving a vehicle wheel of an automobile , motorcycle , bicycle , or the like . fig4 is a cutaway drawing of the motor structure that can be housed within a vehicle wheel , the stator rigidly mounted to a stationary shaft and surrounded by a rotor for driving the wheel . the motor 10 comprises annular permanent magnet rotor 20 separated from the stator by a radial air gap . the rotor and stator are configured coaxially about an axis of rotation , which is centered in the stationary shaft . the stator comprises a plurality of ferromagnetically isolated elements , or stator groups . core segments 32 , made of magnetically permeable material separated from direct contact with each other , have respective winding portions 34 formed on each pole . in this example , seven stator groups arc shown , each group comprised of two salient electromagnet poles allocated circumferentially along the air gap . the rotor comprises a plurality of permanent magnets 22 , circumferentially distributed about the air gap and affixed to an annular back plate 24 . reference is made to the maslov et al . application ser . no . 09 / 966 , 102 , discussed above , for a more detailed discussion of a motor embodying this construction . it should be appreciated , however , that the vehicle context is merely exemplary of a multitude of particular applications in which the motor of the present invention may be employed . the concepts of the invention , more fully described below , are also applicable to other permanent magnet motor structures , including a unitary stator core that supports all of the phase windings . in the vehicle drive application example , one of the user inputs to the controller represents required torque indicated by the user &# 39 ; s throttle command . an increase in throttle is indicative of a command to increase speed , which is realized by an increase in torque . another external input to the controller processor may include a brake signal that is generated when the driver operates a brake pedal or handle . the processor may respond by immediately deactivating the motor drive or , instead , vary the drive control to reduce torque and speed . a separate external deactivation signal can be applied to immediately respond to the driver &# 39 ; s command . the control system torque tracking functionality should maintain steady state operation for a constant input command through varying external conditions , such as changes in driving conditions , load gradient , terrain , etc . the control system should be responsive to the driver &# 39 ; s throttle input to accurately and smoothly accommodate changes in torque commands . fig5 is a block diagram that illustrates torque controller methodology using feedforward compensation expressions that take into account sensed motor operation conditions as well as individual circuit parameter values to obtain these objectives . for precision torque tracking , the per - phase desired current trajectories are selected according to the following expression : i di = ( 2 τ d n s k τ1 ) sin ( n τ θ 1 ) where i d1 denotes per - phase desired current trajectory , τ d denotes the user &# 39 ; s requested torque command , n t represents the total number of phase windings , k t denotes a per - phase torque transmission coefficient and θ t represents relative positional displacement between the i th phase winding and a rotor reference point . the per - phase current magnitude is dependent on the per - phase value of the torque transmission coefficient k τt . in order to develop the desired phase currents the following per - phase voltage control expression is applied to the driver for the phase windings : v t ( t )= l i di d1 / dt + r t i t + e t + k s e t fig5 represents the methodology , generally indicated by reference numeral 60 , by which the controller derives the components of this voltage control expression in real time , utilizing the torque command input and the signals received from phase current sensors , position sensor and speed detector . the external user requested ( desired ) torque command τ d ( t ), responsive to the throttle , is input to controller function block 62 and rotor position θ is input to controller function block 64 . block 64 produces an output representing excitation angle θ t ( t ) based on the rotor position , the number of permanent magnet pole pairs ( n t ) the number stator phases ( n s ), and the phase delay of the particular phase . the output of controller function block 64 is fed to controller function block 62 . using the excitation angle input thus received , controller function block 62 determines , in accordance with the expression set forth above , how phase currents are distributed among the n s phases such that the user requested torque τ d ( t ) is developed by the motor . controller function block 66 calculates the difference between the desired phase current i dt ( t ) received from block 62 and the sensed phase current i t ( t ) to output a phase current track error signal e i ( t ). this error signal is multiplied by gain factor k s in controller function block 68 . the effect of the current feedback gain is to increase overall system robustness via the rejection of system disturbances due to measurement noise and any model parameter inaccuracies . the output of block 68 is fed to controller function block 70 . block 70 outputs time varying voltage signals v t ( t ) to the gate drivers 52 for the selective controlled energization of the phase windings 34 . v t ( t ) has components that compensate for the effects of inductance , induced back - emf and resistance . to compensate for the presence of inductance within phase windings , the term ldi dt / dt , wherein di dt / dt denotes the standard time derivative of the desired phase current i dt ( t ), is input to the controller function block 70 to be added in the phase voltage calculation . determination of ldi dt / dt , is made at controller function block 72 , acting upon the received inputs of τ d ( t ), θ i ( t ) and ω ( t ). to compensate for the induced back - emf voltage the term e t is added in the phase voltage calculation as an input to function block 70 from controller function block 74 . the back - emf compensation value is derived from the excitation angle and speed , received as inputs to block 74 using back - emf coefficient k ei . to compensate for voltage drop attributed to phase winding resistance and parasitic resistance , the term r t i i ( t ) is added in the phase voltage calculation as an input to function block 70 from controller function block 76 . in operation , controller 44 successively outputs control signals v t ( t ) to the gate drivers for individual energization of respective phase windings . the gate drivers activate the respective switch sets so that the sequence in which windings are selected comports with a sequence established in the controller . the sequence is transmitted to the gate drivers through the link only generally illustrated in the diagram of fig5 . each successive control signal v i ( t ) is related to the particular current sensed in the corresponding phase winding , the immediately sensed rotor position and speed , and also to model parameters , k ei and k τt , that have been predetermined specifically for the respective phases . thus , for each derived control signal v i ( t ), in addition to receiving timely sensed motor feedback signals , the controller must access the parameters specific to the particular phase to which the control signal corresponds . the controller thus has the ability to compensate for individual phase characteristic differences among the various stator phases . to prevent over / under compensation of the voltage control routine , the per - phase circuit parameters utilized are exactly matched to their actual phases values . the per - phase torque transmission coefficient k τt captures the per - phase torque contribution of each phase . this parameter is proportional to the ratio of the effective torque generated per current applied for that phase . the torque developed by the phase is a function of the magnetic flux density developed in the core material of the phase , which produces the effective air gap flux density . the design of the electromagnetic core geometry takes into account current density , which is a function of the ampere - turns on each portion of the core in order to optimize induction in the material without driving the core into saturation . however , the magnetic properties of the core material are often non - homogeneous throughout the stator core . if the motor is configured with separated , ferromagnetically autonomous electromagnet cores , inconsistencies can be even more pronounced . variations in winding and inductance also contribute in determining the torque constant and the back - emf coefficient parameters . there will be degradation in the effective flux buildup in the core if air pockets are formed in the windings . although high packing factors can be achieved through uniform winding , there can be variations in wire manufacturing . thus , if a nominal motor torque transmission coefficient and a nominal back - emf coefficient are utilized by the controller , the variation in properties of the phases produces overall motor output torque ripple . the torque controller methodology represented in fig5 avoids this problem by applying the per - phase torque transmission coefficient and back - emf coefficients predetermined for each phase . the computations illustrated in fig5 are performed successively in real time . the expression shown in block 62 has been selected to provide the desired currents for tracking torque in the preferred embodiment . this expression can be modified if factors other than precisely tracking changes in torque input commands are also of significance . for example , in some vehicle environments , degree of acceleration and deceleration may be of consideration to avoid unnecessarily rough driving conditions . the expression in block 62 thus can be changed to accommodate additional considerations . the controller methodology illustrated in fig5 may be performed in an integrated execution scheme in which particular phase parameters are substituted for each generated control voltage output . alternatively , the controller 44 may provide a separate control loop for each stator phase n , as represented in the partial block diagram of fig6 . for each of the n s motor phases , a corresponding control loop 60 i is provided . each loop contains the relevant parameters for the respective motor phase . the control loops arc activated in accordance with the appropriate motor phase energization sequence and need only the sensed motor feedback signals for generation of the control voltages . in this disclosure there is shown and described only preferred embodiments of the invention and but a few examples of its versatility . it is to be understood that the invention is capable of use in various other combinations and environments and is capable of changes or modifications within the scope of the inventive concept as expressed herein . for example , in the control methodology illustrated in fig5 the desired per - phase current i dt ( t ) can be determined in real time from the received inputs of τ d ( t ), θ t ( t ) by reference to values stored in look - up tables . look - up tables would be provided for each stator phase . as can be appreciated , the motor of the invention can be utilized in a wide range of applications in addition to vehicle drives . while it is preferred , in the implementation of a vehicle drive , that the rotor surround the stator , other applications may find advantageous utility with the stator surrounding the rotor . thus , it is within the contemplation of the invention that each inner and outer annular member may comprise either the stator or rotor and may comprise either the group of electromagnets or group of permanent magnets . | 7 |
with reference to the drawings and in particular fig1 wherein a dual - function electrical hand drill constructed in accordance with the present invention , generally designated by the reference numeral 10 , is shown , the dual - function electrical hand drill 10 may assume a pistol - like shape having a handle 12 to be held by hands of an operator , a casing 14 extending from a top end of the handle 12 to define therein an interior space for accommodating essential parts ( to be described hereinafter ) for generating and transmitting torque or rotation to a chuck 16 rotatably mounted to a front end of the casing 14 . a setting ring 18 is provided on the front end of the casing 14 to set the desired output torque level and to switch the electrical hand drill 10 between a rotation mode and a vibration mode , which will be further discussed hereinafter . to provide a visual reference , a number of marks 20 , which are numbered 1 - 5 in the embodiment illustrated , are formed on the setting ring 18 &# 39 ; to represent different torque output levels of the rotation mode . a further mark 22 , indicating the maximum torque output level of the rotation mode , is also provided on the setting ring 18 . there is still one more mark 24 provided on the setting ring 18 to indicate the vibration mode of the dual , function electrical hand drill 10 . a reference indicator 26 is provided on the casing 14 to indicate the selection of the torque output levels and the operation modes 20 , 22 and 24 . with particular reference to fig2 wherein an exploded perspective view of the dual - function electrical hand drill 10 is shown , the hand drill 10 comprises a torque or rotation source , such as an electrical motor 30 which is fixed inside the interior space defined by the casing 14 . a power switch 31 ( fig1 ) disposed on the handle 12 and accessible by the operator is provided to turn on / off the motor 30 . the motor 30 may be powered by battery set . 33 , as illustrated in fig1 or external power source ( not shown ). with further reference to fig3 the motor 30 has a spindle 32 to which speed reduction means 34 is coupled to rotate about a rotational axis . the speed reduction means 34 comprises a number of gears forming a speed reduction gear train which may have any structure that is well known to those having ordinary skill in mechanical engineering . an example of the speed reduction gear train is illustrated in fig3 . with particular reference to fig3 the speed reduction means 34 adapted in the dual - function electrical hand drill 10 comprises three planetary gear sets , of which the first planetary gear set comprises a first sun gear 36 secured to the spindle 32 of the motor 30 . the first planetary gear set has a first ring gear 38 fixed to the motor 30 to be stationary inside the casing 14 . the first planetary gear set also comprises first planetary gears 40 which are engageable between the first sun gear 36 and the first ring gear 38 and are respectively rotatably mounted to sun gear 42 of the second planetary gear set . the second planetary gear set has a ring gear 44 which is movable under the control of a switching lever 46 which is in turn controlled by a switch 48 slidably mounted on the casing 14 ( see fig1 ) and accessible by the operator to set between a high speed condition or a low speed condition . the switching lever 46 has two legs 50 on which two inward projections 52 are formed to be receivable within a circumferential slot 54 formed on the movable second ring gear 44 so as to move the second ring gear 44 between a rotatable position , corresponding to the high speed condition of the speed reduction means 34 , and a fixed position , corresponding to the low speed condition . the second planetary gear set has planetary gears 55 rotatably mounted to sun gear 56 of the third planetary gear set which is rotated about the rotational axis of the spindle 32 . the third sun gear 86 is coupled to an adjusting ring gear 58 , which functions as the ring gear of the third planetary gear set , via planetary gears 60 of the third planetary gear set . the third planetary gears 60 are rotatably mounted to an adaptor 62 which has an engaging hole 64 formed thereon to receive and thus drivingly engage an elongated driving shaft 66 ( see fig2 ) which will be further discussed hereinafter . as illustrated , the adjusting ring gear 58 comprises an elongated cylinder inside which inner teeth 67 are formed . the adjusting ring gear 58 has an inward flange 68 formed on an end to define a ring - like end surface on which a plurality of round raised sections 70 are formed , preferably in an equally - spaced manner , and defining therebetween recessed sections 72 . the speed reduction means 34 also comprises a housing member 74 defining therein a first interior space 76 ( fig6 ) into which the speed reduction gear train is received through an end opening 77 thereof . the first interior space 76 has formed therein a ring gear 78 engageable with the an outer toothed section 80 of the movable ring gear 44 to allow the movable ring gear 44 to be fixed - relative to the housing member 74 which is the fixed position of the ring gear 44 . the housing member 74 is fixed to the motor 30 by means of for example screws to be stationary relative to the casing 14 of the electrical hand drill 10 . the securing of the housing member 74 to the motor 30 provides a complete enclosure of the speed reduction gear train inside the housing member 74 . with reference to fig2 and 6 , a vibration generating base 82 is provided as a cylindrical member which is smaller in diameter than a top opening 84 ( fig6 ) of the housing member 74 and is partially received and secured within the top opening 84 of the housing member 74 . the vibration generating base 82 has a circumferential flange 86 . preferably , the housing member 74 is made of plastics or the like by injection molding to form an inner circumferential groove which tightly encloses the outer edge of the flange 86 so as to fix the vibration generating base 82 relative to the housing member 74 . the adjusting ring gear 58 is rotatably secured to an end of the vibration generating base 82 which is located inside the housing member 74 by means of a bearing ring 88 and a c - clip 90 . the c - clip 90 is received within a circumferential groove 91 formed on the end of the vibration generating base 82 disposed inside the housing member 74 to secure the adjusting ring gear 58 to the vibration generating base 82 and thus the housing member 74 . a plurality of holes 92 ( fig6 ) are formed on the flange 86 of the vibration generating base 82 to each receive therein a spherical member 94 as shown in fig4 and 5 . the spherical members 94 are received within the holes 92 in such a manner that they are partially projecting out of the holes 92 and entering into and resting in the recessed sections 72 of the inward flange 68 of the adjusting ring gear 58 . a helical spring 96 ( also see fig4 and 5 ) is loosely fit over the cylindrical vibration generating base 82 to have one end thereof acting against the spherical members 94 to serve as biasing means for forcing the spherical members 94 against the inward flange 68 of the adjusting ring gear 58 . preferably , a washer 98 is disposed between the helical spring 96 and the spherical members 94 . preferably , the top opening 84 of the housing member 74 defines a ring - like groove 100 ( fig6 ) within which the end of the spring 96 acting upon the spherical members 94 is received so as to prevent the helical spring 96 from disengaging from the spherical members 94 . with reference to fig2 the driving shaft 66 has a circumferential ring 102 formed thereon which divides the length of the driving shaft 66 into an outer section 104 to which the chuck 16 is releasably secured with any means known to those having ordinary skill is in the art and an inner section 106 which is partially received within the vibration generating base 82 and the housing member 74 to engage the speed reduction gear train . further referring to fig4 - 6 , a mode switching ring 108 is rotatably and movably fit over the inner section 106 of the driving shaft 66 . the mode switching ring 108 defines therein a circumferential shoulder 110 which cooperates with the circumferential ring 102 of the driving shaft 66 to retain therebetween biasing means , preferably a conical spring 112 , having one end abutting against the circumferential ring 102 of the driving shaft 66 , preferably with a washer 114 therebetween . the opposite end of the conical spring 112 is supported on the circumferential shoulder 110 of the mode switching ring 108 by means of bearing means 116 which comprises , in general , a number of bearing balls 118 sandwiched between two washers 120 and 122 ( see fig2 ). a ring member 124 is press fit over the inner section 106 of the driving shaft 66 at a pre - determined position , preferably defined by a circumferential shoulder 126 formed on the inner section 106 of the driving shaft 66 . the ring member 124 has a first end surface 128 abutting against the circumferential shoulder 126 to position the ring 124 on the pre - determined position . the first end surface 128 of the ring 124 has a diameter substantially greater than the circumferential shoulder 126 so as to serve as a stop for limiting the movability of the mode switching ring 108 relative to the driving shaft 66 . the ring member 124 has a second , opposite end surface 130 on which a serration is formed . the inner section 106 of the driving shaft 66 is rotatably receivable within the vibration generating base 82 to have a free end 132 of the inner section 106 of the driving shaft 66 , which is shaped to be in driving engagement with the engaging hole 64 of the adapter 62 , extend into and thus engage the engaging hole 64 so as to be coupled to the speed reduction means 34 . the cylindrical vibration generating base 82 has formed therein a recess 134 having a bottom 136 which is serrated in correspondence with the serrated end surface 130 of the ring member 124 . a through hole 138 is formed on the serrated bottom 136 to allow the free end 132 of the driving shaft 66 to extend therethrough to be engaged by the engaging hole 64 of the adapter 62 . a circumferential step 140 is formed in the recess 134 with a plurality of notches 142 , preferably three , formed thereon . it should be noted that in the drawings , only two of the notches 142 are visible . each of the notches 142 is provided with an inclined side edge 143 . corresponding to the step 140 of the recess 134 , the mode switching ring 108 has a circumferential shoulder 144 formed thereon to be supported by and movable on the step 142 . the circumferential shoulder 144 has a plurality of projections 146 , corresponding to the notches 142 of the step 140 , formed thereon to be receivable within the notches 142 . the rotation of the mode switching ring 108 moves the shoulder 144 thereof relative to the step 140 so as to have the projections 146 trapped into the notches 142 and the shoulder 144 in direct contact with the step 142 . each of the projections 146 is provided with an inclined side 147 to cooperate with the inclined side edge 143 of the notches 142 for helping the projections 146 moving out of the notches 142 when the mode switching ring 108 is rotated reversely . once the projections 146 are moved out of the notches 142 , the shoulder 144 is out of contact engagement with the step 140 and is supported on the step 140 by the projections 146 which are provided with a flat lower end 149 . fig5 shows the condition when the projections 146 of the mode switching ring 108 are rotated to move into the notches 142 of the vibration generating base 82 and this corresponds to the vibration mode of the operation of the dual - function electrical hand drill 10 . fig4 shows a different condition wherein the projections 146 of the mode switching ring 108 are moved out of the notches 142 which corresponds to the rotation mode of the operation of the dual - function electrical hand drill 10 . the driving shaft 66 is rotatably secured within the vibration generating base 82 which is in turn fixed to the housing member 74 and thus the motor 30 and the casing 14 by means of a bushing 148 which is disposed between the hole 138 and the shaft 66 and is fixed to the driving shaft 66 by a c - clip 150 , preferably with a washer 152 therebetween ( also see fig3 ). the bushing 148 has a circumferential flange 154 which abuts against a circumferential shoulder 156 ( fig6 ) formed inside the hole 138 to prevent the driving shaft 66 from disengaging from the vibration generating base 82 . with reference to fig2 and 4 - 6 , the setting ring 18 has a cylindrical side wall 158 with a cap portion 160 secured to one end thereof and having an opening 162 ( fig6 ) to receive therethrough the outer section 104 of the driving shaft 66 . the opening 162 of the setting ring 18 is bearingly supported on the circumferential ring 102 of the driving shaft 66 and the side wall 158 of the setting ring 18 extends substantially to such a position slightly overlapping the top opening 84 of the housing member 74 . the setting ring 18 has therein a first ring - like inner wall 164 on which at least an elongated rib 166 , preferably three , extending from the opening 162 toward the mode switching ring 108 to be drivingly engageable with slots 168 formed on the mode switching ring 108 so that by the rotation of the setting ring 18 , the mode - switching ring 108 is rotated to have the projections 146 thereof moved into and / or out of the notches 142 of the vibration generating base 82 . the setting ring 18 has also formed therein a second ring - like inner wall 170 surrounding the first inner wall 164 . the second inner wall 170 is divided into a number of sections 172 , preferably three , each defining on the free edge thereof a number of segments 174 , preferably five , having step - by - step reduced heights so that the heights thereof are changed from the shortest one 174 &# 34 ; to the highest one 174 &# 34 ;. preferably , each of the segments 174 has a round or arcuate end contour . a ring member 176 ( fig2 ) having a number of raised pimples 178 , corresponding to the sections 172 of the second inner wall 170 of the setting ring 18 is disposed between the helical spring 96 and the second inner wall 170 with the pimples 178 in contact engagement with the sections 172 of the second inner wall 170 . a collar 180 which is fit over the cylindrical vibration generating base 82 and which has a side flange 182 to support the spring 96 is interposed between the ring member 176 and the helical spring 96 to support and guide the helical spring 96 . with such an arrangement , the rotation of the setting ring 18 along a first direction moves the sections 172 of the second inner wall 170 relative to the ring member 176 from one segment 174 thereof to a next one and thus change the length of the helical spring 96 . the change in length of the helical spring 96 results in a change of force applied to the spherical members 94 by the spring 96 . this in turn changes the resistance against the spherical members 94 moving from one of the recessed sections 72 of the inward flange 68 of the adjusting ring gear 58 to the next one and thus the force resisting the rotation of the adjusting ring gear 58 . apparently , when the pimples 178 are located on the highest segments 174 &# 34 ; of the sections 172 of the second inner wall 170 , the spring 96 is compressed most and the force acting upon the spherical members 94 is the largest which in turn makes the adjusting ring gear 58 most difficult to rotate and thus may be considered stationary , if the spring 96 is properly selected . the more difficult to rotate the adjusting ring gear 58 , the slower it rotates and the faster the third planetary gears 60 orbits about the third sun gear 56 and as a consequence , the driving shaft 66 is rotated faster . on the other hand , if the pimples 178 are located on the shortest segments 174 &# 39 ; of the sections 172 of the second inner wall 170 , the spring 96 is compressed least and the force acting upon the spherical members 94 is the smallest which in turn makes the adjusting ring gear 58 easiest to rotate . the easier to rotate the adjusting ring gear 58 , the faster it rotates and the slower the third planetary gears 60 orbit about the third sun gear 56 and as a consequence , the driving shaft 66 is rotated slower . by this way , the output speed of the driving shaft 66 is adjustable . in accordance with the present invention , each of the segments 174 of the sections 172 of the second inner wall 170 corresponds to one of the torque output levels which are designated by the reference 20 in fig1 and respectively numbered 1 - 5 so that the rotation of the setting ring 18 between different output levels changes the force of the spring 96 acting upon the spherical members 94 so as to set the rotational speed of the driving shaft 66 to the desired value . preferably , a stop 184 is formed next to the highest segment 174 &# 34 ; and the shortest segment 174 &# 39 ; of each of the sections 172 of the second inner wall 170 to prevent the helical spring 96 from further elongation or compression . the locations of the notches 142 on the step 140 of the vibration generating base 140 are so selected that only when the setting ring 18 is further rotated from the position where the helical spring 96 is compressed most , the projections 146 are allowed to enter the notches 142 and thus allowing the shoulder 144 of the mode switch ring 108 to be in direct contact with the step 140 , as shown in fig5 and this corresponds to the vibration mode of the dual - function electrical hand drill 10 of the present invention . by using the setting ring 18 to set the dual - function electrical hand drill 10 to the vibration mode , as shown in fig5 a reaction force f ( fig5 ) reacts against the driving shaft 66 through the drilling bit ( not shown ) and the chuck 16 by the work piece ( not shown ), and moves the shaft 66 , against the conical spring 112 , toward the serrated bottom 136 of the recess 134 formed inside the vibration generating base 82 to have the serrated end surface 130 of the ring member 124 to engage the serrated bottom 136 so as to generate a vibration or to - and - fro movement of the driving shaft 66 relative to the vibration generating base 82 . the notches 142 have such a depth and the conical spring 112 has such an overall compression that when the projections 146 are out of engagement therewith , as shown in fig4 wherein the shoulder 144 of the mode switching ring 108 is supported above the step 140 by the projections 146 , the compression of the conical spring 112 does not allow the serrated end surface 130 of the ring member 124 to engage the serrated bottom 136 of the recess 134 formed inside the vibration generating base 82 and thus no vibration or to - and - fro movement of the driving shaft 66 relative to the vibration generating base 82 is generated . it is apparent that although the invention has been described in connection with the preferred embodiment , it is contemplated that those skilled in the art may make changes to the preferred embodiment without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims . | 1 |
a right shoe 10 is shown in fig1 typically having a vamp area 12 , a quarter area 14 and a counter area 16 . the vamp area 12 is that area directly in front of the lacing area of the shoe and normally overlies the toes of a foot . the quarter area 14 normally overlaps the mid - portion of the foot in front of the ankle . the counter 16 normally surrounds the heel of the foot . the outer side of the shoe 10 is designated , generally , by the numeral 7 and the inner side by the numeral 8 . ( see fig3 ). the counter 16 of the shoe is typically formed with an outer material , e . g . made of leather 19 and an inner soft , cushioned lining 20 of e . g . wool , dacron ® synthetic polyester fiber , or cotton . in the presently preferred embodiment of this invention , extending forwardly of the counter area 16 is a tongue 18 . the tongue 18 is typically formed of an outer fabric cover material 18a , and a cushioned lining therefor 18b . the tongue 18 is an integral and / or unitary extension of the lining 20 of the heel counter , as best seen in fig3 and 3a . thus , the tongue 18 extends forwardly of the heel counter area 16 , and underlies the quarter section 14 . the tongue 18 need not be stitched or otherwise attached at its leading edge 21 , but can be stitched as its leading edge 21 , if desired . the trailing edge of the tongue 22 lies just to the rear of the quarter section 14 . the inner side or medial edge 23 of the tongue 18 ( fig2 ) is preferably flexibly anchored to the shoe 10 by means of an elasticized strip of fabric 25 , attached to the sole 26 of the shoe in a conventional manner . such construction permits the tongue 18 to be mounted stably along the longitudinal axis of the shoe , but still permits up - down movement along such axis . an adjustable sleeve or channel is thus provided by the elasticized strip 25 and tongue 18 which extends integrally from the heel counter lining 20 , as best seen in fig3 and 3a , through which the wearer &# 39 ; s foot may easily pass . when the tongue 18 is an integral extension of the heel counter lining 20 , stitching normally required to affix the tongue to the vamp can be eliminated , if desired . at the same time , the comfort provided is superior to the normal tongue construction because of the integration of the tongue with the heel counter lining 20 . such construction enables the foot to be enveloped by the tongue construction resulting in more of a &# 34 ; glove fit ,&# 34 ; and without the layering of material necessarily required in stitching the tongue to the vamp in the normal tongue construction of the prior art . while the construction shown in fig1 - 3a is presently preferred , the inner edge 23 of tongue 18 need not be anchored by strip 25 . an embodiment wherein the inner edge 23 of the tongue 18 is not anchored by an elasticized strip 25 is illustrated in fig1 - 12a and is described further below . a second embodiment of this invention is shown in fig4 - 6 . the shoe 30 has vamp , counter , and quarter sections 32 , 34 , 36 , respectively . these sections of the shoe are as above described with reference to fig1 - 3 . in this embodiment , the tongue section 38 is a unitary extension of section 40 , the lower edge 51 of which is anchored to sole 50 , by conventional means , section 40 being placed in an area occupied by both counter and quarter areas of the shoe . the tongue 38 has a free unattached leading edge 42 , a trailing edge 44 and an inner side or medial edge 46 . the tongue 38 is provided with a fabric or leather covering 47 , and is normally lined with a cushioned material 48 made of cotton or synthetic material . the inner side edge 46 of tongue 38 is preferably flexibly anchored to the sole 50 by an elasticized fabric or mesh strip 52 , strip 52 being affixed to inner edge 46 and affixed to the sole 50 in a conventional manner . such construction provides a flexible channel through which the wearer &# 39 ; s foot can pass -- as best seen in fig6 . counter sections 54 and 56 carry lacing eyelets or d - rings 57 in a conventional manner . a third embodiment of this invention is shown in fig7 - 9a . the shoe 60 has vamp , quarter , and counter sections 62 , 64 and 66 respectively , all affixed to sole 67 by conventional means . in this embodiment , the tongue section 68 is a unitary extension of sole - anchored quarter section 64 . the tongue section 68 has a free unattached forward edge 72 , a rear trailing edge 74 , and an inner side edge 76 ( see fig9 and 9a ). the inner side 76 may be flexibly anchored to the sole by elasticized strip 78 ( see fig9 ). the lacing d - rings 81 are carried by upper quarter sections 80 , 82 , these upper sections ( usually made of leather ) overlying tongue 68 . upper sections 80 , 82 are attached to lower support sections 84 , 86 respectively , made usually of stiffer material than leather , sections 84 , 86 being anchored to the sole 67 in a conventional manner . fig1 - 12a show a fourth embodiment wherein no elasticized strip is used to anchor the inner edge 23 of the tongue to the junction of the uppers and the sole . for convenience and clarity of presentation , the same reference numerals used to describe fig1 - 3a are applied to describe the features of fig1 - 12a , except that no elasticized strip of fabric is used to anchor the inner side or medial edge 23 of the tongue to the junction of the uppers and the sole . although the shoe 10 is shown with its tongue 18 extending from the lateral side of the shoe , with its initially free edge 23 lying on the medial side of the shoe , the shoe can be constructed so that its tongue extends from the medial side of the shoe to the lateral side of the shoe . fig1 - 16 show a fifth embodiment of the shoe wherein the tongue 18 extends from the medial side of the heel counter , and its lateral edge is attached with an elasticized strip of fabric to the lateral edge of the shoe . this embodiment is identical in all other respects to the first embodiment of the shoe , which is depicted in fig1 - 3a , and whose reference numeral are applicable to fig1 - 16 . it should be borne in mind that the drawings are not rendered in actual scale so that certain features of the invention can be brought out and depicted . the drawings and the foregoing description are not intended to represent the only form of the invention in regard to the details of this construction and manner of operation . in fact , it will be evident to one skilled in the art that modifications and variations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . although specific terms have been employed , they are intended in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for the purpose of limitation , the scope of the invention being delineated in the following claims . | 0 |
abbreviations : hmads cells (“ human multipotent adipose - derived stem cells ”); wat (“ white adipose tissue ”); bat (“ brown adipose tissue ”); ppar (“ peroxisome proliferator - activated receptor ”); ppre (“ peroxisome proliferator - responsive element ”); ucp1 (“ uncoupling protein 1 ”); ucp2 (“ uncoupling protein 2 ”); pgc - 1α ( β ) (“ pparγ coactivator α ( β )”); ctbp - 1 (“ c - terminal - binding protein - 1 ”); ar (“ adrenergic receptor ”); cidea (“ cell death - inducing dff45 - like effector a ”); naip (“ neuronal apoptosis inhibitory protein ”); ctp - 1b (“ carnitine palmitoyltransferase - 1b ”); pka (“ protein kinase a ”); t3 (“ 3 , 5 , 3 ′- tri - iodothyronine ”); tbp (“ tata - box binding protein ”); prdm16 (“ pr - domain zinc finger protein 16 ”); bax (“ bcl - 2 - associated x protein ”); bcl - 2 (“ b - cell cll / lymphoma - 2 ”). cell culture : preparation and characterization of hmads cell multipotence and self - renewal have been described ( rodriguez , a . m ., et al ., biochem biophys res commun , 2004 . 315 ( 2 ): p . 255 - 63 ; rodriguez , a . m ., et al ., j exp med , 2005 . 201 ( 9 ): p . 1397 - 405 ; zaragosi , l . e . et al ., stem cells , 2006 . 24 ( 11 ): p . 2412 - 9 ; elabd , c , et al ., biochem biophys res commun , 2007 . 361 ( 2 ): p . 342 - 8 ). cells of the hmads - 2 line were established from adipose tissue from the pubic area of a donor aged 5 ; they were used between passages 16 and 35 ( 35 to 100 doublings of the cell population ). the cells were cultured at a density of 4 , 500 cells / cm 2 in dmem ( dulbecco &# 39 ; s modified eagle medium ) enriched with 10 % fetal calf serum , 2 . 5 ng / ml hfgf 2 , 60 μg / ml penicillin and 50 μg / ml streptomycin . after a change of medium every 2 days , when the cells become confluent , hfgf 2 is eliminated and the cells induced to differentiate 2 days later , defining day 0 of differentiation . the adipocyte differentiation medium consists of dmem / h12 ( 1 : 1 , v / v ) enriched with 10 μg / ml transferrin , 0 . 85 μm insulin , 0 . 2 nm t 3 , 1 μm dexamethasone ( dex ) and 500 μm isobutylmethylxanthine ( ibmx ). three days later , the medium is changed ( dex and ibmx omitted ) and rosiglitazone added at the indicated concentrations and days . the medium is then changed every 2 days before using the cells . the determination of glycerol - 3 phosphate dehydrogenase ( gpdh ) activity and lipid staining with oil red 0 have been previously described ( negrel , r . et al ., proc natl acad sci usa , 1978 . 75 ( 12 ): p . 6054 - 8 ; bezy , o ., et al ., j biol chem , 2005 . 280 ( 12 ): p . 11432 - 8 ). rna purification and analysis : rna extraction , the use of reverse transcriptase and determination of mrna levels by real - time quantitative rt - pcr have been described ( zaragosi , l . e et al ., stem cells , 2006 . 24 ( 11 ): p . 2412 - 9 ; elabd , c , et al ., biochem biophys res commun , 2007 . 361 ( 2 ): p . 342 - 8 ; bezy , o ., et al ., j biol chem , 2005 . 280 ( 12 ): p . 11432 - 8 ). expression of the genes of interest was normalized compared with the one of the tbp gene and was quantified using the δct comparative method . the sequences of oligonucleotide primers , obtained using the primer express software ( perkin elmer life sciences ), are described in table 1 below . immunoblot analysis : total cellular lysates are analyzed by immunoblot as previously described ( bezy , o ., et al ., j biol chem , 2005 . 280 ( 12 ): p . 11432 - 8 ). the primary antibodies obtained from the rabbit , anti - human ucp1 and anti - tbp , are products from santa cruz biotechnology ( santa cruz , calif ., usa ) and the secondary antibodies ( conjugated with horseradish peroxidase ) are products from promega ( charbonnières , france ). the “ enhanced chemiluminescence ” system ( millipore , saint - quentin - yvelines , france ) was used for detection . determination of oxygen consumption : oxygen consumption was measured using two - chamber injection respirometer equipped with a peltier thermostat , clark electrodes and integrated magnetic stirrers ( oroboros , innsbruck , austria ). measurements were made at 37 ° c . with constant stirring in a volume of 2 ml of dmem / f12 medium ( 1 : 1 , v / v ) containing 10 % fetal calf serum . before each measurement , the medium present in the chambers was equilibrated with air for 30 min , and then the freshly - trypsinized cells were transferred to this medium . after having reached a stationary respiratory state , atp synthase was inhibited using oligomycin ( 0 . 25 - 0 . 5 mg / l ) and the respiratory activity of the cells titrated in the presence of the uncoupling agent carbonyl cyanide 3 - chlorophenylhydrazone ( cccp ) at optimal concentrations of 1 - 2 μm . the respiratory chain was blocked with 1 μg / ml antimycin a . oxygen consumption was calculated using the datagraph software ( oroboros software ). basal respiratory activity corresponds to oxygen consumption sensitive to antimycin a . respiratory activity was stimulated in the presence of 1 μm isoprenaline added extemporaneously in the injection chamber , with measurements made as described above . statistical analysis : the data are expressed as mean ± sd and are analyzed by the student &# 39 ; s t - test . differences are considered significant for p & lt ; 0 . 05 . ucp1 and brown adipocyte markers are expressed during the hmads cells differentiation as previously described ( rodriguez , a . m ., et al ., biochem biophys res commun , 2004 . 315 ( 2 ): p . 255 - 63 ), the pparγ activation is necessary for adipocytic differentiation of hmads - 2 cells ( fig1 a ). the cells treatment for 6 days with increasing concentrations of rosiglitazone , between days 3 and 9 , leads to lipid accumulation and to the expression of gpdh and pparγ genes . an additional treatment of one week does not change the expression of gpdh and pparγ genes . on day 16 , 20 nm rosiglitazone is sufficient to induce a maximum response , which is consistent with the pparγ affinity for this ligand ( fig1 a - c ). the totality of the results underscores that a 6 - day exposure of hmads - 2 cells to rosiglitazone enables the maximum expression of key white adipocytes markers . on the other hand , such an exposure between days 3 and 9 leads only to a very weak expression of mrna and the ucp1 protein . however , a 20 nm exposure between days 3 and 16 leads to their strong expression ( fig2 a , b ). contrary to ucp1 , a strong expression of ucp2 mrna is still observed on day 9 ; it is increased by a longer exposure ( fig2 c ) and the ucp2 protein is then detected ( b . miroux and c . ricquier , personal communication ). these results suggest that the duration of treatment with rosiglitazone modulates the expression of the ucp1 gene . similarly , expression of the cidea gene , reported as closely associated with that of ucp1 , is increased ( fig2 d ) ( zhou , z ., et al ., nat genet , 2003 . 35 ( 1 ): p . 49 - 56 ). compared with white adipocytes , brown adipocytes have very high mitochondriogenesis ( wilson - fritch , l ., et al ., j clin invest , 2004 . 114 ( 9 ): p . 1281 - 9 ). indeed , the levels of mrna coding for mitochondrial carnitine palmitoyltransferase ( cpt1b ) are strongly increased when hmads - 2 cells switch from the white phenotype to the brown phenotype ( fig2 e ). unexpectedly , levels of pparα , pgc - 1α , pgc - 1β and prdm16 are similar in adipocytes expressing the white or brown phenotypes ( fig6 ). it is known that rodent brown adipocytes are more susceptible to apoptosis than white adipocytes in vitro and in vivo . these adipocytes express both the anti - apoptotic bcl - 2 protein and the pro - apoptotic bax protein ( briscini et al ., febs lett 1998 . 431 , 80 - 84 ; lindquist and rehnmark , j biol chem 1998 . 273 , 30147 - 30156 ; nisoli et al ., cell death differ 2006 . 13 , 2154 - 2156 ). contrary to rodents , human white adipocytes have a high susceptibility to apoptosis which appears to be related to the weak expression of the anti - apoptotic genes bcl - 2 and naip ( papineau et al ., metabolism 2003 . 52 , 987 - 992 ). unexpectedly , the switch of hmads cells from the white phenotype to the brown phenotype is accompanied by an increase in the expression of the anti - apoptotic gene bcl - 2 and a decrease in the expression of the pro - apoptotic bax gene , with the ratio of bcl - 2 to bax passing from 1 to 3 . 7 ( fig7 ), which implies , depending on the species , a different expression pattern of genes associated with apoptosis . insofar as ucp1 ( fig2 ), β3 - adrenergic receptor ( fig3 a ) and β2 - ar receptor ( result not shown ) are expressed when hmads - 2 cells are exposed to rosiglitazone between days 3 and 16 , the functional response to β - agonists was analyzed . as fig3 b and 3c indicate , the expression of ucp1 mrna and ucp1 protein are significantly increased after a stimulation for 6 h with isoproterenol , a pan - agonist for β receptors , and by the compound cl316243 , a selective β3 agonist , at concentrations of 10 - 100 nm . in short , a prolonged chronic activation of pparγ leads to the expression of ucp1 and to the acquisition of a functional response to β agonists . regulation of ucp1 expression occurs in hmads cells previously differentiated into white adipocytes with the previous experiments , it is not possible to know if a long - term treatment of hmads cells is necessary for the acquisition of a brown phenotype , or if a brief exposure to rosiglitazone of hmads cells already differentiated into white adipocytes enables their transdifferentiation . for this purpose , hmads - 2 cells were exposed beforehand to rosiglitazone between days 3 and 9 , the ligand eliminated and then added between days 14 and 16 . the results show that this 2 - day treatment of white adipocytes is sufficient to stimulate the expression of ucp1 , cidea and cpt1b genes ( fig4 a ). this effect is specific to pparγ , the activation of pparβ / δ and pparα by the specific ligands wy14643 and l165041 , respectively , not inducing the expression of the ucp1 protein . the replacement of rosiglitazone by polyunsaturated fatty acids as activators / ligands of ppars ( arachidonic , eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids present at 10 μm ) appears to have no effect on the ucp1 gene expression ( results not shown ). all these observations show that a specific activation of pparγ for a brief period is sufficient for the white adipocytes to acquire a brown adipocyte phenotype . the rosiglitazone effects on ucp1 expression are not restricted to hmads - 2 cells ; they are also observed with hmads - 1 and hmads - cells ( rodriguez , a . m ., et al ., j exp med , 2005 . 201 ( 9 ): p . 1397 - 405 ), which were established from adipose tissue from the umbilical region of a donor aged 31 months and from pre - pubic adipose tissue from a donor aged 4 months , respectively ( fig8 and results not shown ). oxygen consumption and respiratory decoupling of hmads cells differentiated into white and brown adipocytes one major characteristic of brown adipocytes is an intense respiratory activity and an important decoupling of oxidative phosphorylation . oxygen consumption , determined using an oxygen - sensitive electrode ( cannon , b . and j . nedergaard , physiol rev , 2004 . 84 ( 1 ): p . 277 - 359 ) made it possible to measure relative respiration rates . the results show the significant effect of a long - term treatment with rosiglitazone on total and uncoupled respiratory activities . after 20 days of chronic exposure enabling the acquisition of the brown phenotype , compared with the values obtained with hmads - 2 cells exposed between days 3 and 9 and expressing the white phenotype , these two activities are increased by a factor of 3 and 2 . 5 , respectively ( fig5 a and b ). when hmads - 2 cells are differentiated beforehand into white adipocytes , and then treated later between days 16 and 20 with rosiglitazone , the increase in total and uncoupled respiratory activities is reduced but remains quite notable ( fig5 a and b ). an important stimulation of oxygen consumption by a specific β - adrenergic receptor agonist such as isoproterenol is also observed during the acquisition of a brown phenotype ( fig5 c ). these results show that acquisition of the brown phenotype by hmads - 2 cells is accompanied as expected via ucp1 by an increase in oxygen consumption , uncoupling activity and stimulation of respiration by a specific β - adrenergic receptor agonist , demonstrating that the brown adipocytes obtained from hmads cells are functional . the fluorodeoxyglucose - positron - emission technique recently made it possible to show , in healthy adult humans , the presence of active brown adipose tissue in sites distinct from white adipose tissue ( nedergaard , j . et al ., am j physiol endocrinol metab , 2007 . 293 ( 2 ): p . e444 - 52 ). thus , contrary to the consensus that prevailed during recent decades , these important observations suggest the possibility of stimulating the metabolic activity of bat in order to modulate energy expenditure in man . indeed , brown adipose tissue in rodents plays an important role in adaptive thermogenesis , its ablation by transgenesis leading to obesity and a dysfunction being observed in obese rodents ( cannon , b . and j . nedergaard , physiol rev , 2004 . 84 ( 1 ): p . 277 - 359 ; lowell , b . b ., et al ., nature , 1993 . 366 ( 6457 ): p . 740 - 2 ), whereas in man the role of bat remains a subject of debate ( cinti , s ., nutr metab cardiovasc dis , 2006 . 16 ( 8 ): p . 569 - 74 ). pharmacologically speaking , taking into account all these observations , the development of a model of human brown adipocytes should thus prove to be of utmost importance . our results show for the first time that multipotent human stem cells , established from the adipose tissue of young donors and already known to differentiate into white adipocytes ( rodriguez , a . m ., et al ., biochem biophys res commun , 2004 . 315 ( 2 ): p . 255 - 63 ; rodriguez , a . m ., et al ., j exp med , 2005 . 201 ( 9 ): p . 1397 - 405 ), are also capable of giving rise to brown adipocytes . biologically speaking , our results support the hypothesis according to which hmads cells are immature stem cells whose lineage would be upstream of white and brown lineages . once engaged in the brown lineage , hmads cells exhibit all the characteristics of rodent brown adipocytes ; they express the ucp1 , cidea , pgc - 1α , pgc - 1β and prdm16 genes as well as three members of the ppar family . crucially , acquisition of the brown phenotype is accompanied by an important increase in respiratory and uncoupling activities . the positive modulation of ucp1 expression by isoproterenol and the compound cl316243 demonstrates that the signaling pathway generated by j - adrenergic receptors , in particular β3 receptors , is also functional in these cells . up to this date , the presence and role of β3 - adrenergic receptors in man has been much debated ( lafontan , m . and m . berlan , trends pharmacol sci , 2003 . 24 ( 6 ): p . 276 - 83 ). thus , brown adipocytes of young baboons weakly express these receptors but no lipolysis is observed in response to four β3 - adrenergic agonists ( viguerie - bascands , n ., et al ., j clin endocrinol metab , 1996 . 81 ( 1 ): p . 368 - 75 ). in addition , human brown adipocytes immortalized by transgenesis and expressing β3 - adrenergic receptors show only weak lipolytic activity in response to cgp12177a , a partial β3 agonist , and these receptors appear only weakly coupled with adenylate cyclase ( zilberfarb , v ., et al ., j cell sci , 1997 . 110 ( pt 7 ): p . 801 - 7 ; jockers , r ., et al ., endocrinology , 1998 . 139 ( 6 ): p . 2676 - 84 ). in both cases , no stimulation of ucp1 expression and no uncoupling respiratory activity have been reported in response to a specific β3 agonist , contrary to the results of our work . moreover , no stimulation of respiratory activity by a specific β - adrenergic receptor agonist has been reported . rosiglitazone belongs to the family of thiazolidinediones , a class of insulin - sensitizing molecules used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes ( olefsky , j . m . and a . r . saltiel , trends endocrinol metab , 2000 . 11 ( 9 ): p . 362 - 8 ). it promotes terminal adipocyte differentiation by specifically activating pparγ ( rodriguez , a . m ., et al ., biochem biophys res commun , 2004 . 315 ( 2 ): p . 255 - 63 ; tai , t . a ., et al ., j biol chem , 1996 . 271 ( 47 ): p . 29909 - 14 ; forman , b . m ., et al ., cell , 1995 . 83 ( 5 ): p . 803 - 12 ). pparγ activation occurs in white preadipocytes as well as in brown preadipocytes and leads to their differentiation into white and brown adipocytes , respectively ( nedergaard , j ., et al ., biochim biophys acta , 2005 . 1740 ( 2 ): p . 293 - 304 ; petrovic , n . et al ., am j physiol endocrinol metab , ( may 20 , 2008 ). doi : 10 . 1152 / ajpendo . 00035 . 2008 ). notably , in spite of the presence of rosiglitazone and in spite of the fact that activation of the pka pathway by the dex / ibmx “ cocktail ” proves to be indispensable during the first three days of differentiation , this stimulatory effect appears insufficient and only differentiation into white adipocytes occurs . after elimination of dex / ibmx from the culture medium , it is striking to note that the acquisition of a brown adipocyte phenotype by hmads cells no longer depends on the duration of activation on pparγ by rosiglitazone even though pgc - 1α , pgc - 1β and prdm16 are already fully expressed in cells expressing the white phenotype . it is known that in the mouse , prdm16 induces in white adipocytes the expression of ucp1 although activation of pparγ is necessary for the expression of cidea and mitochondrial components ( seale , p ., et al ., cell metab , 2007 . 6 ( 1 ): p . 38 - 54 ). our results are in agreement with these observations and with the presence of a ppar response element in the promoter of the cidea gene ( viswakarma , n ., et al ., j biol chem , 2007 . 282 ( 25 ): p . 18613 - 24 ). however , it can not be excluded that , beyond the expression of prdm16 , pgc - 1α and pgc - 1β , a prolonged exposure to rosiglitazone does not induce other molecular events which are also necessary for the full acquisition of a brown phenotype . a differential transcriptomic analysis between hmads cells treated briefly or for a long time with rosiglitazone should provide answers to this hypothesis . rosiglitazone , while normalizing glycemia and insulinemia , leads to an increase in body weight in animals as well as in many patients ( carmona , m . c ., et al ., int j obes ( land ), 2005 . 29 ( 7 ): p . 864 - 71 ; goldberg , r . b ., curr opin lipidol , 2007 . 18 ( 4 ): p . 435 - 42 ; home , p . d ., et al ., diabet med , 2007 . 24 ( 6 ): p . 626 - 34 ; joosen , a . m ., et al ., diabetes metab res rev , 2006 . 22 ( 3 ): p . 204 - 10 ). our results do not exclude the possibility that , in man , it also can , although insufficiently , increase bat activity observed in a large proportion of healthy individuals ( nedergaard , j . et al ., am j physiol endocrinol metab , 2007 . 293 ( 2 ): p . e444 - 52 ; cypess , a m et al ., n . engl . j . med . 2009 . 360 : p . 1509 - 17 ; saito , m . et al ., diabetes 2009 . publish ahead of print , online april 28 ; van marken lichtenbelt , w . et al ., n . engl . j . med . 2009 . 390 : p . 1500 - 08 ; virtanen , k a et al ., n . engl . j . med . 2009 . 360 : p . 1518 - 1525 ). the contribution of bat to energy expenditure , in the case of non - shivering thermogenesis or induced by a hypercaloric diet , is well established in rodents . in human , the differences in weight gain observed between individuals appear related to differences in their capacity to increase energy expenditure in response to ingesta ( lowell , b . b and e . s . bachman , j biol chem , 2003 . 278 ( 32 ): p . 29385 - 8 ), and the mass of brown adipose tissue is inversely proportional to the mass of white adipose tissue ( saito , m . et al ., diabetes 2009 . publish ahead of print , online april 28 ; virtanen , k a et al ., n . engl . j . med . 2009 . 360 : p . 1518 - 1525 ). if these observations are related to different capacities between individuals to increase the mass and / or the activity of bat , our model of human brown adipocytes should enable screening for molecules capable of increasing the formation and the functions of bat , in particular by stimulating prdm16 expression and respiratory and uncoupling capacities of cells . among the possibilities , an increase in ucp1 expression could be considered by means of the dual activation of the pka pathway via β - adrenergic receptors and via the tgr5 receptor activated by biliary salts ( watanabe , m ., et al ., nature , 2006 . 439 ( 7075 ): p . 484 - 9 ). the materials and methods are those indicated in part i of the examples section above . 1 — recent work showed in mouse i ) the existence of a myogenic signature of brown adipocytes distinct from the one of white adipocytes ( timmons et al ., 2007 ; seale et al ., 2008 , nature 454 : 961 - 967 ) and ii ) the possibility to generate brown adipocytes from white precursors by treatment with bone morphogentic protein 7 ( bmp7 ) ( tseng et al ., 2008 . nature 454 : 1000 - 1004 ) or by transgenesis ( tiraby , c . et al ., j . biol . chem . 2003 . 278 : p . 33370 - 76 ). we have shown that our human hmads cells do not have a muscle signature since they do not express the myf5 gene neither during the proliferation phase , nor during or after their differentiation into adipose cells as in osseous cells . moreover , treatment of hmads cells with bmp7 alone does not enable their differentiation into adipocytes in the absence of rosiglitazone , but rather leads to a weak increase in ucp - 1 protein expression in cells differentiated beforehand into white adipocytes . 2 — the effects of rosiglitazone on the hmads cells differentiation into white and brown adipocytes are mediated by the nuclear receptor pparγ . indeed , adding a pparγ antagonist , the compound gw 9662 , to the differentiation medium prevents on the one hand the differentiation of hmads cells into adipocytes , and on the other hand does not allow expression of the ucp - 1 gene in cells differentiated beforehand into white adipocytes . 3 — compared with white adipocytes , brown adipocytes exhibit a very strong mitochondriogenesis . we showed that the level of mrna coding for mitochondrial carnitine palmitoyltransferase ( ctp1b ) is strongly increased when hmads - 2 cells switch from the white phenotype to the brown phenotype . recent results show that the cytochrome c oxidase activity ( marker of the inner mitochondrial membrane ) is also increased in brown hmads adipocytes compared with white adipocytes , thus strengthening our observations regarding the increase in mitochondriogenesis during the transition from the white phenotype to the brown phenotype . 4 — in rodents , biliary acids from intestinal reabsorption bind to a receptor coupled with g proteins ( tgr5 ) located on the plasma membrane of brown adipocytes . the production of camp stimulates the expression of type ii iodothyronine deiodinase which increases the intracellular concentrations of t3 . the latter then stimulate mitochondrial decoupling via ucp and the dissipation of energy in the form of heat ( watanabe et al ., 2006 ). in human , such a system has never been described . hmads cells express the tgr5 gene during adipocyte differentiation thus making it possible to consider pharmacological studies on respiration decoupling using tgr5 receptor agonist ligands . ailhaud , g ., grimaldi , p ., and negrel , r . 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the essential feature of intermittent explosive disorder is the occurrence of discrete episodes of failure to resist aggressive impulses that result in serious assaultive acts or destruction of property . the degree of aggressiveness expressed during an episode is grossly out of proportion to any provocation or precipitating psychosocial stressor . a diagnosis of intermittent explosive disorder is made only after other mental disorders that might account for episodes of aggressive behavior have been ruled out ( e . g ., antisocial personality disorder , borderline personality disorder , a psychotic disorder , a manic episode , conduct disorder , or attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder ). the aggressive episodes are not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance ( e . g ., an abused drug , a medication ) or a general medical condition ( e . g ., head trauma , alzheimer &# 39 ; s disease ). the individual may describe the aggressive episodes as &# 34 ; spells &# 34 ; or &# 34 ; attacks &# 34 ; in which the explosive behavior is preceded by a sense of tension or arousal and is followed immediately by a sense of relief later the individual may feel upset , remorseful , regretful , or embarrassed about the aggressive behavior . the essential feature of kleptomania is the recurrent failure to resist impulses to steal items even though the items are not needed for personal use or for their monetary value . the individual experiences a rising subjective sense of tension before the theft and feels pleasure , gratification , or relief when committing the theft . the stealing is not committed to express anger or vengeance , is not done in response to a delusion or hallucination , and is not better accounted for by conduct disorder , a manic episode , or antisocial personality disorder . the objects are stolen despite the fact that they are typically of little value to the individual , who could have afforded to pay for them and often gives them away or discards them . occasionally the individual may hoard the stolen objects or surreptitiously return them . although individuals with this disorder will generally avoid stealing when immediate arrest is probable ( e . g ., in fill view of a police officer ), they usually do not preplan the thefts or fully take into account the chances of apprehension . the stealing is done without assistance from , or collaboration with , others . the essential feature of pyromania is the presence of multiple episodes of deliberate and purposeful fire setting . individuals with this disorder experience tension or affective arousal before setting a fire . there is a fascination with , interest in , curiosity about , or attraction to fire and its situational contexts ( e . g ., paraphernalia , uses , consequences ). individuals with this disorder are often regular &# 34 ; watchers &# 34 ; at fires in their neighborhoods , may set off false alarms , and derive pleasure from institutions , equipment , and personnel associated with fire . they may spend time at the local fire department , set fires to be affiliated with the fire department , or even become firefighters . individuals with this disorder experience pleasure , gratification , or a release of tension when setting the fire , witnessing its effects , or participating in its aftermath . the fire setting is not done for monetary gain , as an expression of sociopolitical ideology , to conceal criminal activity , to express anger or vengeance , to improve one &# 39 ; s living circumstances , or in response to a delusion or a hallucination . the fire setting does not result from impaired judgment ( e . g ., in dementia , mental retardation , or substance intoxication ). the essential feature of pathological gambling is persistent and recurrent maladaptive gambling behavior that disrupts personal , family , or vocational pursuits . the diagnosis is not made if the gambling behavior is better accounted for by a manic episode . the individual may be preoccupied with gambling ( e . g ., reliving past gambling experiences , planning the next gambling venture , or thinking of ways to get money with which to gamble ). most individuals with pathological gambling say that they are seeking &# 34 ; action &# 34 ; ( an aroused , euphoric state ) even more than money . increasingly larger bets , or greater risks , may be needed to continue to produce the desired level of excitement . individuals with pathological gambling often continue to gamble despite repeated efforts to control , cut back , or stop the behavior . there may be restlessness or irritability when attempting to cut down or stop gambling . the individual may gamble as a way of escaping from problems or to relieve a dysphoric mood ( e . g ., feelings of helplessness , guilt , anxiety , depression ). a pattern of &# 34 ; chasing &# 34 ; one &# 39 ; s losses may develop , with an urgent need to keep gambling ( often with larger bets or the taking of greater risks ) to undo a loss or series of losses . the individual may abandon his or her gambling strategy and try to win back losses all at once . although all gamblers may chase for short periods , it is the long - term chase that is more characteristic of individuals with pathological gambling . the individual may lie to family members , therapists , or others to conceal the extent of involvement with gambling . when the individual &# 39 ; s borrowing resources are strained , the person may resort to antisocial behavior ( e . g ., forgery , fraud , theft , or embezzlement ) to obtain money . the individual may have jeopardized or lost a significant relationship , job , or educational or career opportunity because of gambling . the individual may also engage in &# 34 ; bailout &# 34 ; behavior , turning to family or others for help with a desperate financial situation that was caused by gambling . the diagnoses discussed hereinabove are excerpted from the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders , american pyschiatric association , washington d . c . ( 4th ed . 1994 ) at 609 - 621 . compulsive shopping shares many of the features of pathological gambling , as discussed in ex . 2 below . preferred opioid antagonists for use in the present method include those of formula ( i ): ## str1 ## wherein r 1 is ( c 3 - c 4 ) cycloalkylmethyl , or allyl , r 2 is h or oh , r 3 is h or ( c 1 - c 4 ) alkyl , r is o , ch 2 or ( h ) 2 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof . this group of morphinan derivatives includes those depicted in table i below : table i______________________________________ ## str2 ## r . sup . 1 r . sup . 2 r . sup . 3 r common name merck no .. sup . 1______________________________________ch . sub . 2 ch ( ch . sub . 2 ). sub . 2 oh h o naltrexone 6278ch . sub . 2 chch . sub . 2 oh h o naloxone 6277ch . sub . 2 ch ( ch . sub . 2 ). sub . 2 oh h ch . sub . 2 nalmefene 6274ch . sub . 2 chch . sub . 2 h h ( h ). sub . 2 levallorphan 5342______________________________________ . sup . 1 the merck index , merck & amp ; co ., rahway , nj ( 11th ed ., 1989 ). another useful group of delta - specific antagonists includes the compounds of formula ( ii ): ## str3 ## wherein r 1 is ( c 1 - c 5 ) alkyl , c 3 - c 6 ( cycloalkyl ) alkyl , c 5 - c 7 -( cycloalkenyl ) alkyl , aryl , aralkyl , trans ( c 4 - c 5 ) alkenyl , allyl or furan - 2 - ylalkyl , r 2 is h , oh or o 2 c ( c 1 - c 5 ) alkyl ; r 3 is h , ( c 1 - c 5 ) alkyl or ( c 1 - c 5 ) alkylco ; x is o , s or ny , wherein y is h , phenyl , benzyl or ( c 1 - c 5 ) alkyl ; and r 4 and r 5 are individually h , f , cl , br , no 2 , nh 2 , ( c 1 - c 5 ) alkyl , ( c 1 - c 5 ) alkoxy or together are benzo ; and the pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof . the synthesis of these compounds is set forth in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 816 , 586 . nti is the compound of formula ( ii ) wherein r 1 is cyclopropylmethyl , r 2 is oh , r 3 - r 5 are h and x is nh . delta -, mu - or mixed delta -, mu - antagonists that may be useful in the present invention are disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 298 , 622 . kappa opioid receptor - specific nti derivatives are disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 457 , 208 . other opioid receptor antagonists , including mixed agonist - antagonists , useful in the practice of the present invention include ( followed by their merck index no . ), cyclazocine ( 2710 ), nadide ( 6259 ), amphenazole , butorphenol , diprenorphine , etazocine , levallorphan ( 5342 ), nalbuphine , nalorphine ( 6275 ), pentazocine , cyprenorphine ( 2777 ), 7 - benzylidenenaltrexone and buprenorphine . pentapeptides structurally related to the enkephalins have been reported to be highly delta - selective opioid antagonists . such compounds ( e . g ., ici 174864 ) currently are employed as pharmacologic tools , but they can possess the disadvantage of transient activity and poor penetration into the central nervous system ( cns ). see j . w . shaw et al ., life sci ., 31 , 1259 ( 1982 ) and r . cotton et al ., eur . j . pharmacol ., 97 , 331 ( 1984 ). however , suppression of ethanol ingestion may be mediated by the delta opioid receptor subtype . for example , the established δ antagonist , n , n - diallyl - tyr - aib - aib - phe - leu - oh ( ici 174864 ), strongly inhibits ethanol drinking , but has a very short duration of action , which may limit its clinical utility in the present method . see j . c . froehlich et al ., psychopharmacol ., 103 , 467 ( 1991 ). although the free - base form of the antagonists can be used in the methods of the present invention , it is preferred to prepare and use a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof . thus , the compounds used in the methods of this invention form pharmaceutically acceptable acid and base addition salts with a wide variety of inorganic and , preferably , organic acids and include the physiologically acceptable salts which are often used in pharmaceutical chemistry . such salts are also part of this invention . typical inorganic acids used to form such salts include hydrochloric , hydrobromic , hydroiodic , nitric , sulfuric , phosphoric , hypophosphoric , and the like . salts derived from organic acids , such as aliphatic mono and dicarboxylic acids , phenyl substituted alkanoic acids , hydroxyalkanoic and hydroxyalkandioic acids , aromatic acids , aliphatic and aromatic sulfonic acids , may also be used . such pharmaceutically acceptable salts thus include acetate , phenylacetate , trifluoroacetate , acrylate , ascorbate , benzoate , chlorobenzoate , dinitrobenzoate , hydroxybenzoate , methoxybenzoate , methylbenzoate , o - acetoxybenzoate , naphthalene - 2 - benzoate , bromide , isobutyrate , phenylbutyrate , β - hydroxybutyrate , butyne - 1 , 4 - dioate , hexyne - 1 , 4 - dioate , caprate , caprylate , chloride , cinnamate , citrate , formate , fumarate , glycollate , heptanoate , hippurate , lactate , malate , maleate , hydroxymaleate , malonate , mandelate , mesylate , nicotinate , isonicotinate , nitrate , oxalate , phthalate , terephthalate , phosphate , monohydrogenphosphate , propriolate , propionate , phenyl - propionate , salicylate , sebacate , succinate , suberate , sulfate , bisulfate , pyrosulate , sulfite , bisulfite , sulfonate , benzenesulfonate , p - bromophenylsulfonate , chlorobenzenesulfonate , ethanesulfonate , 2 - hydroxyethanesulfonate , methanesulfonate , ethanesulfonate , 2 - hydroxyethanesulfonate , methanesulfonate , naphthalene - 1 - sulfonate , naphthalene - 2 - sulfonate , p - toluenesulfonate , xylenesulfonate , tartarate , and the like . the pharmaceutically acceptable acid addition salts are typically formed by reacting the free base with an equimolar or excess amount of acid . the reactants are generally combined in a mutual solvent such as diethyl ether or benzene . the salt normally precipitates out of solution within about one hour to 10 days and can be isolated by filtration or the solvent can be removed by conventional means . the organic acids can also be used to form nontoxic esters of the free hydroxyl groups present on the antagonist . for example , the mono - or dinicotinates or the 3 - beta - d - glucuronide esters of nalmefene , nalorphine , naltrexone and naloxone can be prepared by methods known to the art . ester can be formed by reacting the oh group or groups with an activated form of the acid , such as the acid chloride or anhydride . the pharmaceutically acceptable salts generally have enhanced solubility characteristics compared to the compound from which they are derived , and thus are often more amenable to formulation as liquids or emulsions . the compounds useful in the present method can be administered by a variety of routes including oral , rectal , transdermal , subcutaneous , intravenous , intramuscular , and intranasal . these compounds preferably are formulated prior to administration , the selection of which will be decided by the attending physician . typically , one or more antagonists , or pharmaceutically acceptable salts or esters thereof , is combined with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier , diluent or excipient to form a pharmaceutical formulation , or unit dosage form . the total active ingredients in such formulations comprise from 0 . 1 % to 99 . 9 % by weight of the formulation . by &# 34 ; pharmaceutically acceptable &# 34 ; it is meant that the carrier , diluent , excipients , and / or salt must be compatible with the other ingredients of the formulation , and not deleterious to the recipient thereof . pharmaceutical formulations containing the antagonist or antagonists can be prepared by procedures known in the art using well - known and readily available ingredients . for example , the antagonist can be formulated with common excipients , diluents , or carriers , and formed into tablets , capsules , suspensions , powders , and the like . examples of excipients , diluents , and carriers that are suitable for such formulations include the following fillers and extenders such as starch , sugars , mannitol , and silicic derivatives binding agents such as carboxymethyl cellulose and other cellulose derivatives , alginate , gelatin , and polyvinyl - pyrrolidone ; moisturizing agents such as glycerol ; disintegrating agents such as calcium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate ; agents for retarding dissolution such as paraffin ; resorption accelerators such as quaternary ammonium compounds ; surface active agents such as cetyl alcohol , glycerol monostearate ; adsorptive carriers such as kaolin and bentonite ; and lubricants such as talc , calcium and magnesium stearate and solid polyethylene glycols . the compounds also can be formulated as tablets or in capsules or as elixirs or solutions for convenient oral administration or as solutions appropriate for parenteral administration , for example , by intramuscular , subcutaneous or intravenous routes . additionally , the compounds are well suited to formulation as sustained or controlled release dosage forms . the formulations can be so constituted that they release the active ingredient only or preferably in a particular physiological location , optionally over a period of time . the coatings , envelopes , and protective matrices may be made , for example , from polymeric substances such as collagen or silicone , or from waxes . the compounds can also be delivered via patches for transdermal delivery , s . c . implants , infusion pumps or release from implanted depot sustained release dosage forms . as used herein , the term &# 34 ; effective amount &# 34 ; means an amount of compound which is capable of inhibiting at least one of the symptoms of the icds herein described . the specific dose of a compound administered according to this invention will , of course , be determined by the particular circumstances surrounding the case including , for example , the compound administered , the route of administration , the condition of the patient , and the severity of the symptoms being treated . a typical daily dose will contain a nontoxic dosage level of from about 0 . 25 mg to about 500 mg / day of an opioid receptor antagonist of the present invention . preferred daily doses generally will be from about 1 mg to about 300 mg / day . since naltrexone and nalmefene have been evaluated clinically to assess its ability to inhibit ethanol consumption by alcoholic patients , effective dosages of the compounds of the present invention can be extrapolated from doses found to be effective in those studies , as well as from the dosages of nti found to be effective to decrease cocaine use in the rat model . see , for example , volpicelli et al ., cited above , and u . s . pat . no . 5 , 086 , 058 . of course , the clinically effective dosages in the human subjects as disclosed in the examples hereinbelow may readily be extrapolated to human patients of other ages and in other conditions . for example , results may be achieved with naltrexone hcl at 1 . 5 - 5 mg / kg / day . it is preferable that the dose of antagonist be up - titrated until the effect emerges or when the symptoms recur . in most cases the effect emerges in adults at 100 - 200 mg / day of naltrexone . because of a wide margin of dose - response pattern , a flexible - instead of fixed - dose program should be employed until a minimum effective dose is established for each disorder . the invention will be further described by reference to the following detailed examples . a fifty - five year old man presented severe pathological gambling and hoarding symptoms . patient had lost $ 50 , 000 during the past 3 years . at 50 mg / day naltrexone patient reported no change in his symptoms . as soon as the natrexone dose was raised to 100 mg / day on his second visit the patient reported &# 34 ; my most serious problem was gambling . i was addicted to the lights and chatter and other noises of the casino . it helped me get out of myself . if i had money to gamble i would start mental play while i was driving to the casino . once i parked the car this mental play took on a high fever . by the time i walked into the casino my breathing was real shallow and quick and i almost am trembling and shaking over the excitement created in my mind .&# 34 ; &# 34 ; now the gambling and hoarding urges are lifted and i feel like i am a new man . all that mind play about gambling and hoarding and guilt and other emotional stresses are gone . i went up to collect payment on my land and it was given to me in cash . if it would have been two months ago , i would have burnt the tires of the car getting to hinckley ( minnesota ) casino . instead , because of naltrexone , i drove sensibly to the casino . i was about to test myself . i parked the car , took four or five steps to the casino , and noticed my mind was clear . i was not calculating and strategizing and breathing shallow . as i walked to the casino my excitement wasn &# 39 ; t there . i entered the casino and i felt like i was in a grocery store . i walked passed many machines and didn &# 39 ; t put in one coin . i didn &# 39 ; t have the urge to put in the coins . i did not feel like i was tempted and warding off temptation . it &# 39 ; s a miracle .&# 34 ; the patient reported that he has not spent one dime for the past 5 months and auctioned off his hoarded junk . he now has two jobs and a savings account in a bank . a forty - six year old woman reported seven - year history of bulimia nervosa symptoms and five - year history of compulsive shopping . at the time of seeking treatment , compulsive shopping symptoms were her chief complaint . shopping symptoms have ruined her financial condition . she had eleven binge / purge cycles / week suggesting that her bulimic symptoms were also severe . she had a long history of cocaine and narcotics abuse but managed to overcome her problem through a series of cd treatments . her beginning naltrexone dose was 50 mg / day . she developed diarrhea and nausea . these side effects subsided in one week . she did not report symptom improvement . at week two her naltrexone was raised to 100 mg / day . she tolerated this dose well . her shopping symptoms decreased significantly at this time . she said she no longer was developing elaborate plans or routes to sales . incidentally , her binge / purge cycles decreased from eleven per week to one per week initially and presently she no longer has binge / purge symptoms . she reported a substantial decrease in her urges to shop and binge . liver function tests are normal . a thirty - eight year old woman presented severe washing and hoarding symptoms . her symptoms started during her high school period and have been refractory to treatments given by ocd drug and behavior specialists in and out of the state . she also had uncontrolled stealing behavior . whenever her mother accompanied her to a shopping center the mother would witness the stealing behavior . the mother was afraid that her daughter might end up in jail eventually . urges to steal toys and dolls did not change at 50 mg / day naltrexone . when the naltrexone dose was raised to 100 mg / day she began to report decreased stealing urges . since her naltrexone dose was raised to 150 mg / day she has not had stealing urges . her washing and hoarding symptoms have not changed . liver function tests are normal . the effect size is impressive and the effect emerges faster and more predictably than what might be expected from usual psychiatric treatments ( except with antianxiety agents ). these findings further suggest that the treatment effect in impulse - control disorders is sustained . many of the patients discussed above have now maintained improvement for several months . because of the putative overlap between compulsive and impulsive disorders ( ocd ), as discussed , for example , by s . l . mcelroy et al ., depression , 1 , 121 ( 1993 ) and by e . hollander et al ., j . clin . psychiatry , 57 ( suppl . 8 ), 3 ( 1996 ), we wondered if naltrexone might not also have an effect in the treatment of obsessions ; so far our effort has not been successful . patients afflicted with obsessive - compulsive disorders often have strong urges but their urges may be secondary to the underlying obsessions . furthermore , ocd urges are usually associated with aversive stimulus . although the studies were limited in scope , others also have tested naltrexone in ocd and found no significant effects . for example , see t . r . insel et al ., am . j . psychiatry , 140 , 1219 ( 1983 ) and i . j . kessler et al ., biol . psychiatry , 40 , 154 ( 1996 ). further evaluation is needed especially for the ocd patients who have strong urges . the presence of urge symptoms , especially urges associated with a positively reinforcing stimulus , seems to be critical for naltrexone to be effective . if and when an individual engages in an impulsive act , naltrexone seems to reduce subjective experience of pleasure . this finding is consistent with findings by alcoholism researchers but differs from drug addiction researchers who argue that pleasure and craving reflect an opposite end of chemical or cellular mechanisms ( for example , a high or low dopamine level within the neural system ). see , for example , g . f . koob et al ., science 242 , 715 ( 1988 ) and j . r . volpicelli et al ., amer . j . psychiatry , 152 , 613 ( 1995 ). all of the publications cited hereinabove are incorporated by reference herein . the invention has been described with reference to various specific and preferred embodiments and techniques . however , it should be understood that many variations and modifications may be made while remaining within the spirit and scope of the invention . | 0 |
fig1 is a front view of an embodiment of the vehicle seat harness 100 . the vehicle seat harness 100 includes a left adjustable harness strap 102 , a right adjustable harness strap 104 , a left shoulder pad 106 , a right shoulder pad 108 , an upper left adjustable harness strap cleat 110 , an upper right adjustable harness strap cleat 112 , a left side of a chest buckle 114 , a right side of a chest buckle 115 , a lower left adjustable harness strap buckle insert 120 and a lower right adjustable harness strap buckle insert 122 . the left adjustable harness strap 102 is connected to the left side chest buckle 114 and the right adjustable harness strap 104 is connected to the right side chest buckle 115 . the left adjustable harness strap 102 is connected to the upper left adjustable harness strap cleat 110 , which is connected to the upper left anchoring system strap 201 ( fig2 ). the right adjustable harness strap 104 is connected to the upper right adjustable harness strap cleat 112 , which is connected to the upper right anchoring system strap 202 ( fig2 ). in an embodiment , the upper left adjustable harness strap cleat 110 and upper right adjustable harness strap cleat 112 are configured as “ double d - rings ”. however the invention is not limited to this particular type of cleat . fig2 is a front perspective view of one embodiment of the vehicle seat harness 100 attached to one embodiment of a harness anchoring system 130 . the upper portion of the vehicle seat harness 100 is attached to the harness anchoring system 130 by attaching an upper portion of the upper left anchoring strap 132 to the upper left anchoring system strap 201 which connects to the upper left adjustable harness strap cleat 110 , and the lower left anchoring strap 138 to the upper left adjustable harness strap cleat 110 . similarly , the upper portion of the vehicle seat harness 100 is also attached to the harness anchoring system by attaching the upper right adjustable anchoring strap 134 to the upper right anchoring system strap 202 which attaches to the upper right adjustable harness strap cleat 112 , and the lower right anchoring strap 142 to the upper right adjustable harness strap cleat 112 . preferably the upper right anchoring system strap 202 and the upper left anchoring system strap 201 attach to each other , preferably by sewing , and the upper right adjustable anchoring strap 134 and the upper left anchoring strap 132 attach to the connected anchoring system straps 201 and 202 . the anchoring system straps may , however , attach to the upper right adjustable anchoring strap 134 and the upper left anchoring strap 132 in any suitable manner . as illustrated on fig4 a , the lower left anchoring strap 138 and the lower right anchoring strap 142 are connected by sewing stitches 109 . as illustrated on fig2 , the lower portion of the vehicle seat harness 100 is attached to the harness anchoring system 130 by sewing stitches 109 to stitch a lower portion of the left adjustable harness strap 102 to the lower left anchoring strap 138 as illustrated on fig2 . similarly , the lower portion of the vehicle seat harness 100 is also attached to the harness anchoring system 130 by sewing stitches 109 to stitch a lower portion of the right adjustable harness strap 104 to the lower right anchoring strap 142 as also illustrated on fig2 . the harness anchoring system 130 in one embodiment has an upper left anchoring strap 132 and an upper right adjustable anchoring strap 134 . an anchor plate 136 is attached to the upper left anchoring strap 132 . the harness anchoring system 130 further includes a lower left anchoring strap 138 , a lower middle adjustable anchoring strap 140 and a lower right anchoring strap 142 . each of the five anchoring straps ( 132 , 134 , 138 , 140 and 142 ) has a free end and a fixed end . attached to free end of the upper right anchoring strap 134 is anchor hook 148 . attached to the free end of the lower left anchoring strap 138 is an anchor hook 152 . attached to the free end of the lower middle adjustment anchoring strap 140 is an anchoring hook 154 . attached to the free end of the lower right anchoring strap 142 is an anchoring hook 156 . in one embodiment , the anchoring devices 148 , 152 , 154 and 156 are configured as hooks ( see fig6 and 6a ). however , the anchoring devices 148 , 152 , 154 and 156 are not limited to hooks and may be any suitable buckle . the free end of anchoring devices 148 , 152 and 156 may be attached to anchors 188 on a vehicle seat ( see fig4 a ) or on a vehicle floor ( not shown ) or are attachable to the anchor plate 136 attached to the upper right adjustable anchoring strap 134 when vehicle anchors are not available , or the use of the anchor plate is preferable . the free end of anchoring device 154 for the lower middle adjustable anchoring strap 140 is always attached to the anchor plate 136 ( fig4 a and 8 ). the fixed end of the five anchoring straps ( 132 , 134 , 138 , 140 and 142 ) may attach to the vehicle seat harness by various methods . in an embodiment , the fixed end of the lower middle adjustable anchoring strap 140 has a two strap buckle 158 ( fig5 and 7 ). the two strap buckle 158 is attached to the lower left adjustable harness strap buckle insert 120 of the left adjustable harness strap 102 and the lower right adjustable harness strap buckle insert 122 of the right adjustable harness strap 104 of the vehicle seat harness 100 . in one embodiment , the two strap buckle 158 is configured as a chest buckle . in this embodiment , the left adjustable harness strap buckle insert 120 and the right adjustable harness strap buckle insert 122 ( fig5 ) are configured as latches received in the two strap buckle 158 configured as a chest buckle receiving two latches . however , the two strap buckle 158 is not limited to a pair of chest buckles and the left adjustable harness strap buckle insert 120 and the right adjustable harness strap buckle insert 122 are not limited to latches and either the two strap buckle 158 or the left adjustable harness strap buckle insert 120 and the right adjustable harness strap buckle insert 122 may be any suitable type of buckle . in an embodiment , the left adjustable strap buckle insert 120 and the right adjustable harness strap buckle insert 122 are movable relative to the left adjustable harness strap 102 and the right adjustable harness strap 104 , respectively . the five anchoring straps ( 132 , 134 , 138 , 140 and 142 ) ( fig8 ) each have a free end and a fixed end . in an embodiment , the fixed end of anchoring straps 132 , 134 , 138 and 142 are attached to the vehicle seat harness 100 by sewing a stitch 109 ( fig4 a ), to another anchoring strap 132 , 134 , 138 and 142 , or by attachment to the upper left adjustable harness strap cleat 110 or to the upper right adjustable harness strap cleat 112 as discussed below in the description of fig4 a . the middle adjustable anchoring strap 140 is not sewn to the other four 132 , 134 , 138 and 142 anchoring straps in order to facilitate adjusting the length of the middle adjustable anchoring strap 140 . in one preferred embodiment , only the upper right adjustable anchor strap 134 and not the upper left anchor strap 132 are required to properly mount the harness in a vehicle . the harness is designed to attach to a standard vehicle seat and provide a safe harness for a child . the harness is able to attach to a standard vehicle seat using the three lower anchor straps 138 , 140 , 142 and at least the upper right adjustable anchor strap 134 , preferably by feeding the three lower anchor straps under the seat back 184 ( fig8 ) of the vehicle seat and hooking them into anchoring plate 136 , and by hanging the upper right adjustable anchor strap 134 over the top of the seat back 204 of the vehicle seat and hooking it into anchoring plate 136 . in another preferred embodiment , at least one of the three lower anchor straps 138 , 140 , 142 can hook into at least one vehicle anchor point 206 ( fig7 ). fig3 is a detail view of the anchor plate 136 which is always attached to the upper left anchoring strap 132 ( fig2 ) of the harness anchoring system 130 . as illustrated in fig3 , anchor plate 136 has an upper receiving orifice 162 for receiving the upper right adjustable anchoring strap 134 ( fig2 ) adjustable anchor hook 148 ( fig2 ). fig8 illustrates anchor plate 136 also having a lower left receiving orifice 164 for receiving the lower left anchoring strap 138 anchor hook 152 ( fig2 ). the anchor plate 136 additionally has a lower middle receiving orifice 166 for receiving the lower middle adjustable anchoring strap 140 anchoring hook 154 . the anchor plate 136 further has a lower right receiving orifice 168 for receiving the lower right anchoring strap 142 anchoring hook 156 ( fig4 a ). also , the anchor plate has a retaining bar and orifice 172 ( fig3 ) to allow anchor plate 136 to be permanently mounted on the free end of upper left anchoring strap 132 by passing a lower end of upper left anchor strap 132 through the retaining bar and orifice 172 and then stitching the upper left anchor strap so that it is secured to the retaining bar and orifice 172 . fig4 is a detail view of the connection of the left adjustable harness strap 102 and the right adjustable harness strap 104 of the vehicle seat harness 100 to the upper left anchoring strap 132 , the upper right adjustable anchoring strap 134 , the lower left anchoring strap 138 and lower right anchoring strap 142 of the harness anchoring system 130 from a front side of a vehicle seat 182 ( fig7 ) before final anchoring of the anchoring system at a rear side of the vehicle seat 182 or to vehicle anchoring points 188 ( fig4 a ). the upper left 110 and upper right 112 buckles allow the left adjustable harness strap 102 and the right adjustable harness strap 104 to be adjustable in length . the upper right adjustable anchoring strap 134 is made adjustable in length at another location , as detailed in fig6 a and 8 . fig4 a is a detail view of the connection of the left adjustable harness strap 102 and the right adjustable harness strap 104 of the vehicle seat harness 100 to the upper right adjustable anchor strap 134 , the lower left anchoring strap 138 , the lower middle adjustable anchoring strap 140 and lower right anchoring strap 142 of the harness anchoring system 130 from a rear side of a vehicle seat 182 . in an embodiment , one or both of an upper end of the upper left anchoring strap 132 and an upper end of the lower left anchoring strap 138 is fastened to an upper end of the upper left adjustable harness strap 102 by attachment to the upper left adjustable harness strap cleat 110 . in this embodiment , one or both of an upper end of the upper right adjustable anchoring strap 134 and an upper end of the lower right anchoring strap 142 is fastened to of the upper left adjustable harness strap 102 by attachment to the upper right adjustable harness strap cleat 112 . as noted above , and as illustrated in fig4 a , an upper portion of the lower left anchoring strap 138 and an upper portion of the lower right anchoring strap 142 are connected by sewing stitches 109 . in an embodiment upper portions of one or more of anchoring straps 132 , 134 , 138 and 142 may also be attached to each other by sewing stitches 109 . as noted above , the middle adjustable anchoring strap 140 is not stitched to any other anchoring straps 132 , 134 , 138 and 142 and is always attached to anchor plate 136 . fig5 is a detail view of the connection of the left adjustable harness strap 102 and the right adjustable harness strap 104 of the vehicle seat harness 100 to the lower middle adjustable anchoring strap 140 ( fig2 ) of the harness anchoring system 130 . as illustrated in fig5 , the lower left adjustable harness strap buckle insert 120 is configured as a latch and the lower right adjustable harness strap buckle insert 122 is also configured as a latch . the lower latches 120 and 122 are received into the two strap buckle 158 configured as a chest buckle with a release button 159 . although the lower left 120 and lower right 122 strap buckles are illustrated as latches in this embodiment , the lower left 120 and lower right 122 strap buckles are not limited to latches and the two strap buckle 158 is not limited to a chest buckle . fig5 also illustrates right adjustable harness strap 104 sewn by stitching 109 to lower right anchoring strap 142 . fig6 is a detail view of the buckles 152 and 156 of the non - adjustable lower left 138 and lower right 142 anchoring straps of the harness anchoring system 130 . as illustrated in fig6 , the buckles 152 and 156 are configured as hooks 155 with a leaf spring 157 in order to retain hooks 155 to be retained in receiving orifices 164 and 168 of anchor plate 136 . fig6 a depicts a detail view of adjustable anchor hook 148 and 154 of the adjustable upper right 134 and lower middle 140 adjustable anchoring straps . as illustrated in fig6 a , the adjustable buckles 148 and 154 are also configured as hooks 155 which are received in the receiving orifices 162 and 166 of the anchor plate 136 ( fig8 ). the only difference between the buckles 152 and 156 for the non - adjustable straps 138 and 142 in fig6 and the buckles 148 and 154 for the adjustable straps 134 and 140 in fig6 a , is that the buckles 148 and 154 in fig6 a also include an adjuster 178 , similar to those used on backpack straps in order to allow the length of the adjustable straps 134 and 140 in fig6 a to be adjusted . although the buckles 152 and 156 in fig6 and the buckles 148 and 154 in fig6 a are illustrated as hooks 155 in this embodiment , the buckles 152 and 156 in fig6 and the buckles 148 and 154 in fig6 a are not limited to hooks 155 . fig7 is a front view of the vehicle seat harness 100 and harness anchoring system 130 installed as viewed from the front side of a vehicle front seat 182 . as illustrated in fig7 , lower left anchoring strap 138 and lower right anchoring strap 142 have been fed through a gap between the lower portion of the seat back 184 and an upper portion of the seat base 186 to a rear side of the vehicle front seat 182 ( fig7 and 8 ). fig7 also illustrates the left side of chest buckle 114 and the right side of chest buckle 115 unbuckled , allowing for a person to fit into the vehicle seat harness 100 . fig7 further illustrates left adjustable harness strap 102 and right adjustable harness strap 104 of vehicle seat harness 100 disconnected from lower middle adjustable anchoring strap 140 to further facilitate allowing a person to fit into vehicle seat harness 100 . as also illustrated in fig7 , lower middle adjustable anchoring strap 140 is additionally fed through the gap between seat back 184 and the seat base 186 . feeding the anchoring straps 138 , 140 and 142 through the gap at the bottom of the seat back 184 facilitates keeping anchoring straps 138 , 140 and 142 and vehicle seat harness 100 flush and snug to vehicle seat 182 . the vehicle seat harness 100 and anchoring system 130 is illustrated in fig7 as being installed in a “ bucket ” type front seat 182 . however , the vehicle seat harness 100 and anchoring system 130 may be installed on any vehicle seat . in the case of a back seat of an automobile sedan , access to the trunk area of the automobile and slots available or cutout in the rear deck may be required for installation of the vehicle seat harness 100 and anchoring system 130 in the back seat of an automobile sedan . fig8 is a rear view of vehicle seat harness 100 and harness anchoring system 130 installed as viewed from the rear side of vehicle front seat 182 . as illustrated in fig8 , upper left anchoring strap 132 with attached anchoring plate 136 and upper right adjustable anchoring strap 134 descend downward from the top of the seat back 204 . the adjustable anchor hook 148 for the upper right adjustable anchoring strap 134 has been inserted into the anchor plate 136 upper receiving orifice 162 . as also illustrated in fig8 , the lower left anchoring strap 138 , the lower middle adjustable anchoring strap 140 and the lower right anchoring strap 142 have been fed under seat back 184 to the rear of the vehicle front seat 182 . the anchor hook 152 for the lower left anchoring strap 138 has been inserted into the anchor plate 136 lower left receiving orifice 164 . the anchoring hook 154 for lower middle adjustable anchoring strap 140 has been inserted into anchor plate 136 lower middle receiving orifice 166 . the anchoring hook 156 for lower right anchoring strap 142 has been inserted into anchor plate 136 lower right receiving orifice 168 . fig8 further illustrates a user ( not shown ) adjusting the length of upper right adjustable anchoring strap 134 to facilitate secure anchoring of harness anchoring system 130 to vehicle front seat 182 . the length of lower middle adjustable anchoring strap 140 may also be adjusted to facilitate secure anchoring of harness anchoring system 130 to vehicle front seat 182 . if anchoring locations are available proximal the front seat 182 in fig8 , some , or all of anchoring straps 134 , 138 and 142 may be anchored to the vehicle anchoring locations instead of anchor plate 136 attached to upper left anchoring strap 132 . in use of the embodiments of fig1 - 8 , a user ( not shown ) locates vehicle seat harness 100 and harness anchoring system 130 at a desired seat in a vehicle . the user then feeds upper left anchoring strap 132 and upper right adjustable anchoring strap 134 over the top of seat back 204 to the rear of the seat . the user next feeds lower left anchoring strap 138 , lower middle adjustable anchoring strap 140 and lower right anchoring strap 142 in a gap between the seat back 184 and the vehicle seat base 186 to the rear of the seat . the user then connects buckles 148 , 152 , 154 and 156 for anchoring straps 134 , 138 , 140 and 142 , respectively , to receiving orifices 162 , 164 , 166 and 168 , respectively , on the anchor plate 136 . as noted above , the user may anchor some ( fig4 a ), or all of the buckles 148 , 152 and 156 for anchoring straps 134 , 138 and 142 , respectively , to appropriate anchor points proximal the vehicle seat . as noted above , anchoring hook 154 for lower middle adjustable anchoring strap 140 is always connected to anchoring plate 136 . after the anchoring straps 134 , 138 , 140 and 142 have been anchored to the vehicle , or the anchor plate 136 , the length of the upper right adjustable anchoring strap 134 and / or the lower middle adjustable anchoring strap 140 is adjusted so that harness anchoring system 130 is securely anchored to any vehicle seat . once harness anchoring system 130 is securely anchored to the vehicle seat , left side chest buckle 114 is unbuckled from right side chest buckle 115 and lower left adjustable harness strap buckle insert 120 and lower right adjustable harness strap buckle insert 122 are disconnected from two strap buckle 158 located on the lower middle adjustable anchoring strap 140 . the user , who is generally a child , then sits on vehicle seat harness 100 . once the user ( not shown ) is seated in place , lower left adjustable harness strap buckle insert 120 and lower right adjustable harness strap buckle insert 122 are then reconnected to two strap buckle 158 on lower middle adjustable anchoring strap 140 and left side chest buckle 114 is then chest buckled to right side chest buckle 115 . the left adjustable harness strap 102 and right adjustable harness strap 104 are then tightened as necessary so that the person is secured within vehicle seat harness 100 . after the person is secured in vehicle seat harness 100 , some adjusting of upper right adjustable anchoring strap 134 or lower middle adjustable anchoring strap 140 may be necessary for the person &# 39 ; s comfort and safety . for the user to be released from vehicle seat harness 100 , left side chest buckle 114 is unbuckled from right side chest buckle 115 and lower left adjustable harness strap buckle insert 120 and lower right adjustable harness strap buckle insert 122 are disconnected from two strap buckle 158 , allowing the user to be free of restraint from vehicle seat harness 100 . once installed , vehicle seat harness 100 and harness anchoring system 130 may remain installed as long as desired , or may be removed at any time and relocated to another seat , or another vehicle . after the first use and adjustment , subsequent uses of vehicle seat harness 100 and harness anchoring system 130 should require only minimal time and effort . as a person skilled in the prior art will recognize after examination of the previous detailed description and the figures and claims , modifications and changes may be made to the preferred embodiments of the invention without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims . | 1 |
while preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described herein , it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that such embodiments are provided by way of example only . numerous variations , changes , and substitutions will now occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the invention . it should be understood that various alternatives to the embodiments of the invention described herein may be employed in practicing the invention . it is intended that the following claims define the scope of the invention and that methods and structures within the scope of these claims and their equivalents be covered thereby . visual media is a source of entertainment throughout the world . visual media are observed or watched ( used interchangeably herein ) in a variety of manners , including on television , on a computer monitor , on a pocket - computer device ( e . g ., an i - pod ), on a movie screen , and the like . visual media watched on television has a variety of sources including , by way of non - limiting example , live television ( received , e . g ., by fiber optics , traditional cable , satellite or antennae signal ), time shifted television ( e . g ., using video cassettes , recordable dvds or digital video recorders ( dvr ), such as tivo ®), movies ( e . g ., from pay - per - view , video cassettes , dvds , blu - ray discs , hd dvd , or laserdisc ). visual media observed on a computer can include any of the sources observed on a television . furthermore , visual media observed on a computer includes , by way of non - limiting example , compressed data files that have been stored on a computer or streaming video from an online source . in certain instances the visual media observed in any manner , including those described herein , possess rapid differentials of , e . g ., color and / or brightness . in some instances , the rapid differentials are utilized in order to gain the attention of a viewer of the visual media ; in other instances , the rapid differentials are unintended and are an artifact of production of the visual media . in certain instances , these rapid differentials cause neurological events , eye strain , and / or nausea in viewers . in some instances , neurological events include , by way of non - limiting example , migraines , epileptic episodes , irritability and / or motion sickness . accordingly , provided herein are processes for reducing these rapid differentials in visual media . it is noted , however , that the processes described herein are not limited to such uses . thus , in certain embodiments , provided herein are processes for reducing these rapid differentials in visual media . in some embodiments , rapid differentials include , by way of non - limiting example , a rapid increase in brightness of an object , a rapid decrease in brightness of an object , a rapid increase of brightness of an entire frame , a rapid decrease in brightness of an entire frame , rapid increase in brightness of a fraction of a frame , a rapid decrease in brightness of a fraction of a frame , or a combination thereof . similarly , in certain embodiments , a rapid change in color of an object , a rapid change in color of an entire frame , a rapid change in color of a fraction of a frame , or a combination thereof . in certain embodiments , these changes occur over the course of , by way of non - limiting example , about 1 to about 100 frames , about 1 to about 40 frames , about 1 to about 20 frames , or about 2 to about 7 frames . in some embodiments , changes in brightness are combined with changes in color . in some specific embodiments , rapid differentials in visual media include , e . g ., flashing lights , white - out frames , flare - like objects , white flash , lens flare , burn dissolve , bright spots , rapidly moving bright spots , glowing or brightly burning objects of short duration , or combinations thereof . in various embodiments , rapid differentials are found within a frame ( i . e ., intra - frame differentials ) and / or between frames ( i . e ., inter - frame differentials ). thus , in certain embodiments , provided herein is a process of reducing rapid differentials in visual media by comparing frame subunits within a video frame or between frames . in certain embodiments , provided herein is a process for reducing differentials in visual media , the process comprising the steps of : a . setting a maximum differential between frame subunits within a video frame ; b . comparing a plurality of frame subunits within a video frame ( n ) with one another ; c . determining whether one or more frame subunits of video frame ( n ) differ from one or more other subunit of video frame ( n ) in an amount that is greater than the maximum differential ; d . limiting the one or more frame subunits of frame ( n ) that differ from one or more other subunits of video frame ( n ) in an amount that is greater than the maximum differential set to form a limited frame subunit of frame ( n ). in certain embodiments , a differential between frame subunits is based on an event that causes neurological events , neurological paroxysms , eye strain , nausea , migraines , epileptic episodes , irritability and / or motion sickness in a viewer including , by way of non - limiting example , color and / or brightness . in some embodiments , the maximum differential includes , by way of non - limiting example , an amount that causes a neurological events , eye strain , nausea , migraines , epileptic episodes , irritability and / or motion sickness in a viewer . in specific embodiments , a maximum differential is , by way of non - limiting example , a change of greater than a 5 %, 10 %, 15 %, 20 %, 25 %, 30 %, 40 %, 50 %, 60 %, 70 %, 80 %, or 90 % lumens or candela . in more specific embodiments , a maximum differential is , by way of non - limiting example , an increase of greater than 5 %, 10 %, 15 %, 20 %, 25 %, 30 %, 40 %, 50 %, 60 %, 70 %, 80 %, 90 %, 100 %, 150 %, or 200 % lumens or candela . in some specific embodiments , a maximum differential is , by way of non - limiting example , a change in the wavelength ( λ ) of the light ( color ) of greater than about 30 nm , 40 nm , 50 nm , 70 nm , 90 nm , 100 nm , 150 nm , or 200 nm . in certain embodiments , the wavelength compared is the maximum wavelength . in some embodiments , frame subunits of a frame are selected such that the frame subunits form a grid of the frame , are selected based on shape , color , and / or brightness of one or more component of the frame , or are selected based on some combination thereof . in certain embodiments , a frame subunit comprises , by way of non - limiting example , less than or about 0 . 01 %, 0 . 05 %, 0 . 1 %, 0 . 5 %, 1 %, 1 . 5 %, 2 %, 3 %, 5 %, 10 %, 15 %, or 20 %. in some embodiments , the frame subunit comprises less than or about 2 , 4 , 8 , 16 , 32 , 64 , 128 , 256 , 512 , or 1024 pixels . in certain embodiments one or more frame subunit of the video frame is different in shape and / or size from at least one or more other frame subunit of the frame . in certain embodiments , wherein the plurality of frame subunits are decoded from a video frame of a video stream . in some embodiments , the video stream is received from any source including , by way of non - limiting example , a fiber optic source , a cable source , the internet , or a satellite source ( e . g ., directv or dish ). in certain embodiments , the video stream is received from a compressed data file on a hard drive or disc ( e . g ., dvd ) including , by way of non - limiting example , mpeg ( e . g ., mpeg - 1 , mpeg - 2 , mpeg - 3 , mpeg - 4 , mpeg - 7 , mpeg - 21 ), avi , wmv , mov and the like . in some embodiments , a frame subunit utilized in a process described herein is a or a portion of a macroblock of a compressed digital file ( e . g ., an mpeg macroblock ). in some embodiments , prior to comparing the plurality of frame subunits , a process described herein further comprises buffering video frame ( n ) of a video stream and decoding video frame ( n ) into the plurality of frame subunits . in further or alternative embodiments , a process described herein further comprises assembling frame subunits of video frame ( n ) with at least one limited frame subunit of video frame ( n ) into an assembled matrix of assembled frame subunits as a corrected video frame ( n ). in some embodiments , a signal comprises corrected video frame ( n ) is then sent to a receiver , which then displays the corrected video frame . in certain embodiments , the receiver is , by way of non - limiting example , a television , a computer monitor , a digital visual interface ( dvi ), or a movie projector . in certain embodiments , the maximum differential is automatically set , user set , predetermined , factory set or a combination thereof . in certain embodiments , the limited frame subunit of frame ( n ) does not differ from one or more non - limited frame subunits of frame ( n ) in an amount greater than the maximum differential . in certain embodiments , the limited frame subunit of frame ( n ) does not differ from one or more non - limited frame subunits of frame ( n ) in an amount of greater than the maximum differential , unless the limited frame subunit of frame ( n ) differs from the frame subunit prior to being limited by more than 90 %, 80 %, 70 %, 60 %, 50 %, 40 %, 30 %, or 20 %, then the maximum differential is 90 %, 80 %, 70 %, 60 %, 50 %, 40 %, 30 %, or 20 %, respectively . in some embodiments , comparing a plurality of frame subunits within a video frame ( n ) with one another comprises comparing each frame subunit with one or more adjacent frame subunits . in specific embodiments , comparing a plurality of frame subunits within a video frame ( n ) with one another comprises comparing each frame subunit with each adjacent frame subunit . in certain embodiments , provided herein is a process for reducing differentials in visual media , the process comprising the steps of : a . setting a maximum differential between a frame subunit of a video frame ( n ) and a frame subunit of preceding video frame ( n - x ); b . comparing a frame subunit of video frame ( n ) with a frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ); c . determining whether the frame subunit of video frame ( n ) differs from the frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ) in an amount that is greater than the maximum differential ; d . limiting a frame subunit of frame ( n ) that differs from a subunit of video frame ( n - x ) in an amount that is greater than the maximum differential to form a limited frame subunit of frame ( n ). in certain embodiments , video frame ( n - x ) is a video frame that preceded video frame ( n ) by x frames . in some embodiments , x is any integer . in some embodiments , the differential is a rapid flashing of a bright frame of frame subunit . in some embodiments , a screen increases or decreases brightness over the course of about 2 to about 40 frames . in some embodiments , a white flash occurs over the course of about 2 to 7 frames . in certain embodiments , a single white spot grows to fill a screen ( lens flare ) over about 12 to about 20 frames . in certain embodiments , multiple areas of a screen become white and grow to fill the screen ( burn dissolve ) over about 12 to about 20 frames . in some embodiments , bright spots resembling flares last for about 1 to about 40 frames . in some embodiments , objects glow or burn with intense brightness and move quickly across the screen over the course of about 1 to about 40 frames . thus , in various embodiments , provided herein , x is about 1 to about 100 , about 1 to about 40 , about 1 to about 20 , about 10 to about 20 , about 12 to about 20 , about 1 to about 6 , or about 1 . in certain embodiments , the differentials are rapid differentials . as with intra - frame processes described herein , the differentials utilized in the processes described herein include , by way of non - limiting example , brightness , color or combinations thereof . in some embodiments , the maximum differential includes , by way of non - limiting example , an amount that causes a neurological event , eye strain , nausea , migraines , epileptic episodes , irritability and / or motion sickness in a viewer . in other embodiments , a maximum differential includes an amount that causes the screen to become difficult to see ( e . g ., due to a sudden decrease in brightness ). in specific embodiments , a maximum differential is , by way of non - limiting example , a change of greater than a 5 %, 10 %, 15 %, 20 %, 25 %, 30 %, 40 %, 50 %, 60 %, 70 %, 80 %, or 90 % lumens or candela . in more specific embodiments , a maximum differential is , by way of non - limiting example , an increase of greater than 5 %, 10 %, 15 %, 20 %, 25 %, 30 %, 40 %, 50 %, 60 %, 70 %, 80 %, 90 %, 100 %, 150 %, or 200 % lumens or candela . in some specific embodiments , a maximum differential is , by way of non - limiting example , a change in the wavelength ( λ ) of the light ( color ) of greater than about 30 nm , 40 nm , 50 nm , 70 nm , 90 nm , 100 nm , 150 nm , or 200 nm . in certain embodiments , the wavelength compared is the maximum wavelength . in some embodiments , the frame subunit of video frame ( n ) and the frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ) that are compared are found in corresponding locations within their respective frames . in some embodiments , the maximum differential is a maximum differential between a frame subunit of video frame ( n ) and a frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ) found in corresponding locations within their respective frames . in some embodiments , the maximum differential is a maximum differential between any frame subunit of video frame ( n ) and any frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ). in some embodiments , determining whether the frame subunit of video frame ( n ) differs in brightness from a frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ) in an amount that is greater than the maximum brightness differential consists of determining whether the brightness of frame subunit of video frame ( n ) is greater than the brightness in the frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ) in an amount that is greater than the maximum brightness differential . in some embodiments , more than one frame subunit of video frame ( n ) is compared to more than one frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ). in specific embodiments , the more than one frame subunit of video frame ( n ) is compared to more than one frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ), wherein each frame subunit of video frame ( n ) is found in a discrete location within video frame ( n ) and is compared to a frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ) that is found in a corresponding discrete location within video frame ( n - x ). in some embodiments , frame subunits of a frame are selected such that the frame subunits form a grid of the frame , are selected based on shape , color , and / or brightness of one or more component of the frame , or are selected based on some combination thereof . in certain embodiments , a frame subunit comprises , by way of non - limiting example , less than or about 0 . 01 %, 0 . 05 %, 0 . 1 %, 0 . 5 %, 1 %, 1 . 5 %, 2 %, 3 %, 5 %, 10 %, 15 %, or 20 %. in some embodiments , the frame subunit comprises less than or about 2 , 4 , 8 , 16 , 32 , 64 , 128 , 256 , 512 , or 1024 pixels . in certain embodiments one or more frame subunit of the video frame is different in shape and / or size from at least one or more other frame subunit of the frame . in certain embodiments , wherein the plurality of frame subunits are decoded from a video frame of a video stream . in some embodiments , the video stream is received from any source including , by way of non - limiting example , a fiber optic source , a cable source , the internet , or a satellite source ( e . g ., directv or dish ). in certain embodiments , the video stream is received from a compressed data file on a hard drive or disc ( e . g ., dvd ) including , by way of non - limiting example , mpeg ( e . g ., mpeg - 1 , mpeg - 2 , mpeg - 3 , mpeg - 4 , mpeg - 7 , mpeg - 21 ), avi , wmv , mov and the like . in some embodiments , a frame subunit utilized in a process described herein is a or a portion of a macroblock of a compressed digital file ( e . g ., an mpeg macroblock ). in certain embodiments , in a process described herein , prior to comparing the frame subunits , the process further comprises buffering video frames ( n ) and ( n - x ) of a video stream and decoding video frames ( n ) and ( n - x ) into a plurality of frame subunits . in further or alternative embodiments , the process further comprises assembling frame subunits of video frame ( n ) with at least one limited frame subunit of video frame ( n ) into an assembled matrix of assembled frame subunits as a corrected video frame ( n ). in certain embodiments , the maximum differential is automatically set , user set , predetermined , factory set or a combination thereof . in certain embodiments , the limited frame subunit of frame ( n ) does not differ from the frame subunit of frame ( n - x ) to which it is compared in an amount greater than the maximum differential . in certain embodiments , the limited frame subunit of frame ( n ) does not differ from the frame subunits of frame ( n - x ) to which it is compared in an amount greater than the maximum differential , unless the limited frame subunit of frame ( n ) differs from the frame subunit prior to being limited by more than 90 %, 80 %, 70 %, 60 %, 50 %, 40 %, 30 %, or 20 %, then the maximum differential is 90 %, 80 %, 70 %, 60 %, 50 %, 40 %, 30 %, or 20 %, respectively . in further or alternative embodiments , a process described herein further comprises assembling frame subunits of video frame ( n ) with at least one limited frame subunit of video frame ( n ) into an assembled matrix of assembled frame subunits as a corrected video frame ( n ). in some embodiments , a signal comprises corrected video frame ( n ) is then sent to a receiver , which then displays the corrected video frame . in certain embodiments , the receiver is , by way of non - limiting example , a television , a computer monitor , a digital visual interface ( dvi ), or a movie projector . in some embodiments , provided herein is a process of reducing intra - frame and inter - frame differentials . in some embodiments , the processes of reducing intra - frame and inter - frame differentials are as described above . in certain embodiments , a process of reducing intra - frame differentials comprises : a . setting a maximum differential between frame subunits within a video frame ; b . comparing a plurality of frame subunits within a video frame ( n ) with one another ; c . determining whether one or more frame subunits of video frame ( n ) differ from one or more other subunit of video frame ( n ) in an amount that is greater than the maximum differential ; d . limiting the one or more frame subunits of frame ( n ) that differ from one or more other subunits of video frame ( n ) in an amount that is greater than the maximum differential set to form a limited frame subunit of frame ( n ); e . setting a maximum differential between a frame subunit of a video frame ( n ) and a frame subunit of preceding video frame ( n - x ); f . comparing a frame subunit of video frame ( n ) with a frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ); g . determining whether the frame subunit of video frame ( n ) differs from the frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ) in an amount that is greater than the maximum differential ; h . limiting a frame subunit of frame ( n ) that differs from a subunit of video frame ( n - x ) in an amount that is greater than the maximum differential to form a limited frame subunit of frame ( n ). in certain embodiments , the comparison of a frame subunit of video frame ( n ) with a frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ) comprises comparing a frame subunit of a video frame ( n ) that has been limited according to an intra - frame process ( e . g ., steps b - d ) to a frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ). in some embodiments , the comparison of a frame subunit of video frame ( n ) with a frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ) comprises comparing a frame subunit of a video frame ( n ) that has not been limited according to an intra - frame process to a frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ), that has been limited according to an intra - frame process ( e . g ., an equivalent of steps b - d for frame n - x ) and / or to an inter - frame process comparing it to a preceding frame ( n - x - y ), wherein frame ( n - x - y ) is a video frame that preceded video frame ( n - x ) by y frames ( e . g ., an equivalent of steps f - h for frame n - x ). in certain embodiments , the comparison of a frame subunit of video frame ( n ) with a frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ) comprises comparing a frame subunit of a video frame ( n ) that has been limited according to an intra - frame process ( e . g ., steps b - d ) to a frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ), that has been limited according to an intra - frame process ( e . g ., an equivalent of steps b - d for frame n - x ) and / or to an inter - frame process comparing it to a preceding frame ( n - x - y ), wherein frame ( n - x - y ) is a video frame that preceded video frame ( n - x ) by y frames ( e . g ., an equivalent of steps f - h for frame n - x ). in various embodiments , y has a value that is selected from a value set forth for x hereinabove . a . a module configured to set or configured to receive input setting a maximum differential between frame subunits within a video frame ; b . a module configured to compare a plurality of frame subunits within a video frame ( n ) with one another ; c . a module configured to determine whether one or more frame subunits of video frame ( n ) differ from one or more other subunit of video frame ( n ) in an amount that is greater than the maximum differential ; d . a module configured to limit the one or more frame subunits of frame ( n ) that differ from one or more other subunits of video frame ( n ) in an amount that is greater than the maximum differential set to form a limited frame subunit of frame ( n ). a . a module configured to set or an input configured to receive input setting a maximum differential between a frame subunit of a video frame ( n ) and a frame subunit of preceding video frame ( n - x ); b . a module configured to compare a frame subunit of video frame ( n ) with a frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ); c . a module configured to determine whether the frame subunit of video frame ( n ) differs from the frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ) in an amount that is greater than the maximum differential ; d . a module configured to limit a frame subunit of frame ( n ) that differs from a subunit of video frame ( n - x ) in an amount that is greater than the maximum differential to form a limited frame subunit of frame ( n ). a . a module configured to set or an input configured to receive input setting a maximum differential between frame subunits within a video frame ; b . a module configured to compare a plurality of frame subunits within a video frame ( n ) with one another ; c . a module configured to determine whether one or more frame subunits of video frame ( n ) differ from one or more other subunit of video frame ( n ) in an amount that is greater than the maximum differential ; d . a module configured to limit the one or more frame subunits of frame ( n ) that differ from one or more other subunits of video frame ( n ) in an amount that is greater than the maximum differential set to form a limited frame subunit of frame ( n ); e . a module configured to set or an input configured to receive input setting a maximum differential between a frame subunit of a video frame ( n ) and a frame subunit of preceding video frame ( n - x ); f . a module configured to compare a frame subunit of video frame ( n ) with a frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ); g . a module configured to determine whether the frame subunit of video frame ( n ) differs from the frame subunit of video frame ( n - x ) in an amount that is greater than the maximum differential ; h . a module configured to limit a frame subunit of frame ( n ) that differs from a subunit of video frame ( n - x ) in an amount that is greater than the maximum differential to form a limited frame subunit of frame ( n ). in certain embodiments , a system described herein is for reducing intra - frame differentials in visual media . in some embodiments , a system described herein comprises modules configured to form one or all of the functions set forth in the processes described above . in some embodiments , provided herein is a signal transmitting a video frame comprising a video frame that comprises frame subunit that has been limited according to any process described herein or by any system described herein . fig1 illustrates a process or system for reducing differentials in visual media . in some embodiments , a video stream is input and video frames ( n ) and ( n - 1 ) are buffered and processed according to an intra - frame process or by an intra - frame system described herein . in certain embodiments , during decompression , mpeg macroblocks are used in the intra - frame processes or systems described herein . in some embodiments , once frames ( n ) and ( n - 1 ) have been processed according to an intra - frame process or system described herein , frame ( n ) undergoes inter - frame processing by comparing it or parts of it to frame ( n - 1 ). in some embodiments , once inter - frame processing of frame ( n ) is complete , it is constructed into a limited frame ( e . g ., if limitation of one or more frame subunit is performed ) or reconstructed frame ( e . g ., if limitation of one or more frame subunit is not necessary ). in some embodiments , a corrected video stream is then output . fig2 illustrates a process or system for reducing differentials in visual media . in some embodiments , a video stream is input and video frame ( n ) is buffered and decoded into frame subunits . in certain embodiments , frame subunits of video frame ( n ) are compared to one or more other frame subunits of video frame ( n ) or to an average of one or more frame subunits of video frame ( n ). in certain embodiments , a subunit of video frame ( n ) is limited based on a maximum differential value ( l 2 ), e . g ., based on brightness and / or color . in some embodiments , the frame subunits of video frame ( n ) are constructed into a corrected or limited frame ( n ) ( if it has been limited according to l 2 ) and buffered . in certain embodiments , the corrected or limited frame ( n ) is then compared at each location with a corrected or uncorrected frame ( n - 1 ). in other words , in some embodiments , each frame subunit of frame ( n ) is compared to its respective or corresponding frame subunit of frame ( n - 1 ). in certain embodiments , a subunit of video frame ( n ) is limited based on a maximum differential value between frames ( l 1 ), e . g ., based on brightness and / or color . in some embodiments , a corrected frame of frame ( n ) and / or frame ( n - 1 ) is then output . in certain embodiments , provided herein is a device for reducing variations of brightness in visual media , wherein the device : a . receives a video stream ; b . decodes one or more frame subunit from a video frame of the video ; c . and processes at least one frame subunit according any process set forth herein . in certain embodiments , the video stream is decoded from a compressed format . in some embodiments , the video stream is decoded from , by way of non - limiting example , mpeg ( e . g ., mpeg - 1 , mpeg - 2 , mpeg - 3 , mpeg - 4 ), avi , wmv , or mov format . in specific embodiments , the video stream is decoded from an mpeg format , and wherein the decoded frame subunit from the video frame of the video is an mpeg macroblock . in certain embodiments , the device is selected from , by way of non - limiting example , a computer , an in - line conversion box , a video card , a computer monitor , a digital visual interface ( dvi ), a television , a digital receiver or tuner ( e . g ., a cable box , fiber optics cable box , or a satellite receiver box ), or digital video recorder ( e . g ., tivo ®). in specific embodiments , the in - line conversion box is selected from an in - line high - definition multimedia interface ( hdmi ) conversion box , an in - line component conversion box and combinations thereof . in some embodiments , provided herein is a device on which is stored a video comprising a video frame that has been limited according to any of the processes described herein or by any of the systems provided herein . in certain embodiments , the video is stored in a compressed format . in some embodiments , the video is stored in a compressed format including , by way of non - limiting example , a mpeg ( e . g ., mpeg - 1 , mpeg - 2 , mpeg - 3 , mpeg - 4 ), avi , wmv , or mov format . in a specific embodiment , the compressed format is an mpeg format . in some embodiments , the device is , by way of non - limiting example , a computer , a hard drive , a portable storage disk , a pocket - computer device ( e . g ., an ipod ® or iphone ), a video cassette , a dvd , a digital video recorders ( dvr ) ( e . g ., tivo ®), a blu - ray disc , an hd dvd , or a laserdisc . in certain embodiments , provided herein is a limited video frame having at least one limited frame subunit , wherein the limited frame subunit does not differ from one or more non - limited frame subunits in an amount greater than a maximum differential . in some embodiments , the video frame has been processed according to a process described herein or by a system described herein . in some embodiments , the maximum differential is selected from a differential in brightness , color or combinations thereof . in certain embodiments , the differentials in brightness and / or color , and the frame subunit size and shapes are as described hereinabove . in certain embodiments , each frame subunit is as described hereinabove . in some embodiments , the maximum differential is automatically set , user set , predetermined , factory set or a combination thereof . in certain embodiments , the limited video frame is stored on a readable medium . in some embodiments , the readable medium is a hard drive ( e . g ., in a computer , or a digital video recorder ), a computer , a portable storage disk , a pocket - computer device ( e . g ., an ipod ® or iphone ), a video cassette , a dvd , a digital video recorders ( dvr ) ( e . g ., tivo ®), a blu - ray disc , or an hd dvd . in certain embodiments , provided herein is a plurality of video frames comprising at least one limited video frame . in certain embodiments , a plurality of video frames are stored on a readable medium . in some embodiments , the processes and / or systems described herein are utilized as an add - on for a web - browser , or as an add - on for a computer based video display standard ( e . g ., wmv or quicktime ). in certain embodiments , a process or system described herein is a codec for use in editing or production software . a method of reducing or preventing incidences of and / or the triggering of epileptic episodes , headaches , irritability , eye strain , nausea or combinations thereof in an viewer of visual media possessing a plurality of video frames by replacing at least one video frame viewed by the viewer with a corresponding limited video frame . in some embodiments , each limited video frame has at least one limited frame subunit , wherein the limited frame subunit does not differ from one or more non - limited frame subunits in an amount greater than a maximum differential . in certain embodiments , the limited video frame and / or limited frame subunit are processed according to any process described herein or by a system or device as described herein ( including interframe and / or intraframe processing ). in certain embodiments , the maximum differential and / or x values of any of the processes , methods , systems and / or devices described herein are automatically set , user set , predetermined , factory set or a combination thereof . in certain embodiments , when the values are automatically set , the basis for the automatic setting can be any source including , by way of non - limiting example , past user preferences and / or factory settings . in certain embodiments , maximum intra - frame differentials that are automatically set are set , e . g ., based on the average brightness of the frame subunits in a frame . in some embodiments , automatic values are set or the values are automatically adjusted based on environmental parameters including , e . g ., temperature , humidity , barometric pressure and the like . in some embodiments , factory settings are determined by focus groups , e . g ., based on neurological events , eye strain , nausea , migraines , epileptic episodes , irritability and / or motion sickness in the focus group viewers . in certain embodiments , the processes and / or systems provided herein are provided as an addition to video standards ( e . g ., mpe , divx ) and / or computer video standards ( e . g ., directx ). | 7 |
as shown in fig1 a hook - shaped probe ( 1 ) the diameter of which is designed for an isokinetic sampling projects into the into the gas main stream flowing through a flue duct . a flange ( 13 ) is used to secure the hook - shaped probe ( 1 ) onto the flue duct . the probe for sampling measuring gas ( 2 ) is arranged downstream the hook - shaped probe ( 1 ). gas sampling is made in a way in which a partial gas stream , still having the same temperature as the gas main stream , is branched off from the gas main stream and guided into the triboelectrical measuring chamber ( 5 ) immediately after it enters the sampling probe ( 2 ). inside the triboelectrical measuring chamber ( 5 ), the measuring gas laden with dust particles and aerosols is cycloned , and the rubbing effect of these motion causes triboelectric signals to be generated . the measuring gas stream is propelled by an injector ( 7 ) that is driven by a power air blower ( 9 ). a volume flow metering and / or monitoring device is integrated in the gas metering section so that constant conditions can be maintained for the partial gas stream , or computerized compensation is enabled as regards the impact the volume flow fluctuations may have on the triboelectric signal , respectively . integrating a multi - way spherical valve ( 4 ) into the device enables cyclic backflushing of the triboelectrical measuring chamber ( 5 ) and the sampling probe ( 2 using power air supplied from the injector ( 7 ). the line through which the gas exits from the device is marked with position reference 8 . fig2 in contrast to fig1 shows a useful variation in which the triboelectrical measuring chamber ( 5 ) is arranged in the gas main stream . the hookshaped probe ( 1 ) is used for sampling , after which the sample , now being the partial gas stream , is fed into the triboelectrical measuring chamber ( 5 ). fig3 and 4 show how the triboelectric signals are generated when dust is contained in moist and tacky flue gases , that is to say we are talking about determination of aerosols in addition to dust measurements . according to the invention , aerosol measuring is a differential measurement , in which all measurable particles and aerosols are measured and compared with the solid particles alone . if there is in place a flue gas matrix that contains volatile condensible components ( organic compounds , water or acids ), the components will exist in either gaseous or liquid / solid state , depending on the temperature . gaseous components cannot be measured after the triboelectrical principle . it exists a temperature t 2 at which the aerosols contained in the partial gas stream are completely evaporated . in this case , nothing else than dust is detected . at a second temperature t 1 , this temperature being lower than the first one , the volatile condensible components exist in form of aerosols in addition to the dust already in place . the difference found by comparing “ dust plus aerosol ” and “ dust alone ” is the desired “ aerosol ” value . hence , the hardware configuration of the device as shown in fig1 and 2 needs to be supplemented . after taking the flue gas sample by using the hook - shaped probe ( 1 ) and the probe for sampling measuring gas ( 2 ) as already described in greater detail , the branched - off partial gas stream is subjected to an intermittent temperature regime . this process is taking place in a specific chamber with intermittent temperature regime ( 15 ). in order to implement such intermittent temperature regime , use is made of a regulated probe heating device ( 3 ). diluent air is supplied by a flushing air blower ( 10 ) with preceding suction filter ( 12 ). the temperature regime applied during measuring the aerosol components as shown in fig4 is maintained by employing a temperature measuring device ( 6 ). according to fig5 aerosol measuring is made in two triboelectrical measuring chambers ( 5 ) working at two different temperature levels . in line with such layout , the partial stream taken by the hook - shaped probe ( 1 ) is divided into two branch streams each of them being heated up by a regulated probe heating device ( 3 ) specifically assigned to that branch in order to maintain a defined differential temperature . after exiting from the two triboelectrical measuring chambers ( 5 ), the differential temperatures ta and tb are determined by measuring devices ( 6 ). the subsequent fig6 through to 12 relate to suggestions in accordance with the invention , concerning the triboelectrical measuring chambers ( 5 ) as such or the design and layout of the sensors ( 16 ) inside the triboelectrical measuring chambers ( 5 ). the triboelectrical measuring chamber ( 5 ) is now described in greater detail on the basis of a practical example with shell - like sensors ( 16 ). according to fig8 a dust / aerosol laden partial stream enters the intake cylinder ( 19 ) through the intake piece ( 20 ). the partial stream is discharged through an outlet cylinder ( 21 ) with tangentially arranged outlet pieces ( 22 ; please cf . fig9 ). electrically conductive , shell - like sensors ( 16 ) are arranged inside the tubeshaped triboelectrical measuring chamber ( 5 ). fig7 shows the sensors &# 39 ; ( 16 ) shell - like structure . electrical contact is prevented by the distance separation ( 26 ) in which the sensors ( 16 ) are located to each other . other constructional measures prevent the sensors &# 39 ; ( 16 ) far ends from making electrical contact with the intake and outlet cylinders ( 19 , 21 ). the sensors &# 39 ; ( 16 ) outward surfaces are wrapped in an insulating layer ( 18 ). this insulation layer prevents loss of heat and is nonconducting to electric current . both conditions are prerequisite for the proper functioning and working order of the measuring device . the measuring chamber &# 39 ; s outer wall has a tubular design . in contrast to fig7 fig1 , 11 and 12 demonstrate that sensors are not necessarily to be of a shell - like design . according to fig1 , several sensors ( 16 ) are arranged on the perimeter . from a bird &# 39 ; s view , the latter are designed as ring segments . the ring segments &# 39 ; faces , being the sensors as such , are marked with position reference 24 . to implement the measuring procedure , e . g . for nullification , these additional sensors may be very useful . in addition , further reference should be made to the following variations of the sensors ( 16 ): as dust measuring relies on the charge exchanged between sensor and dust particles , sensors ( 16 ) may be of alternative design , such as hollow cylinder , round rod , trapezoidal section or square bar , with such sensors being arranged on the inward perimeter of the tubular triboelectrical measuring chamber ( 5 ) or in a central position . for details , reference is made to fig1 . the sensors ( 16 ) may be either metallic conductive or provided with a specific coating , and they can be connected with equal or different potential . the triboelectric signals must be read out and transmitted to further processing . appropriate electric cabling is provided in the ducts ( 25 ). the triboelectric effect occurs when the dust - laden gas stream ( 23 ) cyclones through the measuring chamber ( 15 ), with the dust particles rubbing across the sensors ( 16 ). the tangential admission direction of the gas stream ( 23 ) and its cyclone - like movement is basically the same as found in rotary separators . according to the invention , however , cycloning is used to implement a completely novel proposal , namely the amplification of the triboelectric effect for dust measurements . this will make possible measurements even at lower dust concentration levels . adjusting the signal level is also possible through the size and the design of the sensors selected . further advantageous impacts on the signal level may be achieved , for example , by coating the sensors with low - impedance ptfe . the ring segments &# 39 ; faces , being the sensors as such , are marked with position reference 24 . to implement the measuring procedure , e . g . for nullification , these additional sensors may be very useful . in addition , further reference should be made to the following variations of the sensors ( 16 ): as dust measuring relies on the charge exchanged between sensor and dust particles , sensors ( 16 ) may be of alternative design , such as hollow cylinder , round rod , trapezoidal section or square bar , with such sensors being arranged on the inward perimeter of the tubular triboelectrical measuring chamber ( 5 ) or in a central position . for details , reference is made to fig1 . the sensors ( 16 ) may be either metallic conductive or provided with a specific coating , and they can be connected with equal or different potential . the triboelectric signals must be read out and transmitted to further processing . appropriate electric cabling is provided in the ducts ( 25 ). the triboelectric effect occurs when the dust - laden gas stream ( 23 ) cyclones through the measuring chamber ( 15 ), with the dust particles rubbing across the sensors ( 16 ). the tangential admission direction of the gas stream ( 23 ) and its cyclone - like movement is basically the same as found in rotary separators . according to the invention , however , cycloning is used to implement a completely novel proposal , namely the amplification of the triboelectric effect for dust measurements . this will make possible measurements even at lower dust concentration levels . adjusting the signal level is also possible through the size and the design of the sensors selected . further advantageous impacts on the signal level may be achieved , for example , by coating the sensors with low - impedance ptfe . finally , reference should be made to further variations of the sensors and how they are arranged inside the measuring chamber . as can be seen from fig1 , sensors may be located also in a central position so that , besides tangential flow conditions , even centrical flow conditions can be realized after the speed has been increased in advance , fig1 depicts examples of vertical and horizontal layouts of the triboelectrical measuring chamber . a redundant sensor layout enables hardware self - checks as to the uniform generation of the triboelectric signals . this may have a positive influence , for example on the quality of measurements . | 6 |
the n - alkyl substituted azacycloalkanes useful as penetration - enhancing additives in the compositions of the instant invention may be made by the methods described below . typical examples of compounds represented by the above structural formula include : certain of the compounds represented by the above general formula , wherein x represents two hydrogen atoms , may be prepared by reacting the corresponding azacycloalkan - 2 - one with lithium aluminum hydride . the reaction may be carried out under anhydrous conditions in an ether solvent , for example , diethyl ether at room temperature for about 5 hours in an inert atmosphere , for example , argon . any of the above compounds wherein x is sulfur may be made by reacting the corresponding oxygen compound with phosphorus pentasulfide . the amount of 1 - substituted azacycloalkane which may be used in the present invention is an effective , non - toxic amount for enhancing percutaneous absorption . generally , this amount ranges between about 0 . 01 to about 5 and preferably about 0 . 1 to 2 percent by weight of the composition . the subject compositions may find use with many physiologically active agents which are soluble in the vehicles disclosed . fungistatic and fungicidal agents such as , for example , thiabendazole , chloroxine , amphotericin b , candicidin , fungimycin , nystatin , chlordantoin , clotrimazole , miconazole nitrate , pyrrolnitrin , salicylic acid , fezatione , tolnaftate , triacetin and zinc and sodium pyrithione may be dissolved in the penetration - enhancing agents described herein and topically applied to affected areas of the skin . for example , fungistatic or fungicidal agents so applied are carried through the stratum corneum , and thereby successfully treat fungus - caused skin problems . these agents , thus applied , not only penetrate more quickly than when applied in the vehicles of the prior art , but additionally enter the animal tissue in high concentrations and are retained for substantially longer time periods whereby a far more successful treatment is effected . for example , the subject compositions may also be employed in the treatment of fungus infections on the skin caused by candida and dermatophytes which cause athletes foot or ringworm , by dissolving thiabendazole or similar antifungal agents in one of the above - described penetration - enhancing agents and applying it to the affected area . the subject compositions are also useful in treating skin problems , for example , herpes simplex , which may be treated by a solution of iododeoxyuridine dissolved in one of the penetration - enhancing agents or such problems as warts which may be treated with agents such as podophylline dissolved in one of the penetration - enhancing agents . skin problems such as psoriasis may be treated by topical application of a solution of a conventional topical steroid in one of the penetration - enhancing agents or by treatment with theophylline or antagonists of β - adrenergic blockers such as isoproterenol in one of the penetration - enhancing agents . scalp conditions such as alopecia areata may be treated more effectively by applying steroids such as triamcinolone acetonide dissolved in one of the penetration - enhancing agents of this invention directly to the scalp . the subject compositions are also useful for treating mild eczema , for example , by applying a solution of fluocinolone acetonide or its derivatives ; hydrocortisone , triamcinolone acetonide , indomethacin , or phenylbutazone dissolved in one of the penetration - enhancing agents to the affected area . examples of other physiologically active steroids which may be used with the vehicles include corticosteroids such as , for example , cortisone , cortodoxone , flucetonide , fluorocortisone , difluorsone diacetate , flurandrenolone acetonide , medrysone , amcinafel , amcinafide , betamethasone and its esters , chloroprednisone , clocortelone , descinolone , desonide , dexamethasone , dichlorisone , defluprednate , flucloronide , flumethasone , flunisolide , fluocinonide , flucortolone , fluoromethalone , fluperolone , fluprednisolone , meprednisone , methylmeprednisolone , paramethasone , preunisolone and preunisone . the subject compositions are also useful in antibacterial chemotherapy , e . g . in the treatment of skin conditions involving pathogenic bacteria . typical antibacterial agents which may be used in this invention include sulfonamides , penicillins , cephalosporins , penicillinase , erythromycins , lincomycins , vancomycins , tetracyclines , chloramphenicols , streptomycins , etc . typical examples of the foregoing include erythromycin , erytbromycin ethyl carbonate , erythromycin estolate , erythromycin glucepate , erythromycin ethylsuccinate , erythromycin lactobionate , lincomycin , clindamycin , tetracycline , chlortetracycline , demeclocycline , doxycycline , methacycline , oxytetracycline , minocycline , etc . the subject compositions are also useful in protecting ultra - sensitive skin or even normally sensitive skin from damage or discomfort due to sunburn . thus , dermatitis actinica may be avoided by application of a sunscreen , such as para - aminobenzoic acid or its well - known derivatives dissolved in one of the above - described penetration - enhancing agents , to skin surfaces that are to be exposed to the sun ; and the protective paraaminobenzoic acid or its derivatives will be carried into the stratum corneum more successfully and will therefore be retained even when exposed to water or washing for a substantially longer period of time than when applied to the skin in conventional vehicles . this invention is particularly useful for ordinary suntan lotions used in activities involving swimming because the ultraviolet screening ingredients in the carriers of the prior art are washed off the skin when it is immersed in water . the subject compositions may also find use in treating scar tissue by applying agents which soften collagen , such as aminopropionitrile or penicillamine dissolved in one of the penetration - enhancing agents of this invention topically to the scar tissue . agents normally applied as eye drops , ear drops , or nose drops are more effective when dissolved in the penetration - enhancing agents of this invention . agents used in diagnosis may be used more effectively when applied dissolved in one of the penetration - enhancing agents of this invention . patch tests to diagnose allergies may be effected promptly without scratching the skin or covering the area subjected to an allergen when the allergens are applied in one of the penetration - enhancing agents of this invention . the subject compositions are also useful for topical application of cosmetic or esthetic agents . for example , compounds such as melanin - stimulating hormone ( msh ) or dihydroxyacetone and the like are more effectively applied to skin to stimulate a suntan when they are dissolved in one of the penetration - enhancing agents of this invention . the agent is carried into the skin more quickly and in greater quantity when applied in accordance with this invention . hair dyes also penetrate more completely and effectively when dissolved in one of the penetration - enhancing agents of this invention . the effectiveness of such topically applied materials as insect repellants or fragrances , such as perfumes and colognes , can be prolonged when such agents are applied dissolved in one of the penetration - enhancing agents of this invention . it is to be emphasized that the foregoing are simply examples of physiologically active agents including therapeutic and cosmetic agents having known effects for known conditions , which may be used more effectively for their known properties in accordance with this invention . in addition , the penetration - enhancing agents of the present invention may also be used to produce therapeutic effects which were not previously known . that is , by use of the penetration - enhancing agents described herein , therapeutic effects heretofore not known can be achieved . as an example of the foregoing , griseofulvin is known as the treatment of choice for fungus infections of the skin and nails . heretofore , the manner of delivery of griseofulvin has been oral . however , it has long been known that oral treatment is not preferred because of side effects resulting from exposure of the entire body to griseofulvin and the fact that only the outer layers of affected skin need to be treated . therefore , because fungal infections are generally infections of the skin and nails , it would be advantageous to utilize griseofulvin topically . however , despite a long - felt need for a topical griseofulvin , griseofulvin has been used orally to treat topical fungus conditions because there was not heretofore known any formulation which could be delivered topically which would cause sufficient retention of griseofulvin in the skin to be useful therapeutically . however , it has now been discovered that griseofulvin , in a range of therapeutic concentrations between about 0 . 1 % and about 10 % may be used effectively topically if combined with one of the penetration - enhancing agents described herein . as a further example , acne is the name commonly applied to any inflammatory disease of the sebaceous glands ; also acne vulgaris . the microorganism typically responsible for the acne infection is corynebacterium acnes . various therapeutic methods for treating acne have been attempted including topical antibacterials , e . g . hexachlorophene , and systemic antibiotics such as tetracycline . while the systemic antibiotic treatments are known to be partially effective , the topical treatments are generally not effective . it has long been known that systemic treatment of acne is not preferred because of side effects resulting from exposure of the entire body to antibiotics and the fact that only the affected skin need be treated . however , despite a long - felt need for a topical treatment for acne , antibiotics generally have been used only systemically to treat acne because there was not heretofore known an antibacterial formulation which could be used topically which would be effective therapeutically in the treatment of acne . however , it has now been discovered that antibiotics , especially those of the lincomycin and erythromycin families of antibiotics , may be used in the treatment of acne topically if combined with one of the penetration - enhancing agents described herein . the antibiotics composition so applied is carried into and through the epidermis and deeper layers of the skin as well as into follicles and comedones ( sebum - plugged follicles which contain c . acnes ) in therapeutically effective amounts and thereby successfully may be used to temporarily eliminate the signs and symptoms of acne . the term &# 34 ; physiologically active agent &# 34 ; is used herein to refer to a broad class of useful chemical and therapeutic agents including physiologically active steroids , antibiotics , antifungal agents , antibacterial agents , antineoplastic agents , allergens , antihistaminic agents , anti - inflammatory agents , ultraviolet screening agents , diagnostic agents , perfumes , insect repellants , hair dyes , etc . dosage forms for topical application may include solution nasal sprays , lotions , ointments , creams , gels , suppositories , sprays , aerosols and the like . typical inert carriers which make up the foregoing dosage forms include water , acetone , isopropyl alcohol , freons , ethyl alcohol , polyvinylpyrrolidone , propylene glycol , fragrances , gel - producing materials , mineral oil , stearyl alcohol , stearic acid , spermaceti , sorbitan monooleate , &# 34 ; polysorbates &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; tweens &# 34 ;, sorbital , methyl cellulose , etc . the amount of the composition , and thus of the physiologically active agent therein , to be administered will obviously be an effective amount for the desired result expected therefrom . this , of course , will be ascertained by the ordinary skill of the practitioner . due to enhanced activity which is achieved , the dosage of physiologically active agent may often be decreased from that generally applicable . in accordance with the usual prudent formulating practices , a dosage near the lower end of the useful range of the particular physiologically active agent may be employed initially and the dosage increased as indicated from the observed response , as in the routine procedure of the physician . the invention is further illustrated by the following examples which are illustrative of various aspects of the invention , and are not intended as limiting the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . 56 . 2 g ( 0 . 2 mol ) of 1 - dodecylazacycloheptan - 2 - one in 100 ml diethyl ether was added dropwise to a suspension of 7 . 6 g ( 0 . 2 mol ) lithium aluminum hydride in 100 ml diethyl ether under argon at room temperature . after 5 hours of stirring , 20 ml saturated sodium sulfate was added dropwise . the mixture was filtered and the filtrate was dried with magnesium sulfate , filtered and concentrated . the resulting oil was distilled ( 130 °/. 03 mm ) to yield 50 . 03 g ( 93 . 5 %) of 1 - n - dodecylazacycloheptane . to a solution of 5 g ( 17 . 7 mmol ) of 1 - n - dodecylazacycloheptan - 2 - one in 150 ml of benzene was added 4 . 18 g ( 9 . 4 mmol ) of phosphorus pentasulfide and the mixture was refluxed for 1 hr . after cooling to room temperature , the mixture was filtered and the solid was washed with chloroform and ethanol . the filtrate was concentrated in vacuo and the residue was subjected to flash chromatography , ( silica ; ( 95 : 5 ) v / v hexane / ethyl acetate ) to give 2 . 11 g ( 40 %) of 1 - n - dodecylazacycloheptane - 2thione . the compounds of examples 1 and 2 were tested as penetration enhancing agents according to the below procedure : skin from female hairless mice , 4 - 6 weeks old , was removed from the animal and placed over penetration wells with normal saline bathing the corium . a plastic cylinder 1 . 4 cm in diameter was glued onto each piece on the epidermal side . 0 . 1 % triamcinolone acetonide 3 h was applied ( 0 . 01 cc ) to the epidermal surface within the 1 . 4 cm diameter cylinder . the skin was incubated at room temperature and ambient humidity . at 6 hours and 24 hours , 2 cc were removed from the 10 cc reservoir of normal saline bathing the corium . the 2 cc of normal saline removed were replaced after the 6 hour sample with 2 cc of normal saline . the 2 cc aliquots were put into scintillation fluid and the radioactivity determined in a scintillation counter . the amount penetrating was calculated as per cent of dose applied . in every experiment the 3 h triamcinolone acetonide was dissolved in ethanol and the penetration - enhancing agent to be tested was added to the desired concentration . the controls were ethanol , alone , and 1 - n - dodecylazacycloheptan - 2 - one , a compound described in the u . s . patents , noted above , as having superior penetration - enhancing properties . five separate tests for each compound and the controls were made and the results averaged . the results , as reported in the table below , show that the compounds of examples 1 and 2 have penetration - enhancing properties . table______________________________________penetration - enhancing percent penetrationagent 6 hr . 24 hr . ______________________________________example 1 3 . 54 11 . 44example 2 9 . 42 48 . 581 - n - dodecylcycloheptan - 2 - one 16 . 64 60 . 94ethanol ( only ) 0 . 56 6 . 78ethanol ( only , repeat ) 0 . 5 5 . 64______________________________________ as can be shown from the above results the compounds of examples 1 and 2 have penetration - enhancing properties as compared to the ethanol control . an aerosol form of the formulation of example 4 is prepared by preparing the following mixture : ______________________________________ formulation 25 % freon . sup . 1 75 % ______________________________________ . sup . 1 freon is 75 / 25 freon 114 / 12 . ______________________________________ % ______________________________________clindamycin base 1 . 0stearyl alcohol , u . s . p . 12 . 0ethoxylated cholesterol 0 . 4synthetic spermaceti 7 . 5sorbitan monooleate 1 . 0polysorbate 80 , u . s . p . 3 . 01 - n - dodecylazacycloheptan - 2 - thione 0 . 5sorbitol solution , u . s . p . 5 . 5sodium citrate 0 . 5chemoderm # 844 fragrance 0 . 2purified water 68 . 4______________________________________ ______________________________________ a (%) b (%) ______________________________________clindamycin base -- 1 . 0clindamycin phosphate acid 1 . 3 -- sodium hydroxide 0 . 077 -- 1 . 0 m hydrochloric acid -- 2 . 27disodium edetate : 2h . sub . 2 o 0 . 003 0 . 003fragrances 0 . 5 0 . 51 - n - dodecylazacycloheptan - 2 - thione 1 . 0 1 . 0purified water 20 . 0 17 . 73isopropanol 77 . 12 77 . 497______________________________________ these solutions are effective for the treatment of acne in humans . this solution is effective for the treatment of otitis in domestic animals . ______________________________________ % ______________________________________p - aminobenzoic acid 2 . 0benzyl alcohol 0 . 51 - n - dodecylazacycloheptan - 2 - thione 1 . 0polyethylene glycol 500 - ms 10 . 0isopropyl lanolate 3 . 0lantrol 1 . 0acetylated lanolin 0 . 5isopropyl myristate 5 . 0light mineral oil 8 . 0cetyl alcohol 1 . 0veegum 1 . 0propylene glycol 3 . 0purified water 64 . 0______________________________________ the following lotion formulation may be prepared containing about 0 . 001 to 1 percent , with preferably 0 . 1 percent fluocinolone acetonide : ______________________________________ % ______________________________________fluocinolone acetonide 0 . 001 - 1cetyl alcohol 15 . 0propylene glycol 10 . 0sodium lauryl sulfate 15 . 01 - n - dodecylazacycloheptan - 2 - thione 1 . 0water ( to make 100 %) ______________________________________ the steroid is dissolved in the vehicle and added to a stirred , cooling melt of the other ingredients . the preparation is particularly useful for the treatment of inflamed dermatoses by topical application to the affected skin area . the amount and frequency of application is in accordance with standard practice for topical application of this steroid . penetration of the steroid into the inflamed tissue is enhanced and a therapeutic level is achieved more rapidly and sustained for longer duration than when the steroid is applied in conventional formulations . examples 4 - 12 are repeated except that 1 - n - dodecylazacycloheptan - 2 - thione is replaced with the following penetration - enhancing agent : while particular embodiments of the invention have been described it will be understood of course that the invention is not limited thereto since many obvious modifications can be made and it is intended to include within this invention any such modifications as will fall within the scope of the appended claims . | 8 |
referring now to the drawings , and particularly to fig1 a horizontal directional drill machine is shown generally at 10 . the drill machine 10 includes a frame 12 supported by driven tracks 14 for moving the drill machine 10 from place to place . the drill machine 10 includes a longitudinally elongated boom 16 pivotally mounted on the front end of the frame 12 , as at 17 . a conventional pipe drill assembly 18 is mounted on the boom 16 , extending coextensively therewith . the drill assembly 18 is designed to drill a series of pipe sections p 1 , p 2 , p 3 , et seq ., into the ground , in sequence . in the operating mode of the drill machine 10 , the boom 16 is pivoted upward away from the frame 12 so that pipe section p 1 . extends from the drill assembly 18 and intersects the ground at an angle . a special drill head ( not shown ) is attached to the front end of the first drill pipe section p 1 . in order to drill the pipe section p 1 into the ground and make any desired directional changes in its path , a variety of push , pull , and rotational forces are applied to the pipe section p 1 by the drill assembly 18 . the manner in which the drill assembly 18 applies these forces to the drill pipe section p 1 are not described , but are well known to those skilled in the art . as the first pipe section p 1 is drilled into the ground , new pipe sections p 2 , p 3 , et seq ., are successively attached to the rear end of the preceding pipe sections . a cartridge 22 of pipe sections p 2 , p 3 , et seq . is provided on the boom 16 for storing these additional pipe sections , and a semi - automatic or fully automatic loader ( not shown ) may be provided for attaching them to the preceding pipe sections . a stakedown assembly 24 is connected to the front end of the drill machine 10 . the stakedown assembly 24 is attached to forward end of the boom 16 at a pivot connection 26 , which allows the stakedown assembly 24 to be oriented level with the ground surface when the boom is tilted . a coupling such as described in concurrently filed draney et al . u . s . patent application ser . no . 09 / 495 , 136 filed jan . 31 , 2000 may be provided for quickly and easily connecting the stakedown assembly to the drill machine 10 , or disconnecting it . turning now to fig2 and 3 , a stakedown assembly 24 is shown in greater detail . the stakedown assembly 24 includes a tower 27 mounted on a base plate 32 at a connection 31 which permits the tower 27 to rotate about its vertical axis . a drive head 28 is attached to the tower 27 through a sleeve 30 which permits longitudinal sliding along the tower 27 , and a cantilevered arm 29 on which the drive head 28 is mounted . the lower end of a hydraulic cylinder 36 is pivotally attached to the tower 27 , while the upper end is pivotally attached to the arm 29 . thus , the arm 29 and drive head 28 can be driven in a vertical direction by the hydraulic cylinder 36 . a rack and pinion drive connection , as described in concurrently filed draney et al . u . s . patent application ser . no . 09 / 501 , 875 filed feb . 10 , 2000 may be used for this . the base plate 32 has a series of stake locator ports 34 extending vertically through it , for receiving stakes s when they are installed . these ports 34 are arranged in a segmentally - circular pattern at equal distances from the tower &# 39 ; s 27 axis of rotation . in the preferred embodiment , five locator ports 34 are provided on a circle segment whose center is the tower 27 . the cantilevered arm 29 extends outwardly over the path of the ports 34 so that the drive head 28 can be positioned over any one of the holes 34 as the tower 27 is rotated . opposite the series of ports 34 on the base plate 32 , a series of locking pin holes 33 are arranged in a semi - circular pattern adjacent the tower 27 . a lock plate 42 is rigidly attached to the tower 27 at its lower end . a locking pin hole 43 in the lock plate 42 can be aligned with any hole 34 and the plate 42 then locked to the base plate 32 with a locking pin 44 . a rotational drive motor 38 is mounted in the drive head 28 on the free end of the cantilevered arm 29 . by rotating the tower 27 , the output shaft 39 of the motor 38 can be positioned over any one of the guide holes 34 . the tower is rotated manually by the operator . to operate the multiple position stakedown assembly 24 , the desired number of stakes s to be installed , and their placement , is first determined by testing soil conditions and locating any underground obstacles . the drive head 28 is rotated on its cantilevered arm 29 until it is over a desired guide hole 35 , and locked into position . the bottom end of a stake s is positioned in the desired guide hole 35 , and the top end of the stake s is attached to the drive shaft 39 of the motor 38 . a coupling as described in concurrently filed draney et al . u . s . patent application ser . no . 09 / 500 , 820 filed feb . 10 , 2000 may be used to quickly and easily attach the stake s to the drive shaft 39 . the drive motor 38 and hydraulic cylinder 36 are then simultaneously operated to apply the rotational and vertical forces necessary to install stake s into the ground . the installed stake s is then clamped to the base plate 32 . to this end , a cap 40 is installed on each of the stakes s . the cap 40 has an inner diameter clearance hole through its center which is large enough to provide a sliding fit between the cap 40 and the stake s , but is smaller than a lower coupler member 60 which is fixedly attached to the top end of the stake s . because its outer diameter is larger than that of the guide holes 34 , the cap 40 is sandwiched between the base plate 32 and the lower coupler member 60 when the stake s is fully driven into the ground . after disconnecting the first installed stake s from the drive shaft 39 , additional stakes s can be installed . to do so , the drive head 28 is rotated to a new position and the stake installation process is repeated . while a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described , it should be understood that the invention is not so limited , and modifications may be made without departing from the invention . the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims , and all devices that come within the meaning of the claims , either literally or by equivalence , are intended to be embraced therein . | 4 |
there will be described an outline of an image managing method in the present embodiment . fig1 is a diagram showing a list display screen 1 . in the list display screen 1 , a tool menu area 2 and a data display area 3 are disposed . in the tool menu area 2 , a sort button 2 a and an end button 2 b are arranged . in the data display area 3 , a plurality of images for indexes indicating original images can be displayed . each index image is displayed in a size which reflects a size of the original image . in the data display area 3 shown in fig1 , a plurality of index images “ image 1 ” to “ image 6 ” and a mouse pointer 4 are displayed . in fig1 , since the “ image 5 ” is hidden by the “ image 6 ”, a user cannot visually recognize the “ image 5 ”. in this case , when the user clicks the sort button 2 a , a sort menu 6 shown in fig2 is displayed . when the user selects “ ascending - order sort by photographing date ” or “ descending - order sort by photographing date ” from the sort menu 6 , dates when image data have been photographed are compared with each other , and display orders of the images are changed . in consequence , as shown in fig3 , the list display screen 1 is updated and displayed . as a result of the sorting , since the display order of the “ image 5 ” is at the rear of the “ image 6 ”, the user can visually recognize the “ image 5 ”. when the user selects “ sort by image size ( the smaller the image size is , the higher the order becomes )” from the sort menu 6 , the sizes of the index images are compared with each other , and the display orders of the images are changed . in consequence , as shown in fig4 , the list display screen 1 is updated and displayed . as a result of the sorting , since the display order of the “ image 5 ” is at the rear of the “ image 6 ”, the user can visually recognize the “ image 5 ”. when the user selects “ sort by display area ( the smaller the display area is , the higher the order becomes )” from the sort menu 6 , the display areas of the image data at a time when the sort menu is selected are compared with each other , and the display orders of the images are changed . moreover , as shown in fig5 , the list display screen 1 is updated and displayed . as a result of the sorting , since the display order of the “ image 5 ” is at the rear of the “ image 6 ”, the user can visually recognize the “ image 5 ”. since the display area of the “ image 4 ” is smaller than that of the “ image 2 ”, the whole “ image 4 ” is displayed . similarly , the user can select “ sort by exposure time ”, “ sort by aperture value ”, “ sort by subject distance ” or the like from the sort menu 6 to change the display order of the image data . moreover , the above change of the display orders can be performed for not only all the index images displayed in the data display area 3 but also the images which belong to a specific group . fig6 is a diagram showing classifications of the groups . a plurality of index images which overlap one another or come into contact with one another form one group . when one index image is selected with a mouse , a group including the selected index image is specified . when the user designates the above sort operation , the display orders of index images which belong to the specified group are changed . fig7 is a block diagram showing a constitution of an image managing apparatus 20 for realizing the above image managing method . the image managing apparatus 20 is provided with an operation unit 21 , a display unit 22 , a communication unit 24 , a processing unit 25 , an image memory 26 , a database 27 , a program memory 28 and a temporary memory 29 . the operation unit 21 includes input members such as a mouse and a keyboard for operating various functions and inputting instructions . the display unit 22 displays the list display screen 1 or the like . the communication unit 24 is a communication interface for transmitting and receiving information such as the image data with respect to an external apparatus ( not shown ). the processing unit 25 executes image processing of reducing the original image to prepare the index image or the like , and generally controls the respective components of the image managing apparatus 20 . the image memory 26 is a storage medium for storing the image data of the original image . the database 27 is a storage medium for storing , as management information , attribute information such as exif data which accompanies the original image . the program memory 28 is a storage medium for storing a program which operates in the image managing apparatus 20 . the temporary memory 29 is a buffer memory which temporarily stores data for the display order change processing . next , an image display procedure using the image managing apparatus 20 will be described with reference to fig8 to 10 . it is to be noted that image display functions which will below be described are concerned with main functions of the present image display method . therefore , functions which are not mentioned in the following description but which are described with reference to fig1 to 7 are included in the functions regarding the present image display method . fig1 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure for the image managing apparatus 20 of the present embodiment to acquire the original image as a management object from the external apparatus . in a step u 01 , the processing unit 25 detects that an external apparatus ( not shown ) such as a digital camera is connected to the communication unit 24 . when the connection of the external apparatus is detected , an image transmission request command is transmitted to the external apparatus . in a step u 02 , the processing unit receives an image transmitted from the external apparatus in response to the image transmission command . in a step u 03 , the processing unit 25 reduces each received image as the original image at a predetermined ratio to prepare a reduced image for the index . then , in a step u 04 , the processing unit stores the original image and the index image in the image memory 26 , and registers , in the database 27 , management information including the exif data accompanying the original image , a size of the index image and information for referring to the original image and the index image . the processing to acquire the image as the management object is ended by the above processing . it is to be noted that in the step u 03 , the original image is reduced at a ratio which is proportional to the size of the original image , a ratio of a square or a ½ square , or the like to prepare the reduced image so that the size of the original image is reflected . in the step s 01 of fig8 , the user starts the image managing apparatus 20 , so that the processing unit 25 initializes an internal table and the like , and in the step s 02 , it displays the list display screen 1 in the display unit 22 . then , in response to user &# 39 ; s operation for displaying the image data , in the step s 03 , the processing unit reads the corresponding index image from the image memory 26 to display the image in the data display area 3 of the list display screen 1 . in a step s 10 , when the user performs a drag and drop operation to change a display position of the index image displayed in the data display area 3 , the processing unit changes the display order so that the index image is displayed in the top in a step s 11 . subsequently , in a step s 12 , the processing unit updates the display of the index image in accordance with the changed display order . then , the processing unit waits for the next user &# 39 ; s operation input . in a step s 15 , when the user clicks one of the index images displayed in the data display area 3 to select the image , the processing unit changes the display order so that the index image is displayed in the top in the step s 11 . subsequently , in the step s 12 , the processing unit updates the display of the index image in accordance with the changed display order . then , the processing unit waits for the next user &# 39 ; s operation input . in a step s 20 , when the user operates the sort button 2 a of the tool menu area 2 , the processing unit executes index image sort processing ( fig9 ) in a step s 21 . in a step t 01 of fig9 , the processing unit specifies the group in which the selected index image is included , and acquires a list of the index images which belong to the group . in a step t 02 , the processing unit registers the index images which belong to the group as sort objects in a sort object table ( not shown ) of the temporary memory 29 . in a step t 03 , the processing unit displays the sort menu 6 , and waits for user &# 39 ; s selecting operation . in a step t 10 , when the user selects the update of the display orders based on the photographing dates from the sort menu 6 , the processing unit sorts the index images as the sort objects based on the photographing dates in a step t 11 . next , in a step t 19 , the processing unit registers the display orders of the sorted index images in a display information table ( not shown ) of the temporary memory 29 , and ends the index image sort processing . in a step t 13 , when the user selects the update of the display orders based on the display image sizes from the sort menu 6 , the processing unit sorts the index images as the sort objects based on the display image sizes in a step t 14 . next , in the step t 19 , the processing unit registers the display orders of the sorted index images in the display information table ( not shown ) of the temporary memory 29 , and then ends the index image sort processing . in a step t 16 , when the user selects the update of the display orders based on the display areas from the sort menu 6 , the processing unit sorts the index images as the sort objects based on the display image areas in a step t 17 . next , in the step t 19 , the processing unit registers the display orders of the sorted index images in the display information table ( not shown ) of the temporary memory 29 , and then ends the index image sort processing . turning back to fig8 , in the step s 12 , the processing unit updates the display of the index images in accordance with the changed display orders , and waits for the next user &# 39 ; s operation input . in a step s 25 , when the user operates the end button 2 b of the tool menu area 2 , the processing unit executes end processing in a step s 26 to end the image display processing . it is to be noted that the functions described above in the embodiment may be constituted using hardware , or realized using software by allowing a computer to read a program in which the functions are described . the respective functions may be constituted by appropriately selecting either the software or the hardware . furthermore , the respective functions can be realized by allowing the computer to read a program stored in a storage medium ( not shown ). here , the storage medium of the present embodiment may have any recording form , as long as the storage medium can record the program and is a computer - readable storage medium . 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 invention concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents . | 6 |
referring to fig1 it will be noted that one u - shaped segment 10 of a continuously moving assembly line 12 is illustrated in phantom lines . the assembly line 12 is , of course , much more extensive than the illustrated segment to facilitate assembly of a complete vehicle . the assembly line 12 begins at point 14 and ends at arrowhead 16 . in modern assembly plants , the assembly line 12 takes the form of a moving track in the floor . incomplete vehicles ride on the track ( fig4 ) past various assembly stations 18 . as will be noted , the assembly stations 18 , which may be located on both sides of the assembly line 12 , are illustrated by circles . the assembly stations 18 are provided along the length of the continuously moving assembly line 12 and are attended by operators each of whom performs various assigned tasks on incomplete vehicles positioned on the continuously moving assembly line 12 as the incomplete vehicles passes by . this leads to building of complete vehicles . an assembly data input or production data terminal ( pdt ) 20 is provided at each assembly station 18 . as shown in fig2 the pdt 20 includes a vertical switch bank 22 which includes manually actuatable buttons or switches 24a - j , each of which carries an identifying numeral , illustratively 0 - 9 , and each of which may correspond to a discrete assigned task of an operator . a panel 26 is positioned adjacent to the switch bank 22 . the panel 26 has a series of vertical numerals which are in alignment with the similar numerals on the switch bank 22 . these numerals also run from 0 - 9 in the illustrated example . only the first four numerals are used in the illustrative case . the operator at this station has responsibility for four assigned tasks . if any one of these assigned tasks are not correctly completed , he then actuates the appropriate switch to indicate that such task has not been correctly completed . if the operator does not actuate a switch , the indication is that the task has been successfully completed . while the switch actuation has been expressed in the negative , it will be appreciated that it could also be expressed in the positive , that is , the operator pushing only those switches which indicate successful completion of a task . the panel 26 also illustratively includes additional information at the top and bottom thereof . an additional manually actuatable task completion or end of operation switch 28 is provided immediately above the switches 24a - j . the end of operation switch 28 , when actuated , indicates to a central computer that all discrete assigned tasks at the associated work station with respect to a specific incomplete vehicle have been completed regardless of whether or not the tasks have been successfully or unsuccessfully completed . this information assures later users of the input data that there is not an assigned task which has not been either successfully or unsuccessfully completed . if the end of operation switch 28 is not actuated at the appropriate time at an assembly station 18 , operators receiving this information at later points , called &# 34 ; upgrade stations &# 34 ; will check each assigned task to be sure that such task has been completed . if such tasks have not been completed , later operators will complete the tasks . moreover , each vehicle is assigned a production or vehicle line tracking number so that activities with respect thereto may be recorded thereagainst . each time a vehicle passes an assembly station 18 , the assembly operator actuates another switch 29 located immediately above the end of operation switch 28 . the switch 29 has printed thereon &# 34 ; change sequence &# 34 ;. when the change sequence switch 29 is actuated , a new number will appear on the switch bank 22 immediately above the change sequence switch 29 which identifies the next incomplete vehicle ; illustratively &# 34 ; 070750 &# 34 ;. all new task completion information will be recorded against this number . referring to fig3 an information system 30 according to the present invention is shown . the pdt 20 is linked by computer bus line to a junction box 32 . the junction boxes 32 are linked by computer bus line to a secondary junction box 33 which is linked by computer bus line to a plant data concentrator ( dcl ) 34 . the plant dcl 34 is linked by computer bus line to a host dcl 36 which is connected to a mainframe computer 38 . it should be appreciated that up to this point , the information system is well known in the art . according to the present invention , the information system 30 includes s limit switch 40 such as square d class 9007 model y190 which is connected by a coaxial digital input / output communications cable 42 to a pdt sequencing computer 44 such as the beta tech pdt sequencing computer model no . zc - 001 - 001 . the pdt sequencing computer 44 is connected to the secondary junction box 33 and utilizes software or algorithms to do a limited amount of data manipulation . the sequencing software could be reproduced using fortran , assembly , c or any other computer programming language common to the art . the pdt sequencing computer 44 is of a microcomputer type utilized to interpret and communicate sequencing information from the limit switch 40 to the information system 30 . the sequencing software is used to coordinate limit switch feedback , assembly station and vehicle data with the appropriate line tracking record for the vehicle at the assembly station 18 . the limit switch 40 is conventional and well known in the art . as shown in fig4 the limit switch 40 is triggered when a vehicle carrier 46 passes over it . the coaxial computer i / 0 cable 46 is of a type common to the art and serves as a communications link between the pdt sequencing computer 44 and the limit switch 40 . the limit switch 40 is placed in such a position that it triggers every time a vehicle carrier 46 passes over it . in operation , sequencing is accomplished starting with the vehicle carrier 46 tripping the limit switch 40 . as the limit switch 40 trips , it triggers a signal which is sent over the cable 42 to the pdt sequencing computer 44 . the sequencing method to be described operates using the limit switch 40 signal as a trigger for the pdt sequencing computer 44 to &# 34 ; move &# 34 ; the computer vehicle line tracking record with the proper vehicle if the assembly station operator fails to press the pdt &# 39 ; s end of operation switch 28 . the limit switch 40 is designed to actuate every time a vehicle carrier 46 on the assembly line conveyor enters an assembly zone ( there are preferably five assembly zones : body , paint , chassis , final and trim ). the pdt sequencing computer 44 reacts to the tripping of the limit switch 40 by sending a signal through the secondary junction box 33 to the rest of the pdt &# 39 ; s 20 in that assembly zone . the signal causes the pdt &# 39 ; s 20 to automatically increment the vehicle line tracking ( id ) number ( see fig5 block 60 ) if the operator has failed to press the end of operation switch 28 , thereby assuring proper vehicle sequencing . referring to fig .&# 39 ; s 5 , 6 , and 7 , flowcharts of a method according to the present invention are used to ensure assembly line sequencing . it must be noted that the methods illustrated by the three flowcharts occur simultaneously to sequence production . fig5 represents a flowchart of the pdt sequencing method . fig6 represents a flowchart of the pdt scanning method or routine that is resident in the plant dcl 34 . fig7 represents a flowchart of the pdt input checking method or routine that is resident in every pdt 20 within the assembly station 18 . in fig5 the sequencing method starts in bubble 50 with the next vehicle carrier 46 entering the assembly station 18 . the sequencing method advances to block 52 and monitors the i / o port of the limit switch 40 . the sequencing method advances to diamond 54 and determines whether the limit switch 40 has been triggered by the vehicle carrier 46 based upon the monitored i / 0 port in block 54 . if the limit switch 40 has been tripped by the next vehicle carrier 46 , the sequencing method advances to diamond 56 to see if the limit switch 40 was falsely triggered by determining whether or not the limit switch 40 was triggered twice within a predetermined time period such as 30 seconds . if the limit switch 40 has been triggered twice within the predetermined time period , the sequencing method advances to block 58 and ignores the second triggering of the limit switch 40 . the sequencing method then branches back to block 52 and begins once again to monitor the i / 0 port of the limit switch 40 . in diamond 56 , if the limit switch 40 has not been triggered twice during the preceding 30 seconds , the sequencing method advances to block 60 and increments and displays the incoming vehicle &# 39 ; s line tracking or identification ( id ) number on the crt of the pdt sequencing computer 44 . in diamond 54 , if the limit switch 40 has not been triggered , the sequencing method advances to block 62 and performs a manual override to trigger the next vehicle entry . the sequencing method would then proceed to block 60 , previously described , where it would increment and display the incoming vehicle &# 39 ; s identification number . from block 60 , the sequencing method advances to diamond 64 and determines whether the vehicle line tracking or identification ( id ) number is correct . this is done by comparing the vehicle id number to a master sequencing record containing the vehicle numbers and their order . if the vehicle id number is correct , the sequencing method advances to block 66 and loads and updates the vehicle station table . the vehicle station table is a software table which contains a &# 34 ; slot &# 34 ; for every assembly work station 18 under control of the pdt sequencing computer 44 . the sequencing method then branches to block 52 and proceeds once again to monitor the i / o port of the limit switch 40 . in diamond 64 , if the vehicle id number is not correct , the sequencing method advances to diamond 68 and a check is made to see if the vehicle carrier 46 is empty . this may be performed visually or by a photocell of any suitable hardware . if the vehicle carrier 46 is empty , the sequencing method advances to block 70 and performs a manual override to enter a &# 34 ; skip unit &# 34 ; instruction or command . the &# 34 ; skip unit &# 34 ; command ensures that vehicle build data will not be entered for an empty vehicle carrier 46 at any assembly work station 18 under control of the pdt sequencing computer 44 . the sequencing method then continues on to block 66 , previously described , updating the vehicle station table . finally , a branch back to block 52 is made , to once again monitor the i / 0 port of the limit switch 40 . in diamond 68 , if the vehicle carrier 46 is empty , the sequencing method advances to block 72 and performs a manual override to enter and / or display the correct vehicle id number . the sequencing method then advances to diamond 64 , previously described , to check once again if the vehicle id number is correct . if the vehicle id number is correct , the sequencing method advances to block 66 and updates the vehicle station table and branches back to block 52 to resume monitoring of the i / 0 port of the limit switch 40 . referring to fig6 a flowchart illustrates a portion of the sequencing method that resides within the plant dcl 34 . this portion is designed to scan all pdt &# 39 ; s 20 within the assembly zone to verify reporting of assembly work stations 18 . reporting will be positive if the operator has pressed the end of operation switch 28 before the vehicle left the work station 18 . the method scans the pdt &# 39 ; s 20 for a predetermined time called a polling cycle . the length of time scanned is determined by the polling cycle time constant . the value of the time constant reflects the typical amount of time that it takes for a vehicle carrier 46 to pass through an assembly work station 18 . for exemplary purposes , it will be arbitrarily assumed that the value of the polling cycle time will be ten seconds , although the preferred embodiment could utilize a different value . the scanning method of fig6 scans every pdt 20 within the assembly station 18 during each ten second polling cycle to verify operator end of operation reporting . as illustrated in fig6 the scanning method starts in bubble 74 and advances to block 76 to increment the pdt scan variable . the pdt scan variable keeps track of which pdt 20 is to be scanned . the scanning method then proceeds to diamond 78 where the scanned pdt 20 is checked to determine if it has reported during the polling cycle . if the scanned pdt 20 has reported as a result of the operator pressing the end of operation switch 28 during the polling cycle , the scanning method advances to diamond 80 and determines whether or not all of the pdt &# 39 ; s 20 have been scanned . if all of the pdt &# 39 ; s 20 have been scanned , the scanning method advances to block 82 and resets itself and waits for the beginning of another polling cycle . at the beginning of the next polling cycle , the scanning method will restart by advancing to block 76 and incrementing the pdt scan variable . in diamond 78 , if the scanned pdt 20 has not reported within the polling cycle , the scanning method advances to block 84 and generates a default input for the vehicle at the pdt assembly station 18 . the default input is entered into the vehicle line tracking record for the non - reporting station . this default input acts as a flag so that the vehicle is inspected and repaired at the upgrade assembly station for possible defects . the scanning method then advances to block 86 and downloads the incoming or next correct vehicle id number into the pdt 20 . the scanning method then advances to diamond 80 , previously described , to check to see if all of the pdt &# 39 ; s 20 have been scanned . referring to fig7 a flowchart of input checking method is illustrated . this part of the sequencing software is engaged when the operator inputs information into the pdt 20 and then presses the end of operation switch 28 . upon pressing the end of operation switch 28 , the input checking method begins in bubble 88 and advances to block 90 to verify pdt input information with that contained in the vehicle station table . the method then advances to diamond 92 where a query is made to see if the pdt input information is correct or has been attributed to the vehicle actually at the assembly work station 18 . if the information has been correctly inputted for the vehicle at the assembly work station 18 , the method advances to block 94 where it processes the input , adding it to the vehicle &# 39 ; s line tracking record . the method advances to block 94 where it awaits to verify the next pdt input . if the input has been incorrectly attributed to the wrong vehicle in diamond 92 , the method advances to block 96 and generates default input information for the vehicle presently at the assembly work station 18 . this default information is included in the vehicle &# 39 ; s line tracking record , flagging the vehicle so that it is thoroughly inspected at the upgrade work station . next , the method advances to block 98 and downloads the subsequent or next correct incoming vehicle &# 39 ; s id number , then proceeds to block 94 , previously described , to process the input , and branches to block 90 , restarting the pdt input checking sequence over again . accordingly , the sequencing computer of the present invention automatically increments and downloads the vehicle identification number in the pdt display for each assembly operator on the line who fails to press the end of operation switch . this is also accomplished by the limit switch trigger or avi reader . whenever the pdt sequencing computer is required to download the next vehicle identification number because either an incorrect number had been entered or the operator failed to press the end of operation switch , the sequencer will automatically generate up to ten defects from the pdt for the vehicle which was in that work station . this feature is based on input / output masks which are defined within the pdt sequencing computer . this feature also ensures that unreported vehicles will be thoroughly inspected and repaired at the upgrade station . eliminating this major sequencing problem ensures that defects , repairs and any other operator recorded information will be recorded for each vehicle in its appropriate vehicle line tracking record reduces production costs and ensures quality control . the present invention helps prevent costly mixups such as these by virtually assuring defect reporting against the proper vehicle . the modularity of the present invention allows the addition of one or more pdt sequencing computers to the assembly line sequencing system as are necessary . the design is also flexible in that it will not affect production if one or all pdt sequencers fail . the present invention also offers sequencing flexibility allowing assembly line cut - ins ( vehicle added ) or cut - outs ( vehicle removed ) without mixing up line sequencing . the present invention has been described in an illustrative manner . it is to be understood that the terminology which has been used is intended to be in the nature of words of description rather than of limitation . modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings . therefore , within the scope of the appended claims , the present invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described . | 8 |
the weighing scales comprise a hollow stand 1 to the base 2 of which is fixed a tubular passage 3 having a recess 4 . it also comprises a cover 5 covering stand 1 and whose top 6 is equipped with a sleeve 7 fitted onto the above - mentioned passage 3 . sleeve 7 is guided in vertical translation relative to the said passage by means of a device to be described hereinafter . sleeve 7 and passage 3 define between them a cavity 8 wherein is located an elastic balancing device . this device comprises a helical spring 9 whose upper end is centred about the tubular skirt 10 of an end fitting 11 , whereby said skirt is extended by a thread 12 onto which are screwed and locked the terminal turns 13 of the spring . in the lower end of the latter is provided a container 14 which serves to support the object to be weighed and to transmit the weight of this object to the said spring . the tubular skirt 15 of container 14 which serves to centre the lower end of the spring carries a projecting thread 16 which can be screwed to a greater or lesser extent into the terminal turn 17 of the said spring in order to calibrate the same . the screwing of thread 16 can be easily performed by means of a wrench cooperating with a slot having six splines 18 made in the free end of container 14 . the end fitting ii is fitted into a tubular member 19 and abuts on its upper end . the lower end of member 19 which surrounds spring 9 has a threaded portion 20 cooperating with the threaded sleeve 21 of a wheel 22 which permits the zero setting of the weighing scales . wheel 22 is guided in rotation in passage 3 and is immobilised in translation between the base 2 of the stand and a plate 23 joined to the latter . in order to screw container 14 into spring 9 without it being necesary to disassemble the weighing scales , it is obviously advantageous to stop the rotation of tubular member 19 relative to passage 3 . to this end said member has two projecting fins 19a which enter recesses provided in an annular transverse partition 3a of the said passage . a transmission rod 24 which traverses the inner pipe of end fitting 11 and spring 9 is placed between the lower container 14 and an upper container 25 which is integral with the top 6 of the cover . in addition fig1 shows that the object to be weighed is not directly supported by the top . to this end a receptacle is provided : either to contain the object or objects , in which case the removable receptacle is placed on top of the cover , its base 27 being centred in a recess 6a of the top 6 and is supported by the latter , or to form a plate on which the object is placed , in which case the receptacle is fitted onto the cover , the reverse side of the base being visible . it is important to point out that the various components of the elastic balancing device , i . e . spring 9 , containers 14 and 25 , transmission rod 24 , tubular member 19 , end fitting 11 and wheel 22 extend coaxially to one another . as a result of this special arrangement the weighing operation can be performed in a precise and accurate manner . however , it is essential that sleeve 7 is correctly guided in vertical translation relative to passage 3 , i . e . reducing friction to a minimum because this would have a prejudicial influence on the weighing precision . to this end a special guidance device is used . this device comprises four roller trains 28 . 1 to 28 . 4 carried by sleeve 7 and cooperating with the outer cylindrical surface 29 of passage 3 , the said surface being concentric to the axis of transmission rod 24 . in the embodiment shown in fig2 and 3 , each train 28 comprises two rollers 29 , 30 mounted loosely about shafts 31 , 32 and extending orthogonally to the axis of rod 24 in the same tangential plane in such a way that the said rollers are superimposed in the same radial plane . shafts 31 and 32 are carried by the terminal fork arms 33 , 34 ( fig4 ) of a support 35 fixed in a slot 36 in sleeve 7 . in the selected embodiment each support 35 ( fig2 to 4 ) comprises two identical omega - shaped plates 37 , 38 having straight branches . these plates are joined by their median web in order to form a rigid body 39 which is positioned and fixed in slot 36 by means of lugs 40 . the end branches of these plates arranged pairwise and staggered relative to one another form the above fork arms 33 , 34 . they are also integral with pivots engaged in the holes of rollers and materialise the rotation shafts 31 , 32 . each slot 36 is defined by a u - shaped member 41 projecting radially to the outside of sleeve 7 ( fig2 ). when each train 28 is fixed in the slot 36 of the corresponding member 41 , the upper roller 29 passes through a port 42 in said sleeve whilst the lower roller 30 is located beneath the lower end thereof . it is essential to point out ( fig3 ) that the roller trains 28 . 1 to 28 . 4 are installed in such a way that there is an adequate clearance between the tread of rollers 29 , 30 and the cylindrical surface 3b of the fixed passage 3 so that at any given time there can only be contact between certain of these rollers and not between all of them . under these conditions friction is reduced to a minimum due to the use of a tread , the choice of a material with a low friction coefficient and the reduction in the number of contact points . thus a guidance system is provided which does not produce any interfering phenomena which could prejudice the accuracy and precision of measurement of the elastic balancing device 9 to 25 . however , despite the clearance provided the guidance isrectilinear and removes the elastic balancing device from lateral reactions which could result from unsatisfactory centering of the object being weighed on receptacle 26 relative to rod 24 . it would obviously be possible for sleeve 7 to rotate about the cylindrical surface 3b of the passage to prevent this the weighing scales have an anti - gyratory roller 43 extending in a tangential plane and carried by the fixed passage 3 and cooperating with the vertically movable sleeve 7 . in the embodiment shown in fig1 and 2 , roller 43 idles in an intermediate cage 44 about a shaft which is radial relative to the transmission rod 24 . cage 44 comprises two omega - shaped metal plates 45 , 46 with straight branches . these plates are joined by their extreme branches ( fig1 ) in such a way that their webs are spaced apart and arranged on either side of roller 43 . moreover , the said webs are provided with pivots 47 which engage in holes in the said roller and for the latter materialise the above - mentioned free rotation shaft . the extreme branches of plates 45 , 46 are fitted in positioning slots defined by members 48 , 49 and project over the fixed passage 3 . they are fixed pairwise to the base of the corresponding slot by means of lugs 50 , 51 . roller 43 mounted relative to the fixed passage 3 so as to idle about a radial spindle is engaged in a groove defined by a bridge 52 integral with sleeve 7 , said groove issuing freely onto the lower edge of the latter as well as laterally facing the said passage . it is important to note ( fig2 ) that the installation of the antigyratory roller 43 is carried out in such a way that between the tread thereof and the side walls 53 , 54 of bridge 52 there is an adequate clearance to ensure that contact is only possible with one side wall at any time so as to prevent any interfering friction . finally the weighing scales have an indicating device 55 ( fig1 and 5 ) placed between the fixed part and the moving part . this indicating device is of the floating type so that it is insensitive to the functional clearances made as indicated hereinbefore between the said parts and so that it transmits no opposing force to the elastic balancing device 9 to 25 . the indicating device comprises a rotary stepped disc 56 coupled to a shaft 57 whose ends are mounted loosely in a bearing 58 equipping the movable sleeve 7 and respectively in a chamfered hole 59 in a plate 60 joined to a fork arm 61 diametrically opposite to the anti - gyratory bridge 52 and belonging to the said sleeve 7 . the stepped disc 56 is positioned between cover 5 and a recessed portion 62 of stand 1 . it is located facing a transparent window 63 of the said cover carrying a pointer of the indicated weight . shaft 57 is integral with a pinion 64 with which meshes a floating rack 65 projecting over a guide bar 66 . at its lower end ( fig1 and 5 ) guide bar 66 is pivotally mounted about a shaft 67 fixed to passage 3 . thus the guide bar extends vertically and its upper end is placed between pinion 64 and a rib 68 ( fig2 ) of the corresponding branch of the fork arm 61 . due to the clearance provided for the tangential deflection of the said upper end of the guide bar , a low amplitude angular movement is possible between sleeve 7 and passage 3 without this movement influencing the indication transmitted by pinion 64 and rack 65 and without the operation thereof being able to disturb the balance provided by the elastic device 9 to 25 . however , it is necessary for rack 65 to be in continuous engagement with pinion 64 . to this end the lower end of guide bar 66 ( fig5 ) is integral with a sleeve 69 into which is fitted a rod 70 which forms a counterweight and extends horizontally on the side of the pinion opposite to that where the rack is located . thus rod 70 applies the latter to the pinion . obviously the components of the guidance device and of the indicating device which are vertically carried by the moving part can be carried by the fixed part and vice versa . the improvements forming the object of the present invention are applicable to weighing scales and more particularly to those for domestic use . the the invention is not limited to the embodiments described and represented hereinbefore , and various modifications can be made thereto without passing beyond the scope of the invention . | 6 |
in the following description , for purposes of explanation , numerous examples and specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure . it will be evident , however , to one skilled in the art that the present disclosure as expressed in the claims may include some or all of the features in these examples , alone or in combination with other features described below , and may further include modifications and equivalents of the features and concepts described herein . fig1 shows a switched power supply 10 configured in accordance with the present disclosure to supply an output voltage v out from an input supply voltage v in . the configuration shown in fig1 represents a buck converter . however , persons of ordinary skill will appreciate that any switched power supply architecture may be configured in accordance with the present disclosure ; e . g ., boost converter , class d amplifier , and the like . a control section 12 may receive the output voltage v out of the switched power supply 10 as feedback signal to control a gate driver section 14 . the gate driver section 14 may generate drive signals 14 a to drive a hi - side stack 102 and drive signals 14 b to drive a lo - side stack 104 . inductor l and output capacitor c out may complete the buck converter . as shown in fig2 , in some embodiments , the hi - side stack 102 and lo - side stack 104 , each , may comprise a cascode stack configuration . the hi - side stack 102 and lo - side stack 104 may connect at an output node 203 . for the purposes of explanation , the supply voltage v in will be 3 × v max and v out can swing between 0v and 3 × v max , where v max represents the maximum transistor v gd . for example , if v max is 1 . 8v , then v out can swing from 0v to 5 . 4v . for a configuration where v in = 3 × v max and v max is 1 . 8v , hi - side stack 102 may comprise three transistor devices p 1 , p 2 , p 3 . in some embodiments , the transistor devices may be pmos devices . likewise , the lo - side stack 104 may comprise three transistor devices n 1 , n 2 , n 3 , which in some embodiments may be nmos devices . it will be appreciated that the hi - side stack 102 and lo - side stack 104 may be configured with different numbers of transistors depending on parameters such as v in and v max . in some embodiments , the hi - side drive signal 14 a may be coupled to the gate of p 1 . the hi - side drive signal 14 a may be a pulse that swings between 3 × v max and 2 × v max . the lo - side drive signal 14 b may be coupled to the gate of n 1 . the lo - side drive signal 14 b may be a pulse that swings between 0v and v max . in accordance with the present disclosure , the gates of p 2 and n 2 are not driven by the gate drive circuitry and may be biased at fixed voltages . in some embodiments , for example , the gate of p 2 may be biased at a fixed dc level of 2 × v max , and similarly , the gate of n 2 may be biased at a fixed dc level of v max . in accordance with the present disclosure , a biasing circuit 212 may be connected to the gate of p 3 . a biasing capacitor c p may be connected between a supply rail for v in and the gate of p 3 . a biasing circuit 214 may be connected to the gate of n 3 , and a biasing capacitor c n may be connected between ground potential and the gate of n 3 . the biasing circuits 212 , 214 may be configured as means for generating a dc bias v bias ± δ . v bias may be a value between 2 × v max and v max . in some embodiments , for example , v bias may be 1 . 5 × v max . the drain of p 3 may be capacitively coupled to the gate of p 3 , thus coupling an output signal at node 203 , as a coupled signal , to the gate of p 3 . the output of the biasing circuit 212 may be combined with the coupled signal as means for providing a drive signal on the gate of p 3 . likewise , the drain of n 3 may be capacitively coupled to the gate of n 3 , thus coupling the output signal at node 203 , as a coupled signal , to the gate of n 3 . the output of the biasing circuit 214 may be combined with the coupled signal as means for providing a drive signal on the gate of n 3 . in some embodiments , the parasitic capacitances c x1 , c x2 , respectively , of transistors p 3 and n 3 may provide the respective capacitive coupling . as persons of ordinary skill understand , parasitic capacitances arise within the structures of transistor device , such as the gate and drain regions . in other embodiments , explicit capacitors may used . fig2 a for example , illustrates an embodiment using explicit capacitive elements c 1 , c 2 , in addition to respective parasitic capacitances c x1 , c x2 . the capacitive elements c 1 , c 2 are explicit or discrete devices in the same way that the transistors p 3 and n 3 are explicit or discrete devices . fig3 shows an illustrative example of a biasing circuit 212 shown in fig2 , in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure . the biasing circuit 214 may be similarly constructed . the v bias voltage sets the dc bias level of the biasing circuit 212 . node 302 connects to the gate of p 3 , as shown in fig2 . when the voltage at the gate of p 3 deviates ( up or down ) from v bias by an amount δ , transistor mn src or mp snk will turn on to compensate . in some embodiments , the δ may be the transistors &# 39 ; v th ( threshold voltage ). in some embodiments , additional compensation ( r src , mp src and r snk , mn snk ) can be provided . in operation , suppose the voltage at node 302 rises above v bias + δ , this event will turn on mp snk as compensation to drive down the voltage at node 302 . when the voltage at node 302 reaches or falls below v bias + δ , mp snk will turn off . depending on how much current is being sinked across r snk , mn snk may turn on as well to provide further compensation . conversely , if the voltage at node 302 falls below v bias − δ , this event will turn on mn src as compensation to drive up the voltage at node 302 . when the voltage at node 302 reaches or exceeds below v bias − δ , mn src will turn off . depending on how much current is being sourced across r src , mp src may turn on as well to provide further compensation . the biasing circuit 212 shown in fig3 can therefore maintain the dc bias level between v bias + δ and v bias − δ in real time ; the only delay is due to signal propagation delays between the transistor devices that comprise the biasing circuit 212 . the biasing circuit 212 illustrates an example of a means for responding , substantially without delay , to variations in a voltage level at node 302 to maintain the dc bias voltage between v bias + δ and v bias − δ . it will be appreciated of course that the circuit shown in fig3 is merely illustrative of a biasing circuit in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure . persons of ordinary skill can readily implement other equivalent circuits . a brief discussion of the operation of the cascode stack shown in fig2 will now be given . the gate driver section 14 ( fig1 ) can cycle the hi - side stack 102 and the lo - side stack 104 between a conductive state and a non - conductive state . for example , when the gate driver section 14 drives hi - side stack 102 to be conductive , the lo - side stack 104 is driven non - conductive , and vice - versa when the gate driver section 14 drives hi - side stack 102 to be non - conductive , the lo - side stack 104 is driven conductive . in a first cycle , for example , suppose the hi - side stack 102 is driven conductive and the lo - side stack 104 is driven non - conductive . on the hi - side stack 102 , the gate driver section 14 can drive the gate of p 1 to 2 × v max to turn on p 1 . consequently , the voltage at node 201 will rise to 3 × v max . since the gate of p 2 is dc - biased at 2 × v max , p 2 will turn on . consequently , the voltage at node 202 will rise to 3 × v max . recall from the discussion above , that the biasing circuit 212 provides a bias voltage v bias at the gate of p 3 between 2 × v max and v max . accordingly , p 3 will turn on , since node 202 is at 3 × v max . as the voltage at node 203 rises to 3 × v max , so too will the gate voltage of p 3 rise by virtue of the capacitive coupling ( e . g ., c x1 ), which couples at least a portion of the output voltage at node 203 to the gate of p 3 . for example , the bias capacitor c p and c x1 ( or c 1 in fig2 a ) may define a capacitive voltage divider configured as means for providing a divided potion of the output voltage a node 203 to the gate of p 3 . as a result of the capacitive coupling , the gate voltage at p 3 can track in real time , substantially without delay , the output voltage at node 203 so that v gd of p 3 does not exceed v max . since the biasing circuit 212 is configured to maintain the gate voltage of p 3 between 2 × v max and v max , the gate voltage of p 3 will be limited ( clamped ) to a maximum voltage of 2 × v max as node 203 continues to rise to 3 × v max . turning to operation of the lo - side stack 104 , in the first cycle the gate driver section 14 may drive the lo - side stack 104 to a non - conductive state . the gate driver section 14 may drive the gate of n 1 to ground potential , thus turning off n 1 . since the gate of n 2 is dc - biased at v max , node 205 will rise to v max , thus ensuring that n 2 is off . at n 3 , as the voltage at node 203 rises to 3 × v max , so too will the gate voltage of n 3 rise by virtue of the capacitive coupling ( e . g ., c x2 ), which couples at least a portion of the output voltage at node 203 to the gate of n 3 . for example , the bias capacitor c n and the c x2 ( or c 2 in fig2 a ) may define a capacitive voltage divider that provides a divided potion of the output voltage a node 203 to the gate of n 3 . as a result , the gate voltage at n 3 can track in real time substantially without delay the output voltage at node 203 so that v gd of n 3 does not exceed v max . since the biasing circuit 214 is configured to maintain the gate of n 3 between 2 × v max and v max , the gate voltage of n 3 will be limited ( clamped ) to 2 × v max as node 203 continues to rise to 3 × v max . the voltage at node 204 will rise to the gate voltage of n 3 , namely 2 × v max , thus ensuring that n 3 is off . by limiting the maximum gate voltage of n 3 to 2 × v max , the v gd of n 3 will not exceed the v max rating of n 3 when the voltage at node 203 reaches 3 × v max . consider next a second cycle , that follows the first cycle , in which the hi - side stack 102 can be driven non - conductive and the lo - side stack 104 can be driven conductive . on the lo - side stack 104 , the gate driver section 14 may drive the gate of n 1 to v max , thus turning on n 1 and bringing node 205 to ground potential . since the gate of n 2 is dc - biased at v max , n 2 will also turn on and bring node 204 to ground potential . recall from the first cycle , the gate voltage of n 3 is at 2 × v max . accordingly , n 3 turns on and node 203 will go from 3 × v max to ground potential . as the node 203 goes to ground potential , so too will the gate voltage of n 3 as the gate voltage of n 3 tracks in real time substantially without delay the output signal at node 203 by virtue of the capacitive coupling ( e . g ., c x2 ). the biasing circuit 214 , however , will limit the minimum voltage level at the gate of n 3 to v max . turning to the hi - side stack 102 , in the second cycle the gate driver section 14 can drive the hi - side stack 102 to a non - conductive state . the gate driver section 14 can drive the gate of p 1 to 3 × v max , which will turn off p 1 . with p 1 in the off state , the voltage at node 201 will equalize with the gate voltage of p 2 , namely 2 × v max , thus turning off p 2 . likewise , with p 2 in the off state , the voltage at node 202 will equalize with the gate voltage at p 3 . recall from the first cycle , the gate voltage of p 3 is at 2 × v max , and so the node 202 will become 2 × v max , and p 3 will turn off . as the node 203 goes from 3 × v max to ground potential , so too will the gate voltage of p 3 as the gate voltage of p 3 tracks in real time substantially without delay the output signal at node 203 by virtue of the capacitive coupling ( e . g ., c x1 ). the biasing circuit 212 , however , will limit the minimum voltage level at the gate of p 3 to v max . by limiting the minimum gate voltage of p 3 to v max , the v gd of p 3 will not exceed the v max rating of p 3 when the voltage at node 203 drops to ground potential . the above description illustrates various embodiments of the present disclosure along with examples of how aspects of the particular embodiments may be implemented . the above examples should not be deemed to be the only embodiments , and are presented to illustrate the flexibility and advantages of the particular embodiments as defined by the following claims . based on the above disclosure and the following claims , other arrangements , embodiments , implementations and equivalents may be employed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the claims . | 7 |
the present invention is directed toward encoding a signature within an mpeg - 2 stream . before describing the preferred embodiment we first describe the fundamental structure of an mpeg - 2 stream . referring now to fig1 , a block diagram illustrating an mpeg - 2 stream is shown generally as 10 . in an mpeg - 2 stream 10 , a video elementary stream 12 and an audio elementary stream 14 are segmented into video or audio packetized elementary streams ( pes ) 16 and 17 respectively . pes 16 and 17 are then multiplexed into either a program stream 18 or a transport stream 20 . program stream 20 is designed for use in relatively error - free environments and is suitable for applications that may involve software processing of system information such as interactive multi - media applications . data packets in program stream 18 may be of variable and relatively great length . transport stream 20 combines one or more programs ( i . e . streams of information ) with one or more independent time bases into a single stream . transport stream 20 is designed for use in environments where errors are likely , such as transmission in lossy or noisy media . data packets in transport stream 20 are 188 bytes in length . before describing the preferred embodiment of the present invention , we will first discuss the options considered by the inventor for embedding a signature in an mpeg - 2 stream . as embedding a signature into the image portion of an mpeg - 2 stream requires complex encoding and decoding algorithms , as well as the possibility of image degradation , the inventor instead chose to investigate other options . the areas considered for embedding a signature were : 1 ) transport stream 20 ; 2 ) pes 16 , 17 3 ) video elementary stream 12 ; and 4 ) audio elementary stream 14 . transport stream 20 is designed for use in transmission environments where errors are likely , such as storage or transmission in lossy or noisy media . an example would be a video on demand satellite transmission . an environment where transport stream 20 would not be needed would be the recalling of data from a dvd on a home pc . referring now to fig2 , a block diagram of a transport stream packet is shown generally as 30 . numerous options were considered in determining where a signature may be inserted in transport stream packet 30 , namely : during encoding , provision may be made to make use of stuffing bytes 34 within adaptation field 32 to store a portion or the entire signature . transport stream packets 30 begin with a four byte header 36 which contains a thirteen bit packet id ( pid ) 38 . pid 38 identifies , via program specific information ( psi ) tables , the contents of the data contained in a transport stream packet 30 . there are four psi tables : i ) program association table ; ii ) program map table ; iii ) conditional access table ; and iv ) network information table . these tables contain the necessary and sufficient information to demultiplex and present programs . a program is a stream of data . referring now to fig3 , a block diagram of a program map table ( pmt ) is shown generally as 50 . the use of n - loop field 52 permits the insertion of user defined data into pmt 50 but at the cost and complexity of requiring the recomputation of cyclic redundancy check field ( crc ) 54 . private content may be carried by creating a stream with a separate pid 38 . processing of this stream would require pre - processing and multiplexing of an additional stream , adding to increased bandwidth and the need for the decoder to demultiplex an additional stream . most mpeg streams have null packets periodically . null packets are intended for padding of a transport stream . they may be inserted or deleted by re - multiplexing processes and , therefore , the delivery of the payload of null packets to the decoder cannot be assumed . since a decoder will ignore this packet , the signature could be placed in this packet without any increase in bandwidth or alteration of the packet sequence . unfortunately , no guarantee of the frequency of null packets can be assumed . as discussed in b ) above , a transport stream contains program association tables ( pat ) and program map tables ( pmt ). each of these tables contains a 32 bit cyclic redundancy check field ( crc ). an example of this is illustrated in field 54 of fig3 . in a transport stream , these tables are repeated approximately ten times per second at the recommendation of the digital video broadcasting group . a 32 bit signature can be embedded in to the crc field of a pat or pmt by xoring the signature with the crc value in the stream . a normal decoder would interpret this as an incorrect crc and ignore the table , since the information is redundant , this does not cause a problem . a post mortem process would examine and search for crc errors in the stream and upon findings such a table , compute the real crc and then xor it with the value in the stream to reconstruct the signature . this scheme requires no remuxing and sophisticated processing for the stream , but is limited to 32 bit values . even if the decoder ignores the crc calculation , the table data area has not been modified thus it would interpret the table correctly . this scheme could be extended to support a signature larger than 32 bits by inserting 32 bits at a time into separate tables . this would result in a longer repetition interval and additional constraints would be required to handle error detection and synchronization . an extension of the crc method discussed in e ) above would replace an entire table section with a larger information block . a different crc would then be inserted , such as the negation of the calculated crc . a normal decoder would likely ignore this table unless it ignored the crc error . this method allows for the insertion of a larger signature in a single table than the method described in e ) above , but is more error prone . synchronization when decoding packets is achieved through pcr 40 . pcr 40 is a 42 bit time stamp encoding the timing of the stream itself . decoders are typically designed to have a minimum of one microsecond of pcr jitter , which represents approximately four to five bits of error . by anding off the bottom four bits of pcr 40 , this now blank area can be used to carry a portion of the signature . the rate of pcr fields 40 is regular in the stream , present in every transport stream and fixed within a transport stream packet 30 . should the signature have a robust error detection mechanism , not all pcr fields 40 need to be replaced . in an mpeg stream , each elementary bit stream is segmented into a packetized elementary stream ( pes ), and then respective packets are multiplexed into either of the two streams : program stream 18 or transport stream 20 . referring now to fig4 , a block diagram of a packetized elementary stream is shown generally as 60 . private data field 62 allows for the insertion of up to 128 bits of user data . this field could hold the signature or a portion thereof . the original elementary stream must have been constructed with the appropriate place holder for the signature . like the pcr 40 field in transport stream 20 , a signature could be inserted in to the pts / dts field 64 . the sensitivity to jitter is more decoder specific than that of pcr field 40 and would not be as robust as the pcr based solution . a user data field is insertable on every frame as well as in the sequence header . provisions during the original encoding need to have been provided to this space , or inserted via a transrating . transrating alters the transmission rate of a coded bitstream . the alteration involves either a full syntactic deconstruction of the stream and then re - coding at a lower rate , or an optimized approach that short circuits the full coding process . in either case , the goal is to alter the bitrate of a bitstream , mpeg video in this particular case . a signature could be hidden in the frequency components of the video syntax itself . the complexity of processing would be significant . video pes stream 16 has two padding bits of “ 00 ” at the end of a video sequence . it is possible to use this feature to insert additional data at the end of the video sequence . the data stream cannot contain the “ 00 00 01 ” sequence but is likely not limited in length . the decoder is also likely to ignore all of this data as it would be looking for a picture start code . since the video pes stream 16 is unlikely to terminate exactly at the end of a transport stream packet , additional information can be added to the video pes stream 16 by adjusting the last packet . this may easily be achieved by software . the header of the packets in an audio elementary stream 14 has several bits of information that are not used . information could be transported in this stream . the header crc may need to be recomputed with the modification of the header . table 1 provides a detailed analysis of each of the above mentioned methods of imbedding a signature in a mpeg - 2 stream . it is not apparent that the stream has a signature embedded in it , especially if the signature is scrambled to appear random . the number of bits used for a signature could easily be programmable to limit the amount of perceived jitter introduced during the process . the insertion of a few bits of data into the lower bits of pcr 40 does not generate an error event in the resulting stream , such as continuity counter errors or table crc errors . the resulting stream has close to a 100 % likelihood of being decoded by any mpeg decoder . the preferred embodiment may be implemented in hardware or software or a combination of both . the mpeg stream need not be pre - processed to create place holders for the signature data . thus , it can be seen that the preferred embodiment provides a simple and efficient solution to the issue of embedding a digital signature into an mpeg stream . in the preferred embodiment an information block containing a signature would have a form as follows : as shown above , an information_block ( ) may be encrypted with an xyz algorithm , perhaps utilizing des or pgp . this aids in hiding the structure of the information_block ( ). further , in the preferred embodiment , the encrypted_block ( ) would be scrambled to further hide the information content as well as to provide an error correction mechanism . a mechanism such as the reed - solomon technique could be used . in transmission , the entire transmitted_block ( ) would be sent out in the lower n bits of pcr field 40 . the information would be sent in order with least significant data bits first . the bit ordering doesn &# 39 ; t explicitly matter , but in order to generate an operational system , both the producer and consumer of the mpeg stream must agree on a convention . although the invention has been described with reference to certain specific embodiments , various modifications thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as outlined in the claims appended hereto . as those skilled in the art will appreciate , although this disclosure has been directed to data structures in an mpeg - 2 stream , the concepts may be equally applied to any mpeg stream supporting the data structures discussed . | 7 |
referring to fig1 , a battery - powered hammer drill comprises a body 2 having an external tool housing formed from a number of clam shells 4 , 6 , 8 connected to each other , and a tool holder 10 for holding a cutting tool such as a drill bit ( not shown ). mounted on the body 2 via a vibration dampening mechanism 12 ( which is not described in any detail as it does not form part of the present invention ), is a handle 14 having a trigger 16 for activating the hammer drill . a battery pack ( not shown ) can be releasably attached within a receptacle 18 attached to the bottom of the handle 14 . a mode selector knob ( not shown ) is provided on the side of the body 2 for selecting the mode of operation of the hammer drill , the modes of operation being a hammer only mode , a rotary only mode and a combined hammer and rotary mode . referring to fig2 , mounted inside of the body 2 is a transmission housing 20 , in which is mounted a transmission mechanism 22 ( described in more detail below ), and an electric motor 24 ( described in more detail below ) attached to the transmission housing 22 . referring to fig3 , the electric motor 24 has an output shaft 26 which extends into the transmission housing 20 . the end of the output shaft 26 has a pinion 28 formed on it . the transmission mechanism comprises a first gear 30 rigidly attached to a first rotatable shaft ( not shown ), which meshes with the pinion 28 such that rotation of the pinion 28 results in rotation of the first gear 30 , which in turn results in rotation of the first rotatable shaft . the first rotatable shaft is rotatably mounted within a first set of bearings 36 . mounted on the end of the first rotatable shaft in a freely rotatable but non - axially slideable manner is a fourth gear 40 . a crank plate 42 is rigidly attached to the fourth gear 40 . a crank shaft 44 is pivotally attached at one of its ends to an eccentric pin ( not shown ) mounted on the crank plate 42 . a piston ( not shown ) is pivotally attached to the other end of the crank shaft 44 . the piston is slidingly mounted within a rotatable output spindle 46 . rotation of the fourth gear 40 results in rotation of the crank plate 42 , together with the eccentric pin , which in turn results in the reciprocation of the piston within the output spindle 46 . the piston forms part of a hammer drive mechanism . the reciprocating movement of the piston drives the hammer drive mechanism . hammer drive mechanisms are well known in art and any suitable design of hammer mechanism can be used . as the design of such a hammer mechanism does not form part of the invention , no further description of the hammer drive mechanism mounted on the first rotatable shaft in a freely rotatable but non - axially slideable manner is a second gear 32 . the second gear 32 meshes with a third gear 34 which is rigidly mounted on a second rotatable shaft ( not shown ). the second rotatable shaft is rotatably mounted with a second set of bearings 38 . rigidly mounted on the end of the second rotatable shaft is a first bevel gear 50 . the first bevel gear 50 meshes with a second bevel gear 52 mounted on the output spindle 46 . the second bevel gear 52 is drivingly connected to the output spindle 46 via a torque clutch 54 . when the torque across the torque clutch 54 is below a pre - set value , the rotary movement of the second bevel gear is transferred to the output spindle 46 . when the torque across the torque clutch 54 is above the pre - set value , the torque clutch 54 slips and no rotary movement of the second bevel gear 52 is transferred to the output spindle 46 . rotation of the second gear 32 results in rotation of third gear 34 , the second rotatable shaft and first bevel gear 50 . rotation of the first bevel gear 50 results in rotation of the second bevel gear 52 which results in rotation of the out spindle 46 , so long as the torque clutch does not slip . the tool holder 10 is mounted on the output spindle 46 and therefore rotation of the output spindle 46 results in rotation of the tool holder 10 . the design of torque clutches are well know if the art and any suitable design can be used . as the torque clutch does not form part of the invention , no further description will be provided . mounted on the first rotatable shaft in a non - rotatable but axially slideable manner is a mode change sleeve 60 . as such , the rotation of the first rotatable shaft results in rotation of the mode change sleeve 60 . in certain axial positions , the mode change sleeve 60 can mesh with the second gear 32 to drivingly engage the second gear 32 . when the mode change sleeve 60 drivingly engages the second gear 32 , the rotation of the first rotatable shaft results in rotation of the mode change sleeve 60 which in turn rotatingly drives the second gear 32 . in certain other axial positions , the mode change sleeve 60 can mesh with the fourth gear 40 to drivingly engage the fourth gear 40 . when the mode change sleeve 60 drivingly engages the fourth gear 40 , the rotation of the first rotatable shaft results in rotation of the mode change sleeve 60 which in turn rotatingly drives the fourth gear 40 . a mode change mechanism 62 can move the mode change sleeve 60 between three axial positions on the first rotatable shaft . in a first lowest position , the mode change sleeve 60 is in driving engagement with the second gear 32 only . as such , rotation of the first rotatable shaft results in rotation of the mode change sleeve 60 which in turn rotatingly drives the second gear 32 only , the fourth gear 40 remaining disengaged from the mode change sleeve 60 . as such , the hammer drill works in rotary only mode . in a second middle position , the mode change sleeve 60 is in driving engagement with both the second gear 32 and the fourth gear 40 . as such , rotation of the first rotatable shaft results in rotation of the mode change sleeve 60 which in turn rotatingly drives both the second gear 32 and the fourth gear 40 . as such , the hammer drill works in a combined hammer and rotary mode . in a third highest position , the mode change sleeve 60 is in driving engagement with the fourth gear 40 only . as such , rotation of the first rotatable shaft results in rotation of the mode change sleeve 60 which in turn rotatingly drives the fourth gear 40 only , the second gear 32 remaining disengaged from the mode change sleeve 60 . as such , the hammer drill works in hammer only mode . the design of mode change mechanisms are well know if the art and any suitable design can be used . as the mode change mechanism does not form part of the invention , no further description will be provided . the transmission mechanism 22 is mounted in the transmission housing which comprises two clam shells 64 fastened together with screws 68 . a seal 66 is sandwiched between the edges of the clam shells 64 to seal lubrication grease inside of the transmission housing 20 . the electric motor 24 will now be described with reference to fig4 to 7 . the electric motor 24 is a brushless motor which comprises a tubular can 70 of generally circular cross section which is open at the top end and which has a longitudinal axis 90 . mounted inside of the tubular can is a stator 72 . the stator 72 has a passageway formed through it . an armature 74 is mounted onto the output shaft 26 . the armature 74 is located inside of the stator 72 , with the longitudinal axis 90 of the output shaft 26 extending in a direction co - axial to that of the can 70 , the output shaft 26 extending through the length of the can 70 . integrally formed as part of the can 70 , at the lower end of the can 70 , is a base plate 78 . the base plate 78 supports a first bearing 92 which supports one end of the output shaft 26 in a rotary manner . the output shaft 26 extends through the base plate 78 and away from the can 70 . electric cables ( not shown ) are also mounted on to the base plate 78 and connect to the stator 72 to provide power and controls signals to the motor 24 . attached to the upper end of the can 70 is an end cap 82 . the end cap 82 is manufactured in a one piece construction and comprises three sections ; a first section 94 located adjacent the can 70 , a second section 98 located remote from the can 70 and a third section 96 , separating the first and second sections , comprising a radial flange which extends generally outwardly in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 90 of the can 70 . the end cap 82 is secured to the can 70 using four screws 100 which are inserted through four apertures 102 formed in the end cap 82 and screwed into four threaded bosses 104 formed in the can 70 . the end cap 82 supports a second bearing 110 , the second bearing 110 rotationally supporting the output shaft 26 , the output shaft 26 passing through the end cap 82 and extending away from the can 70 and end cap 82 . a radial fan 106 is mounted on the output shaft 26 adjacent the armature 74 . the majority of the fan 106 locates inside of the end cap 82 , the remainder being located inside of the end of the can 70 adjacent the end cap 82 . a first series of apertures 112 are formed in the second section 98 of the end cap 82 . the inside wall of the end cap 82 surrounding the fan 106 is shaped to form a baffle to guide the air expelled radially be the rotating fan 106 towards and through the first series of apertures 112 . the end of the can 70 adjacent the end cap 82 is shaped to form a baffle which co - operates with the baffle formed inside of the end cap 82 to guide the air . it will be appreciated that as an alternative design , the whole of the baffle could be formed inside of the end cap 82 . formed in the base plate 78 is a second series of apertures 114 . when the motor 24 is activated , the armature 74 , the fan 106 and the output shaft 26 rotate . the rotating fan 106 draws air into the motor 24 through the second series of apertures 114 . the air passes through the inside of the can 70 , passing over the armature 74 and the stator 72 , and is drawn into the radial fan 106 . the radial fan 106 expels the air in a radial direction . the baffle formed by the inside wall of the end cap 82 then guides the air towards and directs it through the first series of apertures 112 . the flow of air through the motor 24 cools the motor down . when the motor 24 is assembled , the stator 72 is secured inside of the can 70 . the armature 74 and fan 106 , which have been mounted onto the output shaft 26 , are inserted into the stator 72 within the can 70 , the output shaft 26 being supported by the first bearing 92 in the base plate 78 . the end cap 82 is then secured to the can 70 using the screws 100 with the second bearing 110 supporting the output shaft 26 . the construction of motor 24 using a can 70 with an integral base plate 78 which is sealed by an end cap 82 produces a standalone component which can be manufactured and tested remotely from the rest of the hammer drill . when the hammer drill is assembled , the transmission mechanism 22 is assembled and mounted inside of the transmission housing 20 , the two clam shells 64 of the transmission housing 20 being fastened together with screws 68 to support and seal in the transmission mechanism 22 . the construction of such a transmission mechanism 22 mounted within such a transmission housing 20 ( collectively referred to as a transmission ) produces a standalone component which can be manufactured and tested remotely from the rest of the hammer drill . the assembled electric motor 24 is then attached to the assembled transmission . the output shaft 26 , which extends from the end cap 82 , is inserted into the transmission housing 20 through an aperture in the transmission housing 20 and is engaged with the first gear 30 , the pinion 28 meshing with the first gear 30 inside of the transmission housing 20 . the second section 98 of the end cap 82 then abuts against the base of the transmission housing 20 . the end cap 82 is then secured to the transmission housing 20 by using bolts 116 which pass through apertures 130 in the end cap and engage with threaded bores ( not shown ) formed in the transmission housing 20 . the securing of the end cap 82 to the transmission housing 20 attaches the electric motor 24 to the transmission housing 20 and transmission mechanism 22 . attachment of the transmission to the motor 24 produces a standalone component which can be assembled and test separately from the rest of the hammer drill . the assembled transmission and motor 24 are then inserted into the external tool housing 4 , 6 , 8 . the transmission housing 20 is then secured to the external housing 4 , 6 , 8 using fasteners ( not shown ). this results in the electric motor 24 being secured indirectly to the external housing 4 , 6 , 8 via the transmission housing 20 . when the assembled transmission and motor 24 is located inside of the external housing 4 , 6 , 8 , the periphery of the flange of the third section 96 of the end cap 82 engages with an internal wall 118 of the external tool housing 4 , 6 , 8 , the flange forming an internal wall inside of the hammer drill . the flange forms part of a separating wall between two cambers 120 , 122 formed inside of the external tool housing 4 , 6 , 8 when the assembled transmission and motor 24 are located inside of the external housing 4 , 6 , 8 . the first chamber 120 is formed on the side of the flange where the first section 94 of the end cap and the can 70 of the motor 24 are positioned with the motor 24 extending into and being located in the first chamber 120 . the second chamber 122 is formed on the side of the flange which is remote from the can 70 . the transmission mechanism 22 and transmission housing 20 is mounted within the second chamber 122 . the first series of apertures 112 in the end cap 82 are located inside of the second chamber 122 . the second series of apertures 114 in the base plate 78 are located in the first chamber 120 . air is drawn from the first chamber 120 into the motor 24 through the second series of apertures 114 . air is then expelled from the first series of apertures 112 into the second chamber 122 . the flange prevents air from moving from the first chamber 120 to the second chamber 122 except by passing through the motor 24 . | 1 |
referring to fig1 the preferred embodiment comprises a damper housing 10 which is adapted to be interposed or otherwise placed in the vent stack ( not shown ) which emerges upwardly from the combustion chamber of a heating or cooling appliance . the appliance ( not shown ), may for example , be a gas - fired household furnace of the type having a vent stack projecting upwardly through the roof of the house . those skilled in the art will understand , however , that the present invention is also applicable to oil - fired appliances and may be applied to numerous industrial as well as home applications . the damper housing 10 is constructed in two separable parts , an upper part 12 and a lower part 14 . the lower part 14 terminates with an upper edge 18 telescopically received in the lower edge 15 of the upper part 12 . as shown in fig3 the lower part 14 has an expanded bead 16 which abuts the lower edge 15 of the upper part 12 . the upper part 12 has a conical enlargement 20 , and the lower part 14 likewise has a conical enlargement 22 , the enlargements 20 and 22 providing the housing 10 with an intermediately located diameter which allows a damper 26 to be mounted within the housing 10 for rotation by means of a transverse shaft 24 . the enlargements 20 and 22 allow damper installation without diminishment in the size of the passage through which gases to be vented upwardly through the housing 10 will pass . the damper 26 is preferably a one - piece metal sheet have a circular outer periphery and having a centrally disposed , diametric groove 28 shaped to cradle the shaft 24 . rivets 30 best appearing in fig4 affix the damper 26 to the shaft 24 so that the damper and the shaft will move in unison . disposed within the upper part 12 is an annular ring 32 having an upper half 34 and a lower half 36 joined by diametrically disposed hubs 38 . the upper and lower halves 34 and 36 are axially offset so that the damper plate 26 , when rotated from the vertical position illustrated in fig3 in the clockwise direction appearing in fig3 can be advanced to a generally horizontal position closely approaching but not abutting the upper and lower halves 34 and 36 of the ring 32 . the shaft 24 is normally biased by a torsion spring 40 to place the damper 26 in the vertical position illustrated in fig3 . as appears in fig1 the torsion springs 40 surrounds an end portion of the shaft 24 which projects outwardly from the housing 10 . the torsion spring 40 has an outwardly extending arm 42 which is hooked into an aperture 41 located in the upper wall of a cover means later to be described . the spring 40 also has an integrally formed hook portion 43 , whose function will be described shortly . affixed nonrotatably to the shaft 24 adjacent the spring 40 is a cam 44 having a circular periphery 46 interrupted as to circularity by a chordally extending flat 48 . the cam 44 has an aperture 49 sized to receive the shaft 24 and has a key member 51 radially entering through its circular periphery 46 to nonrotatably key the cam 44 to the shaft 24 . projecting outwardly from one side face of the cam 44 , as shown in fig1 is a pin 50 press - fitted into the body of the cam 44 . the pin 50 passes through the spring hook 43 and then passes through an aperture 53 located in a link 52 . the pin 50 is engaged at its outer end by a clamp ring 54 . for reasons to be described , a drag is placed upon the rotation of the shaft 24 by means of a compression spring 56 which encircles the shaft 24 and acts between washers 58 and 60 , the washer 58 bearing against the side of the cam 44 which is opposite the pin 50 , and the washer 60 bearing against the outside wall of the housing part 12 . in the assembled device , the clearance between the housing part 12 and the cam 44 is small in relation to length of the compression spring 56 and this condition establishes a frictional drag upon rotation of the shaft 24 by pressing the washers 58 and 60 respectively against the cam 44 and the housing part 12 . the shaft 24 is otherwise supported for free rotation by means of bushings 62 disposed centrally in the hubs 38 located on diametrically opposite sides of the ring 32 . as appears in fig1 the upper part 12 of the housing 10 has an aperture 63 through which the shaft 24 passes outwardly of the housing 10 . rotation of the shaft 24 and its affixed damper plate 26 is restricted as follows . referring to the open or vertically disposed position illustrated in fig3 the damper plate 26 is biased to rotate in the counterclockwise direction by means of the torsion spring 40 but is stopped upon reaching the illustrated vertical position by means of a resilient tube 64 surrounding a pin 66 pressed into a suitable aperture located in the ring 32 . solenoid mechanism to be described is energizable to cause a rotation of the damper plate 26 in the clockwise direction as it appears in fig3 whereupon the damper plate is caused to seat against a pair of bumpers 68 , each surrounding a pin 70 , there being two such pins located to opposite sides of the ring 32 as appears in fig4 . two bumpers 68 are preferred in this construction for absorbing the greater momentum of the damper plate 26 imparted by the solenoid . the compression spring 56 cooperates with the washers 58 and 60 to reduce bouncing of the damper plate against the bumpers 68 . a single resilient tube 64 , acting in cooperation with the drag mechanism , is found sufficient to absorb the relatively smaller momentum imparted to the damper plate 26 when returned by the spring 40 to the vertical position illustrated in fig3 . the solenoid , which is employed to move the damper from the vertical position illustrated in fig3 to its horizontal position resting upon the bumpers 68 , is identified by the reference number 76 in fig1 . this solenoid has an axially movable armature 74 pivotally connected to the aforementioned link 52 by means of a pin 72 passing diametrically across a bifurcated end portion of the armature 74 . because the link 52 is pivotally joined to the pin 50 located on the cam 44 , energization of the solenoid 76 will draw the armature 74 downwardly as appears in fig1 thus rotating the shaft 24 in the clockwise direction as it appears in fig1 . the spring 40 yieldably resists such motion and acts upon solenoid deenergization to return the cam 44 as well as the shaft 24 to approximately their original positions illustrated in fig1 . the solenoid 76 is provided with oppositely projecting wing portions 78 , each having a slot 80 for the receipt of a threaded fastener 82 which enters an aperture 84 located in a cover plate 86 to mount the solenoid 76 to the cover plate 86 . cover plate 86 can be seen in fig1 to have side portions 88 bent downwardly from the cover plate 86 for supporting the cover plate away from the housing 10 . the side portions 88 each have outwardly projecting wings 90 matching the wall contours of the upper and lower housing parts and separated by a notch 92 sized to receive the housing bead 16 . the wings 90 are attached to the upper and lower housing parts by an appropriate number of rivets 94 . the cover plate 86 can also be seen to have outwardly bent walls 95 and 126 which cooperate to receive therebetween the aforementioned solenoid 76 . the wall 95 is provided with an aperture 104 adapted to receive a threaded screw 102 which threadedly engages the ferromagnetic frame 98 of an electromagnetic relay 96 having appropriate terminals , later to be described , mounted on a terminal support 100 . the wall 95 also has located thereon the aforementioned aperture 41 for receiving the spring arm 42 . mounted to the cover plate 86 by a fastener 112 is a switch 106 having an outwardly projecting operator arm 108 terminating with a cam follower 110 , the follower 110 biased to follow the periphery of the aforementioned cam 44 . the switch 106 is spaced an appropriate distance from the cover plate 86 by means of a spacer sleeve 114 bearing against the cover plate 86 and surrounding fastener 112 . also mounted to the cover plate 86 is a commercially available heat sensor 116 equipped with wings 118 secured by threaded fasteners such as shown at 120 to suitable support posts 122 struck from the cover plate 86 . the sensor 116 passes into the interior of the housing 10 through an aperture 117 formed in the lower part 14 of that housing . the cover plate 86 is also provided with a window 119 aligned with the aperture 117 to accommodate the sensor 116 . as best seen in fig4 the sensor 116 includes switch elements 121 and 123 mounted to insulating means 115 . the switch element 123 has an aperture ( not shown ) through which passes an adjuster 124 , the adjuster 124 being adjustable to regulate the position of the switch element 121 , such adjustment being followed by the switch element 123 . the sensor 116 further includes an operator 125 having a position which changes with temperature . when the operator 125 bears against the switch element 123 with a pressure sufficient to separate the switch elements 121 and 123 , the sensor 116 , which comprises a normally closed switch , becomes an open switch . the aforementioned wall 126 has mounted on that face thereof which confronts the wall 95 a dielectric plate 128 supporting a plurality of electrically conductive terminal members designated generally by the reference number 130 . as best appears in fig1 the terminal members 130 are six in number and for convenience have been numbered 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 and 6 with appropriate legends applied in fig5 . a lamp 134 disposed under the wall 126 has lead wires 132 passing through suitable apertures 135 for soldered engagement to the terminal members 3 and 5 . the confronting wall members 95 and 126 cooperate to receive thereon a cover shield 136 having one relatively large aperture 138 and another relatively small aperture 140 in one face thereof . the aperture 138 is so located as to receive the previously described shaft 24 . the shaft 24 has a notch 148 in the end face thereof which is exposed by the aperture 138 . the applications for this notch 148 along with the aperture 140 will be described in succeeding remarks . referring further to the cover shield 136 , the shield is formed in a general u shape by bending downwardly therefrom side walls 137 which cooperate with the end walls 95 and 126 of the cover plate 128 to form a rectangular box receiving several of the electrical components heretofore described . cover shield 136 is fixed into position by means of one or more threaded fasteners , such as shown at 142 in fig1 . the side walls 137 are also provided with several ventilation apertures 146 for the purpose of minimizing the buildup of heat about the electrical components assembled into the volume enclosed by the cover plate 86 , its side walls 95 and 126 and the cover shield 136 . the cover plate 86 has an aperture 150 therein coaxially aligned with the aforementioned aperture 140 located in the cover shield 136 . the alignment of the apertures 140 and 150 and their diametric size are such that a tool , such as a conventional wood pencil 152 , may be passed coaxially through both apertures 140 and 150 , as is shown in fig6 . assuming the solenoid 76 not to be energized , the peripheral flat 48 of the cam 44 will be in a generally horizontal position below the inserted pencil 152 when the housing 10 has been assembled in a desired vertical position . the consequence is that the pencil 152 may be used to lock the damper plate 26 in a position opening the housing 10 . this feature is desirable in the event of failure of the spring 40 to give assurance that the vent housing will remain open . in the preceding portions of this specification , a device adapted to be inserted in the vent stack or flue of a heating or cooling apparatus utilizing fuel combustion has been described . the electrical components included in the device comprise a motive means or solenoid 76 , a relay 96 , a cam - operated switch 106 , a heat sensor 116 and a lamp 134 . associated with the solenoid 76 and not heretofore described is a rectifier 184 having terminals 186 and 188 , which is built into the solenoid package as shown in fig1 . for the purpose of describing an application for the disclosed invention , one can assume an existing house ( not shown ) which is already equipped with a gas furnace , a thermostat , a gas valve and a transformer stepping down the normal 115 volts available in the household to a lower level , such as 24 volts ac . it can further be assumed that the thermostat is a thermally responsive switch 160 and is connected in series with the transformer secondary 158 and possibly other components . the installer cuts the thermostat connections and by suitable extension wires 162 and 164 connects the cut thermostat connections respectively to the terminals 1 and 2 of the present device , as is illustrated in fig5 . the installer next locates the gas valve , which has two wires leading thereto , cuts such wires and by suitable extensions 168 and 170 connects the cut wires emanating from the gas valve to the terminals 3 and 4 , as illustrated in fig5 . the relay coil 96 can be seen in fig5 to have been connected in series with the thermostat switch 160 and the transformer secondary 158 by reason of terminal connections 101 and 103 extending from the relay coil to the terminals 1 and 2 . depending upon the particular type of relay being employed , the relay may tend to chatter or even fail to operate upon closure of the switch 160 if the gas valve or the transformer secondary have been connected with the wrong polarity . to test the operativeness of the connections , the previously described lamp 134 has been assembled with the previously described connections to terminals 3 and 5 for use as a single device . furthermore , the terminal 5 is provided with a wire 159 extending therefrom with its distal end initially unattached . the installer touches this loose end successively to the opposite ends 161 and 163 of the secondary , noting which end of the secondary provides a steady glow of the lamp 134 , and permanently attaches the heretofore loose end of the wire 159 to the end of the secondary which provides the steadiest lamp glow . this provides a power connection to the relay 96 which is of the proper polarity . it will be noted that the terminals 1 and 3 could have been constructed as a single terminal . however , the two terminals are preferably provided so as to simplify the installation procedure and to provide for the attachment of other circuit elements not necessary to the present invention . likewise , the terminal 6 might have been omitted but simplifies the wiring of the components . the illustration of fig5 assumes the proper connection was made to the end 163 of the secondary 158 . since the installer will not ordinarily know the transformer polarity without a test such as described , however , the permanent connection for the wire 159 is ordinarily not established until a test such as described . the installer next connects a pressure switch 172 having lead connections 174 and 176 across the circuit board terminals 5 and 6 . as is shown in fig7 the pressure switch 172 is contained in a housing 200 installed in communication with the gas manifold 202 so as to respond to the pressure of gas which flows in the manifold to enter the combustion chamber through a gas orifice 204 . the function of the pressure switch will be later described . the installer also places an audible alarm device 178 , which is of conventional , commercially available construction , across the leads 174 and 176 for the pressure switch 172 by means of lead connections 180 and 182 extending to the alarm device . with the foregoing installations , the structure of the present application is in readiness for operation . one can assume that the thermostat switch 160 is initially open and , therefore , the thermostat switch is not demanding heat . at such time , the solenoid 76 is energized to close the damper 26 over a safety circuit path which extends from the terminal 163 of the transformer secondary over the test wire 159 , to the terminal 5 and from there over the pressure switch 172 to terminal 6 and from there over the normally closed relay switch 190 and the thermal switch elements 121 and 123 , then the rectifier 184 to the opposite terminal 161 of the secondary 158 . the fact that the solenoid 76 is energized means that the cam 44 has been located by the solenoid at the position illustrated in fig5 to open the switch 106 , but this is of no consequence because the open thermostat switch 160 has already interrupted the power circuit placing secondary 158 across the terminals 1 and 2 . the safety circuit referred to above is so designated because that circuit will interrupt the application of power to the rectifier 184 and the solenoid 76 so as to permit the spring 40 to move the damper 26 to its open position in the housing 10 whenever any of the following occurs : the occurrence of a demand for heat which closes the thermostat switch 160 , thus energizing the relay 96 and opening the relay switch 190 , the presence of an excessive gas temperature in the vent stack , which opens the thermal switch elements 121 and 123 , or the presence of a gas pressure exerted upon the pressure switch 172 . upon movement of the thermostat switch to a position which would demand heat , the relay 96 would be energized because the thermostat switch , being now closed , would place the relay 96 across the transformer secondary . the energization of the relay 96 would then open the normally closed relay switch 190 , thus opening the safety circuit and deenergizing the solenoid 76 . this would enable the spring 40 to move the damper plate 26 to the normally open position . as the damper plate 26 approaches the vertical position illustrated in fig3 the switch 106 is closed by operation of the cam 44 to complete a combustion control circuit . this control circuit places the gas valve 166 in parallel with the relay 96 and in series with the transformer secondary as well as the thermostat switch , the control circuit proceeding from the gas valve 166 to the terminal 3 and from there to the terminal 1 , the transformer secondary , the thermostat switch , the terminal 2 , the switch 106 , the terminal 4 and thence to the other side of the gas valve . thus , closure of the thermostat switch 160 completed a control circuit which permitted the damper plate 26 to move toward the open position illustrated in fig3 and in so doing to energize the gas valve 166 so as to initiate combustion . when the house or medium being heated has reached a temperature level sufficient to open the thermostat switch 160 , the series circuit between the transformer secondary and the relay 96 is broken , permitting the relay switch 190 to close . when the switch 190 has closed , the solenoid is energized , thus moving the damper plate 26 to its closed position during which the switch 106 is opened to deenergize the gas valve . since many combustion devices to which the present invention is suited utilize a pilot light which produces a continuing release of combustion products at a low level , the bumpers 68 are preferably so located that the damper plate 26 is not permitted to fully close the housing 10 . should there have occurred a mechanical failure such that the gas valve would fail to deenergize , a continuing gas pressure against the pressure switch 172 would cause that switch to open . the opening of the switch 172 does two things . first the series circuit connecting the transformer secondary 158 in series with the relay 96 and the thermostat switch is opened . this permits the spring 40 to move the damper 26 to its open position , thus to be assured that gas escaping the gas manifold is provided a path through the damper housing to the ambient atmosphere . secondly , the opening of the switch 172 removes a shunt across the audible alarm device 178 , with the consequence that the alarm device is energized by the transformer secondary through the path including the test wire 159 , the terminal 5 , the alarm device 178 , the terminal 6 , the normally closed relay switch 190 ( now closed because the thermostat switch 160 is open ), the heat sensor 116 and the rectifier 184 , back to the transformer secondary 158 . the audible alarm 178 then announces to those in the household that an improper operation is occurring . in this case , the improper operation would be the ecape of gas into the furnace chamber and quite possibly to other regions of the house . the hazard is great if the furnace has a pilot light , and may be equally severe if the furnace has an electronic ignition device . if the gas with which the furnace is fueled is a natural gas , the defective condition , assuming an electronic igniter , may be of only secondary importance since the natural gas being lighter than air will be able to rise up the vent stack through the now open damper housing to escape to the surrounding atmosphere . should the fuel be a heavier gas , such as so - called lp gas , the gas escaping the gas manifold to the furnace chamber will not rise up the vent stack even though the damper 26 is in the open position . in such cases , the audible alarm provided by the device 178 is essential to alert the occupants of the household of a hazardous condition . another operating defect that can occur is that the gas valve may fail to close sufficiently to terminate a continuing combustion in the furnace chamber , although it does close sufficiently to allow the pressure switch 172 to close . assuming the thermostat switch 160 is open and thus seeking to discontinue combustion , the damper plate 26 may nevertheless be driven by the solenoid 76 to the closed position . an ensuing accumulation of relatively hot exhaust gases under the damper 26 will elevate the temperature of the heat sensor 116 so as to separate its switch elements 121 and 123 and thereby disable the solenoid 76 . this permits the spring 40 to move the damper plate 26 to its open position , whereupon appropriate ventilation is provided in view of the continuing combustion . the heat sensor 116 is normally preset by a manipulation of the adjuster 124 to operate at approximately 200 ° f . to prevent an undesired cyclic operation of the heat sensor , that element is preferably surrounded by a heat - absorbing medium 192 , which may be an electrical conductor or a nonconductor or a composite of the two , the purpose of such medium being to retain enough heat in contact with the heat sensor 116 so that , should a condition obtain in which the heat sensor contacts are opened due to excess heat in the vent stack , this open circuit condition will remain for a period of time sufficient to enable the spring 40 to move the damper plate 26 to its open position . in order to enhance the sensitivity of the heat sensor , it is desirable in many applications to provide the damper plate 26 with an aperture 198 as shown in fig1 such aperture overlying the heat sensor 116 so as to direct alongside the heat sensor those gases seeking to flow upwardly through the housing 10 , thus maximizing the tendency of such gases to deliver heat to the heat sensor . during any such improper operation occasioned by a defect of the gas valve , the damper plate 26 is preferably locked in its open position by the use of a tool such as the described pencil 152 , which locks the damper in the open position until appropriate repairs can be made . the foregoing discussion has assumed the prior existence of a house heated by means of a gas furnace and encompasses the procedures employed for lp gas - fueled furnaces as well as natural gas - fueled furnaces . the discussion has also made reference to electronic pilot lights as opposed to the more conventional gas - burning pilot lights . those skilled in the art will appreciate that the above described installation of a device embodying the present invention is appropriately referred to as a retrofit installation . thus , the house is already built and may have been heated successfully for years , but the homeowner has now elected to connserve on fuel costs by retrofitting the present invention to the household vent stack . since the damper 26 is positively driven by the spring 40 and the solenoid 76 , it can be mounted in any position and thus does not require that the vent stack extend vertically . while the disclosed device has designed accommodation either for lp gas or for natural gas , those skilled in the art will appreciate that the pressure switch 172 and its associated audible alarm mechanism may be replaced by a shunt ( not shown ) across the terminals 5 and 6 . this results in an automatic damper which operates the same as described except , of course , that it lacks the safety of the pressure switch 172 and the audible alarm 178 . where retrofit is contemplated into homes or other facilities utilizing lp gas fuel , the pressure switch 172 , as well as the audible alarm device 178 , are obviously preferable . the present damper mechanism is also well suited for retrofit into homes utilizing oil burners , in which case the aforementioned shunt connected across the terminals 5 and 6 is desirable and the pressure switch 172 , as well as its associated alarm device 178 , are no longer needed . while the present description has been addressed primarily to retrofit installations , it should be appreciated that the present invention has obvious utility as original equipment for houses and other facilities yet to be constructed . in the case of original equipment installations , the installer will frequently have adequate knowledge concerning the transformer secondary to eliminate the need for the test wire 159 previously described ; and , in this case , the light 134 may be omitted . although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described , it will be understood that various changes may be made within the scope of the appended claims . | 5 |
referring now to the drawings , particularly to fig1 there is shown an electronic cash register with an easy - to - replace protective sheet mount structure for a display according to the present invention . the electronic cash register has a housing 1 . the housing 1 consists of a lower casing 2 and an upper casing 3 . the lower casing 2 has disposed therein a chassis mount ( not shown ) having the bottom in which an opening is formed . the lower casing 2 has an engaging portion 5 formed on an upper edge . the upper casing 3 , as shown in fig4 to 6 , includes an upper wall 6 and a side wall 7 surrounding the periphery of the upper wall 6 . the side wall 7 has an engaging portion 7 a formed on a lower edge thereof . the upper wall 6 has formed thereon a bill holder 8 , a pen holder 4 , a bearing assembly 9 , and a display mount 10 . the lower casing 2 and the upper casing 3 are joined in tight engagement of the engaging portions 5 with the engagement portion 7 a . the bill holder 8 , as clearly shown in fig7 ( a ), and 8 ( b ), has a bill tray 11 formed with a flat recess . a bill holding mechanism 12 is disposed on the center of a rear end of the bill tray 11 . the bill holding mechanism 12 includes a holder latch 13 formed on a rear wall of the bill tray 11 , a gripper 14 secured detachably by the holder latch 13 , a cushion plate 15 retained by the gripper 14 , and a steel ball 16 . the gripper 14 has formed therein a cushion chamber 17 in which the cushion plate 15 and the steel ball 16 are disposed . the cushion plate 17 produces elastic pressure urging the steel ball 16 into constant engagement with the bill tray 11 , thereby allowing , as indicated by p in fig8 ( b ), a bill to be held between the bill tray 11 and the steel ball 16 tightly . the upper wall 6 has the pen holder 4 formed behind the bill holder 8 . the pen holder 4 is defined by a protrusion 18 extending in a width - wise direction of the upper wall 6 in parallel to the rear wall of the bill holder 8 . the bearing assembly 9 includes , as clearly shown in fig4 to 6 , a front display mount protrusion 20 , a rear display mount protrusion 21 , and right and left bearings 24 . the display mount protrusions 20 and 21 extend in the width - wise direction of the upper casing 3 . the bearings 24 are installed between the display mount protrusions 20 and 21 . the display mount 10 includes a font slant wall 25 and a rear slant wall 26 . rectangular walls 27 , as clearly shown in fig4 and 6 , are formed on both sides of the front slant wall 25 . the rectangular walls 27 have formed therein stay guide slots 28 . the display 30 is , as shown in fig1 and 2 , pivotably supported by the bearing assembly 9 . the display 30 includes a casing 33 consisting of rear and front covers 31 and 32 , a touch sensitive panel 34 , and a protective sheet 35 . the rear cover 31 has a pair of cover bearings ( not shown ) mounted on right and left lower portions of an inner wall thereof . the cover bearings are arranged in alignment with the bearings 24 of the bearing assembly 9 . a supporting shaft ( not shown ) is inserted through the cover bearings of the rear cover 31 and the bearings 24 of the bearing assembly 9 to support the rear cover 31 pivotably so that the display 30 may tilt back and forth ( i . e ., a lengthwise direction of the cash register ) within a given angular range . the front cover 32 of the display 30 , as shown in fig9 to 11 , includes a rectangular frame 32 a which has claws 51 , as clearly shown in fig1 , formed on an upper , left , and right edges for attachment to the rear cover 31 . the frame 32 a has a frame mount 52 formed on right and left side surface and a lower surface thereof . the frame mount 52 has vertical drain grooves 153 formed in side portions thereof and also has a horizontal drain groove 154 formed in a lower portion thereof . the horizontal drain groove 154 leads to lower ends of the vertical drain grooves 153 and has drain holes 55 formed in ends thereof . the vertical drain grooves 153 have recesses 56 formed in central portions thereof for attachment of a sheet mount frame 60 , as will be described later in detail , to it . u - shaped holders 58 , as clearly shown in fig9 and 10 , are formed in ends and center of the lower portion of the frame mount 52 . each of the holders 58 , as shown in fig1 , consists of a pair of claws 57 . sheet lug insertion recesses 59 are formed in upper ends of the side portions of the frame mount 52 . the rear cover 31 of the casing 33 has formed therein recesses for engagement with the claws 51 of the front cover 32 . the casing 33 has disposed therein , as shown in fig1 the touch sensitive panel 34 which has a touch screen on which a touch switch section and a display section are arranged adjacent to each other . the rear and front covers 31 and 32 have lower portions 31 d and 32 d curved to form a round bottom 33 a of the casing 33 . the round bottom 33 a is placed between the front and rear display mount protrusions 20 and 21 in contact therewith . a transparent protective sheet 35 , as shown in fig1 covers the touch screen of the touch sensitive panel 34 exposed through an opening 32 a , as shown in fig9 of the front cover 32 of the casing 33 . the sheet mount frame 60 is attached to the frame mount 52 to hold the protective sheet 35 tightly between the sheet mount frame 60 and the frame mount 52 . the sheet mount frame 60 , as clearly shown in fig1 and 13 ( a ), has vertical ribs 61 and claw - like protrusions 62 formed on sides of a rear wall thereof and also has a horizontal rib 63 formed on a lower end of the rear wall . the horizontal rib 63 , as shown in fig1 , 13 ( b ), and 13 ( c ), has barb - like protrusions 64 formed on ends and center thereof . the sheet mount frame 60 has a seal 65 attached to the rear wall around an opening thereof and also has a slip - on rib 66 formed on the upper portion thereof . the protective sheet 35 has , as shown in fig1 , lugs 67 projecting from upper ends horizontally and also has , as shown in fig1 , a lower end bent to form a step 68 . the lugs 67 are inserted into the sheet lug insertion recesses 59 of the frame 32 a of the front cover 32 . the step 68 is fit on an inner lower edge of the frame 32 a . the sheet mount frame 60 is installed on the frame mount 52 by bringing the slip - on rib 66 of the sheet mount frame 60 into engagement with an inner upper edge of the frame mount 52 and forcing the claw - like protrusions 62 and the protrusions 64 into the recesses 56 and the holders 58 , respectively , thereby attaching the protective sheet 35 to the frame 32 a to cover the opening 32 a of the frame 32 a . the removing of the protective sheet 35 is achieved easily by reversing the above described operations . the frame 32 a has , as described above , the drain grooves 153 and 154 and the drain holes 55 . additionally , the sheet mount frame 60 has the seal 65 attached to the rear surface thereof which is held tightly between the sheet mount frame 60 and the protective sheet 35 on the frame 32 a . if , therefore , drops of water are adhered on the front cover 32 around the opening 32 a , most of them enter the drain grooves 153 or 154 and are drained from the drain holes 55 . even if drops of water are adhered inside the drain grooves 153 and 154 , the seal 65 avoids intrusion of them into the casing 33 . a pair of stays 36 are installed at flanges 36 a , as shown in fig1 , on right and left portions of an outer wall of the rear cover 31 using screws and inserted into the stay guide slots 28 formed in the display mount 10 . a display tilt adjusting mechanism 40 , as clearly shown in fig2 which adjusts an angular position of the display 30 , is disposed on an inner surface of the front slant wall 25 of the display mount 10 . the display tilt adjusting mechanism 40 includes stay holders 41 each of which , as shown in fig1 to 23 , has a plate 43 bent at right angles to a mount flange 42 having a mount hole 42 a formed therein and a pair of shaft retainers 44 bent at right angles to both sides of the plate 43 . the shaft retainers 44 each have , as shown in fig2 , formed therein an elongated hole 45 which extends with an inclination of α ( e . g ., 15 °) to the surface 43 a of the plate 43 . the shaft retainers 44 each have a mount plate 46 bent at right angles which has formed thereon a spring hook 47 . a resinous sliding plate 148 is , as shown in fig3 ( a ) and 3 ( b ), attached to the surface 43 a of the plate 43 for facilitating ease of movement of the stay 36 . a support shaft 48 , as shown in fig2 ( a ), 3 ( b ), and 18 is inserted through the elongated holes 45 of the shaft retainers 44 so as to be movable in a lengthwise direction of the elongated holes 45 . the support shaft 48 has a roller 49 wound therearound . the support shaft 48 , as shown in fig1 , has formed in ends thereof grooves 50 . coil springs 51 are hung at one end on the grooves 50 of the support shaft 48 and at the other end on the spring hooks 47 of the mount plates 46 , respectively , to elastically urge the support shaft 48 to lower ends 45 b of the elongated holes 45 to bring the roller 49 into engagement with the sliding plate 48 . the display tilt adjusting mechanism 40 thus constructed is disposed in the upper casing 3 with the mount flanges 42 of the stay holders 41 secured using screws on a mount block 53 , as shown in fig2 formed on the inner wall of the upper casing 3 . each of the stays 36 extending through one of the stay guide slots 28 inward of the upper casing 3 passes through a nip formed by the roller 49 and the sliding plate 48 of one of the stay holders 41 . each of the stays 36 has disposed on an end a stopper 54 , as shown in fig2 which is made of a protrusion for avoiding dislodgement of the stay 36 from the stay holder 41 . in operation , when it is required to tilt the display 30 frontward , an operator pulls the display 30 manually . this causes , as shown in fig3 ( a ), each of the stays 36 to be moved upward , thereby lifting up the roller 49 slightly which is pressed against the stay 36 , so that the support shaft 48 is moved upward against the spring pressure of the coil spring 51 along the elongated hole 45 . the elongated hole 45 is , as described above , oriented at the angle a to the surface 43 a of the plate 43 . the upward movement of the support shaft 48 , thus , causes the roller 49 to move into disengagement from the surface of the stay 36 , thereby releasing the stay 36 from the nip formed by the roller 49 and the sliding plate 148 , which allows the display 30 to be tilted frontward smoothly . when the tilting motion of the display 30 is stopped by the operator , it will cause the support shaft 48 of each of the stay holders 41 to be urged downward by the spring pressure of the coil spring 51 to press the stay 36 against the sliding plate 48 to lock the stay 36 , so that the display 30 is held at a desired angle . when it is required to tilt the display 30 backward , the operator pushes the display 30 manually . this causes the stays 36 to be moved downward . the downward movement of each of the stays 36 increases the nip provided by the roller 49 and the sliding plate 148 . when the operator pushes the display 30 with pressure greater than the nips of the stays 36 , each of the stay 36 , as clearly shown in fig3 ( b ), slides downward along the sliding plate 148 . when the operator stops pushing the display 30 , the display 30 is held at a desired angle . while the present invention has been disclosed in terms of the preferred embodiments in order to facilitate better understanding thereof , it should be appreciated that the invention can be embodied in various ways without departing from the principle of the invention . therefore , the invention should be understood to include all possible embodiments and modifications to the shown embodiments which can be embodied without departing from the principle of the invention as set forth in the appended claims . | 6 |
illustrated in fig1 is a control circuit for a four phase permanent magnet stepping motor including a stator 9 and a rotor ( not shown ). the stator 9 includes four individually excited coil windings designated 11 , 13 , 15 and 17 . it will be appreciated that during normal rotary operation of the motor the windings are successively energized causing the rotor to step . as indicated , windings 11 and 13 are illustrated in a dotted rectangular box 19 and coils 15 and 17 are illustrated in dotted box 21 . this representation is used to illustrate the close coupling between coils 11 and 13 and between 15 and 17 . while there exist some coupling between the remaining coil pairs , the magnitude of this coupling is substantially small and may be ignored for purposes of the following discussion . the relative polarity of the windings 11 , 13 , 15 , and 17 is illustrated by means of conventional dot notations . each of the windings 11 , 13 , 15 , and 17 are separately energized by npn switching transistors respectively designated 23 , 25 , 27 , and 29 . with respect to coil 11 the transistor 23 emitter is grounded with the collector thereof connected to the cathode of a transistor protection diode 31 the anode of which is connected to one terminal of the winding 11 . the remaining terminal of the winding is connected to the positive terminal v + of a power source . the current in winding 13 is switched by means of the switching transistor 25 in series with a protection diode 33 . the current through winding 15 is controlled by the series npn switching transistor 27 and a diode 35 combination . a protection diode 37 is in series with the winding 17 and the transistor 29 . progressively advancing phase control signals φ 1 , φ 2 , φ 3 , and φ 4 are respectively fed to the bases of the transistors 23 , 27 , 25 , and 29 which switch current through the respective motor windings . the phase control signals φ 1 , φ 2 , φ 3 , and φ 4 may be provided by any suitable timing circuitry such as a programmed logic array or microprocessor in a manner well known to those skilled in the art . it will be appreciated that upon turn off of an energized winding the inductance of the winding will attempt to maintain constant current flow through the winding ( e = l di / dt ). that is , the coil , upon interruption of the voltage to it , will act as a current source . serving to prevent the creation of excessively high voltages upon current interruption through the windings is a zener diode 39 the anode of which is connected to the v + terminal of the power source . the cathode of the zener diode 39 is connected to each of the windings 11 , 13 , 15 , and 17 through isolating diodes 41 , 43 , 45 , and 47 . it will be appreciated that upon interruption of the voltage to the previously energized winding inductive current will be forced through the zener diode 39 with the reference voltage of the diode determining the time period required to fully dissipate the energy stored in the switched winding . it will be appreciated that the higher the zener diode 39 reference voltage , the faster the energy will be dissipated . the upper limit in the selection of the zener reference voltage is generally determined by the breakdown voltage of the switching transistors , 23 , 25 , 27 , and 29 . that is , the zener reference voltage plus the drive voltage v + cannot be greater than the breakdown potential of the switching transistors taking into consideration an appropriate safety factor . the lower limit of the zener reference voltage being one that provides the desired power dissipation time interval . with reference to fig2 during time period t 0 through t 6 the signals generated during normal rotational operation of the motor are illustrated . the winding 11 is energized during time period t 0 through t 1 and during this interval a positive pulse φ 1 is applied to the transistor 23 which turns the transistor on bringing the lower terminal of the winding 11 ( voltage level v 1 ) to substantially ground potential . due to the inductance of the winding 11 , the current therethrough i 1 gradually increases until it reaches a fixed level determined by the winding 11 resistance . at time t 1 the transistor 23 is switched off and the winding 11 becomes a current source attempting to maintain a constant flow . thus voltage v 1 rises until the zener diode 39 breaks down . the voltage v 1 remains at this level until t 2 , that is , until the energy stored in the winding 11 is dissipated by the zener diode 39 and thereafter falls to the source supply voltage v + at t 2 . at time t 3 the input signal φ 3 to transistor 25 goes high turning on the transistor 25 initiating current flow through winding 13 . the change of winding 13 is coupled to winding 11 raising the voltage level v 1 . since v 1 is now greater than v +, there is a tendency for a current to be induced in coil 11 . this induced current does not occur unless the difference between v 1 and v + is greater than the zener diode voltage . at time t 4 , φ 3 goes low and the lower terminal of coil 13 rises . this voltage rise is coupled to coil 11 with reverse polarity bucking the v + supply voltage and voltage v 1 falls to minus level . at t 5 switching transistor 29 is turned on initiating current flow through winding 17 . during the sequential de - energization of the windings 15 , 13 , and 17 the induced current in each winding passes through its respective isolation diode 45 , 43 , or 47 to the zener diode 39 which quickly dissipates the energy stored in the winding . in this mode of operation , similar changes in v 2 , v 3 , v 4 will occur as transistors 25 , 27 , and 29 are turned on . returning now to fig1 the portion of the circuit diagram illustrated to the right of the dotted line is a switching circuit 49 used during the stationary mode of operation of the motor and serves to reduce power consumption of the motor while maintaining a magnetic field sufficient to hold the rotor stationary . as previously mentioned , in the stationary mode coil 11 is energized . it has been found that the amount of current necessary to hold the motor rotor stationary is substantially less than that necessary to maintain rotary operation . thus , in the stationary mode of operation the voltage to the winding 11 is pulsed by a pulsating signal φ 1 at the base of the transistor 23 from time to t 6 - t 10 . the average amount of power delivered to the winding 11 is substantially less than would be supplied were the switching transistor 23 maintained in a steady on condition . the switching circuit 49 shunts the zener diode 39 with a conventional silicon diode 51 having a much lower threshold voltage , e . g ., 1 volt . the collector of a pnp switching transistor 53 is connected to the v + supply and the emitter of the transistor 53 is connected to the cathode of the diode 51 . the anode of the diode 51 is connected to the lower terminal of the winding 11 . additionally , a biasing resistor 55 is connected between the emitter and the base of the transistor 53 with the transistor base coupled through a current limiting resistor 57 to the collector of a npn control transistor 59 . the emitter of the control transistor 59 is connected to ground and a stationary control signal is fed to the base of the transistor 59 . when the current through the winding 11 is pulsed during stationary operation , a continuous control signal is fed to the base of the transistor 59 . it will be appreciated that when the control signal is applied to the control transistor 59 the collector thereof is brought substantially to ground potential and a current path is provided from the lower terminal of winding 11 through the diode 51 . during the off condition of the transistor 23 , current will flow through the emitter collector junction of the transistor 53 as well as through the biasing resistor 55 biasing the transistor 53 on and effectively placing the diode 51 in parallel with the zener diode 39 . thus , two diode junction voltage drops are placed across the zener diode 39 . a first junction voltage drop is provided by the diode 51 and a second by the emitter collector junction of the transistor 53 . referring to fig2 during the stationary mode of operation starting at time t 6 the input φ 1 to the transistor 23 is pulsed and when the transistor 23 turns on , the voltage v 1 at the lower terminal of the winding 11 falls to substantially ground potential and the current i 1 through the coil rises . for purposes of discussion it will be assumed that the switching circuit 49 is inoperative . upon turn off of the transistor 23 , the energy stored in the winding 11 will quickly drop due to the current flow through the zener diode 39 . the zener reference voltage multiplied by the current flow determines the power dissipation which in this instance is relatively high . upon turn on of the transistor at t 6 the current i 1 through the winding will rise and generate the dotted sawtooth current waveform illustrated in fig2 . it will be appreciated that the voltage across the coil 11 generated by the switching of the transistor 23 is coupled to winding 13 with inverted polarity . thus , while the zener diode 39 provides an energy discharge path for winding 13 the isolating diode 43 connected to winding 13 is back biased preventing current i 3 from flowing through the zener diode 39 . similarly diodes 45 and 47 will prevent current flow through the remaining windings 15 and 17 during stationary operation . additionally , with the switching circuit 49 disabled , voltage spikes will be generated as indicated by the dotted lines from t 7 - t 10 of the voltage v 1 in fig2 limited in level by the zener diode 39 . it will be appreciated that with the switching circuit 49 disabled the average current through the winding 11 is the average of the dotted sawtooth current waveship i 1 of fig2 . upon the application of the control signal to the base of the transistor 59 , the switching transistor 53 will turn on as the current i 1 through the winding 11 increases . upon turn off , the voltage across the winding 13 rises attempting to maintain the previous level of current flow with the positive voltage polarity being the lower end of the winding 11 . current flows through the diode 51 and through the emitter base junction of transistor 53 as well as through the resistor 55 turning the switching transistor 53 on . the series impedance of the transistor 53 and the diode 51 is considerably less than the impedance of the zener diode 39 which is therefore effectively bypassed . since the winding 11 acts as a current source and the diode 51 transistor 53 combination present a relatively low impedance , the transistor - diode combination will dissipate very little power with the current falling very slowly , as illustrated by the solid line from t 6 - t 10 of the current i 1 of fig2 . at t 9 the transistor 23 is again turned on and the current flows through the winding 11 . the process continually repeats . it will be appreciated that the average current with the switching circuit 49 activated is substantially higher than the average current without the switching circuit . thus , although the average pulsed power supplied to winding 11 is the same in both instances a considerably higher average current is maintained through winding 11 when the switching circuit 49 is active resulting in the generation of a greater magnetic field by the stator 9 . thus , the switching circuit 49 directs current around the zener diode 39 during the stationary mode of operation substantially raising the efficiency of the control circuit . although this invention has been shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof , it will be understood that various changes in form and detail may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims : | 7 |
in one embodiment , the present invention provides novel compounds of formula i or formula ii shown above , where the various symbols are as defined . representative amide compounds of the invention which exhibit excellent src kinase inhibitory activity belonging to formula i are listed below by names and structure . representative urea compounds of formula ii of the invention which exhibit excellent src kinase inhibitory activity are listed below by names and structure . representative sulfonamide compounds of the invention which exhibit excellent src kinase inhibitory activity of the formula ii are listed by names and structure below . the compounds of the invention may form pharmaceutically acceptable salts with organic and inorganic acids . examples of suitable acids for such salt formation are hydrochloric , sulfuric , phosphoric , acetic , citric , oxalic , malonic , salicylic , malic , fumaric , succinic , ascorbic , maleic , hydroxymaleic , benzoic , hydroxybenzoic , phenylacetic , cinnamic , salicyclic , 2 - phenoxybenzoic , p - toluensulfonic acid , and sulfonic acids such as methane sulfonic acid and 2 - hyroxyethane sulfonic acid and other mineral and carboxylic acids well known to those skilled in the art and acid metal salts such as sodium monohydrogen orthophosphate , and potassium hydrogen sulfate . such salts can exist in either a hydrated or substantially anhydrous form . the salts are prepared by contacting the free base form with a sufficient amount of the desired acid to produce a salt in the conventional manner . the free base forms may be regenerated by treating the salt with a suitable dilute aqueous base solution such as dilute aqueous sodium hydroxide , potassium carbonate , ammonia and sodium bicarbonate . the free base forms differ from their corresponding salt forms somewhat in certain physical properties , such as solubility in polar solvents , but the salts are otherwise equivalent to their corresponding free base forms for purposes of this invention . depending upon the substituents on the inventive compounds , one may be able to form salts with bases too . thus , for example , if there are carboxylic acid substituents in the molecule ( e . g ., compound 21 in the list above ), salts may be formed with inorganic as well as organic bases such as , for example , naoh , koh , nh 4 oh , tetraalkylammonium hydroxide , and the like . as stated earlier , the invention includes tautomers , enantiomers and other stereoisomers of the compounds also . such variations are contemplated to be within the scope of the invention . another embodiment of the invention discloses a method of making the substituted carboxamides , ureas and sulfonamides disclosed above . the compounds may be prepared by several processes known in the art of synthetic organic chemistry . one useful method to prepare compounds of formula i is schematically illustrated below in connection with the compound numbered 7 above . in general , this procedure is referred to as scheme a herein and involves : ( a ) bonding an amino acid to a suitably functionalized polymer support ; ( b ) coupling another suitably substituted amino acid thereto ; ( c ) reacting the coupled structure with an aldehyde to form a schiff base , which is then ( d ) reduced to the corresponding amine ; which , in turn , is converted to an amide by way of reaction with an acid chloride for example , which product may be ( e ) converted to the thioamide ; which , in turn , is ( f ) methylated and ( g ) converted to the amidino group . the product is then cleared from the solid phase support as will be further appreciated from the following discussion . in scheme a , all substituents , unless otherwise indicated , are as previously defined . the reagents and starting materials are readily available to one of ordinary skill in the art or may be prepared by conventional methods . the starting material ( 1 ) in scheme a is an amino functionalized solid phase material , which for the purposes of synthesis was modified with linker molecule ( formula iii ), which enables the product of the synthesis to be cleaved from the solid support ( resin ). example of such linker is the rink linker ( p -[( r , s )- α -( 9h - fluoren - 9 - yl ) methoxyfonnamido ]- 2 , 4 - dimethoxybenzyl ]- phenoxyacetic acid ( bernatowicz et al ., tetrahedron lett . 30 , 4645 ( 1989 )). commercially available resins with the desired linker already attached can be used as well . the rink linker attachment to a suitable solid phase is carried out by reacting an amino functionalized solid support with acid moiety of the linker molecule by standard peptide synthesis techniques well known in the art to provide an amide linkage , as shown in example 1 . such reaction can be carried out using standard coupling procedures such as , for example , as described in stewart and young , solid phase pepticle synthiesis , 2 nd ed ., pierce chemical co ., rockford , ill . ( 1984 ); gross , meienhofer , udenfriend , ed ., the pepticles : analysis , synthesis , biology , vol . 1 , 2 , 3 , 5 and 9 , academic press , new york , 1980 - 1987 ; bodanszky , peptide chemistry : a practical textbook , springer - verlag , new york ( 1988 ); and bodanszky , et al . the practice of peptide synthesis springer - verlag , new york ( 1984 ), the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference . if a coupling reagent ( activator ) is needed , suitable coupling reagent may be selected from dicyclohexylcarbodiimide ( dcc ), diisopropylcarbodiimide ( dic ), 1 - ethoxycarbonyl - 2 - ethoxy - 1 , 2 - dihydroquioline ( eedq ), 1 - ethyl - 3 -( 3 - dimethylaminopropyl ) carbodiimide hydrochloride ( edci ), n - propanephosphonic anhydride ( ppa ), n , n - bis ( 2 - oxo - 3 - oxazolidinyl ) amidophosphoryl chloride ( bop - ci ), diphenylphosphoryl azide , ( dppa ), castro &# 39 ; s reagent ( bop ), 2 -( 1h - benzotriazol - 1 - yl )- 1 , 1 , 3 , 3 - tetramethyluronium salts ( hbtu ), 2 , 5 - diphenyl - 2 , 3 - dihydro - 3 - oxo - 4 - hydroxythiophene dioxide ( steglich &# 39 ; s reagent &# 39 ; hotdo ) and 1 , 1 ′ carbonyldiimidazole ( cdi ). the coupling reagent may be used alone or in combination with additives such as 4 - dimethylaminopyridine ( dmap ), n - hydroxybenzotriazole ( hobt ), n - hydroxybenzotriazine ( hoobt ), n - hydroxysuccinimide ) hosu ) or 2 - hydroxypyridine . the coupling reactions can be performed in either solution ( liquid phase ) or solid phase . as used herein , the term “ solid phase support ” is not limited to a specific type of support . a large number of supports are available and are known to one of ordinary skill in the art . solid phase supports include silica gels , resins , derivatized plastic films , glass beads , cotton , plastic beads , alumina gels , polysaccharides and the like . a suitable solid phase support may be selected on the basis of desired end use and suitability for various synthetic protocols . for example , for peptide synthesis , solid phase support may refer to resins such as p - methylbenzhydrylamine ( pmbha ) resin ( from peptides international , louisville , ky . ), polystyrene ( e . g ., pam - resin available from bachem inc . ( torance , calif ., usa ), poly ( dimethylacrylamide )- grafted styrene co - divinyl - benzene ( e . g ., polyhipe ® resin , available from aminotech , nepean , ontario , canada ), polyamide resin ( e . g . spar - resin , available from advancedchemtech , louisville , ky ., usa ), polystyrene resin grafted with polyethylene glycol ( available from tentagel ®, rapp polymere , tubingen , germany ) polydimethylacrylamide resin ( available from milligen / biosearch , burlington , mass ., usa ), or sepharose ( available from phannacia corporation , stockholm , sweden ). the amino acid moiety may carry protecting groups prior to the coupling reaction . examples of suitable protecting groups include the following : ( 1 ) acyl types such as formyl , trifluoracetyl , phthalyl , and p - toluenesulfonyl ; ( 2 ) aromatic carbamate types such as benzyloxycarbonyl ( cbz or z ) and substituted benzyloxy - carbonyls , 1 -( p - biphenyl )- 1 - methylethoxy - carbonyl , and 9 - fluorenylmethyloxy - carbonyl ( fmoc ); ( 3 ) aliphatic carbamate types such as tertbutyloxycarbonyl ( boc ), ethoxycarbonyl , diisopropyl - methoxycarbonyl , and allyloxycarbonyl ; ( 4 ) cyclic alkyl carbamate types such as cyclopentyloxycarbonyl and adamantyloxycarbonyl ; ( 5 ) alkyl types such as triphenyl - methyl and benzyl ; ( 6 ) trialkysilane such as trimethyl - silane ; and ( 7 ) thiol containing types such as phenylthio - carbonyl and dithiasuccinoyl . the preferred protecting group is either boc or fmoc . if certain functional groups or side chains on the amino acid moiety need to be protected during the coupling reaction to avoid formation of undesired bond , suitable protecting groups that can be used for that purpose are listed in greene , protective groups in organic chemistry , john wiley & amp ; sons , new york ( 1981 ) and the peptides : analysis , synthesis , biology , vol . 3 , academic press , new york ( 1981 ), the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference . those skilled in the art will appreciate the fact that the selection and use of appropriate protecting groups depend upon the overall structure of the amino acid compound and the presence of any other protecting groups on that compound . the selection of such a protecting group may be especially important if it should not be removed during the deprotection of the other protecting group . suitable amino acids for the coupling reaction are listed in table 1along with the symbol for each amino acid . more specifically , a solid phase support such as , for example , a deprotected ram - ps resin is typically treated with 3 equivalents of the amino acid moiety and 3 equivalents of 1 - hydroxybenzotriazole in a suitable organic solvent , such a n , n - dimethylformamide . then 3 equivalents of diisopropylcarbodiimide are added and the mixture shaken for about 30 minutes to five hours . the amide that is produced can be isolated and purified by well known techniques or the crude material can be carried on to deprotection as it is . the amide produced in the above - noted step is deprotected under conditions which do not cleave the solid phase support from the growing compound . such conditions are well known in the art . thus , when the boc protecting group is used , the methods of choice are trifluoroacetic acid either neat or in dichloromethane , or hci in dioxane or ethyl acetate . the resulting ammonium salt is then neutralized either prior to the coupling or in situ with basic solutions such as aqueous buffers , or tertiary amines in dichloromethane or dimethylformamide . when the fmoc protecting group is used , the reagents of choice are piperidine or substituted piperidine in dimethylformamide , but any secondary amine or aqueous basic solutions can be used . the deprotection is carried out generally at a temperature of between about 0 ° c . and about room temperature . for example , the above - noted crude amide may be treated with 30 % piperidine in n , n - dimethylformamide for about 20 minutes to about one hour , following which the reaction mixture is filtered to provide the deprotected compound . to the deprotected compound on solid phase , a suitably amino - protected compound having free carboxylic function ( for example , fmoc - protected biphenylalanine in scheme a ) to form the solid phase linked product . for example , 1equivalents of the deprotected compound may be combined with 3 equivalents of fmoc - biphenylalanine and 3 equivalents of 1 - hydroxybenzo - triazole and a suitable activator ( for example 3 equivalents of dic ) in a suitable organic solvent , such as n , n - dimethylformamide . the formed biphenylalanine linked compound is cleaved of the fmoc group and then reacted with a suitable aldehyde , such as , for example , 4 - phenylbenzaldehyde , to yield the corresponding schiff base . the schiff base is then reduced , for example , with sodium borohydride , sodium cyanoborohydride and the like , to form the corresponding amine which is then converted to the amide by reacting with , for example , an acid chloride , in this case , 4 - cyanobenzoyl chloride . the amide may be converted to the thioamide which is methylated and then converted to the amidino group . the product is then cleaved of the solid phase support to yield compound 7 . the compounds of formula ii where x is an urea may be prepared as described in scheme b : scheme b may be explained with the synthesis of a compound of formula ii where r 1 is 2 - naphthylmethyl , r 2 is cyclohexylpiperazinyl , r 3 is 3 - phenylpropyl , x is — nh — co —, y is conh2 and n is 1 . that compound is compound 8 identified above , 4 - cyclohexyl - 1 -[[ 2 -( 4 - phenylbutanoyl ) amino ]- 4 -[ 1 - aminocarbonyl - 2 -( 2 - naphthyl ) ethylamino ] carbonylaminophenyl ] piperazine thus , a solid phase support is coupled with a protected amino acid , in this case , fmoc - 2 - naphthylalanine in the presence of an activator such as , for example , 1 - hydroxybenzotriazole and dic . it is then deprotected and then reacted with 4 - fluoro - 3 - nitrophenylisocyanate and the fluorinated product is then reacted with 4 - cyclohexylpiperazine to introduce the r 2 group . the nitro group is then reduced with stannous chloride to the amine which is converted to the 4 - phenylbutyl amide by reacting with 4 - phenylbutyric acid by activation with hoat and dic . cleaving of the solid support yields the desired compound 8 . similarly , one synthesizes the other urea compounds by appropriate selection of the r 1 , r 2 and r 3 substituted reactants . synthesis of a compound of formula ii where x is sulfonamide is similar to that shown in scheme b except that in the step introducing the fluoronitrophenyl - isocyanate , the appropriate fluoronitrobenzene sulfonyl chloride is used . thus , replacing the isocyanate in the above description with 2 - fluoro - 5 - nitrobenzene sulfonyl chloride would yield the desired sulfonamide compound . isolation of the compound at various stages of the reaction scheme may be achieved after cleavage from solid support by standard techniques such as , for example , filtration , evaporation of solvent and the like . purification of the product , intermediate and the like , may also be performed by standard techniques such as recrystallization , distillation , sublimation , chromatography , conversion to a suitable derivative which may be recrystallized and converted back to the starting compound , and the like . such techniques are well known to those skilled in the art . the thus prepared compounds may be analyzed for their composition and purity as well as characterized by standard analytical techniques such as , for example , elemental analysis , nmr , mass spectroscopy , and ir spectra . in another embodiment , this invention provides pharmaceutical compositions comprising the above - described inventive compounds as an active ingredient . the pharmaceutical compositions generally additionally comprise a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier diluent , excipient or carrier ( collectively referred to herein as carrier materials ). because of their therapeutic activity against osteoporosis and bone tissue loss , such pharmaceutical compositions possess utility in treating those diseases . in yet another embodiment , the present invention discloses methods for preparing pharmaceutical compositions comprising the compounds of formula i or formula ii as an active ingredient . in the pharmaceutical compositions and methods of the present invention , the active ingredient or ingredients will generally be administered in admixture with suitable carrier materials suitably selected with respect to the intended form of administration , i . e . oral tablets , capsules ( either solid - filled , semi - solid filled or liquid filled ), powders for constitution , oral gels , elixirs , dispersible granules , syrups , suspensions , and the like , and consistent with conventional pharmaceutical practices . for example , for oral administration in the form of tablets or capsules , the active drug component may be combined with any oral non - toxic pharmaceutically acceptable inert carrier , such as lactose , starch , sucrose , cellulose , magnesium stearate , dicalcium phosphate , calcium sulfate , talc , mannitol , ethyl alcohol ( liquid forms ) and the like . moreover , when desired or needed , suitable binders , lubricants , disintegrating agents and coloring agents may also be incorporated in the mixture . powders and tablets may be comprised of from about 5 to about 95 percent inventive composition . suitable binders include starch , gelatin , natural sugars , corn sweeteners , natural and synthetic gums such as acacia , sodium alginate , carboxymethylcellulose , polyethylene glycol and waxes . among the lubricants there may be mentioned for use in these dosage forms , boric acid , sodium benzoate , sodium acetate , sodium chloride , and the like . disintegrants include starch , methylcellulose , guar gum and the like . sweetening and flavoring agents and preservatives may also be included where appropriate . some of the terms noted above , namely disintegrants , diluents , lubricants , binders and the like , are discussed in more detail below . additionally , the compositions of the present invention may be formulated in sustained release form to provide the rate controlled release of any one or more of the components or active ingredients to optimize the therapeutic effects , i . e . antihistaminic activity and the like . suitable dosage forms for sustained release include layered tablets containing layers of varying disintegration rates or controlled release polymeric matrices impregnated with the active components and shaped in tablet form or capsules containing such impregnated or encapsulated porous polymeric matrices . liquid form preparations include solutions , suspensions and emulsions . as an example may be mentioned water or water - propylene glycol solutions for parenteral injections or addition of sweeteners and pacifiers for oral solutions , suspensions and emulsions . liquid form - preparations may also include solutions for intranasal administration . aerosol preparations suitable for inhalation may include solutions and solids in powder form , which may be in combination with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier such as inert compressed gas , e . g . nitrogen . for preparing suppositories , a low melting wax such as a mixture of fatty acid glycerides such as cocoa butter is first melted , and the active ingredient is dispersed homogeneously therein by stirring or similar mixing . the molten homogeneous mixture is then poured into convenient sized molds , allowed to cool and thereby solidify . also included are solid form preparations which are intended to be converted , shortly before use , to liquid form preparations for either oral or parenteral administration . such liquid forms include solutions , suspensions and emulsions . the compounds of the invention may also be deliverable transdermally . the transdermal compositions may take the form of creams , lotions , aerosols and / or emulsions and can be included in a transdermal patch of the matrix or reservoir type as are conventional in the art for this purpose . preferably , the pharmaceutical preparation is in a unit dosage form . in such form , the preparation is subdivided into suitably sized unit doses containing appropriate quantities of the active components , e . g ., an effective amount to achieve the desired purpose . the quantity of the inventive active composition in a unit dose of preparation may be generally varied or adjusted from about 1 . 0 milligram to about 1 , 000 milligrams , preferably from about 1 . 0 to about 950 milligrams , more preferably from about 1 . 0 to about 500 milligrams , and typically from about 1to about 250 milligrams , according to the particular application . the actual dosage employed may be varied depending upon the patient &# 39 ; s age , sex , weight and severity of the condition being treated . such techniques are well known to those skilled in the art . generally , the human oral dosage form containing the active ingredients can be administered 1 or 2 times per day . the amount and frequency of the administration will be regulated according to the judgment of the attending clinician . a generally recommended daily dosage regimen for oral administration may range from about 1 . 0 milligram to about 1 , 000 milligrams per day , in single or divided doses . the term “ capsule ” refers to a special container or enclosure made of methylcellulose , polyvinyl alcohols , or denatured gelatins or starch for holding or containing compositions comprising the active ingredients . hard shell capsules are typically made of blends of relatively high gel strength bone and pork skin gelatins . the capsule itself may contain small amounts of dyes , opaquing agents , plasticizers and preservatives . the term “ tablet ” refers to a compressed or molded solid dosage form containing the active ingredients with suitable diluents . the tablet can be prepared by compression of mixtures or granulations obtained by wet granulation , dry granulation or by compaction . the term “ oral gel ” refers to the active ingredients dispersed or solubilized in a hydrophilic semi - solid matrix . the term “ powders for constitution ” refers to powder blends containing the active ingredients and suitable diluents which can be suspended in water or juices . the term “ diluent ” refers to substances that usually make up the major portion of the composition or dosage form . suitable diluents include sugars such as lactose , sucrose , mannitol and sorbitol ; starches derived from wheat , corn , rice and potato ; and celluloses such as microcrystalline cellulose . the amount of diluent in the composition can range from about 10 to about 90 % by weight of the total composition , preferably from about 25 to about 75 %, more preferably from about 30 to about 60 % by weight , even more preferably from about 12 to about 60 %. the term “ disintegrant ” refers to materials added to the composition to help it break apart ( disintegrate ) and release the medicaments . suitable disintegrants include starches ; “ cold water soluble ” modified starches such as sodium carboxymethyl starch ; natural and synthetic gums such as locust bean , karaya , guar , tragacanth and agar ; cellulose derivatives such as methylcellulose and sodium carboxymethylcellulose ; microcrystalline celluloses and cross - linked microcrystalline celluloses such as sodium croscarmellose ; alginates such as alginic acid and sodium alginate ; clays such as bentonites ; and effervescent mixtures . the amount of disintegrant in the composition can range from about 2 to about 15 % by weight of the composition , more preferably from about 4 to about 10 % by weight . the term “ binder ” refers to substances that bind or “ glue ” powders together and make them cohesive by forming granules , thus serving as the “ adhesive ” in the formulation . binders add cohesive strength already available in the diluent or bulking agent . suitable binders include sugars such as sucrose ; starches derived from wheat , corn rice and potato ; natural gums such as acacia , gelatin and tragacanth ; derivatives of seaweed such as alginic acid , sodium alginate and ammonium calcium alginate ; cellulosic materials such as methylcellulose and sodium carboxymethylcellulose and hydroxypropylmethylcellulose ; polyvinylpyrrolidone ; and inorganics such as magnesium aluminum silicate . the amount of binder in the composition can range from about 2 to about 20 % by weight of the composition , more preferably from about 3 to about 10 % by weight , even more preferably from about 3 to about 6 % by weight . the term “ lubricant ” refers to a substance added to the dosage form to enable the tablet , granules , etc . after it has been compressed , to release from the mold or die by reducing friction or wear . suitable lubricants include metallic stearates such as magnesium stearate , calcium stearate or potassium stearate ; stearic acid ; high melting point waxes ; and water soluble lubricants such as sodium chloride , sodium benzoate , sodium acetate , sodium oleate , polyethylene glycols and d &# 39 ; l - leucine . lubricants are usually added at the very last step before compression , since they must be present on the surfaces of the granules and in between them and the parts of the tablet press . the amount of lubricant in the composition can range from about 0 . 2 to about 5 % by weight of the composition , preferably from about 0 . 5 to about 2 %, more preferably from about 0 . 3 to about 1 . 5 % by weight . the term “ glident ” refers to materials that prevent caking and improve the flow characteristics of granulations , so that flow is smooth and uniform . suitable glidents include silicon dioxide and talc . the amount of glident in the composition can range from about 0 . 1 % to about 5 % by weight of the total composition , preferably from about 0 . 5 to about 2 % by weight . the term “ coloring agent ” refers to excipients that provide coloration to the composition or the dosage form . such excipients can include food grade dyes and food grade dyes adsorbed onto a suitable adsorbent such as clay or aluminum oxide . the amount of the coloring agent can vary from about 0 . 1 to about 5 % by weight of the composition , preferably from about 0 . 1 to about 1 %. the term “ bioavailability ” refers to the rate and extent to which the active drug ingredient or therapeutic moiety is absorbed into the systemic circulation from an administered dosage form as compared to a standard or control . conventional methods for preparing tablets are known . such methods include dry methods such as direct compression and compression of granulation produced by compaction , or wet methods or other special procedures . conventional methods for making other forms for administration such as , for example , capsules , suppositories and the like are also well known . another embodiment of the invention discloses use of the pharmaceutical compositions disclosed above for treatment of diseases such as , for example , osteoporosis and bone tissue loss . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many modifications , variations and alterations to the present disclosure , both to materials and methods , may be practiced . such modifications , variations and alterations are intended to be within the spirit and scope of the present invention . the following examples are being provided to further illustrate the present invention . they are for illustrative purposes only ; the scope of the invention is not to be considered limited in any way thereby . unless otherwise stated , the following abbreviations have the stated meanings in the examples below : dcc = dicyclohexylcarbodiimide nabh ( oac ) 3 = sodium triacetoxyborohydride fmoc = 9 - fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl dce = 1 , 2 - dichloroethane diea = diisopropylethylamine cha = cyclohexylalanine nal ( 1 )= 1 - naphthylalanine teof = triethylorthoformate tips = triisopropylsilane nal ( 1 )= 1 - naphthylalanine bip = 4 - biphenylalanine boc = tert . butyloxycarbonyl pip = piperidine hoac = acetic acid tfa = trifluoroacetic acid py = pyridine dic = diisopropylcarbodiimide meoh = methanol nabh 4 = sodium borohydride nabh 3 cn = sodium cyanoborohydride p - tsoh = p - toluenesulfonic acid dmf : n , n - dimethylformamide thf : tetrahydrofuran dmso : dimethyl sulfoxide dcm : dichloromethane which can also be referred to as methylene chloride lah : lithium aluminum hydride hoat : 1 - hydroxy - 7 - azabenzotriazole hobt : 1 - hydroxybenzotriazole hrms = high resolution mass spectrometry hplc = high performance liquid chromatography nmr = nuclear magnetic resonance lrms = low resolution mass spectrometry nm = nanomolar additionally , “ kg ” refers to kilograms ; “ g ” refers to grams ; “ mg ” refers to milligrams ; μg ” refers to micrograms ; “ m 2 / g ” refers to square meters per gram and is used as a measurement of particle surface area ; “ mmol ” refers to millimoles ; “ l ” refers to liters ; “ ml ” refers to milliliters ; “ μl ” refers to microliters ; “ cm ” refers to centimeters ; “ m ” refers to molar &# 39 ; “ mm ” refers to millimolar ; “ μm ” refers to micromolar ; “ nm ” refers to nanomolar ; “ n ” refers to normal ; “ ppm ” refers to parts per million ; “ δ ” refers to parts per million down field from tetramethylsilane ; “° c .” refers to degrees celsius ; “° f .” refers to degrees fahrenheit ; “ mm hg ” refers to millimeters of mercury ; “ kpa ” refers to kilopascals ; “ psi ” refers to pounds per square inch ; “ rpm ” refers to revolutions per minute ; “ bp ” refers to boiling point ; “ mp ” refers to melting point ; “ dec ” refers to decomposition ; “ h ” refers to hours ; “ min ” refers to minutes ; “ sec ” refers to seconds &# 39 ; “ r f ” refers to retention factor ; and “ r t ” refers to retention time . starting materials used in the synthesis were obtained from chemical vendors such as aldrich , sigma , fluka , nova biochem and advanced chemtech . during the synthesis , the functional groups of the amino acid derivatives used were protected by blocking groups to prevent side reaction during the coupling steps . examples of suitable protecting groups and their use are described in the peptides , supra , 1981 , and in vol . 9 , udenfriend and meienhofer ( eds . ), 1987 , which is incorporated herein by reference . general solid - phase peptide synthesis was used to produce the compounds of the invention . such methods are described , for example , by steward and young , solid phase peptide synthesis ( freeman & amp ; co ., san francisco , 1969 ), which is incorporated herein by reference . unless indicated otherwise , peptides were synthesized on ram ™ polystyrene resin ( rapp polymere , tübingen , germany ). as an alternative to this , acid sensitive linker p -[( r , s )- α -[ 1 -( 9h - fluoren - 9 - yl ) methoxyformamido ]- 2 , 4 - dimethoxybenzyl ] phenoxyacetic acid ( knon - linker , bernatowicz et . al , tetr . lett . 30 ( 1989 ) 4645 , which is incorporated herein by reference ) can be coupled to any amino functionalized the solid support or the desired compounds can be synthesized on polystyrene resin cross - linked with 1 % divinylbenzene modified with an acid sensitive linker ( rink resin ) ( rink , tetr . lett . 28 ( 1987 ) 3787 ; sieber , tetr . lett . 28 ( 1987 ) 2107 , each of which is incorporated herein by reference ). coupling was performed using n , n ′- diisopropylcarbodiimide ( dic ) in the presence of an equivalent amount of hobt . all couplings were done n , n - dimethylformamide ( dmf ) at room temperature ( rt ). completion of coupling was monitored by ninhydrin test . a second ( double ) coupling was performed where coupling in the first instance was incomplete . deprotection of the fmoc group was accomplished using 50 % piperidine in dmf for 2 ± 15 min . the amount of fmoc released was determined from the absorbance at 302 nm of the solution after deprotection , volume of washes and weight of the resin used in the synthesis . the compound resin was at the end of the synthesis washed successively with dmf and dcm and the peptide was then cleaved and deprotected by a mixture tfa / tips ( 99 / 1 ) for 2 hours , unless specified otherwise . the resin was washed with dcm and the dcm wash combined with the tfa releasate . the solution was evaporated , the product was redissolved in a mixture of water and acetonitrile and lyophylized . the dried compound was subjected to hplc purification using an appropriate gradient of 0 . 1 % tfa in water and acetonitrile ( acn ). after collecting the peak containing the intended synthetic product , the solution was lyophilized and the compound was subjected to an identification process , which included electrospray mass spectrum ( ms ) and / or nmr to confirm that the correct compound was synthesized . for hplc analysis , a sample of the product was analyzed using beckman hplc system ( consisting of 126 solvent deliver system , 166 programmable detector module 507e autosampler , controlled by data station with gold nouveau software ) and ymc ods - am 4 . 6 × 250 mm column at 230 nm and flow rate 1 ml / min . for product purification , a sample of crude lyophilized compound was dissolved in a mixture of 0 . 1 % aqueous tfa containing 10 % to 50 % acn . the solution of the product was usually filtered through a syringe connected to a 0 . 45 μm “ acrodisc ” 13 cr ptfe ( gelman sciences ; ann arbor mich .) filter . a proper volume of filtered compound solution was injected into a semi - preparative c18 column ( ymc ods - a column ( 20 × 250 mm ), ymc , inc ., wilmington , n . c .). the flow rate of a gradient or isocratic mixture of 0 . 1 % tfa buffer and acn ( hplc grade ) as an eluent was maintained using a beckman “ system gold ” hplc ( beckman , system gold , programmable solvent module 126 and programmable detector module 166 controlled by “ system gold ” software ). elution of the compound was monitored by uv detection at 230 nm . after identifying the peak corresponding to the compound under synthesis using ms , the compound was collected , lyophilized and biologically tested . ms was performed using a vg platform ( fisons instruments ) instrument in es + mode . for nmr , typically samples were measured in dmso - d 6 ( aldrich ) using a bruker avance dpx 300 instrument . following generally the procedure described above as scheme a , polystyrene - ram ( substitution 0 . 74 mmol / g , 100 - 200 mesh , rapp polymere , tubingen , germany , 0 . 5 g ) was washed with dmf and the fmoc - protecting group cleaved by 50 % solution of piperidine in dmf ( twice 10 minutes , 5ml each ). the resin was then washed by dmf . fmoc - gly - oh ( 3 eq ) activated with dic / hobt ( 3 eq each ) in dmf ( 3 ml ) was coupled to the resin overnight and the completion was checked by ninhydrin test . after fmoc - group deprotection , the resin - bound intermediate was reacted with fmoc - 4 - biphenyl - alanine ( 3 eq , in 3 ml dmf ) activated with dic / hobt ( 3 eq each ) overnight . fmoc group was deprotected as described above and the resin was washed with dmf . resin was washed with dcm and a solution of 3 - phenoxybenzaldehyde ( 7 eq ) in 5 ml teof / dcm ( 4 : 1 ) was added and the reaction was carried out for 6 hours , the resin was washed with dcm ( 3 times ) and the formed schiff base was reduced with 5 ml of solution nabh 3 cn overnight . this was prepared by mixing 1m nabh 3 cn in thf ( commercially available ) with dce / meoh / acoh ( 80 : 18 : 2 ) in ratio 1 : 4 . after the reduction resin was washed with meoh , dmf , 10 % diea in dmf , dmf and dce . the resin - bound amine was reacted with 5 eq of 4 - cyanobenzoyl chloride in 5 ml dce with 5 eq diea overnight . resin was then washed with dce , dmf , with mixture pyridine / et 3 n ( 2 : 1 ) and treated with 8 ml of saturated solution of h 2 s in pyridine / et 3 n ( 2 : 1 ). after 5 hours , the solution was removed and the procedure repeated . after overnight standing , the resin was washed with acetone . the resulting thioamide was converted to the thioimidate by reaction with methyliodide in acetone (( 4 ml of 20 % solution , overnight ). the resin was washed with acetone and meoh , and a solution of 20 eq of ammonium acetate in methanol containing 20 eq of acetic acid was added and the kept at 50 ° c . for 3 hours . the resin was then washed with meoh , dmf and dcm . the product was cleaved by tfa ( 1 % tips ). the crude product was purified by preparative hplc . ms analysis : calculated 625 . 3 ( m ). found 626 . 2 ( mh )+. the title compound was synthesized using fmoc - gly - oh , fmoc - cha - oh , 3 -( 4 - tert . butylphenoxy ) benzaldehyde and 3 - cyanobenzoyl chloride according to procedures described in example 1 . ms analysis : calculated 611 . 4 ( m ). found 612 . 3 ( mh )+. the title compound was synthesized using fmoc - gly - oh , fmoc - phe ( 4 - nh - boc )- oh , 3 -( 4 - tert . butylphenoxy ) benzaldehyde and 3 - cyanobenzoyl chloride according to procedures described in example 1 . ms analysis : calculated 620 . 3 ( m ). found 621 . 3 ( mh )+. the title compound was synthesized using fmoc - gly - oh , fmoc - nal ( 1 )- oh , 3 -( 4 - tert . butylphenoxy ) benzaldehyde and 3 - cyanobenzoyl chloride according to procedures described in example 1 . ms analysis : calculated 655 . 3 ( m ). found 656 . 2 ( mh )+. the title compound was synthesized using fmoc - gly - oh , fmoc - arg ( boc ) 2 - oh , 3 -( 4 - tert . butylphenoxy ) benzaldehyde and 3 - cyanobenzoyl chloride according to procedures described in example 1 . ms analysis : calculated 614 . 3 ( m ). found 615 . 2 ( mh )+. the title compound was synthesized using fmoc - gly - oh , fmoc - tip ( boc )- oh , 3 -( 4 - tert . butylphenoxy ) benzaldehyde and 4 - cyanobenzoyl chloride according to procedures described in example 1 . ms analysis : calculated 644 . 3 ( m ). found 645 . 2 ( mh )+. the title compound was synthesized using fmoc - gly - oh , fmoc - bip - oh , 4 - phenylbenzaldehyde and 4 - cyanobenzoyl chloride according to procedures described in example 1 . ms analysis : calculated 609 . 3 ( m ). found 610 . 2 ( mh )+. examples 8 - 15 describe the synthesis of compounds of fonnula ii where x is a urea moiety . following generally the procedure described above in connection with scheme b , commercial polystyrene - ram resin ( 0 . 74 mmol / g ) ( rapp polymere , tubingen , germany , 0 . 25 g ) was slurried in dichloromethane , washed with dmf and treated for 30 minutes with a mixture of piperidine and dmf ( 1 : 1 v / v ). the resin was washed with dmf ( 5 ×), dcm ( 5 ×) and dmf ( 3 ×) and then coupled with 0 . 5 mmol of fmoc -( l )- 2 - naphthylalanine , 1 - hydroxybenzotriazole and diisopropyl - carbodiimide in 3 ml dmf overnight . the resin was washed with dmf ( 5 33 ) and treated with piperidine / dmf again for 30 minutes . after washing as described above , the coupling with 0 . 5 mmol of 4 - fluoro - 3 - nitrophenylisocyanate in 2 ml dmf was carried out over night . the resin was washed with dmf ( 5 ×) and treated with 3 ml of a 0 . 5 molar solution of 1 - cyclohexylpiperazine in dmf for 3 hours at 60 °. after washing with dmf ( 10 ×), the nitro group was reduced by shaking the resin with 4 ml of a molar solution of tin chloride dihydrate in dmf for 24 hours . the resin was washed with dmf ( 5 ×), meoh ( 5 ×), dcm ( 5 ×), dmf containing 5 % of diisopropylethylamine ( 1 ×) and dmf ( 3 ×). the final coupling with 1 mmol of 4 - phenyl butyric acid , 1 - hydroxy - 7 - azabenzotriazole and diisopropylcarbodiimide in 3 ml dmf was performed over night . following extensive washing of the resin with dmf , methanol and dcm and subsequent drying , it was cleaved with 3 ml of 95 % trifluoroacetic acid . the tfa solution was evaporated and the residue was combined with the washings of the resin with methanol . evaporation yielded the crude title compound which was purified by preparative hplc using the standard acetonitrile /− water + 0 . 1 % tfa gradient and a vydac c - 18 column . the pure sample had a m + 1 ion at 661 . 3 in the mass spectrum and was homogenous by hplc with a retention time of 26 . 95 minutes . this was prepared by the method of example 8 using trans - cinnamic acid in the final coupling step to give the title compound with m + 1 ion at 645 . 3 and a retention time of 26 . 88 minutes . this compound was prepared by the method of example 8 using fmoc - homophenylalanine in the initial coupling step to give the title compound with m + 1 ion at 609 . 3 and retention time of 25 . 78 minutes . this compound was prepared by the method of example 8 using fmoc - homophenylalanine in the initial coupling step to give the title compound with m + 1 at 625 . 3 and a retention time of 26 minutes . this compound was prepared by the method of example 8 using fmoc - cyclohexylalanine in the initial coupling step to give the title compound with m + 1 ion at 601 . 3 and retention time of 26 . 72 minutes . following generally the procedure shown in scheme b above , commercial polystyrene - ram resin ( 0 . 74 mmol / g ) ( rapp polymere , tubingen , germany , 0 . 25 g ) was slurried in dichloromethane , washed with dmf and treated for 30 minutes with a mixture of piperidine and dmf ( 1 : 1 v / v ). the resin was washed with dmf ( 5 ×), dcm ( 5 ×) and dmf ( 3 ×) and then coupled with 0 . 5 mmol of fmoc -( l )- 2 - naphthylalanine , 1 - hydroxybenzotriazole and diisopropylcarbodiimide in 3 ml dmf over night . the resin was washed with dmf ( 5 ×) and treated with piperidine / dmf again for 30 minutes . after washing as described above , the coupling with 0 . 5 mmol of 4 - fluoro - 3 - nitrophenylisocyanate in 2 ml dmf was carried out over night . the resin was washed with dmf ( 5 ×) and treated with 3 ml of a 0 . 5 molar solution of homopiperazine in dmf for 2 hours at 60 °. the resin was washed with dmf ( 10 ×) and coupled with 0 . 5 mmol of boc - isonipecotic acid , hobt and dic in 2 . 5 ml of dmf over night . the resin was washed with dmf ( 10 ×) and reduced with 4 ml of a molar solution of tin chloride dihydrate in dmf for 24 hours . the resin was washed with dmf ( 5 ×), meoh ( 5 ×), dcm ( 5 ×), dmf containing 5 % of diisopropyl - ethylamine ( 1 ×) and dmf ( 3 ×). the final coupling with 1 mmol of phenylbutyric acid , 1 - hydroxy - 7 - azabenzotriazole and diisopropylcarbodiimide in 3 ml dmf was performed over night . following extensive washing of the resin with dmf , methanol and dcm and subsequent drying , it was cleaved with 3 ml of 95 % trifluoroacetic acid . the tfa solution was evaporated and the residue was combined with the washings of the resin with methanol . evaporation yielded the crude title compound which was purified by preparative hplc using the standard acetonitrile /− water + 0 . 1 % tfa gradient and a vidac c - 18 column . the pure sample had a m + 1 ion at 704 . 3 in the mass spectrum and was homogenous by hplc with a retention time of 24 . 12 minutes . this compound was prepared by the method of example 13 using 2 - benzofuran - carboxylic acid in the final coupling step to give the title compound with m + 1 ion at 702 . 1 and retention time of 25 . 5 minutes . this compound was prepared by the method of example 13 using fmoc - cyclohexylalanine in the initial coupling step and 2 - benzofurancarboxylic acid for the final acylation step to give the title compound with m + 1 ion at 658 . 3 and retention time of 25 . 64 minutes . this compound was prepared by the method of example 13 using fmoc - trans - 4 - aminomethylcyclohexanecarboxylic acid in the initial coupling step and 2 - benzofurancarboxylic acid for the final acylation to give the title compound with m + 1 ion at 643 . 4 and retention time of 21 . 84 minutes . this compound was prepared by the method of example 13 using fmoc - trans - 4 - aminomethylcyclohexanecarboxylic acid in the initial coupling step and boc - sarcosine for capping of the homopiperazine and 2 - benzofurancarboxylic acid for the final acylation to give the title compound with m + 1 ion at 603 . 3 and retention time of 21 . 35 minutes . this compound was prepared by the method of example 13 using fmoc - trans - 4 - aminomethylcyclohexanecarboxylic acid in the initial coupling step , boc - proline for capping of the homopiperazine and 2 - benzofurancarboxylic acid for the final acylation to give the title compound with m + 1 ion at 629 . 3 and retention time of 22 . 12 minutes . this compound was prepared by the method of example 13 using fmoc - trans - 4 - aminomethylcyclohexanecarboxylic acid in the initial coupling step , 4 -( 1 - piperidyl ) piperidine to displace the fluorine and 2 - benzofurancarboxylic acid for the final acylation to give the title compound with m + 1 ion at 600 . 3 and retention time of 22 . 5 minutes . this compound was prepared by the method of example 13 using fmoc - l - cyclohexylalanine in the initial coupling step and boc - isonipecotic acid for capping of the homopiperazine to give the title compound with m + 1 ion at 659 . 4 and retention time of 23 . 97 minutes . this compound was prepared by the method of example 13 using fmoc - homophenylalanine in the initial coupling step to give the title compound with m + 1 ion at 668 . 4 and retention time of 22 . 88 minutes . examples 22 - 25 describe the synthesis of sulfonamide compounds in accordance with the compounds of the present invention . following generally the procedures described above , commercial polystyrene - ram resin ( 0 . 74 mmol / g ) ( rapp polymere , tubingen , germany , 0 . 25 g ) was slurried in dichloromethane , washed with dmf and treated for 30 minutes with a mixture of piperidine and dmf ( 1 : 1 v / v ). the resin was washed with dmf ( 5 ×), dcm ( 5 ×) and dmf ( 3 ×) and then coupled with 0 . 5 mmol of fmoc -( l )- valine , 1 - hydroxybenzotriazole and diisopropylcarbodiimide in 3 ml dmf over night . the resin was washed with dmf ( 5 ×) and treated with piperidine / dmf again for 30 minutes . after washing with dmf ( 5 ×) and dcm ( 1 ×), the coupling with 0 . 5 mmol of 2 - fluoro - 5 - nitrophenylsulfonyl chloride in 2 ml dcm and 1 mmol of lutidine was carried out over night . the resin was washed with dcm ( 5 ×) and dmf ( 5 ×) and treated with 3 ml of a 0 . 5 molar solution of 4 - benzyl - piperidine in dmf for 24 hours at room temperature . after washing with dmf ( 10 ×), the nitro group was reduced by shaking the resin with 4 ml of a 0 . 5 molar solution of tin chloride in dmf / acetic acid 1 : 1 for 72 hours . the resin was washed with dmf ( 5 ×), meoh ( 5 ×), dcm ( 5 ×), dmf containing 5 % of diisopropylethylamine ( 1 ×) and dmf ( 3 ×). the final coupling with 1 mmol of 2 - pyrolidinecarboxylic acid , 1 - hydroxy - 7 - azabenzotriazole and diisopropylcarbodiimide in 3 ml dmf was performed over night . following extensive washing of the resin with dmf , methanol and dcm and subsequent drying , it was cleaved with 3 ml of 95 % trifluoroacetic acid . the tfa solution was evaporated and the residue was combined with the washings of the resin with methanol . evaporation yielded the crude title compound which was purified by preparative hplc using the standard acetonitrile / water + 0 . 1 % tfa gradient and a vydac c - 18 column . the pure sample had a m + 1 ion at 542 . 3 in the mass spectrum and was homogenous by hplc with a retention time of 26 . 7 minutes . this compound was prepared by the method of example 22 using 4 - piperidinecarboxylic acid in the final coupling step to give the title compound with a m + 1 ion at 556 . 3 in the mass spectrum and a hplc retention time of 26 . 2 minutes . this compound was prepared by the method of example 22 using 1 - cyclohexylpiperazine for displacement of the fluorine and cinnamic acid for the final acylation step to give the title compound with a m + 1 ion at 568 . 3 in the mass spectrum and a hplc retention time of 24 . 63 minutes . this compound was prepared by the method of example 22 using fmoc protected trans - 4 - aminomethylcyclohexanecarboxylic acid for the first coupling reaction to give the title compound with a m + 1 ion at 582 . 3 in the mass spectrum and a hplc retention time of 25 . 31 minutes . the compounds 1 - 25 above were assayed for activity with respect to the src protein tyrosine kinase by the fluorometric method described in measurement of the protein tyrosine kinase activity of c - src using time - resolved fluorometry of europium chelates , braunwalder , a . f . et al ., analytical biochemistry 238 , 159 - 164 ( 1996 ), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference , using the materials and procedures further specified below . the plates were coated with 0 . 1 mg / ml poly ( glu , tyr ) in coating solution , 35 μl / well . it was let stand overnight at room temp . the plates were then washed 3 times with mes ( 100 μl / wash ). the reaction was stopped by aspiration , and then washed 3 times with mes ( 100 μl / wash ). 20 μl 0 . 4 ng / μl of antibody in antibody dilution buffer ( final = 8 ng ab / well ) was added and then incubated for 30 min . at rt . the antibody solution was removed by aspiration and then washed 3 times with ix delfia wash solution . 20 μl delfia enhancement solution was added and the plates were read on a wallac victor plate reader in time - resolved fluorescence mode using 340 nm excitation and 615 nm emission wavelengths . the src kinase inhibitory activity of the compounds , given as ic50s ( μm ), are listed in table 2 . from these test results and the knowledge about the compounds described in the references in the section “ background of the invention ”, it would be apparent to the skilled artisan that the compounds of the invention have utility in treating conditions where selective inhibitory activity of an src kinase is desirable . while the invention has been described in detail , modifications to illustrated embodiments within the spirit and scope of the present invention , set forth in the appended claims , will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art . | 2 |
as illustrated in fig1 and 2 , an exemplary wafer saw 10 according to the invention is comprised of a base 12 to which extension arms 14 and 15 suspended by support 16 are attached . a wafer saw blade 18 is attached to a spindle or hub 20 which is rotatably attached to the extension arm 15 . the wafer saw blade 18 may be secured to the hub 20 and extension arm 15 by a threaded nut 21 or other means of attachment known in the art . the wafer saw 10 also includes a translatable wafer table 22 movably attached in both x and y directions ( as indicated by arrows in fig1 and 2 ) to the base 12 . alternatively , wafer saw blade 18 may be translatable relative to the wafer table 22 to achieve the same relative x - y movement of the wafer saw blade 18 to the wafer table 22 . a silicon wafer 24 to be scribed or sawed may be securely mounted to the wafer table 22 . as used herein , the term “ saw ” includes scribing of a wafer , the resulting scribe line 26 not completely extending through the wafer substrate . further , the term “ wafer ” includes traditional full semiconductor wafers of silicon , gallium arsenide , or indium phosphide and other semiconductor materials , partial wafers , and equivalent structures known in the art wherein a semiconductor material table or substrate is present . for example , so - called silicon - on - insulator , or “ soi ,” structures , wherein silicon is carried on a glass , ceramic or sapphire (“ sos ”) base , or other such structures as known in the art , are encompassed by the term “ wafer ” as used herein . likewise , “ semiconductor substrate ” may be used to identify wafers and other structures to be singulated into smaller elements . the wafer saw 10 is capable of lateral multi - indexing of the wafer table 22 or wafer saw blade 18 or , in other words , translatable , from side - to - side in fig2 and into and out of the plane of the page in fig1 various nonuniform distances . as noted before , such nonuniform distances may be mere multiples of a unit distance , or may comprise unrelated varying distances , as desired . accordingly , a wafer 24 having variously sized integrated circuits or other devices or components therein may be sectioned or diced into its nonuniformly sized components by the multi - indexing wafer saw 10 . in addition , as previously alluded , the wafer saw 10 may be used to create scribe lines or cuts 26 that do not extend through the wafer 24 . the wafer 24 can then subsequently be diced by other methods known in the art or sawed completely through after the wafer saw blade 18 has been lowered to traverse the wafer to its full depth or thickness . before proceeding further , it will be understood and appreciated that design and fabrication of a wafer saw according to the invention having the previously referenced , multi - indexing capabilities , independent lateral blade translation and independent blade raising or elevation are within the ability of one of ordinary skill in the art and that , likewise , the control of such a device to effect the multiple - indexing ( whether in units of fixed increments or otherwise ), lateral blade translation and blade elevation may be effected by suitable programming of the software - controlled operating system , as known in the art . accordingly , no further description of hardware components or of a control system to effectuate operation of the apparatus of the invention is necessary . referring now to fig3 another illustrated embodiment of a wafer saw 30 is shown having two laterally spaced blades 32 and 34 with their centers of rotation in substantial parallel alignment transverse to the planes of the blades . for a conventional , substantially circular silicon semiconductor wafer 40 ( flat omitted ), as illustrated in fig4 having a plurality of similarly configured integrated circuits 42 arranged in evenly spaced rows and columns , the blades can be spaced a distance d substantially equal to the distance between adjacent streets 44 defining the space between each integrated circuit 42 . in addition , if the streets 44 of wafer 40 are too closely spaced for side - by - side blades 32 and 34 to cut along adjacent streets , the blades 32 and 34 can be spaced a distance d substantially equal to the distance between two or more streets . for example , a first pass of the blades 32 and 34 could cut along streets 44 a and 44 c and a second pass along streets 44 b and 44 d . the blades could then be indexed to cut the next series of streets and the process repeated for streets 44 e , 44 f , 44 g , and 44 h . if , however , the integrated circuits of a wafer 52 have various sizes , such as integrated circuits 50 and 51 , as illustrated in fig5 at least one blade 34 is laterally translatable relative to the other blade 32 to cut along the streets , such as street 56 , separating the variously sized integrated circuits 50 , 51 . the blade 34 may be variously translatable by a stepper motor 36 having a lead screw 38 ( fig3 ) or by other devices known in the art , such as high precision gearing in combination with an electric motor or hydraulics or other suitable mechanical drive and control assemblies . for a wafer 52 , the integrated circuits , such as integrated circuits 50 and 51 , may be diced by setting the blades 32 and 34 to simultaneously cut along streets 56 and 57 , indexing the blades , setting them to a wider lateral spread and cutting along streets 58 and 59 , indexing the blades while monitoring the same lateral spread or separation and cutting along streets 60 and 61 , and then narrowing the blade spacing and indexing the blades and cutting along streets 62 and 63 . the wafer 52 could then be rotated 90 ° and the blade separation and indexing process repeated for streets 64 and 65 , streets 66 and 67 , and streets 68 and 69 . as illustrated in fig6 a wafer saw 70 according to the present invention is shown having two blades 72 and 74 , one of which is independently raisable ( as indicated by an arrow ) relative to the other . as used herein , the term “ raisable ” includes vertical translation either up or down . such a configuration may be beneficial for situations where the distance between adjacent streets is less than the minimum lateral achievable distance between blades 72 and 74 , or only a single column of narrow dice is to be cut , such as at the edge of a wafer . thus , when cutting a wafer 80 , as better illustrated in fig7 the two blades 72 and 74 can make a first pass along streets 82 and 83 . one blade 72 can then be raised , the wafer 80 indexed relative to the unraised blade 74 and a second pass performed along street 84 only . blade 72 can then be lowered and the wafer 80 indexed for cutting along streets 85 and 86 . the process can be repeated for streets 87 ( single - blade pass ), 88 , and 89 ( double - blade pass ). the elevation mechanism 76 for blade 72 may comprise a stepper motor , a precision - geared hydraulic or electric mechanism , a pivotable arm which is electrically , hydraulically or pneumatically powered , or other means well known in the art . finally , it may be desirable to combine the lateral translation feature of the embodiment of the wafer saw 30 illustrated in fig3 with the independent blade raising feature of the wafer saw 70 of fig6 . such a wafer saw could use a single blade to cut along streets that are too closely spaced for dual - blade cutting or in other suitable situations , and use both blades to cut along variously spaced streets where the lateral distance between adjacent streets is sufficient for both blades to be engaged . it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the embodiments herein described while illustrating certain embodiments are not intended to so limit the invention or the scope of the appended claims . more specifically , this invention , while being described with reference to semiconductor wafers containing integrated circuits or other semiconductor devices , has equal utility to any type of substrate to be scribed or singulated . for example , fabrication of test inserts or chip carriers formed from a silicon ( or other semiconductor ) wafer and used to make temporary or permanent chip - to - wafer , chip - to - chip and chip - to - carrier interconnections and that are cut into individual or groups of inserts , as described in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 326 , 428 and 4 , 937 , 653 , may benefit from the multi - indexing method and apparatus described herein . for example , illustrated in fig8 a semiconductor substrate 100 may have traces 102 formed thereon by electrodeposition techniques that require connection of a plurality of traces 102 through a tie bar 104 . a two - blade saw in accordance with the present invention may be employed to simultaneously scribe substrate 100 along parallel lines 106 and 108 flanking a street 110 in order to sever tie bars 104 of adjacent substrate segments 112 from their associated traces 102 . following such severance , the two columns of adjacent substrate segments 112 ( corresponding to what would be termed “ dice ” if integrated circuits were formed thereon ) are completely severed along street 110 after the two - blade saw is indexed for alignment of one blade therewith , and the other blade raised out of contact with substrate 100 . subsequently , when either the saw or the substrate carrier is rotated 90 °, singulation of the segments 112 is completed along mutually parallel streets 114 . thus , substrate segments 112 for test or packaging purposes may be fabricated more efficiently in the same manner as dice and in the same sizes and shapes . further , and as previously noted , rfid modules may be more easily fabricated when all components of a module are formed on a single wafer and retrieved therefrom for placement on a carrier substrate providing mechanical support and electrical interconnection between components . as shown in fig9 a portion of a substrate 200 is depicted with three adjacent columns of varying - width segments , the three widths of segments illustrating batteries 202 , chips 204 and antennas 206 of an rfid device . with all of the rfid components formed on a single substrate 200 , an rfid module may be assembled by a single pick - and - place apparatus at a single work station . thus , complete modules may be assembled without transfer of partially assembled modules from one station to the next to add components . of course , this approach may be employed to any module assembly wherein all of the components are capable of being fabricated on a single semiconductor substrate . fabrication of different components by semiconductor device fabrication techniques known in the art is within the ability of those of ordinary skill in the art and , therefore , no detailed explanation of the fabrication process leading to the presence of different components on a common wafer or other substrate is necessary . masking of semiconductor device elements not involved in a particular process step is widely practiced and so similar isolation of entire components is also easily effected to protect the elements of a component until the next process step with which it is involved . further , the present invention has particular applicability to the fabrication of custom or nonstandard ics or other components , wherein a capability for rapid and easy die size and shape adjustment on a wafer - by - wafer basis is highly beneficial and cost - effective . those skilled in the art will also understand that various combinations of the preferred embodiments could be made without departing from the spirit of the invention . for example , it may be desirable to have at least one blade of the independently laterally translatable blade configuration be independently raisable relative to the other blade or blades , or a single blade may be both translatable and raisable relative to one or more other blades and to the target wafer . in addition , while , for purposes of simplicity , some of the preferred embodiments of the wafer saw are illustrated as having two blades , those skilled in the art will appreciate that the scopes of the invention and appended claims are intended to cover wafer saws having more or less than two blades . thus , while certain representative embodiments and details have been shown for purposes of illustrating the invention , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes in the invention disclosed herein may be made without departing from the scope of the invention , which is defined in the appended claims . | 8 |
referring to fig1 - 4 , fig1 - 4 illustrate a method for fabricating semiconductor device according to a first embodiment of the present invention . as shown in fig1 , a substrate 12 , such as a silicon substrate or silicon - on - insulator ( soi ) substrate is provided , and a transistor region , such as a pmos region or a nmos region is defined on the substrate 12 . at least a first fin - shaped structure 14 is formed on the substrate 12 and a hard mask 16 is formed on the each fin - shaped structure 14 , in which each of the fin - shaped structures 14 includes a top portion 18 and a bottom portion 20 . despite two fin - shaped structures 14 are disclosed in this embodiment , the quantity of the fin - shaped structures 14 could be adjusted according to the demand of the product . the formation of the fin - shaped structure 14 could be accomplished by first forming a patterned mask ( now shown ) on the substrate , 12 , and an etching process is performed to transfer the pattern of the patterned mask to the substrate 12 . alternatively , the formation of the fin - shaped structure 14 could also be accomplished by first forming a patterned hard mask ( not shown ) on the substrate 12 , and then performing an epitaxial process on the exposed substrate 12 through the patterned hard mask to grow a semiconductor layer . this semiconductor layer could then be used as the corresponding fin - shaped structure 14 . moreover , if the substrate 12 were a soi substrate , a patterned mask could be used to etch a semiconductor layer on the substrate until reaching a bottom oxide layer underneath the semiconductor layer to form the corresponding fin - shaped structure . next , a liner 22 could be formed selectively on the surface of the fin - shaped structures 14 through in - situ steam generation ( issg ) process , in which the liner 22 is preferably composed of silicon oxide and in addition to covering the top portion 18 and bottom portion 20 of the fin - shaped structures 14 , the liner 22 also covers the surface of the substrate 12 . next , a doped layer 24 and another liner 26 are sequentially formed on the liner 22 and covering the entire fin - shaped structures 14 . in this embodiment , the liner 26 is preferably composed of silicon nitride and the material of the doped layer 24 could be adjusted depending on the type of transistor being fabricated afterwards . for instance , if a nmos transistor were to be fabricated , the doped layer 24 is preferably composed of thin film containing p - type dopants , such as borosilicate glass ( bsg ). conversely , if a pmos transistor were to be fabricated , the doped layer 24 is preferably composed of thin film containing n - type dopants , such as phosphosilicate glass ( psg ). next , as shown in fig2 , a passivation layer , such as a dielectric layer 28 is formed on the liner 26 to cover the fin - shaped structures 14 entirely , and an etching back process is conducted to remove part of the dielectric layer 28 so that the top surface of remaining dielectric layer 28 is approximately between the top portion 18 and bottom portion 20 of the fin - shaped structures 14 . in this embodiment , the dielectric layer 28 is preferably an organic dielectric layer ( odl ), but not limited thereto . next , as shown in fig3 , another etching process is conducted by using the dielectric layer 28 as mask to remove part of the liner 26 and doped layer 24 not covered by the dielectric layer 28 . for instance , the liner 26 and doped layer 24 around the top portion 18 of fin - shaped structures 14 are removed to expose the top portion 18 of the fin - shaped structures 14 and the hard mask 16 . it should be noted that the liner 26 could be used to protect the top portion 18 of fin - shaped structures 14 during the etching process . next , as shown in fig4 , the dielectric layer 28 is removed completely , and a dielectric layer 30 composed of silicon oxide preferably through flowable chemical vapor deposition ( fcvd ) process is formed on the fin - shaped structures 14 , and an annealing process is conducted to drive the dopants from the doped layer 24 into the bottom portion 20 of fin - shaped structures 14 and / or substrate 12 to form an anti - punch - through ( apt ) layer for preventing current leakage . it should be noted that since the doped layer 24 composed of either bsg or psg are covered on the fin - shaped structures 14 depending on the type of transistor being fabricated , the dopants being driven into the bottom portion 20 through annealing process also differ from the material of doped layer 24 being used and the type of transistor being fabricated . for instance , if a nmos transistor were to be fabricated and the doped layer 24 on the fin - shaped structures 14 is composed of bsg , p - type dopants such as boron are preferably driven into the bottom portion 20 and / or substrate 12 through annealing process , whereas if a pmos transistor were to be fabricated and the doped layer 24 on the fin - shaped structures 14 is composed of psg , n - type dopants such as phosphorus are driven into the bottom portion 20 and / or substrate 12 through annealing process . next , etching process and / or chemical mechanical polishing ( cmp ) process could be conducted to remove part of the dielectric layer 30 for forming a shallow trench isolation ( sti ). transistor elements including gate structure and source / drain regions could also be formed thereafter depending on the demand of product , and the details of which are not explained herein for the sake of brevity . it should be noted that the aforementioned annealing process not only drives dopants from the doped layer 24 into the bottom portion 20 of fin - shaped structures 14 and / or substrate 12 , it also solidifies the originally flowable and viscous dielectric layer 30 formed through fcvd process into a much more solid and concrete structure , removes part of impurities such as nitrogen and hydrogen from the dielectric layer 30 , and repairs layer defect thereby increasing isolation effectiveness . it should be noted that instead of performing annealing process to drive dopants from the doped layer 24 into bottom portion 20 and / or substrate 12 after depositing the dielectric layer 30 , it would also be desirable to perform annealing process before the formation of dielectric layer 30 , such as after removing liner 26 and doped layer 24 not protected by the dielectric layer 28 and before removing the dielectric layer 28 . or , it would be desirable to perform annealing process after removing the dielectric layer 28 and before forming the dielectric layer 30 , remove the doped layer 24 completely after the annealing process , and then forming the dielectric layer 30 on the fin - shaped structures 14 , which is also within the scope of the present invention . referring to fig4 , which further discloses a semiconductor device structure according to first embodiment of the present invention . as shown in fig4 , the semiconductor device includes a substrate 12 , at least a fin - shaped structure 14 disposed on the substrate 12 , a liner 22 disposed on top portion 18 and bottom portion of the fin - shaped structure 14 , a doped layer 24 around the bottom portion 20 and another liner 26 disposed on the doped layer 24 . in this embodiment , the liner 22 is preferably composed of silicon oxide , the doped layer 24 could be composed of bsg or psg , and the liner 26 is composed of silicon nitride . referring to fig5 - 10 , fig5 - 10 illustrate a method for fabricating cmos transistor device according to a second embodiment of the present invention . as shown in fig5 , a substrate 32 , such as a silicon substrate or soi substrate is provided , and a pmos region 34 and a nmos region 36 are defined on the substrate 32 . at least a fin - shaped structure 38 is formed on the pmos region 34 , at least a fin - shaped structure 40 is formed on the nmos region 36 , and a hard mask 42 is formed on each of the fin - shaped structures 38 and 40 , in which each of the fin - shaped structures 38 and 40 includes a top portion 44 and a bottom portion 46 . despite two fin - shaped structures 38 are formed on pmos region 34 and two fin - shaped structures 40 are formed on nmos region 36 in this embodiment , the quantity of the fin - shaped structures 38 and 40 could be adjusted according to the demand of the product . next , a liner 48 could be formed selectively on the surface of the fin - shaped structures 38 and 40 through issg process , in which the liner 48 is preferably composed of silicon oxide and in addition to covering the top portion 44 and bottom portion 46 of the fin - shaped structures 38 and 40 , the liner 48 also covers the surface of the substrate 32 . next , a doped layer 50 and another liner 52 are sequentially formed on the liner 48 and covering the entire fin - shaped structures 38 and 40 . in this embodiment , the liner 52 is preferably composed of silicon nitride and the doped layer 50 is composed of material containing p - type dopants such as bsg . next , as shown in fig6 , a patterned resist ( not shown ) is disposed on the fin - shaped structures 40 of nmos region 36 , and an etching process is conducted by using the patterned resist as mask to remove the liner 52 and doped layer 50 from pmos region 34 for exposing the liner 48 and hard mask 42 on pmos region 34 . after stripping the patterned resist , another doped layer 54 is formed on the exposed liner 48 and hard mask 42 of pmos region 34 and the liner 52 on nmos region 36 , in which the doped layer 54 is preferably composed of material containing n - type dopants such as psg . next , as shown in fig7 , another patterned resist ( not shown ) is formed on the doped layer 54 of pmos region 34 , and an etching process is conducted by using the patterned resist as mask to remove the doped layer 54 from nmos region 36 for exposing the liner 52 again . after stripping the patterned resist from pmos region 34 , another liner 56 is deposited on both pmos region 34 and nmos region 36 , such as on the doped layer 54 of pmos region 34 and liner 52 of nmos region 36 . next , as shown in fig8 , a passivation layer , such as a dielectric layer 58 is formed on the liner 56 of both pmos region 34 and nmos region 36 , and an etching back process is conducted to remove part of the dielectric layer 58 so that the top surface of the remaining dielectric layer 58 is between the top portion 44 and bottom portion 46 of fin - shaped structures 38 and 40 . in this embodiment , the dielectric layer 58 is preferably an organic dielectric layer ( odl ), but not limited thereto . next , as shown in fig9 , another etching process is conducted by using the dielectric layer 58 as mask to remove the liner 56 , doped layer 54 , liner 52 , and doped layer 50 not protected by the dielectric layer 58 , such as the liners 56 and 52 and doped layers 54 and 50 around the top portions 44 of fin - shaped structures 38 and 40 . this exposes the top portions 44 of fin - shaped structures 38 and 40 and the hard masks 42 . next , as shown in fig1 , after removing the dielectric layer 58 completely , a dielectric layer 60 composed of silicon oxide preferably through fcvd process is formed on the fin - shaped structures 38 and 40 , and an annealing process is conducted to drive dopants from the doped layers 54 and 50 into the bottom portion 46 of fin - shaped structures 38 and 40 and / or substrate 32 . specifically , phosphorus ions from the doped layer 54 composed of psg on pmos region 34 are driven into the bottom portions 46 of fin - shaped structures 38 , and boron ions from the doped layer 50 composed of bsg on nmos region 36 are driven into the bottom portions 46 of fin - shaped structures 40 . this forms an anti - punch - through ( apt ) layer on each transistor region to prevent current leakage . next , etching process and / or chemical mechanical polishing ( cmp ) process could be conducted to remove part of the dielectric layer 60 for forming a shallow trench isolation ( sti ), and transistor elements including gate structure and source / drain regions could also be formed thereafter depending on the demand of product , and the details of which are not explained herein for the sake of brevity . similarly , the aforementioned annealing process not only drives dopants from the doped layers 54 and 50 into the bottom portions 46 of fin - shaped structures 38 and 40 and / or substrate 32 , it also solidifies the originally flowable and viscous dielectric layer 60 formed through fcvd process into a much more solid and concrete structure , removes part of impurities such as nitrogen and hydrogen from the dielectric layer 60 , and repairs layer defect thereby increasing isolation effectiveness . also , similar to the aforementioned embodiment , instead of performing annealing process to drive dopants into the substrate after depositing the dielectric layer 60 , it would also be desirable to perform annealing process before the formation of dielectric layer 60 , such as before or after removing the dielectric layer 58 . the doped layers 54 and 50 could then be removed completely after the annealing process , and the dielectric layer 60 is covered directly on the fin - shaped structures 38 and 40 , which is also within the scope of the present invention . overall , the present invention discloses an approach of applying solid - state doping ( ssd ) technique on a finfet device , which preferably forms a doped layer and liner on bottom portion of fin - shaped structures and then performs an annealing process to drive dopants from the doped layer into the bottom portion of the fin - shaped structures and / or substrate to form an anti - punch - through ( apt ) layer for resolving current leakage issue of the device . in this embodiment , the material of the doped layer could be adjusted depending on the type of transistor being fabricated . for instance , if nmos transistor were to be fabricated , the doped layer is preferably composed of bsg whereas if pmos transistor were to be fabricated , the doped layer is preferably composed of psg . those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention . accordingly , the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims . | 7 |
referring to fig3 , a schematic block diagram of an image scanner according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown . the image scanner 300 in fig3 comprises an image sensing module 301 and a control circuit 302 . the image sensing module 301 comprises a row of image sensors 3011 – 301 n and three leds as light sources . the terms “ led lr ”, “ led lg ” and “ led lb ” indicate red led , green led and blue led , respectively . the present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the fig3 and table 1 . in this embodiment , the red , green and blue colors are referred as first , second and third colors , respectively . during scanning operation on the scan line l 1 , under control of the control circuit 302 , the red led lr and the green led lg simultaneously illuminate , and thus the first output image generated from the image sensors 3011 – 301 n includes both the red and green images of the scan line l 1 . successively , the green led lg and the blue led lb are controlled to simultaneously illuminate , and thus the second output image generated from the image sensors 3011 – 301 n includes both the green and blue images of the scan line l 1 . afterward , the red led lr and the blue led lb are controlled to simultaneously illuminate , and thus the third output image generated from the image sensors 3011 – 301 n includes both the red and blue images of the scan line l 1 . meanwhile , the scanning operation on the scan line l 1 is implemented . then , under control of the control circuit 302 , the red , green and blue images of the scan line l 1 are obtained from the first output image , the second output image and the third output image according to the following computing equations . from the above equations , it is found that the red , green and blue images of the scan lines can be obtained from the first output image , the second output image and the third output image according to simple arithmetic computations . it is appreciated that the computing operations on the red , green and blue image data of the scan lines can be performed in a computer electrically connected to the image scanner . since the scanning method of the present invention is operated by simultaneously turning on two leds as the light sources of the image sensors , the brightness of light doubles when compared with the conventional cis modules described in fig1 and 2 . as such , the exposure time for each scan line is shortened and thus the scanning speed is increased . by the way , since the brightness of the light source is increased , the signal - to - noise ratio of the image signal is enhanced . while the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments , it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiment . on the contrary , it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures . | 7 |
fig1 illustrates an embodiment 201 of the coverage element 200 of the configurable supportive protection system 100 according to the present invention . the coverage element 200 is positioned about a patient body and covers the torso . the coverage element 200 includes an inside surface 205 and an outside surface 206 and may be constructed from a single continuous piece of material or portions of material that are connected such as by sewing . more specifically , the coverage element 200 includes a back component 220 connected to a front component 230 . the front component 230 further includes a left side component 232 , a right side component 234 and , as shown in this embodiment , two sleeve components 236 . the coverage element 200 is made of cotton , but any material is contemplated such as nylon , polyester , spandex , lycra ®, paper , plastic , fleece , wool , or any combination thereof . the coverage element 200 includes a seam opening element 210 to allow access to the torso of a patient as well as to allow access to the sizeable support element 300 shown in fig3 through fig5 . the seam opening element 210 further includes one or more fastening components 212 to facilitate closure of the seam opening element 210 . as shown , fastening components 212 is velcro ®, but any fastening component is contemplated such as snaps , buttons , strings , zippers , tape or any combination thereof . as shown , the fastening components 212 are positioned off - center , more specifically left - center , along the front component 230 of the coverage element 200 which is approximate to the position of the patient &# 39 ; s heart . fig2 illustrates another embodiment 202 of a coverage element 201 . as shown , the left side component 232 includes an overlap component 233 , although it is contemplated that the right side component 234 may include the overlap component 233 . the overlap component 233 allows the coverage element 201 to accommodate various sized and / or shaped torsos . the overlap component 233 may extend beyond the front component 230 including right side component 234 to support and protect larger patients or may fold to the inside surface 205 or outside surface 206 of the coverage element 201 to support and protect smaller patients . in other embodiments , the back component 220 may include an expandable ridge element as shown by 240 to accommodate various sized and / or shaped torsos . in the preferred embodiment , the configurable supportive protection system 100 is hip - length , but it is also contemplated that the configurable supportive protection system 100 may be knee - length , calf - length , or ankle - length . fig3 illustrates an embodiment 301 sizeable support element 300 of the configurable supportive protection system 100 according to the present invention . the sizeable support element 300 is positioned about a patient body and covers the thorax including the breasts . the sizeable support element 300 includes an inside face 305 and an outside face 306 and may be constructed from a single continuous piece of material or portions of material that are connected such as by sewing . as shown in fig3 , the sizeable support element 300 includes a back portion 320 connected to a front portion 330 . in certain embodiments , the sizeable support element includes only a front portion ( see fig5 ). the front portion 330 further includes a left side portion 332 and a right side portion 334 . the left side portion 332 and the right side portion 334 of the sizeable support element 300 may be of any shape and / or size , for example , to accommodate breasts of varying configuration such as where one breast is smaller than the other . the sizeable support element 300 is made of a flexible material such as lycra ®, but any material is contemplated such as nylon , polyester , spandex , paper , plastic , fleece , wool , or any combination thereof . the sizeable support element 300 includes a joint opening element 310 to allow access to the chest , particularly the breasts . the joint opening element 310 may further include one or more securing components 312 to facilitate opening and closing of the sizeable support element 300 . as shown , securing components 312 is velcro ®, but any securing component is contemplated such as snaps , buttons , strings , zippers , tape or any combination thereof . as shown , the securing components 312 are positioned in - center along the front portion 330 , but it is contemplated the securing components 312 can be off - center such as left - center , along the front portion 300 of the sizeable support element 300 . in certain embodiments , the sizeable support element 300 further includes a band element 340 for additional support as shown in fig3 and fig4 . it is also contemplated that an embodiment 302 of the sizeable support element 300 as shown in fig4 may further include a padding element 400 for additional support , protection and cushion . the padding element 400 may be additional material but is shown to include pocket element 410 into which a padding element ( not shown ) such as pads , tissue , fluff or cups are inserted . more specifically , the left side portion 332 and right side portion 334 include a first pocket element 413 and a second pocket element 415 respectively . in certain embodiments such as the embodiment 303 shown in fig5 , the sizeable support element 300 includes only a front portion 330 as shown in fig5 . in embodiments where the sizeable support element 302 only includes a front portion 330 , the left side portion 332 terminates at a left lateral side 333 and the right side portion 334 terminates at a right lateral side 335 . in the embodiment shown in fig5 , the sizeable support element 302 is integrated with the coverage element 200 via attaching components 380 positioned on the lateral sides 333 , 335 . in one embodiment , the attaching components 380 are such that the sizeable support element 302 is stitch sewn into the coverage element 200 ( see fig7 ). as mentioned above , the left side portion 332 and the right side portion 334 of the sizeable support element 300 may be of any shape and / or size , for example , to accommodate breasts of varying configuration such as where one breast is smaller than the other . the coverage element 300 and sizable support element 200 may be unified in any number of ways . as shown by the embodiment 101 of the configurable supportive protection system 100 in fig6 , the coverage element 200 and sizeable support element 300 are integrated , or fixedly attached , via attaching component 382 such as snaps . it is contemplated that the attaching component 382 may be positioned anywhere such that the outside face 306 of the sizable support element 300 substantially abuts the inside surface 205 of the coverage element 200 . in another embodiment the sizeable support element 300 is separate from the coverage element 200 such that a patient first puts on the sizeable support element 300 and then puts on the coverage element 200 . it is also contemplated that sizeable support element 300 may be releasably attached to the coverage element 200 , for example at the shoulder portion , so that the coverage element 200 and sizeable support element 300 stay connected during a medical procedure . fig7 shows another embodiment 102 of the configurable supportive protection system 100 comprising the coverage element 200 and sizable support element 300 according to the present invention . in this embodiment 102 , the sizeable support element 200 includes a front portion 330 as described in reference to fig5 above . the sizeable support element 300 is integrated with the coverage element 200 via stitch sewn attaching components 380 positioned on the lateral sides 333 , 335 . it will be understood that the embodiments of the present invention which have been described are illustrative of some of the applications of the principles of the present invention . numerous modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention . | 0 |
the microorganisms involved in the sulfur cycle in nature can be divided into two major nutritional categories , heterotrophs and autotrophs . autotrophic microorganisms are those which require only carbon dioxide as a source of carbon . heterotrophic microorganisms are capable of reducing sulfate and incorporating the reduced sulfur into cellular material . this process is termed assimilatory sulfate reduction . a few microorganisms utilize sulfate as a terminal electron acceptor under anaerobic conditions with reduction of sulfate to sulfide . the sulfide thus produced is for the most part not assimilated and accumulates external to the cells . this process is termed dissimilatory sulfate reduction and these organisms are collectively known as the sulfate reducing bacteria . sulfate reducing bacteria belong to the genera desulfovibrio , desulfotomaculum , desulfuromonas , desulfomonas , desulfococcus , desulfobacter , desulfobulbus , desulfosarcina and desulfonema . the sulfate reducing bacteria are strict anaerobes . mere exclusion of oxygen from culturing media is insufficient to promote growth . in fact redox - poising agents are required to maintain the redox potential in the range of - 150 to - 200 millivolts ( mv ). the sulfate reducing bacteria possess electron - transporting co - factors which are unstable at more positive redox potentials . these microorganisms are nutritionally limited to certain types of direct carbon and energy sources such as ethanol , lactate , pyruvate and malate . in accordance with the present invention , such direct carbon and energy sources are the end products of the anaerobic fermentation of the fermentable substrate by fermentive bacteria . it is well known that when so 2 reacts with water , a dynamic equilibrium is established between so 2 , sulfite ion ( so 3 - 2 ) and bisulfite ion ( hso 3 - ) as shown in the equation below : ## str1 ## the relative proportion of the various species in solution is dependent predominantly on ph . sulfate reducing bacteria can utilize sulfite as well as sulfate as a terminal electron acceptor to support growth . for example , cultivated desulfovibrio with sulfite and sulfate as terminal electron acceptors may use lactate as an electron donor and carbon source . the yields of biomass per mole of electron acceptor reduced are greater for sulfite ( 9 . 2g / mole ) than for sulfate ( 6 . 3 g / mole ). the greater yield on sulfite has been attributed to the fact that no atp is expended in its activation unlike sulfate . ( atp is adenosine triphosphate , the principle carrier of chemical energy in biological systems .) these observations suggest that sulfite may be the better terminal electron acceptor for desulfovibrio in terms of energy metabolism . the invention will first be described with respect to a maintenance medium comprising glucose as the fermentable substrate . desulfovibrio desulfuricans ( atcc 13541 ) was obtained from the american type culture collection , rockville , md ., and stock cultures were grown aseptically in complex glucose maintenance medium ( table 1 ) at 30 ° c . table 1______________________________________complex glucose maintenance medium component g / l______________________________________ na . sub . 2 hpo . sub . 4 1 . 2 kh . sub . 2 po . sub . 4 1 . 8 peptone 5 . 0 beef extract 3 . 0 yeast extract 0 . 2 mgso . sub . 4 1 . 5 na . sub . 2 so . sub . 4 1 . 5 fe ( nh ). sub . 4 ( so ). sub . 4 0 . 1 glucose 5 . 0______________________________________ sulfate was the terminal electron acceptor and ammonium ion the source of reduced nitrogen . this medium was recommended by the atcc although sulfate reducing bacteria for the most part cannot use glucose as a carbon and energy source . the actual carbon and energy source for d . desulfuricans in stock cultures was probably derived from the yeast extract , peptone , and beef extract . a working culture for the reduction of so 2 to h 2 s was prepared as follows . a fermentation vessel was filled with complex glucose medium ( table 1 ), inoculated with desulfovibrio desulfuricans and grown under non - aseptic conditions at 30 ° c . and a ph of 7 . 0 for 24 hours . cells were then harvested by centrifugation at 4900 × g for 10 minutes at 30 ° c . the supernatant was discarded and the cells were resuspended in a glucose minimal medium described in tables 2 and 3 with sulfate as the terminal electron acceptor . table 2______________________________________minimal glocuse maintenance mediumcomponent g / l______________________________________na . sub . 2 hpo . sub . 4 1 . 2kh . sub . 2 po . sub . 4 1 . 8na . sub . 2 so . sub . 4 1 . 5mgcl . sub . 2 . 6h . sub . 2 o 2 . 9glucose 5 . 0balch vitamin solution 2 . 0 mls ( see table 3 ) ______________________________________ table 3______________________________________balch vitamin solutioncomponent mg / l______________________________________biotin 2 . 0folic acid 2 . 0pyridoxine hydrochloride 10 . 0thiamine hydrochloride 5 . 0riboflavin 5 . 0nicotinic acid 5 . 0dl - calcium pantothenate 5 . 0vitamin b . sub . 12 0 . 1p - aminobenzoic acid 5 . 0lipoic acid 5 . 0______________________________________ the resuspended cells were then transferred back to the fermenter and grown in this medium for another 24 hours to acclimate the cells to the minimal medium prior to the introduction of so 2 . at the end of this incubation , cells were once again harvested by the method described above at 30 ° c ., then resuspended in the same minimal medium without sulfate and transferred back to the fermenter . at this point , a microscopic examination of the culture showed a collection of various gram negative and gram positive organisms which were very motile . approximately 50 % of the microorganisms in the culture were crescent shaped cells typical of desulfovibrio . when attempts were made to culture d . desulfuricans in a minimal medium ( tables 2 and 3 ) which utilized glucose as the sole source of carbon and energy under aseptic conditions , very little growth was observed . however , under non - aseptic conditions , in which populations of mixed heterotrophs developed in the cultures , vigorous growth of d . desulfuricans was observed . working cultures containing greater than 5 × 10 8 cells / ml were determined by microscopic counts to be approximately 50 % desulfovibrio . this was a surprising and unexpected result . there are probably two reasons for the observed stimulation in the growth of the desulfovibrio by the mixed heterotrophs . first , as noted above , sulfate reducing bacteria do not use carbohydrates , such as glucose , as a source of carbon and energy but are restricted to compounds such as ethanol , acetate , lactate and pyruvate . these are recognized as end products of anaerobic carbohydrate metabolism by fermentive bacteria . the fact that d . desulfuricans was observed to grow well in mixed culture in a medium containing only glucose as a carbon and energy source indicates beneficial cross - feeding in the culture . apparently , the mixed heterotrophs in the culture utilized glucose and produced pyruvate , lactate , or other end products . these fermentive end products then served as carbon and energy sources for d . desulfuricans . lactate could not be detected in the medium from working cultures . however , other end products may have predominated or lactate may have been utilized as fast as it was produced . secondly , pure cultures of d . desulfuricans require redox - poising agents to maintain strict anaerobic conditions in the culture medium . mere exclusion of oxygen is not sufficient . in all experiments conducted in the work described here , no redox - poising agents were used . apparently the mixed heterotrophs in the culture scavenged all the available oxidants and thus kept the redox potential sufficiently negative to favor the growth of the desulfovibrio . the contribution of the heterotrophs in these cultures to the growth of d . desulfuricans was further evidence by efforts to do plate counts for d . desulfuricans on complex glucose medium agar . in all cases except one , no growth of d . desulfuricans was seen on any of the plates as evidenced by the absence of black colonies indicative of sulfate reducing bacteria . colonies of sulfate reducing bacteria appear black in the presence of iron due to the precipitation of sulfide as iron sulfide . in isolated colonies , the benefits of cross - feeding between d . desulfuricans and mixed heterotrophs and , to some extent , oxygen scavenging by heterotrophs would be lost . to illustrate the present invention , a bench scale operation will be described using a 2 . 6 liter reactor vessel . the vessel was loaded with a working culture of d . desulfuricans and mixed heterotrophs prepared as described above . a synthetic gas mixture ( 0 . 99 % so 2 , 4 % co 2 and the balance n 2 ) was fed to the culture through a sparger at a molar flow rate of 0 . 78 mmoles so 2 / hr . nitrogen at 270 mliters / min was also fed to the culture to strip h 2 s . with this flow rate , so 2 limiting conditions were satisfied . that is , the so 2 feed rate was not in excess of the maximum specific activity of the biomass for so 2 reduction . sulfate was undetectable in the culture medium . the complete removal of the so 2 from the feed gas was evidenced by the lack of so 2 in the exit gases . also , as so 2 was removed , the total biomass protein concentration and the d . desulfuricans and total heterotrophs counts increased . analysis of the off - gas from the reactor showed a steady concentration of h 2 s of around 800 ppm . no sulfide or elemental sulfur accumulated in the culture medium . the following table 4 gives the results of three runs using gas chromatograph analysis with a detection limit of 50 ppm . therefore , the h 2 s analyses may be under valued and the actual h 2 s / so 2 ratio may be close to 1 . 0 . in other words , all the so 2 was converted to h 2 s . table 4______________________________________sulfur balance test 1 test 2 test 3______________________________________mmoles so . sub . 2 consumed 69 . 0 90 . 9 61 . 6mmoles h . sub . 2 s produced 63 . 7 86 . 2 60 . 4ratio h . sub . 2 s / so . sub . 2 0 . 92 0 . 95 0 . 98______________________________________ the glucose concentration in the culture decreased with time indicating that the culture was actively utilizing glucose . glucose addition ( 10 g ) was required about every 24 hrs . alkali was added as needed to maintain the ph of the culture medium at about 7 . 0 . in the tests , alkali addition was required for approximately 10 hours after each glucose addition . typically , 148 milliequivalents of hydroxide were used for every 10 grams of glucose required . the average ratio of moles of glucose consumed to the moles of so 2 reduced is about 3 . 4 . the average ratio of grams of biomass protein to moles so 2 reduced is about 11 . 4 grams / mole . the so 2 feed rate in tests 1 - 3 was always less than the maximum specific activity of the biomass for so 2 reduction and sulfite was undetected in the culture medium . to determine the maximum feed rate , the so 2 feed to working cultures developed as described above was increased to the point where sulfite began to accumulate in the liquid phase and further increases resulted in a disproportionate increase in the outlet h 2 s concentration . still further increases in the so 2 flow rate resulted in decreases in outlet h 2 s concentration and a large build - up of sulfite . on the basis of these upset conditions , it was determined that the maximum specific activity of d . desulfuricans for so 2 reduction was 1 . 69 mmoles so 2 / hour - 10 11 cells . an alternative form of the present invention involves the use of a pretreated sewage sludge as the substrate which is fermentable by the facultatively anaerobic heterotrophs . as indicated , this fermentation produces the products which act as the carbon and energy source for the sulfate reducing bacteria . although initial experiments indicated that a yeast extract would support sulfate reduction , raw sewage sludge did not . evidently d . desulfuricans and the mixed heterotroph could not utilize the predominantly insoluble carbon and energy sources of the raw sewage sludge . these observations led to pretreatment of the sewage sludge to facilitate solubilization of the sludge biosolids . 100 g of wet - packed sludge was suspended in 1 liter of the following medium : ______________________________________na . sub . 2 hpo . sub . 4 8 . 5 mmkh . sub . 2 po . sub . 4 13 . 2 mmmgcl . sub . 2 7 . 4 mmnh . sub . 4 cl 3 . 7 mmfecl . sub . 3 0 . 25 mmbalch vitamin solution 2 . 0 ml / l______________________________________ the ph was then adjusted to 12 . 0 with 10n naoh and the suspension autoclaved at 121 ° c . for 30 min . after cooling the ph was readjusted to 7 . 0 with 6n h 3 po 4 . table 5 shows the mixed liquor suspended solids ( mlss ) and soluble chemical oxygen demand ( cod ) and protein concentrations before and after treatment of the sludge suspensions . this is an indication that the heat / alkali pretreatment solubilized a significant fraction of the sludge biosolids . table 5______________________________________effect of heat / alkali treatment before after treatment treatment______________________________________mlss ( mg / l ) 5800 4370soluble cod ( mg / l ) 70 4400soluble protein ( mg / l ) 24 550______________________________________ a continuous so 2 - reducing culture with a feed of the pretreated sewage sludge was then developed . sulfate - reducing biomass from the d . desulfuricans culture growing on yeast extract was harvested by centrifugation at 5000 xg and 25 ° c . the biomass was then resuspended in 1 . 5 l of a filtered preparation of pretreated sewage sludge medium described above in a fermenter . the feed for the fermenter consisted of unfiltered pretreated sewage sludge medium . the feed reservoir was chilled with ice in an insulated container to slow subsequent microbial activity which might reduce the concentration of fermentable substrates in the feed . feed was pumped to the fermenter at a rate of 12 . 0 ml / hr resulting in a dilution rate of 0 . 19d - 1 . on day 59 the volumetric feed rate was reduced to 8 . 0 ml / hr ( 0 . 13 d - 1 ) and remained at this level for the duration of the first experiment . effluent from the fermenter was continuously removed at the culture surface which withdrew mixed liquor from the reactor as the volume increased with feed delivery . the culture was maintained at ph 7 . 0 and 30 ° c . the agitation rate was 200 rpm . the culture received gas feeds of 308 ml / min n 2 to strip h 2 s and 9 . 8 ml / min of 1 . 0 % so 2 , 5 % co 2 , balance n 2 . this corresponds to a molar so 2 feed rate of 0 . 236 mmoles / hr . during start - up of the continuous d . desulfuricans so 2 - reducing culture with pretreated sewage sludge feed , the h 2 s concentration in the reactor outlet gas was about 6000 ppmv after 24 hrs . this h 2 s production was much too high to account for in terms of so 2 reduction alone . over the next 48 hours the h 2 s concentration declined steadily until the concentration was 200 - 250 ppmv where it remained for the duration of the experiment . this extra h 2 s production , over and above that produced by so 2 reduction has been attributed to the metabolism by non - sulfate reducing bacteria heterotrophs of sulfur - containing substrates ( probably s - containing amino acids ) produced during heat / alkali treatment of sewage solids . these soluble substrates were present at very high concentrations during start - up . during the course of the experiment , the culture was very stable with respect to so 2 reduction . no upsets ( as indicated by accumulation of sulfite in the culture medium ) were observed and as shown in table 6 , complete reduction of so 2 to h 2 s was observed during six months of continuous operation . the culture utilized solubilized proteins and other sources of soluble cod as carbon and energy sources to support so 2 reduction . table 6______________________________________sulfur balances in d . desulfuricans continuousso . sub . 2 - reducing reactor operated on feed ofheat / alkali pretreated sewage sludgeso . sub . 2 feed rate h . sub . 2 s produciton rateday ( mmoles / hr ) ( mmoles / hr ) h . sub . 2 s / so2______________________________________21 0 . 205 0 . 204 1 . 0022 0 . 205 0 . 209 1 . 0247 0 . 222 0 . 224 1 . 0165 0 . 222 0 . 219 0 . 9968 0 . 236 0 . 229 0 . 9785 0 . 236 0 . 232 0 . 98______________________________________ as noted above , in so 2 - reducing cultures of d . desulfuricans in which glucose served as the ultimate carbon and energy source , acetic acid and other volatile fatty acids were produced as end products of glucose metabolism by d . desulfuricans and the mixed heterotrophs in the culture . in the cultures described here , very little net production of carboxylic acids (& lt ; 100 mg / l ) was observed when solubilized sewage sludge served as the carbon and energy source . in the second of two experiments of this type , after steady state was achieved , the so 2 feed rate was increased step - wise until the specific activity of d . desulfuricans was exceeded as indicated by accumulation of sulfite in the culture medium . combined with an enumeration of d . desulfuricans this allowed an estimation of the maximum specific activity of the organism for so 2 reduction under those growth conditions . an mpn count ( in triplicate ) of sulfate reducing bacteria in the process culture resulted in a count of 4 . 5 × 10 7 cells / ml . at a so 2 molar feed rate of 0 . 50 mmoles / hr this culture ( 1 . 5 l ) began to accumulate sulfite in the culture medium . therefore the maximum specific activity for so 2 reduction was 0 . 74 mmoles so 2 / hr - 10 11 cells . this compares to 1 . 7 mmoles so 2 / hr - 10 11 cells obtained for so 2 reduction by this organism in mixed culture with glucose as the indirect carbon and energy source . reference will now be made to the drawings which illustrate the biological process described thus far in an overall process for treating flue gas . in fig1 the flue gas 10 is fed to a conventional so 2 removal process 12 such as the previously discussed copper oxide process . the treated flue gas exits the process at 14 and the concentrated so 2 gas stream exits at 16 . in the embodiment of the present invention which includes the use of a claus reactor to convert so 2 and h 2 s to elemental sulfur , two thirds of the concentrated so 2 stream is fed to the bioreactor 18 in which the so 2 is converted to h 2 s as described . the h 2 s exits the bioreactor at 20 and is mixed with the remaining one - third so 2 in line 22 . the two - thirds h 2 s / one - third so 2 mixture is then fed to the claus reactor 24 in which the following reaction occurs : the elemental sulfur exits at 26 . of course , the claus process is a well known process and need not be described further . reference is made to handbook of natural gas engineering , mcgraw - hill , n . y ., 1959 . | 1 |
referring initially to fig1 and 2 , a gun barrel 10 is formed with a breech portion 10a on the opposite end from a muzzle , or fore , portion 10b . the breech portion operates with a chamber member 11 , holding a shell 12 in firing position within the breech , and maintained in position by suitable means , such as ring member 14 and the like . in accordance with the invention , barrel 10 is comprised of an outer , or external , jacket portion 16 , extending the full length l of the barrel ( forward of chamber member 11 ), and thus having a barrel breech portion 16a , of maximum diameter d m , tapering at least through a barrel midportion 16b , to a barrel foreportion 16c , of minimum diameter d m ; the barrel portions 16a and 16c may also be tapered . the barrel jacket portion surrounds a liner layer 18 , metallurgically bonded to the jacket interior surface 16d . the jacket / liner portions are formed from a tubular coextrusion cylinder of concentric material layers carefully selected to include compatible materials , such as nickel , iron and cobalt base superalloys . the liner portion 18 is replaced , along a length l b of the barrel breech portion , with a borelining cylinder 20 ( preferably , length l b is less than one - fourth of the barrel length l ); a small expansion portion 22 ( of perhaps 50 milli - inches length or less ) may be provided between a foreportion 20a of the boreliner and the forelayer 18 rear portion 18a , for accommodation of liner portion 20 expansion . the unbonded boreliner portion 20 also has a breech portion 20b serving to retain the &# 34 ; floating &# 34 ; boreliner sleeve within the jacket breech bore 16e . the boreliner portion 20 can be fabricated of a more expensive high density refractory metal alloy which can withstand the very high breech temperature . the boreliner portion 20 would normally have an average thickness t1 greater than the average thickness t2 of the forebarrel liner portion . referring now to fig3 a - 3d , the barrel 10 is fabricated from a co - extruded barrel tube 24 ( e . g . a co - extruded tube obtained from inco alloys international , inc ., huntington , w . va . 25720 ) with an inco in - 909 iron - based alloy jacket 16 surrounding and metallurgically joined to an inco in - 718 nickel - based alloy liner 18 , with both the inside and outside of the tube being formed within one coextrusion die , to provide a high degree of concentricity of the interface diameter d i to both the liner bore surface 18c and the od of the jacket portion 16 . the co - extruded barrel cylinder may also be formed of other alloy combinations , including : liner layer 18 of one of the aforementioned in - 718 , or one of crmov steel , pyromet 31 or stellite 21 alloys , and the like ; and jacket layer 16 of the aforementioned in - 909 , or one of in - 908 or haynes 242 alloys , and the like , in combinations as selected for providing the desired concentric , bonded layers for achieving a particular end barrel result . the in - 718 liner alloy has sufficiently high chromium content to offer good erosion resistance to hot gun gasses . the in - 909 jacket was selected for its low thermal expansion and good elevated temperature strength . this particular combination of materials was also selected , in part , because of the relatively good compatibility of these two alloys regarding deformation at elevated temperature , facilitating coextrusion , and heat treatment . the raw cylinder outer surface is ( as shown in fig3 b ) now machined to form the breech portion 16a , the midportion 16b , and the desired muzzle portion 16c . a boreliner portion 16e is bored to a depth of slightly more than length l b and with an average diameter of about ( d r + 2t1 ) and the larger - diameter breech end portion 16f is then machined into the sleeve breech portion 16a . the breech boreliner portion 20 was separately formed ( of an alloy material such as ta - 10w , fs - 85 , fs - 752 , wc - 3009 and the like ) and finished , and is now shrunk - fit into the expanded bore portion 16e ( fig3 c ). thereafter , the undersized bore is machined ( fig3 d ) to add any desired rifling lands and grooves 28 and to bring the diameter up to the required caliber . then the bore of the forebarrel liner portion 18 can be plated , as desired , with a chromium or carbo - nitride film , to add corrosion resistance . while presently preferred embodiments of our novel multilayer composite gun barrel are described herein , many variations and modifications will now become apparent to those skilled in the art . it is our intent , therefore , to be limited only by the scope of the appending claims , and not by the specific details and instrumentalities included herein by way of explanation . | 1 |
referring to fig1 and 2 , two identical spinal fixation devices of the present invention , each being generally referred to by the numerals 10 and 11 , respectively , are shown inserted into two vertebrae v adjacent to a disc d of a segment of the human spine . each spinal fixation device 10 and 11 is shown coupled to identical spinal fusion implants 40 and 41 that have been surgically implanted in the disc space between adjacent vertebrae v . in this manner , the spinal fixation devices 10 and 11 stabilize a segment of the spine , prevent the dislodgement of the spinal fusion implant 40 , and remain permanently fixated to the spine once applied . the spinal fixation devices 10 and 11 are identical such that the description of one is equally applicable to the other . thus , the description that follows will be directed to spinal fixation device 10 . referring to fig3 - 4 , the spinal fusion implant 40 such as , but not limited to , the spinal fusion implant described by michelson , u . s . pat . no . 5 , 0165 , 247 issued on may 14 , 1991 , is shown . the spinal fusion implant 40 is cylindrical in shape and has external threads 42 at its outer perimeter for engaging the bone of the vertebrae v adjacent to the disc d . the spinal fusion implant 40 has a trailing end 43 having a depression 44 and a threaded aperture 45 for engaging a portion of the spinal fixation device 10 and also for engaging a portion of an instrument used to insert the spinal fixation device 10 into the vertebrae v . referring to fig5 - 7 , it is appreciated that the spinal fixation devices 10 and 11 of the present invention are not limited in use with a threaded spinal fusion implant 40 and 41 , but may be used with different types of spinal fusion implants . for example , the spinal fixation devices 10 and 11 may be coupled to spinal fusion implants 40 a and 41 a , respectively , each having external ratchetings 42 a instead of external threads 42 as shown in fig5 . alternatively , the spinal fixation devices 10 and 11 may be coupled to spinal fusion implants 40 b and 41 b , respectively , each having a partially cylindrical shape with at least one truncated side 47 as shown in fig6 . as a further alternative , the spinal fixation devices 10 and 11 may be coupled to spinal fusion implants 40 c and 41 c , respectively , each having a knurled external surface 48 as shown in fig7 . it is also appreciated that the spinal fixation devices may be used with a variety of other bone fusion implants without departing from the scope of the present invention . referring to fig8 - 9 , in the preferred embodiment , the spinal fixation device 10 of the present invention comprises a staple member 12 having a substantially planar top member 14 which is of sufficient length to span one intervertebral disc d and to engage , via a plurality of essentially perpendicular extending projections 16 and 17 , the vertebrae v adjacent to that disc d . the top member 14 has a central opening 18 within a concentric , countersunk recess 19 for receiving therethrough a screw or similar coupling means for coupling the spinal fixation device 10 to the spinal fusion implant 40 . the top member 14 has an upper surface 20 having a pair of openings 22 a and 22 b for receiving the posts 88 a and 88 b of a driving instrument 80 which is described in greater detail below in reference to fig1 a and 16b . referring to fig1 , a cross sectional view of the top member 14 is shown . in the preferred embodiment , the top member 14 is generally triangularly shaped and is radiused along curved side 24 and straight side 26 . the curved side 24 of the top member 14 is radiused at its upper edge 25 and at the upper edge 27 of straight side 26 to conform to the external curvature of the vertebrae v . in this manner , smooth surfaces are created at the upper edges 25 and 27 of the top member 14 that are contoured to the shape of the external curvature of the vertebrae v when the staple member 12 is in place . the smooth contoured surface of the upper edges 25 and 27 of the top member 14 prevent aortic erosions and perforations of the vessels proximate the vertebral column such as the vena cava and the iliac vessels which might otherwise result from friction . in the preferred embodiment of the spinal fixation device 10 , the top member 14 has a width ranging from 6 . 0 mm to 28 . 0 mm , with 10 . 0 mm being the preferred width , and having a thickness in the range of 2 . 0 mm to 4 . 0 mm , with 3 . 0 mm being the preferred thickness . the staple member 12 is made of material appropriate for human surgical implantation including all surgically appropriate metals such as but not limited to , titanium , titanium alloy , chrome molybidium alloys , stainless steel ; or non - metallic materials including permanent or resorbable substances or composites , carbon fiber materials , resins , plastics , ceramics or others . further , the staple member 12 of the present invention may be treated with , or even composed of , materials known to participate in or promote in the fusion process or bone growth . the spinal fixation device 10 may be coated with materials to promote bone fusion and thus promote the incorporation and ultimate entombment of the spinal fixation device 10 into the bone fusion mass . the use of a bone fusion promoting material such as , but not limited to hydroxyapatite , hydroxyapatite tricalcium phosphate or bone morphogenic protein , results in a speedier vertebra v to vertebra v fusion as bone may grow along the coated spinal fixation device 10 bridging the two vertebrae v so that the spinal fixation device 10 acts as a trellis and supplies essential chemical elements to facilitate the bone fusion process . referring again to fig9 , the projections 16 and 17 are positioned at opposite ends of the top member 14 and depend downwardly and extend perpendicularly from the bottom surface 30 of the top member 14 . the projections 16 and 17 each terminate in a distal end 32 that is pointed and sharpened to facilitate the insertion of the projections 16 and 17 into the vertebrae v . the staple member 12 is most effective when the interprojection distance i between projections 16 and 17 is at least 4 . 0 mm and preferably 6 . 0 mm greater than the diameter of the particular spinal fusion implant 40 for which the spinal fixation device 10 is being used so that at least 2 . 0 mm and preferably 3 . 0 mm of bone from the vertebrae v will be present between the spinal fusion implant 40 and each of the projections 16 and 17 . typically , intervertebral spinal fusion implants have a diameter that ranges from 12 . 0 mm to 28 . 0 mm , therefore , the interprojection distance i typically will range from 18 . 0 mm to 34 . 0 mm for most applications . in the preferred embodiment , the projections 16 and 17 comprise a series of segmented and ratcheted portions 34 . the segmented and ratcheted portions 34 provide for a “ one way ” insertion of the staple member 12 to prevent the backing - out of the projections 16 and 17 once they are inserted into the bone of the vertebrae v . in the preferred embodiment , each segmented and ratcheted portion 34 of the projections 16 and 17 is conical in shape and the diameter of each segmented and ratcheted portion 34 increases in the direction from the distal end 32 toward the top member 14 so that the projections 16 and 17 resemble a stack of cones . the segmented and ratcheted portions 34 are spaced approximately 2 . 0 mm to 4 . 0 mm apart , with 3 . 0 mm being the preferred distance between each segmented and ratcheted portion 34 . referring to fig1 - 12 , in the preferred embodiment of the spinal fixation device 10 , in order to further facilitate the insertion of the projections 16 and 17 into the vertebrae v , the distal end 32 of each projection 16 has an eccentric , incline - planed inner surface 36 as shown in fig1 . the eccentric , incline - planed inner surface 36 of each of the projections 16 and 17 create a force f which pushes the bone of the vertebrae v toward the spinal fusion implant 40 as the staple member 12 is inserted into each of the vertebrae v as shown in fig1 . referring to fig1 a - 13f , in the preferred embodiment of the spinal fixation device 10 , the projections 16 and 17 are cylindrical in shape having a circular cross section as shown for projection 16 in fig1 a . alternatively , the projection 16 a may have a triangular cross section as shown in fig1 b ; the projection 16 b may have a square cross section as shown in fig1 c ; the projection 16 c may have a rectangular cross section as shown in fig1 d ; the projection 16 d may have a trapezoidal cross section as shown in fig1 e ; or the projection 16 e may have a cross section with a configuration as shown in fig1 f . in the preferred embodiment , the projections 16 and 17 each have a diameter of approximately 2 . 0 mm to 4 . 0 mm , with 3 . 0 mm being the preferred diameter at the widest point . the projection 16 and 17 each have a length ranging from 16 . 0 mm to 28 . 0 mm , with 22 . 0 mm being the preferred length when the spinal fixation device 10 is implanted in the direction of the anterior aspect of the vertebra v to the posterior aspect of the vertebrae v . alternatively , it is appreciated that the projections 16 and 17 each could have a longer length depending on the diameter of the vertebrae v in which the projections 16 and 17 are implanted . referring again to fig9 , the top member 14 of the staple member 12 has a central bar 35 extending from the center of its bottom surface 30 , for interdigitating and mating to an already implanted intervertebral spinal fusion implant 40 . in the preferred embodiment , the central bar 35 has a thickness in the range of 0 . 5 mm to 1 . 5 mm , with 0 . 5 mm being the preferred thickness . referring to fig1 , the central bar 35 is configured so that it complements and engages the depression 44 at the insertion end 43 of the spinal fusion implant 40 . once engaged to the depression 44 , the bar 35 interdigitates with the depression 44 of the spinal fusion implant 40 to lock and prevent the rotation of the spinal fusion implant 40 . referring to fig1 , in the preferred embodiment , the staple member 12 is secured to the spinal fusion implant 40 by a screw 60 having threaded end 61 with a locking thread pattern 62 and screw head 64 . the locking thread pattern 62 has a reduced pitch at the bottom of the threaded end 61 such that the screw 60 is self - locking . however , it is appreciated that the threaded pattern 62 may be any of the means for locking a screw well known by those skilled in the art . referring to fig2 and 8 , the threaded end 61 of the screw 60 passes through the central opening 18 of the top member 14 and the threaded pattern 62 threads into the threaded aperture 45 of the spinal fusion implant 40 . the screw head 64 fits within the countersunk recess 19 of the top member 14 such that the screw head 64 is at or below the plane of the upper surface 20 of the top member 14 . in the preferred embodiment , the central opening 18 has a diameter ranging from 4 . 5 mm to 5 . 5 mm , with 5 . 0 mm being the preferred diameter . the countersunk recess 19 has a diameter in the range of 6 . 0 mm to 8 . 0 mm with 7 . 0 mm being the preferred diameter . referring to fig1 a , 15 b , and 15 c , an enlarged cross sectional view of three different embodiments of a securing means 65 for locking the screw 60 once it is threaded to the spinal fusion implant 40 are shown . in fig1 a , the securing means 65 comprises a notch 66 in the surface 20 of the top member 14 which is preferably made of metal . once the screw 60 is threaded and securely tightened to the spinal fusion implant 40 , a chisel c is used to bend a portion 67 of the top member 14 into the central opening 18 and against the screw head 64 so as to prevent the outward excursion and any unwanted loosening of the screw 60 . in fig1 b , a second embodiment of the securing means 65 a is shown comprising a central score 66 a concentric with the central opening 18 . a screw 60 a having a slot 61 a in the screw head 64 a is threaded and securely tightened to the spinal fusion implant 40 . an instrument t is partially inserted into slot 61 a after which an impaction force f . sub . 1 is applied to the instrument t to spread apart the screw head 64 a in the direction of the arrows a so that the screw head 64 a becomes deformed from the impaction force f . sub . 1 and fits within the central score 66 a . once the screw head 64 a is in the central score 66 a , the outward excursion of the screw 60 a is prevented by the top lip 68 of the central score 66 a . in fig1 c , a third embodiment of the securing means 65 b is shown comprising a screw 60 b having a screw head 64 b with a slightly flanged portion 69 b near the top and a slot 61 b . the central opening 18 has along its circumference a recess 66 b for receiving the flanged portion 69 b of the screw head 64 b . the securing means 65 b relies on the natural resiliency of the metal screw head 64 b such that when the screw 60 b is being driven by a screw driver , the screw head 64 b flexes in the direction of the arrows b . in this manner , the flanged portion 69 b of the screw head 64 b slides along the interior of the central opening 18 so that the screw head 64 b is below the top lip 68 b of the recess 66 b . once the screw driver is removed from the screw 60 b , the screw head 64 b returns to its natural state in the direction opposite to the arrows b so that the flanged portion 69 b is within the recess 66 b . the outward excursion of the screw 60 is thus prevented by the top lip 68 b which blocks the screw head 64 b by catching the flanged portion 69 b . fig1 a - 18 show the instrumentation used for installing the spinal fixation device 10 . referring to fig1 a , a driving instrument 80 used for inserting the spinal fixation device 10 into the vertebrae v is shown having a hollow tubular shaft 82 which terminates at one end to a bottom flat member 84 and terminates to a top flat member 86 at the other end . the bottom flat member 84 is preferably configured so that it conforms to the shape of the top member 14 of the staple member 12 . the driving instrument 80 has a pair of short posts 88 a and 88 b extending from the bottom flat member 84 . the posts 88 a and 88 b are oriented on the bottom flat member 84 so as to correspond to the position of the openings 22 a and 22 b in the upper surface 20 of the top member 14 of the staple member 12 . each of the posts 88 a and 88 b fit into each of the openings 22 a and 22 b and keep the staple member 12 aligned on the bottom flat member 84 of the driving instrument 80 . it is appreciated that the openings 22 a and 22 b in the top member 14 may be depressions within the surface 20 of the top member 14 or may be holes that pass through the top member 14 . in the preferred embodiment , the openings 22 a and 22 b gave a diameter ranging from 1 . 5 mm to 3 . 5 mm , with 2 . 5 mm being the preferred diameter . referring to fig1 b , an alternative embodiment of the driving instrument 80 ′ which is used for inserting into the vertebrae v the spinal fixation device 210 , described in detail below in reference to fig2 , is shown having a hollow tubular shaft 82 ′ which terminates at one end to a bottom flat member 84 ′ and terminates to a top flat member 86 ′ at the other end . the bottom flat member 84 ′ is rectangular in shape so that it conforms to the shape of the top member 214 of the spinal fixation device 210 . the driving instrument 80 ′ has a pair of short posts 88 ′ a , 88 ′ b , 88 ′ c and 88 ′ d extending from the bottom flat member 84 ′. the posts 88 ′ a - 88 ′ d are oriented on the bottom flat member 84 ′ so as to correspond to the position of the openings 222 a - 222 d of the spinal fixation device 210 . each of the and keep the spinal fixation device 210 aligned on the bottom flat member 84 ′ of the driving instrument 80 ′. referring to fig1 a , an alignment rod 70 comprising a cylindrical shaft 72 having a smooth exterior surface 73 and a threaded end 74 may be threadably attached to the threaded aperture 45 of the spinal fusion implant 40 is shown . the alignment rod 70 fits through the central opening 18 of the spinal fixation device 10 and is used to properly align the projections 16 and 17 on each side of the spinal fusion implant 40 prior to engaging the vertebrae v . further , the alignment rod 70 also serves as a guide post for the drilling template instrument 50 described in greater detail below . referring to fig1 b , as an alternative embodiment of the alignment rod 70 , a splined alignment rod 70 ′ that has a finely splined surface 72 ′ along its longitudinal axis and a threaded end 74 ′ that may be attached to the threaded aperture 45 of the spinal fusion implant is shown . referring to fig1 , a drilling template instrument 50 for creating a pair of insertion holes 53 a and 53 b in each of the vertebrae v for receiving each of the projection 16 and 17 respectively is shown . the drilling template instrument 50 has a template 52 with a central aperture 54 therethrough and guide passages 55 and 56 for guiding a drill bit 51 of a drilling tool . attached to the template 52 is a handle 58 which angles away from the template 52 so as not to obstruct the line of sight of the surgeon and to allow easy access to the template 52 and easy access to the guide holes 55 and 56 for the drill bit 51 . extending from the center of the bottom surface of the template 52 is a central member 59 ( similar in structure and function to the central bar 35 ) for mating to an already implanted intervertebral spinal fusion implant 40 . the central member 59 interdigitates with the depression 42 of the spinal fusion implant 40 so that the template 52 is properly oriented about the spinal fusion implant 409 and the guide holes 55 and 56 are properly oriented with respect to the vertebrae v adjacent to the spinal fusion implant 40 . the alignment rod 70 serves as a guide post for the drill template instrument 50 as it fits through the central aperture 54 of the template 52 and aligns the template 52 with respect to the spinal ; fusion implant 40 and insures that it is coaxial . the central aperture 54 of the drilling template instrument 50 is smooth so that if it is placed over a splined alignment rod 70 ′ the drilling template instrument 50 may be easily rotated about the splined alignment rod 70 ′ into position such that the central member 59 is able to mate and interdigitate with the depression 44 of the spinal fusion implant 40 . referring to fig1 - 24 , the spinal fixation device 10 of the present invention is inserted in the following manner : at least one spinal fusion implant 40 is surgically implanted so that it is substantially within the disc space between two adjacent vertebrae v and engages at least a portion of each of the two adjacent vertebrae v . once the spinal fusion implant 40 is in place , the alignment rod 70 is attached to the threaded aperture 45 of the spinal fusion implant 40 . the alignment rod 70 serves as a guide post for the drilling template instrument 50 as it fits through the central aperture 54 of the template 52 and aligns the template 52 coaxially with respect to the spinal fusion implant 40 . referring to fig2 , once the template 52 is properly aligned and the drilling template instrument 50 is seated so that the central member 59 interdigitates with the spinal fusion implant 40 , the insertion holes 53 a and 53 b are drilled in each of the adjacent vertebrae v with a drilling instrument having a drill bit 51 with a diameter that is substantially smaller than the diameter of each the projections 16 and 17 of the staple member 12 . once the drilling of the insertion holes 53 a and 53 b is completed , the drill template instrument 50 is removed from the spinal fusion implant 40 and from the alignment rod 70 . the alignment rod 70 is left in place attached to the threaded aperture 45 of the spinal fusion implant 40 . referring to fig2 , the staple member 12 is placed onto the driving instrument 80 used for driving and fixing the staple member 12 into the vertebrae v so that the bottom flat member 84 and the posts 88 a and 88 b are aligned with the top member 14 and the depressions 22 a and 22 b of the top member 14 . the alignment rod 70 serves as a guide post for the staple member 12 as it fits through the central opening 18 of the staple member 12 and aligns the staple member 12 coaxially with respect to the spinal fusion implant 40 . referring to fig2 , once the staple member 12 is properly placed onto the bottom flat member 84 of the driving instrument 80 , the staple member 12 and the driving instrument 80 are aligned with respect to the alignment rod 70 so that the alignment rod 70 passes through the central opening 18 of the staple member 12 and is inserted into the central hollow portion 89 of the driving instrument 80 . the staple member 12 and the driving instrument 80 are then lowered along the alignment rod 70 so that the sharp distal end 32 of each of the projections 16 and 17 comes into contact with the external surface of the vertebrae v and is aligned with the previously drilled insertion holes 53 a and 53 b . as shown in fig2 a , it is preferred that the insertion holes 53 a and 53 b be drilled so that when the projections 16 and 17 are inserted into the holes 53 a and 53 b , the incline planed inner surface 36 of each of the projections 16 and 17 contacts the inner wall w of the insertion holes 53 a and 53 b that is closest to the spinal fusion implant 40 . in this manner a compression force f is created as each of the projections 16 and 17 of the staple member 12 is inserted into insertion holes 53 a and 53 b , respectively , compressing the bone of the vertebrae v toward the spinal fusion implant 40 . referring to fig2 , the staple member 12 is then driven into the vertebrae v by applying a high impaction force to the driving instrument 80 with a hammer h or other impacting means against the top flat member 86 of the driving instrument 80 . the staple member 12 is driven into the vertebrae v such that the projections 16 and 17 are moved forward into the insertion holes 53 a and 53 b , respectively , until the bottom surface 30 of the top member 14 of the staple member 12 comes to rest against the surface of the vertebrae v . referring to fig2 - 24 , the driving instrument 80 is lifted away from the alignment rod 70 so that the alignment rod 70 is no longer within the central hollow portion 89 of the driving instrument 80 . the alignment rod 70 is unthreaded from the threaded aperture 45 and is removed from the spinal fusion implant 40 . the staple member 12 is secured to the spinal fusion implant 40 with the locking screw 60 which has a threaded pattern 62 with a reduced pitch . the reduced pitch of the locking screw 60 locks the locking screw 60 to the spinal fusion implant 40 with minimal turning of the locking screw 60 and prevents any unwanted loosening . further , any of the three embodiments of the securing means 65 , 65 a or 65 b described above in reference to fig1 a - 15c may be used to further prevent any unwanted loosening and outward excursion of the screw 60 . referring back to fig1 , once the staple member 12 is driven into the vertebrae v and is secured to the spinal fusion implant 40 , the spinal fusion implant 40 is prevented from rotating along its rotational axis r by its connection to the staple member 12 which is fixated across the disc space between the vertebrae v . the staple member 12 is prevented from backing out from the vertebrae v along the longitudinal axis l by its connection to the spinal fusion implant 40 and by the segmented and ratcheted portions 34 of the projections 16 and 17 . in this manner , the staple member 12 and the spinal fusion implant 40 interact to prevent the dislodgement of each other from the vertebrae v in which they are implanted . thus , the staple member 12 is made safe against dislodgement by attachment to the spinal fusion implant 40 and the stability of the spinal fusion implant 40 is assured as it is also stabilized by the staple member 12 and each works in connection with the other to remove the only remaining degree of freedom that would allow for the disengagement of either . in addition , the incline planed inner surface 36 at the distal end 32 of the projections 16 and 17 forces bone toward the spinal fusion implant 40 along force lines f to further secure the spinal fusion implant 40 and further prevent the dislodgement of the spinal fusion implant 40 . it is appreciated by those skilled in the art that when the bone of the vertebrae v is sufficiently soft , a shorter method ( hereinafter referred to as the “ short method ”) of inserting the spinal fixation device 10 is possible by omitting the steps of drilling the insertion holes 53 a and 53 b prior to inserting the staple member 12 into the vertebrae v . referring to fig2 , in the short method , the splined alignment rod 70 ′ that is finely splined along its longitudinal axis is used instead of the alignment rod 70 . once the splined alignment rod 70 ′ has been attached to the spinal fusion implant 40 , the staple member 12 may be placed over the splined alignment rod 70 ′ so that the splined alignment rod 70 ′ passes through the aperture 18 and into the central aperture 89 of the driving instrument 80 . the central aperture 89 of the driving instrument 80 is correspondingly splined to the splines of the splined alignment rod 70 ′ so that the staple member 12 can be aligned with respect to the spinal implant 40 . the alignment of the staple member 12 and the driving instrument 80 is maintained as the corresponding splines of the central aperture 89 interdigitate with the splines of the splined alignment rod 70 ′ and prevent the rotation of the staple member 12 about the splined alignment rod 70 ′. the prevention of rotation about the splined alignment rod 70 ′ is especially important when the short method is used to insert the spinal fixation device 10 , as no insertion holes 53 a and 53 b have been drilled in the vertebrae v . the staple 12 can be driven directly into the vertebrae v by the application of a high impaction force to the driving instrument 80 as described above and shown in fig2 . once the staple member 12 is driven into the vertebrae v , the steps of the longer method described above are used to secure the spinal fixation device to the spinal fusion implant 40 are the same . the short method of inserting the staple member 12 reduces the amount of time required to insert and secure the spinal fixation device 10 of the present invention and thus reduces the overall duration of the spinal fixation surgical procedure . while the present invention has been described with respect to its preferred embodiment , it is recognized that alternative embodiments of the present invention may be devised without departing from the inventive concept . for example , referring to fig2 , a first alternative embodiment of a spinal fixation device 110 having a staple member 112 with a top member 114 generally in the shape of an elongated oval having two curved sides 124 a and 124 b is shown . in this alternative embodiment , the curved sides 124 a and 124 b have upper edges 125 a and 125 b , respectively , that are radiused to conform to the external curvature of the vertebrae v thereby creating smooth contoured surfaces as described above for the spinal fixation device 10 , the preferred embodiment of the present invention . the top member 114 has openings 122 a and 122 b in the upper surface 120 of the top member 114 and has two projections 116 and 117 depending downwardly from the bottom surface 130 of the top member 114 at opposite ends of the staple member 112 . the projections 116 and 117 are the same as the projections 16 described above for the preferred embodiment . referring to fig2 , a second alternative embodiment of the spinal fixation device 210 having a staple member 212 is shown with a top member 214 that is generally rectangular 5 in shape and has an upper surface 220 with openings 222 a , 222 b , 222 c , and 222 d . the top member 214 has four projections 216 , 217 , 218 , and 219 depending from its bottom surface at each of its corners . the projections 216 - 217 are the same as the projections 16 and 17 described above in the preferred embodiment . the stop member 2145 has four straight sides 228 a , 228 b , 228 c , and 228 d having upper edges 225 a , 225 b , 225 c , and 225 d , respectively , that are radiused to conform to the external curvature of the vertebrae v create a smooth surface as described above for the preferred embodiment . the driving instrument 80 ′ shown in fig1 b is used to insert the spinal fixation device 210 . referring to fig2 , a third alternative embodiment of the spinal fixation device 310 having a staple 312 with a top member 314 that is generally triangular is shown . the top member 314 has two projections 316 and 317 depending from the bottom surface of the top member 314 that engage the vertebrae v . extending from the center of the bottom surface of the top member 314 is a central member 390 which is similar to the central bar 35 of the preferred embodiment of the spinal fixation device 10 in that the central member 390 interdigitates with the depression 44 of the spinal fusion implant 40 . however , the central bar 390 also has an extension arm 392 that extends laterally from the top member 314 to span the diameter of an adjacent spinal fusion implant 41 . the extension arm 392 interdigitates with the depression 44 of the spinal implant 41 . the extension arm 392 has a central aperture 394 for receiving a screw 60 b used to couple the extension arm 392 to the spinal fusion implant 41 . in this manner , a single spinal fixation device 310 is capable of interdigitating with two adjacent spinal fusion implants 40 and 41 to clock and prevent the rotation and any excursion of the spinal fusion implants 40 and 41 . the fixation of two spinal fusion implants 40 and 41 is possible while leaving no protruding metal , such as the top member 314 , on the side of the spine where the vessels are located in close approximation to the vertebrae as is the case with the l 4 and l 5 vertebrae where the vessels are located over the left side of those vertebrae . it is appreciated that any of the securing means 65 - 65 b , described above may be used to lock the screw 60 b to the extension arm 392 . referring to fig2 , a fourth alternative embodiment of the spinal fixation device 410 having a staple member 412 with a top member 414 that is generally triangular in shape is shown in the installed position . the top member 414 is wider and larger than top member 14 as it is used with an implant 440 having a large diameter in the range of 22 . 0 mm to 28 . 0 mm . the top member 414 needs to be wider when used with implant 440 in order to provide a central bar 435 of sufficient length to interdigitate and mate with the depression 444 of the implant 440 in order to prevent its rotation . further , the top member 414 is tapered at portion 416 so as not to cause erosion or pressure against the vessels that may be present in the area of the spine adjacent to the portion 416 of the top member 414 . referring to fig2 - 32 , a fifth alternative embodiment of the spinal fixation device 510 with a staple member 512 having a generally rectangular top member 514 is shown . the staple member 512 is similar in structure to the staple 212 described above except that the top member 514 has multipronged projection blades 516 and 517 depending from its lower surface 530 as shown in fig3 . the multipronged projection blades 516 and 517 have the same function and similar structure as the projections 16 and 17 described above and include segmented and ratcheted portions 534 which are similar in design are function to segmented and ratcheted portions 34 . the multipronged blade projections 516 and 517 offer the added advantage of increasing the strength and stability of the staple member 514 once it is inserted into the bone of the vertebrae v providing a greater area of engagement of the staple member 512 to the vertebrae v . the lower surface 530 has knobs 532 and 534 extending therefrom for engaging and interdigitating with a spinal implant 540 having an insertion end 541 with openings 542 and 544 for receiving knobs 532 and 534 respectively . referring to fig3 and 32 , the spinal fusion implant 540 is shown inserted within the disc space between two adjacent vertebrae v . the spinal implant 540 is generally rectangular in shape . the multiprong blade projections 516 and 517 have a width that is approximately equal or slightly less than the width of the spinal fusion implant 540 . once inserted , the spinal fixation device 510 compresses the bone of the vertebrae v towards the spinal fusion implant 540 as discussed above in reference to fig1 . the spinal fixation device 510 may be secured to the spinal fusion implant 540 with a screw 60 as discussed above . the spinal fixation device 510 having a staple member 512 is the preferred embodiment of the present invention for use with a multi - segmental spinal alignment means 600 described in greater detail below in that the staple 512 provides a more solid anchoring means that can resist greater torsion forces resulting from the application of the multi - segmental spinal alignment means 600 to align the spine . alternatively , for all of the embodiments described above , the spinal fixation device 10 of the present invention could be made of resorbable materials , such as bio - compatible resorbable plastics , that resorb at an appropriate rate such that once the spinal fixation device 10 is no longer needed ( i . e . when spinal fusion is complete ) the body would resorb the spinal fixation device 10 . one such resorbable material is polygalactone , however any other resorbable plastic or other material safely usable within the human body are also within the scope of the present invention . further , the spinal fixation device could be only in part resorbable such that the projections 16 and 17 of the staple member 12 would be non - resorbable and would remain incarcerated in the vertebrae v and sealed off once the resorbable portion of the staple is resorbed by the body . referring to fig3 and 34 , as a further application , the spinal fixation device 510 of the present invention may be used as an anchor for a multi - segmental spinal alignment means 600 , such that a multiplicity of spinal fixation devices may then be interconnected via a cable , rod , bar , or plate , so as to achieve or maintain any desired multi - segment spinal alignment . in the preferred embodiment , the multi - segmental spinal alignment means 600 comprises more than one spinal fixation device 510 of the present invention placed in series along the spine such that each spinal fixation device 510 spans one disc d and engages two adjacent vertebrae v . the spinal fixation device 510 is preferred over the other embodiments of the present invention in that it has a greater area of engagement with the vertebrae v so as to provide a solid anchoring means for the multi - segmental spinal alignment means 600 . however , it is appreciated that other embodiments including but not limited to those described herein may be utilized as anchoring means for the multi - segmental spinal alignment means 600 . when used as an anchor , each spinal fixation device 510 interdigitates with and is connected to a spinal fusion implant 610 having an insertion end 612 , an interior chamber 614 and is inserted in the disc space between the two adjacent vertebrae . the spinal fusion implant 610 has a threaded blind hole 620 for receiving a threaded post 622 therein . the blind hole 620 has a casing that is made of strong surgically , implantable material such as , but not limited to titanium . the casing 624 extends from the insertion end 612 of the spinal fusion implant 610 into the interior central chamber 614 . the insertion end 612 has a rigid construction that is capable of withstanding high torsion forces resulting from the tensioning of the multi - segmental spinal alignment means to align segments of the spine . in the preferred embodiment , the insertion end 612 of the spinal fusion implant has an end portion 626 that closes the insertion end 612 . the end portion is substantially thicker than the rest of the spinal fusion implant 610 and in the preferred embodiment , the end portion 626 has thickness ranging from 1 . 5 mm to 4 . 0 mm , with 2 . 5 mm being the preferred thickness . referring to fig3 , the threaded post 622 has a threaded end 628 with a locking thread pattern that is substantially longer than the locking thread pattern 62 of the screw 60 described above and a head portion 630 having a hole 632 for receiving a rod 634 or a cable therethrough . the head portion 630 has a rounded exterior surface to prevent any damage such as aortic erosion to the vessels in the area adjacent to the spine . in the preferred embodiment the threaded post has a diameter ranging from 3 . 0 mm to 6 . 0 mm , with 4 . 5 mm being the preferred diameter and has a length ranging from 15 . 0 mm to 25 . 0 mm , with 20 . 0 mm being the preferred length . the head portion 630 extends at a height above the top member 514 of the spinal fixation device 510 of approximately 8 . 0 mm to 16 . 0 mm , with 12 . 0 being the height preferred once it is threadably attached to the spinal fusion implant 610 such that it does not significantly protrude from the spinal column into the tissue and vessels adjacent thereto . once the threaded post 622 is attached to the spinal fusion implant 610 , the head portion 630 of each threaded post 622 are connected to one another by the rod 634 having a sufficient diameter to fit through the hole 632 of each head portion 630 . the rod 634 has at least a portion thereof that is threaded so that a plurality of lock nuts 638 may be used to secure the rod 634 to the head portions 630 . the lock nuts 638 may also be used as length adjusting means to adjust the length of the rod 634 between head portions 630 so that segmental portions of the spine may be held closer together or held further aport for the purposes of aligning the spine . it is appreciated that a plurality of multi - segmental spinal alignment means 600 may be placed in series either on one side or on opposite sides of the spine , such that one side of the spine may be extended while the other side may be held stationary or may be compressed in order to achieve proper spinal alignment . the multi - segment spinal alignment may be maintained by keeping the rod tensioned with the lock nuts 638 or by any other means well known by those skilled in the art . it is also appreciated that in place of a rod 634 a cable , a plate or any other means well known by those skilled in the art may be used to interconnect the multi - segmental spinal alignment means . referring to fig3 , a sixth alternative embodiment of the spinal fixation device of the present invention is shown and generally referred to by the numeral 710 . the spinal fixation device 710 comprises a top member 714 that is similar to the top member 14 described above , except that it does not have projections 16 and 17 extending from the bottom surface . like numbers are being used to designate identical features of the top members 14 and 714 . in the top member 714 , instead of having projections 16 and 17 , independent projection members 716 and 717 in the form of screws are used to secure the top member 714 of the spinal fixation device 710 to the vertebrae v of the spine . the projection screw members 716 and 717 each terminate in a sharp distal end 720 and 722 respectively , have a threaded portion 723 , and have screw heads 724 and 726 for engaging a screw driver or similar driving instrument . the top member 714 has a hole 728 on one end and a hole 730 at its other end through which each of the projection screw members 716 and 717 respectively , may pass . the projection screw members 716 and 717 pass through the holes 728 and 730 to engage the vertebrae v . each of the holes 728 and 730 has a concentric counter sunk recess 732 for receiving and seating the screw heads 724 and 726 of the projection screw members 716 and 717 so that the screw heads 724 and 726 are flush or below the top surface 20 of the stop member 714 once inserted into the vertebrae v . as the projection screw members 716 and 717 are threaded , they can be rotationally advanced into the vertebrae instead of by way of an impaction force such that the potential for damage to the vertebrae v is reduced . the threads of the threaded portion 723 follow one another as the projection screw members 716 and 717 are being screwed into the bone such that the integrity of the vertebrae v is preserved . also , as the projection screw members 716 and 717 are independent from the top member 714 , the penetration depth of the spinal fixation device 710 into the bone of the vertebrae v may be easily altered by selecting different sized projection screw members 716 and 717 appropriate for the particular vertebrae being fused . further , it is possible to configure the holes 728 and 730 in the top member 714 such that the projection screw members 716 and 717 may be inserted into the vertebrae v from a number of different angles relative to the top member 714 . adjacent and proximate to each of the holes 728 and 730 are threaded openings 740 and 742 , respectively , for receiving locking screws 744 and 746 respectively . each of the locking screws 744 and 746 have a head portion 750 and a locking thread portion 754 for threadably and lockably engaging the threaded openings 740 and 742 . the locking screws 744 and 746 are attached to the top member 714 after the projection screw members 716 and 717 have been inserted into the vertebrae v . at least a part of the head portion 750 and 752 blocks and preferably makes contact with the screw projections 716 and 717 to prevent any unwanted loosening and outward excursion of the screw projections 716 and 717 . it is appreciated that the projection members 716 and 717 , instead of being threaded screws , may have a number of other configurations such as , but not limited to , the configurations of the projections described above for the various embodiments of the present invention . if the projections members 716 and 717 are ratcheted instead of being threaded , they can be driven into the vertebrae v with a driving instrument and impaction force as described above for the method of the present invention . while the present invention has been described with respect to its preferred embodiment and a number of alternative embodiments , it is recognized that additional variations of the present invention may be devised without departing from the inventive concept and scope of the present invention . | 0 |
fig1 shows a perspective side - view of the essential parts of an embodiment of a heat - generating element in a blown - up representation . the heat - generating element has a positioning frame 2 , made of injection - moulded plastic , whose middle longitudinal axis forms a bisecting plane of the heat - generating element . this element is essentially formed with one side the mirror image of the other , and initially has contact plates 4 provided on each side of the positioning frame 2 , said contact plates holding between them the ptc elements 6 held in the positioning frame 2 . on the exterior side of the contact plates 4 is located a two - layer insulating layer 8 , comprising an exterior insulating foil 10 and an inner ceramic plate 12 , that fits directly against the contact plate 4 . the ceramic plate 12 is a relatively thin aluminium oxide plate that provides very good electric dielectric strength of roughly 28 kv / mm and good thermal conductivity of more than 24 w /( m k ). the plastic foil 10 in this case is formed by a polyamide foil that has good thermal conductivity of roughly 0 . 45 w /( m k ) and dielectric strength of 4 kv . located between the plastic foil 10 and the ceramic plate 12 is a wax layer , with a thickness of a few μm , whose melting point is coordinated with regard to the operating temperature of the heat - generating element , namely in such a way that the wax melts at the operating temperature and becomes distributed between the plastic foil and the ceramic plate 12 , which fit closely together under compressive stress , with the distribution being of such a manner that a levelling film is created that furthers good heat transfer between the two parts 10 , 12 of the insulating layer 8 . the combination of plastic foil 10 and ceramic plate 12 leads to an insulating part 8 that has good electrical characteristics and thermal conductivity characteristics and , particularly with respect to voltages of up to 2 , 000 v , is not subject to flashover , but which simultaneously displays the necessary strength . any stress peaks that can , in particular , be generated by pressure against heat - emitting elements that fit against the heat - generating element , are relieved and homogenized by the insulating foil positioned on the exterior . the wax that is arranged between the two parts 10 , 12 of the insulating layer , as well as , optionally , an adhesive that is also provided there and that connects the two parts 10 , 12 to one another , furthers this relief of stress peaks . accordingly , there is no risk of the relatively brittle ceramic layer breaking , even at higher compressive stresses that hold a layer composition of heat - generating and heat - emitting elements under an initial tension . the insulating layer 8 is preferably glued to the exterior side of the contact plate 4 . this is located roughly centred , below the insulating layer 8 , and is formed with a width less than that of the insulating layer 8 . the respective contact plate 4 projects beyond the insulating layer 8 , however , at the face sides . the width of the contact plate 4 is initially considerably reduced at these ends that project beyond the insulating layer 8 . at the right end as seen in fig1 , the contact plate 4 has an attachment tab 14 , which is narrowed by cutting free some of the width of the contact plate 4 and into which a cut 16 is made . at the opposite end , shown in fig1 at the left , a corresponding narrowed attachment tab 18 with a cut 16 is likewise provided . from the side edge of this attachment tab 18 , a tab 20 , bent out of the level of the contact plate 4 , goes off , forming the basis of a plug connection 22 that projects beyond the positioning frame 2 on the face side . the tab 20 meshes with a slot 24 cut into the positioning frame 2 , with said slot 24 opening towards the face side of the positioning frame 2 . on its face side end regions , the positioning frame 2 furthermore has pegs 26 , that extend in the height direction of the heat - generating element , i . e ., that go off at a right angle from the surface of the positioning frame 2 . during assembly , these pegs 26 are introduced into the cuts 16 . subsequently , the peg 26 is melted to form a thickening of melted material and the contact plate 4 is secured to the positioning frame 2 in this manner . as can be derived in particular from fig1 and 4 , the positioning frame 2 has , in addition to the pegs 26 , additional positioning aids for precise arrangement of the contact plate 4 on the positioning frame 2 . in this way , the positioning frame 2 forms , firstly , face - sided attachment pegs 28 on the face - sided ends of the contact plate 4 , said attachment pegs 28 extending slightly beyond the upper side of the contact plate 4 and being spaced at a distance to one another that roughly corresponds to the length of the contact plate 4 . in this way , the contact plate 4 is positioned lengthwise . secondly , across the width , the positioning frame 2 forms bordering edges 30 that extend along almost the entire length of the contact plate 4 , said bordering edges 30 likewise extending beyond the upper side of the contact plate 4 and being spaced at a distance to one another that is slightly larger than the width of the contact plate 4 . projecting beyond this bordering edge 30 on both sides are bordering tabs 32 with locking protuberances in the interior , by means of which a heat - emitting element that is arranged on the heat - generating element can be fixed in place for assembly purposes . in the heat - generating element , as can be seen in fig3 , opposing surfaces of the ptc elements 6 fit against the interior surfaces of the contact plate 4 , which are fixed in place in a frame opening 34 of the positioning frame 2 . as can be seen in fig1 , six ptc elements 6 are located within each frame opening 34 . two equally sized frame openings 34 are provided , arranged one behind the other along the length . the ptc elements are packed at a distance to the material of the positioning frame 2 by means of an insulating gap 36 . this insulating gap 36 also extends in a direction parallel to the supporting plane , between the interior side of the contact plate 4 and a narrowed interior edge 38 of the positioning frame that surrounds the circumference of the frame opening 34 . accordingly , the current - carrying parts of the heat - generating element , i . e ., the two contact plates 4 and the ptc elements 6 , are spaced at a distance from the material of the positioning frame 2 by means of the insulating gap 38 . in the embodiment shown in fig1 to 4 , this distance is ensured by an insulating spacing medium 40 , which surrounds the front end of the interior edge 38 around the circumference . in the embodiment shown , the insulating spacing medium 40 is formed by a silicone strip that holds the front area of the interior edge 38 and surrounds it around the circumference . it is not absolutely required that the current - carrying parts of the heat - generating element fit directly against the insulating spacing medium 40 . rather , the spacing medium is only intended to prevent the current - carrying parts from coming into direct contact with the plastic material of the positioning frame 2 . the insulating characteristics of the spacing medium 40 are selected in such a way that in any case , it has a better insulating effect than does the plastic material of the positioning frame 2 . the length of the spacing medium 40 across the width is selected in such a way that in any case , it extends to the end of the contact plate 4 corresponding to the width . the spacing medium 40 covers the sides of the interior edge 30 that are open to the top and to the bottom , as well as an edge 42 that is formed by the interior edge 38 and that surrounds the frame opening 34 around the circumference . the spacing medium 40 can accordingly also be understood as the interior insulating jacket coating the edge surrounding the circumference of the frame opening 34 , which prevents both direct contact between the ptc element 6 and the thermoplastic material of the positioning frame 2 and direct contact of the contact plates 4 to the positioning frame 2 , and ensures a minimum distance between the named parts that is to be maintained for the electrical insulation . in addition to electrical insulation of the current - carrying parts of the heat - generating element , the embodiment shown in fig1 to 4 also provides complete encapsulation of these parts . to this end , the insulating layer has an edge section 44 that extends across ( fig3 ) the contact plate 4 on both sides . between this edge section 44 and the interior edge 38 of the positioning frame 2 is located a sealing element 46 , which is positioned in such a manner that it lies against and forms a seal with both the positioning frame 2 and the insulating layer 8 . in the circumferential direction , i . e ., across the width , the encapsulation accordingly has the opposing insulating layers 8 and the arrangement of two sealing elements 46 , which extend essentially at right angles , with the material of the positioning frame 2 provided between them . the encapsulation is selected in such a way that no moisture or dirt can penetrate into the current - carrying parts from outside . the sealing element 46 is formed by a plastic adhesive that fixes the insulating layer 8 in place with respect to the positioning frame 2 , consequently enclosing all parts of the heat - generating element provided within the insulating layer 8 . in this development , it is possible to do without fixing the ptc elements 6 in place to the contact plates 4 with respect to the insulating layer 8 , with a view to positioning during operation of the heat - generating element . nevertheless , for manufacturing reasons , such an attachment may be expedient . elastomers , for example , silicone or polyurethane , have proven suitable for forming the sealing element 46 in the form of an adhesive . as can particularly be derived from fig2 , the sealing element 46 extends along the length of the positioning frame and is provided between the outer edge of the frame opening 34 and the bordering edge 30 . the sealing element fits against the interior edge 38 , which has a reduced thickness . on the exterior side , directly adjacent to the sealing element 46 , a sealing medium bordering edge 48 is provided that is formed by the positioning frame 2 . with a view to the best possible sealing , the sealing element 46 can fit closely against this edge that extends at right angles to the accommodating level for the ptc elements . fig5 and 6 show an alternative embodiment of the heat - generating element according to the invention . components that are the same as those in the already discussed embodiments are identified with the same reference numbers . the embodiment shown in fig5 and 6 is narrower , i . e ., it can be formed with a width that is less than that of the previously discussed embodiment . this is due to the fact that the sealing element 46 lies directly against the spacing medium 40 , as can be seen in the sectional view according to fig6 . each contact plate 4 has a width roughly corresponding to the width of the ptc element . only one ptc element 6 is arranged in each of the frame openings 34 . multiple ptc elements 6 are arranged , one behind the other , along the length of the positioning frame 2 . the insulating layer 8 extends across the width to the outer edge of the positioning frame 2 . the bordering edge 30 serves merely for the arrangement of the sealing element 46 at the side . the sealing layer 8 likewise extends at a distance with respect to the height , to the upper edge of the bordering edge 30 , so that any deviations in aligning the insulating layer 8 regarding the width with respect to the positioning frame 2 can be compensated for without interfering with the capability of the heat - generating element . in the embodiment shown in fig5 and 6 , the current - carrying parts are also encapsulated around the circumference . in a direction at a right angle to the supporting plane of the ptc elements 6 , this encapsulation is formed by the two sealing elements 46 and the spacing medium 40 arranged between them . across the width , the exterior surface of the heat - generating element is completely level and is formed solely by the exterior surface of the insulating layer 8 . only in the area of the ends on the face sides are elements that project beyond this upper layer 8 , where these elements are in the form of pegs 26 that , as already described previously with reference to the first embodiment , mesh in corresponding cuts 16 in the contact plates 4 . furthermore , attachment pegs 28 project beyond the upper side , said pegs serving in this embodiment particularly the positioning of the heat - emitting segments along the length . to be cited as a further difference is the fact that the contact plates 4 are bent outwards at the face sides , where they form plug connections 50 that extend essentially parallel to the level of the contact plate 4 . the positioning frame 2 extends along the length until beyond the area of the contact plate 4 that is bent outwards , consequently offering reliable insulation and spacing of the two current - carrying components . it is pointed out that , in the embodiment shown in fig5 , it is also possible to provide only a single plug connection 50 , instead of two plug connections . in this case , the energizing of the other contact plate 4 can , for example , be accomplished by means of a structural component of the holding device for holding the heat - generating elements , for example , by means of the attachment tab 14 , which projects beyond the insulating layer 8 at the face side opposite the plug connection 50 . fig7 shows an embodiment of a heating device according to the invention . this comprises a holding device in the form of a frame 52 closed around the circumference , which is formed from two frame hulls 54 . within this frame 52 , multiple layers of identically formed heat - generating elements ( for example , according to fig1 to 4 ), running parallel to one another , are held . furthermore , the frame 52 contains a spring ( not shown ), by means of which the layer composition is held in the frame 52 at an initial tension . preferably , all heat - emitting elements 56 are arranged directly adjacent to a heat - generating element . the heat - emitting elements 56 shown in fig7 are formed by means of strips of aluminium plating bent in a meandering fashion . the heat - generating elements are located between these individual heat - emitting elements 56 and behind the lengthwise bars 58 of one of the air inlet or outlet openings of the grid that penetrates the frame 52 . one of these lengthwise bars 58 is removed from the middle of the frame 52 for the purposes of the depiction , so that a heat - generating element 60 can be seen there . because the heat - emitting elements 56 fit closely against the current - carrying parts , with an insulating layer 8 placed in between , the heat - emitting elements 56 , i . e ., the radiator elements , are potential - free . the frame 52 is preferably formed from plastic , as a result of which the electrical insulation can be further improved . additional protection , particularly against unauthorized contact with the current - carrying parts of the heating device , is additionally provided by the grid , which is likewise formed from plastic and developed as a single piece with the frame hulls 54 . on one face side of the frame 52 , a plug connection is located in a manner known per se , with power supply lines and / or control lines going off of it , by means of which the heating device can be connected for control and power supply purposes in a vehicle . on the face side of the frame 52 , a housing is indicated which can also have control or regulating elements , in addition to the plug connection . | 5 |
in fig1 a schematic isometric view of one embodiment of an ink jet printhead 10 in accordance with the present invention is shown mounted on a heat sink 26 and oriented to show the front face 29 of printhead and the array of droplet ejecting nozzles 27 therein . referring also to fig2 a cross - sectional view of the printhead as viewed along view line 2 -- 2 of fig1 is shown through an ink channel 20 . the printhead has a silicon heater plate 28 with heating elements 34 , addressing circuitry means 32 represented by dashed line , and leads 33 on one surface thereof . the leads interconnect the heating elements and addressing circuitry means and have contact pads 31 connected to a printed circuit board 30 by wire bonds 25 . the circuit board is connected to a controller or microprocessor of the printer ( neither shown ). the controller selectively addresses the heating elements through the addressing means to eject ink droplets from the nozzles . one suitable addressing circuitry means is described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 947 , 192 and is hereby incorporated by reference . generally , an underglaze layer 14 of , for example , sio 2 is formed on the heater plate surface on which the heating elements , addressing circuitry means , and leads are to be formed , followed by a passivation layer 15 which is patterned to expose the heating elements and contact pads . an optional thick film layer 16 of , for example , polyimide , may be deposited and patterned to provide pits 38 for the heating elements as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 774 , 530 and incorporated herein by reference . however , for high resolution printheads having nozzles spaced for printing at 600 spots per inch ( spi ) or more , heating element pits have been found not to be necessary , for the vapor bubbles generated to eject ink droplets from nozzles and channels of this size tend not to ingest air . in this printhead embodiment , a photosensitive polymeric material is deposited over the thick film layer 16 , if used , on the heater plate to form a channel structure 24 , which is photolithographically patterned to produce the ink channels 20 and common manifold 18 . each channel has an open end to serve as a nozzle 27 and an end 21 which connects to a common manifold 18 . the contact pads 31 of the electrical leads are also cleared of the channel structure 24 to enable the wire bonding . a cover plate 22 of glass , quartz , or ceramic material has an aperture 23 therethrough , and is bonded to the surface of the patterned photopolymeric channel structure 24 with a suitable adhesive epoxy adhesive ( not shown ). the cover plate aperture 23 has a cross - sectional area about the same size as the total cross - sectional areas of all of the channels 20 in the printhead in order to keep the ink flow rate through the reservoir relatively high and the time the ink is resident therein relatively short , so that air bubbles formed during the droplet ejection process are removed by subsequently ejected droplets . in the preferred embodiment , the ink channels have approximately 30 × 30 μm cross - sections , so that the cross - sectional area of the reservoir in the direction of ink flow is about that of one channel cross - sectional area times the number of channels . the exact value of the reservoir cross - sectional area is slightly larger than the total channel cross - sectional areas to account for flow impedance . the aperture 23 is shaped and positioned to align with the common manifold 18 into which the ends 21 of the channels connect and , as such , provides an adequate ink supply for the printhead . thus , the aperture is generally elongated to enable ink flow communication with all of the channels opening into the common manifold . the ink flow path from the reservoir to the channels 20 is indicated by arrow 19 . an optional nozzle plate 12 is shown in dashed line which is adhered to the printhead front face 29 with the nozzles 13 therein aligned with the open ends 27 of the channels 20 in the channel structure 24 . as disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . re 32 , 572 , 4 , 774 , 530 , and 4 , 947 , 192 all of which are incorporated herein by reference , the heater plates of the present invention are batch produced on a silicon wafer ( not shown ) and later separated into individual heater plates 28 as one piece of the printhead 10 . as disclosed in these patents , a plurality of sets of heating elements 34 , addressing circuitry means 32 for each set of heating elements , and electrical leads 33 are patterned on a polished surface of a ( 100 ) silicon wafer which has first been coated with an underglaze layer 14 , such as silicon dioxide having a thickness of about 2 μm . the heating elements may be any well known resistive material such as zirconium boride , but is preferably doped polycrystalline silicon deposited , for example , by chemical vapor deposition ( cvd ) and concurrently monolithically fabricated with the addressing circuitry means as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 947 , 193 . afterwards , the wafer is cleaned and re - oxidized to form a second silicon dioxide layer ( not shown ) over the wafer including the addressing circuitry means . a phosphorous doped glass layer or boron and phosphorous doped glass layer ( not shown ) is then deposited on the thermally grown second silicon dioxide layer ( not shown ) and is reflowed at high temperatures to planarize the surface . as is well known , photoresist is applied and patterned to form vias for electrical connections with the heating elements and the addressing circuitry means and aluminum metallization is applied to form the electrical leads and provide the contact pads . any suitable electrically insulative passivation layer 15 , such as , for example , polyimide , polyarylene , or bisbenzocyclobutene ( bcb ), is deposited over the electrical leads to a thickness of about 0 . 5 to 1 . 5 μm and removed from the heating elements and contact pads . finally , the optional thick film layer 16 of polymeric material , such as , for example , polyimide is deposited to a depth sufficient to provide a thickness after curing of 10 - 50 μm . this thick film layer 16 is photopatterned to expose both the heating elements , thereby placing them in pits 38 , and the contact pads 31 . if the topography of the completed heater plate wafer is uneven , the wafer is polished , for example , as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 665 , 249 and incorporated herein by reference , and then the photopatternable polymer which is to provide the channel structure 24 is deposited . as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 738 , 799 mentioned above , and incorporated herein by reference , a suitable channel structure material must be resistant to ink , exhibit temperature stability , be relatively rigid , and be readily diceable . the most versatile material for a channel structure is polyimide or polyarylene ether ( pae ). in the preferred embodiment , ocg 7520 ™ polyimide is used , and because polyimide shrinks about 45 to 50 % when cured , this must be taken into account when depositing a layer of polyimide on the heating element wafer . after deposition of the polyimide , it is exposed using a mask with the channel sets pattern and contact pads pattern . the patterned polyimide channel structure layer is developed and cured . in one embodiment , the channel structure thickness is 30 μm , so the original thickness deposited is about 65 μm , which shrinks to about 33 μm when cured and is then polished to the desired 30 μm . after the patterned channel structure layer 24 is cured and polished , a cover plate 22 , the same size as the wafer and having a plurality of apertures 23 therein , is bonded thereto with each aperture aligned with the common manifold 18 into which the ends 21 of the sets of channels 20 open . the silicon wafer and wafer size cover plate with the channel structure sandwiched therebetween are separated into a plurality of individual printheads by a dicing operation . the dicing operation not only separates the printheads , but also produces the printhead front face 29 and opens one end of the channels to form the nozzles 27 . an optional nozzle plate 12 is individually bonded to the printhead front faces , if desired . the printheads 10 are each bonded to a heat sink 26 together with a printed circuit board 30 and they are electrically connected by wire bonds 25 . the circuit board is in turn connected to the printer controller ( not shown ) which controls the printer and effects the droplet ejection process through the addressing means 32 . fig3 is a schematic isometric view of another ink jet printhead 50 , an alternate embodiment of the printhead of fig1 and fig4 is a cross - sectional view of the alternate embodiment as viewed along view line 4 -- 4 of fig3 . the difference between the printhead 10 in fig1 and the printhead 50 is that the channel structure 24 and cover plate 22 of printhead 10 is replaced in printhead 50 with an etched silicon channel plate 52 . another embodiment ( not shown ) of a printhead incorporating the present invention is a combination of the printheads disclosed in fig1 and 3 . namely , the silicon plate 52 of fig3 having the ink inlet and reservoir 56 , but without the etched channels 54 , is bonded to the patterned channel structure 24 on the heater plate 28 of fig1 which has the ink channels 20 . thus , the cover plate 22 of the printhead 10 in fig1 is replaced with the silicon plate 52 of the printhead 50 in fig3 except the silicon plate 52 does not have the etched channels 54 . in this embodiment the modified silicon plate 52 serves as a cover plate similar to that in fig1 but the aperture is slanted to provide a parallelogram shape in cross - section which is oriented to slant in a direction to prevent stagnant ink regions as depicted in fig4 . the channel plate 52 is fabricated in a similar way as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 774 , 530 and incorporated herein by reference , except that the ink inlet and reservoir 56 are produced by substantially the same size via in the etch resistant masks ( not shown ) on opposite sides of the channel plate , which are offset from each other , so that the anisotropic etching of the inlet and reservoir 56 from both sides of the channel plate meet at the common { 111 } crystal plane shown in dashed line 58 and produce a more narrow reservoir which has a cross - sectional area having the shape of a parallelogram as shown in fig4 . this particular shape of the reservoir 56 has the benefit that there are no stagnant flow areas which impede the movement of any exsolved gas or air bubbles from the printhead reservoir . the channels 54 have a triangular cross - sectional area and penetrate the front face 29 to form triangular shaped nozzles 55 . the reservoir 56 has a cross - sectional area established in the same way as for the printhead 10 in fig1 ; viz ., about equal to the total cross - sectional areas of the array of channels , plus an increase in size necessary to overcome the ink flow impedance , so that ink refill is not slowed . the channel ends 53 opposite the nozzles are closed , so that the thick film layer 16 must be patterned to form a bypass trench 59 concurrently with the patterning of the pits 38 , in order to provide a flow path between the channels and the reservoir as depicted by arrow 51 . in accordance with u . s . pat . no . 4 , 774 , 530 the channel plate 52 is formed from a two side polished , ( 100 ) silicon wafer ( not shown ) to produce a plurality of channel plates 52 for the printhead 50 . after the wafer is chemically cleaned , a pyrolytic cvd silicon nitride layer ( not shown ) is deposited on both sides . using conventional photolithography , a via ( not shown ) for the ink inlet side of the reservoir 56 of each of the plurality of channel plates 52 are patterned to expose the silicon wafer . an anisotropic etch , such as potassium hydroxide ( koh ), etches the silicon along the { 111 } planes , so that the size of the via determines the depth of the apex of the pyramidal recesses . in the preferred embodiment , the size is such as to enable the etched recesses to substantially etch through the wafer . next , the opposite side of the wafer is photolithographically patterned to form the plurality of sets of parallel channels 54 and a recess adjacent each set of channels ( and inlet recess ) which is about the same size as the recesses on the other side of the wafer . the location of the recesses on the channel set side of the wafer is offset from the recesses etched from the other side so that the etch recesses have a common { 111 } plane 58 with the first etched recesses shown in dashed line . therefore , the common plane disappears and the two combined slightly offset etched recesses form the parallelogram shaped inlet and reservoir 56 . the surface of the wafer having the channel sets is aligned and bonded to the heater wafer , so that each channel has a heating element therein . the bonded wafers are separated into a plurality of individual printheads 50 by a dicing operation . one of the dicing cuts forms the front face 29 of the printhead and opens one end of the channels to provide the nozzles 55 . as with printhead 10 in fig1 an optional nozzle plate 12 shown in dashed line with nozzles 13 therein may be aligned and bonded to the printhead front face , so that the nozzles in the nozzle plate are aligned with the channel nozzles 55 . another printhead embodiment 70 is shown in fig5 which is similar to the printhead 50 in fig4 . the only difference is that the volume of the reservoir is reduced by reducing the size of the recesses etched adjacent the sets of channels 54 , so that the depth of the apex of the pyramidal recesses are less than the thickness of the wafer , but still meet the previously etched recesses at a common crystal plane 58 . the cross - sectional shape of the reservoir 72 is similar to a ` y `, and retains all of the advantages of the parallelogram shaped reservoir in printhead 50 ; namely , low volume to keep the resident time of the ink in the reservoir short and narrow cross - sectional area to cause a high refill flow rate . the printheads of each embodiment keep the air bubbles swept from the reservoir , so that they do not coalesce into larger bubbles which deleteriously affect print quality . another advantage of this high flow rate of ink supply from the reservoir is that the high flow rate and low residency of the ink ensures that the ink does not reside long in the printhead , minimizing the time the ink can pick up dissipated waste heat , especially during high area coverage printing . since the air solubility in ink is inversely proportional to temperature , the higher the temperature the more the ink is capable of exsolving air bubbles in the printhead reservoirs . therefore , the printhead reservoir configurations of the present invention eliminates stagnant ink areas and causes high ink flow rates during refills with the benefit of short ink residency thereby providing the desired bubble management . although the foregoing description illustrates the preferred embodiment , other variations are possible and all such variations as will be apparent to those skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of this invention as defined by the following claims . | 1 |
this invention relates to an improved sensor unit for a rotary shaft positioned by motor or otherwise . the invention will be described in its preferred embodiment of the sensor unit for a gerotor pressure device having a valve integral with the rotor ( white model re [ fig1 – 6 ] and rs [ fig7 – 10 ] designs ). as understood , a gerotor pressure device will operate as either a motor or a pump , depending on the nature of its fluidic and mechanical connections . they are designed for a specified number of gallons per minute for a given displacement at high pressures up to 4000 psi . other gerotor devices are spaced separate rotating valved , drive shaft valved , rotating rotor face valved and other such devices made by white , eaton , parker , danfoss and others . the gerotor pressure device 10 exemplified herein includes a power unit 15 , an output shaft 20 and a sensor unit 30 . the power unit 15 serves to interconnect the rotation of the output shaft 20 to and / or from a interconnection to another device ( not shown ) with a gerotor pressure unit . this other device could be a pump ( if the power unit was utilized as a motor ), a motor ( power unit pump ) or another unit utilizing a hydraulic pressure differential . in the particular embodiment disclosed , the power unit is a white model re hydraulic motor having two ports 16 , 17 for typical interconnection to a hydraulic pump / source of pressure through a series of valves ( fig1 – 6 — valves not shown ). the output shaft 20 serves to physically interconnect the power unit 15 to an object . this interconnection can provide rotary power to the object and / or accept rotary power from the object depending on the particular application involved . an output shaft separate from the power unit may be utilized . in the particular embodiment disclosed , the output shaft 20 is integral with that of the power unit 15 . this shaft is rotatedly interconnected directly to the housing 18 of the power unit by two spaced main bearings 21 , 22 . these bearings 21 , 22 thus serve to physically mount the output shaft to the associated device through the power unit by providing the physical support thereof . in that this output shaft 20 is integral with the power unit 15 , a main shaft seal 19 is incorporated in respect to the output shaft 20 so as to fluidically isolate the hydraulic pressure within the housing 18 of the power unit . this shaft seal thus serves to restrict the high pressure within the power unit 15 . a separate thrust bearing 24 between a shoulder of the shaft 20 and the housing 18 of the power unit serves to maintain the output shaft 20 in axial position in respect to the power unit . in the particular embodiment disclosed in fig1 – 6 , the shaft is that of a white model re motor having a shaft diameter of 1 . 3 ″ with the cylindrical section extending some 1 ″ from the front flange of the body 18 of the hydraulic gerotor motor ( so as to provide an interactive surface for the later described support section 40 and seal 52 ). in the alternate embodiment of fig7 – 10 the device is a white model rs motor having a shaft diameter of approximately 1 ″ with the cylindrical section extending substantially 0 . 7 ″ from the flange to allow for cooperation with the sensor unit 30 . the invention of the present application relates to a sensor unit 30 . this sensor unit 30 is designed to provide for a variety of functions in respect to the output shaft 20 . these include aligning the sensor to the shaft , physically protecting the sensor and any associated seal against rocks and dirt on the outside of the device , providing for the use of differing sensors in a single sensor unit design , reliably orienting the sensor in respect to the output shaft , and allowing for the simplified manufacture / repair of sensor units . each sensor 30 is chosen in response to the type of motor as well as the device to which it is to be attached . preferably , this union is optimized to both the sensor as well as motor for example in fig1 – 6 one side is utilized to match the re mounting flange while this outside is designed for strength , maintenance and repair . this also allows existing parts of the re — its bolt location , its internal lip and other factors this is preferable . the particular sensor unit 30 disclosed has a body 32 with a central opening 34 , a sensor cavity 37 and a mounting surface 45 . the body 32 of the sensor unit is for physically mounting the sensor in respect to the output shaft 20 . the body 32 in addition physically protects the sensor from physical damage and outside contaminants . in the preferred single output shaft design , the body 32 is radially located directly by the shaft 20 . it is held in position after initial operation by its physical connection to the power unit . the central opening 34 of the sensor unit is utilized as the main alignment member for the sensor unit 30 . the central opening provides for this alignment by having an inner support section 40 having an internal diameter 42 substantially the same as the diameter 23 of the output shaft . this inner support section 40 thus physically radially aligns the later described sensor with the shaft and / or anything mounted thereon when first installed . after the power unit 15 is installed , the body 32 of the sensor 30 is tightly captured between the hydraulic unit 15 and the frame 100 with which it is associated . it therefor cannot move in respect to either thereafter . in the preferred embodiment disclosed , the distance between the inner support section 40 and an external mounting surface 45 ( for sensor placement ) is precisely defined in the manufacture of the sensor unit 30 . this dimension is thus highly controlled providing for a reliable distance between the mounting surface 45 and the output shaft 20 during original manufacture . it is therefore not necessary to compensate for any misalignment within the sensor unit 30 such as by shims , adjustment screws , or other secondary adjustment means on initial installation nor anytime thereafter . after initial installation the sensor unit 30 does not move for it is not subject to any meaningful displacement forces . it therefore retains its initial , and precise , positioning — a positioning that further is common to all other output shafts using the same design power unit . a given sensor can therefor be exchanged with another without concern for any dimensions ( as herein explained ). in the preferred embodiments disclosed the mounting surface 45 is 1 . 9 ″ from the centerline of the shaft 20 . the surface 45 itself is 0 . 7 ″ wide and 2 ″ long . the cavity 37 is located on the inside of the body 32 of the sensor unit for physical mounting of the internal parts of the sensor in addition to any shaft mounted auxiliary components . in the embodiment disclosed , the cavity 37 includes a seal cavity 49 , the inner end 72 of the inside extension of the sensor 60 and a intermediate component 74 utilized between the output shaft 20 and the sensor 60 . the seal cavity is for the physical location of a secondary seal 52 . this seal excludes external contaminants such as water and dirt from the cavity 37 . note the seal is oriented such that it in addition allows for any grease from the later described grease fitting 54 to exit the cavity 37 if such is pressurized relative to the normal atmosphere . this prevents over pressurization of the cavity ( in addition to its previously described elimination of contaminants from the cavity ). note further that the inner support section 40 , being located outside of the seal 52 , serves to protect the seal 19 against dirt , rocks and other physical damage . it also similarly protects the sensor . in the preferred embodiment disclosed in fig1 – 6 , the body 30 of the sensor unit has a central hole 1 . 3 ″ in diameter ( for the shaft 20 ). the body section itself is substantially 3 . 6 ″ high and 5 . 25 ″ wide . the mounting surface 45 is substantially 1 . 9 ″ from the centerline of the shaft . in the alternate embodiment of fig7 – 10 the support section 40 has an inner diameter of substantially 1 ″ for its shaft and a width / height of substantially 3 ″. again , the mounting surface 45 for the sensor 60 is located 1 . 9 ″ from the centerline of the shaft . a small o - ring type seal is located on the sensor surrounding the inside extension 70 so as to seal the sensor unit to the body 32 . the sensor 60 and intermediate component 75 in the embodiment disclosed provide for the actual position / rotation / direction sensing of the output shaft 20 . this is preferred in that the intermediate component 75 increases the relative diameter of the output shaft 20 at the location of the sensor , thus increasing the accuracy of the sensing without requiring a concomitant increase in the diameter of the output shaft . the intermediate component in the preferred embodiment disclosed also provides for a single sensor 60 to be utilized with differing devices ( contrast fig1 – 6 with fig7 – 10 ). in the preferred embodiment of fig1 – 6 the intermediate component is a 50 pulse magnet ring having an inner diameter of 1 . 28 ″ and an outer diameter of 2 ″. it is substantially 0 . 25 ″ wide . in the embodiment of fig7 – 10 the magnet rotor has an inner diameter of 1 ″ with the same outer diameter and width as the first embodiment . this in combination with the commonality of distance of mounting surface 45 allows a single sensor 60 to be utilized interchangeably with both embodiments . the sensor 60 itself includes a mounting member 64 and an inside extension 70 . the mounting member 64 serves to mount the sensor to the body 32 of the sensor unit 30 . in the preferred embodiment disclosed , the mounting member 64 includes a support surface 67 . this support surface 67 cooperates with the mounting surface 45 of the body of the sensor unit in order to physically interconnect the sensor 60 to such unit . this mounting is preferably removable so as to allow for the installation / replacement of the sensor without disassembly of the sensor unit 30 or the power unit with which it is utilized . this facilitates the initial construction and repair of the unit . in the preferred embodiment disclosed , this removable mounting is provided by a series of mounting holes 65 through the mounting member 64 , which holes allow for the use of screws 68 so as to removably connect the sensor 60 to the body 32 of the sensor unit . it is preferred that some sort of indexing means exist between the sensor 60 and the body 32 of the sensor unit . in the embodiment disclosed this indexing is provided by the mounting holes 65 being offset from the longitudinal axis of the mounting member 64 . this offset ensures that the mounting member 64 can only be assembled with the right orientation between the sensor 60 and the output shaft 20 . alternate means of providing for a set orientation can be provided by other indexing means such as location pins , orientation slots , or other unidirectional mounting schemes . in the embodiments disclosed the mounting holes 65 are offset some 0 . 085 ″ from the centerline of the mounting member 64 of the sensor . the inside extension 70 of the sensor 60 serves to close the distance between the mounting surface 45 and the output shaft 20 ( in the preferred embodiment disclosed the diameter of the output shaft expanded by distance 76 via the intermediate component 75 ). the optional inside extension 70 of the sensor 60 has an inner end 72 . the distance between the inner end 72 and the support surface 67 of the mounting member is a set distance 73 , which set distance is selected to precisely locate the inner end 72 in a predetermined relationship in respect to the effective outer surface of the output shaft 20 ( in the preferred embodiment as enlarged by the intermediate member ). this set distance 73 thus cooperates with the inner support section 40 and its location of the mounting surface 45 so as to reliably and predictably control the critical dimension of the inner end 72 of the sensor to the effective outer diameter of the output shaft 20 . for this reason , the inner end 72 of the sensor can be reliably and uniformly located during initial construction and / or subsequent repair without consideration for secondary adjustment . further multiple sensors 60 are interchangeable without dimensional concern for a given sensor unit 30 ( for shafts of corresponding nature ). in the preferred embodiment disclosed , the sensor 60 has an inside extension 70 some 0 . 88 ″ long from its surface 67 to the end 72 . the mounting member 64 itself has a width of substantially 0 . 65 ″ and a length of substantially 1 . 7 ″. it contains a hall - effect sensor with interconnections to ground , input voltage , output and direction . the inner end 72 of the sensor 60 is located within + 0 . 3 ″ of the ring magnet in both embodiments , this spacing determined by the gauss of the magnet and sensitivity of the hall - effect sensor . note that due to the use of the cooperation between a support surface 67 of the mounting member 64 and a mounting surface 45 of the body 32 a multiplicity of differing sensors can be utilized in a given design sensor unit . for example , a dual speed hall sensor , an inductive proximity sensor , an optical sensor , or other sensor could be utilized with a single body 32 to provide for many differing applications while retaining the same construction ( albeit in certain instances with a differing intermediate component ). this again would be true of initial manufacture as well as subsequent field use . the intermediate component 75 in the preferred embodiment serves to expand the relative diameter of the output shaft 20 as well as providing for a secondary unit for cooperation with the sensor 60 to establish the rotation / angle / direction of the output shaft 20 in respect to the sensor unit 30 . in the preferred embodiment disclosed , the intermediate member is a generally cylindrical magnet 77 located immediately surrounding the output shaft 20 spaced therefrom through a separation member 78 . preferably the intermediate component 75 , whether the magnet 77 or other component , is fixedly mounted to the output shaft 20 so as to rotate therewith under all conditions . this intermediate component 75 extends off of the shaft 20 so as to expand its relative diameter at this location ( by distance 76 disclosed ). this allows for an effective shaft diameter differential for sensor location ( mounting surface 45 at 40 ) and the set distance 73 of the inner end 72 of the sensor . note that other intermediate components 75 could be utilized such as a gear having external slots ( for use with an induction sensor or optical sensor ), a segmented magnet having alternating north and south poles circumferentially about the member , or other expansion means capable of cooperating with a selected operation of sensor 60 . in any event , the intermediate component 75 would be selected to go with the particular sensor to be utilized with the sensor unit 30 . ( note however , that a given intermediate component such as the preferred magnet 77 could be utilized with differing sensors — for example a dual speed hall sensor instead of a single speed hall sensor ). although the body 32 of the sensor unit is radially supported to the output shaft 20 precisely by the inner support section 40 , it is preferred that the sensor unit 30 , once installed , in addition be mounted in a fixed position in respect to the output shaft 20 . in the preferred embodiment disclosed , this is accomplished by a flange 80 extending outwardly off of the body 32 of the sensor unit . the particular flange 80 disclosed has a series of holes therein matching the holes utilized to mount the power unit 15 to its auxiliary component ( six holes shown in fig2 , four holes shown in fig7 ). note that the purpose of these holes is primarily to hold the sensor unit 30 in rotational orientation in respect to the housing 18 of the power unit after assembly . to facilitate this , the particular embodiment disclosed has a series of pressed steel sleeves 82 within the mounting holes 81 . these sleeves 82 serve to pass the compression force between the power unit 15 and the component to which it is physically mounted , thus to prevent any compression effect including distortion on the body 32 of the sensor unit 30 . since the cooperation between the inner support section 40 and the shaft 20 initially locate the sensor 60 , a purpose of the flange 80 is to thereafter retain the sensor unit 30 in respect to such shaft 20 . this reduces considerations of wear from shifting the location of the mounting surface ( i . e . once fixed the distance 46 remains constant after installation ). subsequent sensors 60 can therefore be substituted with this knowledge . in the preferred embodiment the body 32 of the sensor unit 30 is made of plastic ( acetal disclosed ) having an inner surface diameter 42 some 0 . 002 - 4 ″ over the diameter 23 of the shaft 20 . this precisely locates the mounting surface 45 in respect to the remainder of the device on installation . once fixed in position on operation any high points / distortions would be removed by the wear by the steel shaft — a wear not compromising the initial relative location of the mounting surface in respect to the shaft 20 . as the distance 73 from the inner end 72 of the sensor 60 to its support surface 67 is set in manufacture , this distance is presubscribed . this distance is preferably within 0 . 017 ″ for the set forth hall sensor ( with consideration of the extension distance 76 ). due to the above any sensor 60 used with any sensor body meeting the standards will be properly dimensionally positioned for the shaft utilized therewith . no shimming measurements or other secondary operation is necessary on initial installation , repair or replacement . although the invention is described in its preferred embodiment with a certain degree of particularity , it is realized that numerous changes may be made without deviating from the invention . | 6 |
the method of the invention can comprise administration of an inhibitor wherein the inhibitor in ( a ), the inhibitor in ( b ), or both , are other than substantially cytotoxic . cytotoxicity can be determined by any means common in the art , including , but not limited to measurement of apoptosis and metabolic functions such as respiration and substrate utilization . by substantially cytotoxic is meant that one skilled in the art would recognize that cytotoxicity is generally found upon administration of the agent to a test animal or upon use in an in vitro assay under conditions and concentrations corresponding to the use of the agent in the invention . the method can comprise administration of an inhibitor wherein the inhibitor in ( a ), the inhibitor in ( b ), or both , are other than substantially a mitosis inhibitor . mitosis can be determined by any means common in the art , including , but not limited to measurements of mitotic index , dna content and cell number . by substantially a mitosis inhibitor is meant that one skilled in the art would recognize that diminished mitosis is generally found upon administration of the agent to a test animal or upon use in an in vitro assay under conditions and concentrations corresponding to the use of the agent in the invention . the in vitro activity of the compounds for use in the methods of the present invention can be determined by the amount phosphorylation inhibition by a test compound relative to a control . recombinant erbb2 ( amino acid residues 675 - 1255 ) and egfr ( amino acid residues 668 - 1211 ) intracellular domains were expressed in baculovirus - infected sf9 cells as gst fusion proteins and purified by affinity chromatography on glutathione sepharose beads . the phosphorylation of poly ( glu , tyr ) was measured as described in j . d . moyer , e . g . barbacci , k . k . iwata , l . arnold , b . boman , a . cunningham , et al ., induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest by cp - 358 , 774 , an inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase , cancer res . 57 ( 1997 ) 4838 - 4848 , except the kinase reaction was performed in 50 μl of 50 mm hepes , ph 7 . 4 , containing 125 mm sodium chloride , 10 mm magnesium chloride , 0 . 1 mm sodium orthovanadate , and 1 mm atp . tyrosine phosphorylation in intact cells may be measured using the following assay . nih3t3 cells transfected with either human egfr ( b . d . cohen , d . r . lowy , j . t . schiller , transformation - specific interaction of the bovine papillomavirus e5 oncoprotein with the platelet - derived growth factor receptor transmembrane domain and the epidermal growth factor receptor cytoplasmic domain , j . virol ., 67 ( 1993 ) 5303 - 5311 ) or a chimeric receptor with egfr extracellullar domain and erbb2 intracellular domain were seeded in 96 well tissue culture plates in dmem ( f . fazioli , u . h . kim , s . g . rhee , c . j . molloy , o . segatto , p . p . difiore , the erbb - 2 mitogenic signaling pathway : tyrosine phosphorylation of phospholipase c - gamma and gtpase - activating protein does not correlate with erbb - 2 mitogenic potency , mol . cell . biol ., 11 ( 1991 ) 2040 - 2048 ). inhibitors in dmso ( or dmso vehicle for controls ) were added 24 h after plating and incubated with the cells for 2 h at 37 ° c . cells were stimulated with human recombinant egf ( 50 ng / ml final concentration ) for 15 min at room temperature . medium was aspirated and cells were fixed for 30 min with 100 μl cold 1 : 1 ethanol : acetone containing 200 μm na 3 vo 4 . plates were washed with wash buffer ( 0 . 5 % tween - 20 in pbs ) and 100 μl block buffer ( 3 % bovine serum albumin in pbs + 200 μm fresh sodium orthovanadate ) was added . plates were further incubated for 1 h at room temp and washed twice with wash buffer . anti - phosphotyrosine antibody ( py54 ) labeled with horseradish peroxidase was added to wells and incubated for 1 h at room temp . antibody was removed by aspiration and plates were washed 4 times with wash buffer . the colorimetric signal was developed by addition of tmb microwell peroxidase substrate ( kirkegaard and perry , gaithersburg , md . ), 50 μl per well , and stopped by the addition of 0 . 09 m sulfuric acid , 50 μl per well . phosphotyrosine is estimated by measurement of absorbance at 450 nm . signal from control wells containing no compound stimulated with egf after subtraction of the background from wells without egf was defined as 100 % of control . examination of extracts from these egf stimulated cells by western blotting with anti - phosphotyrosine indicated that the majority of the protein phosphotyrosine represented autophosphorylated egfr or egfr / erbb2 chimera respectively , but other protein substrates also displayed increased tyrosine phosphorylation . egf typically increased total phosphotyrosine levels by approximately 4 - fold in each transfected cell . ic 50 values represent the concentration of compound required to reduce the signal to 50 % of control and were determined graphically from titrations over a 100 - fold concentration range . analysis of erbb phosphorylation by immunoprecipitation followed by western blotting . skbr3 cells were treated with compound or activating ligand as indicated . the media was aspirated , and 1 ml / 75 cm 2 flask ice - cold immunoprecipitation lysis buffer ( 1 . 0 % tx100 ; 10 mm tris ; 5 mm edta ; 50 mm nacl ; 30 mm sodium orthovanadate with freshly added 100 μm pmsf , and 1 complete ™ protease inhibitor tablet ( roche diagnostics , indianapolis , ind . per 50 ml buffer ) was added . immunoprecipitation was performed on 100 μl of lysate : egfr was immunoprecipitated using santa cruz sc - 120 , 2 μl / 100 μl lysate ; erbb2 using oncogene op15 , 1 μg / 100 μl lysate ; and erbb3 with santa cruz sc - 285 , 2 μl / 100 μl lysate . all immunoprecipitations were carried out at 4 ° c . overnight , with rocking , in the presence of 30 μl of protein a beads . the beads with immobilized protein were isolated by centrifugation at 14 , 000 rpm , 4 ° c . for 10 seconds . the supernatants were aspirated and the pellets washed 3 × with pbs with 0 . 1 % tween 20 . the samples were then resuspended in 40 μl laemmli buffer with dtt and boiled for 4 minutes . the samples were then loaded on a 4 - 12 % page . they were electrophoresed 1 hr at 150v using mes buffer . the gels were transferred to pvdf in the presence of 10 % methanol . the membrane was blocked using blocking buffer ( roche diagnostics , indianapolis , ind .) and the phosphotyrosine was detected using anti - py54 antibody conjugated to horseradish peroxidase and developed by enhanced chemiluminescence according to the manufacturer &# 39 ; s instructions ( ecl ™; amersham , pharmacia biotech , piscataway , n . j . ; lumiglo ™; cell signaling ). the signal was quantitated with a lumi - imager ™ ( boehringer mannheim , indianapolis , ind .). the following assay may also be employed for c - erbb2 kinase to determine the potency and selectivity of the compounds for their use as c - erbb2 inhibitors . the following assay is similar to that described previously in schrang et . al . anal . biochem . 211 , 1993 , p233 - 239 . nunc maxisorp 96 - well plates are coated by incubation overnight at 37 ° c . with 100 ml per well of 0 . 25 mg / ml poly ( glu , tyr ) 4 : 1 ( pgt ) ( sigma chemical co ., st . louis , mo .) in pbs ( phosphate buffered saline ). excess pgt is removed by aspiration , and the plate is washed three times with wash buffer ( 0 . 1 % tween 20 in pbs ). the kinase reaction is performed in 50 ml of 50 mm hepes ( ph 7 . 5 ) containing 125 mm sodium chloride , 10 mm magnesium chloride , 0 . 1 mm sodium orthovanadate , 1 mm atp , 0 . 48 mg / ml ( 24 ng / well ) c - erbb2 intracellular domain . the intracellular domain of the erbb2 tyrosine kinase ( amino acids 674 - 1255 ) is expressed as a gst fusion protein in baculovirus and purified by binding to and elution from glutathione coated beads . the compound in dmso ( dimethylsulfoxide ) is added to give a final dmso concentration of 2 . 5 %. phosphorylation was initiated by addition of atp ( adenosine triphosphate ) and proceeded for 6 minutes at room temperature , with constant shaking . the kinase reaction is terminated by aspiration of the reaction mixture and subsequent washing with wash buffer ( see above ). phosphorylated pgt is measured by 25 minutes of incubation with 50 ml per well hrp - conjugated py54 ( oncogene science inc . uniondale , n . y .) antiphosphotyrosine antibody , diluted to 0 . 2 mg / ml in blocking buffer ( 3 % bsa and 0 . 05 % tween 20 in pbs ). antibody is removed by aspiration , and the plate is washed 4 times with wash buffer . the colorimetric signal is developed by addition of tmb microwell peroxidase substrate ( kirkegaard and perry , gaithersburg , md . ), 50 ml per well , and stopped by the addition of 0 . 09 m sulfuric acid , 50 ml per well . phosphotyrosine is estimated by measurement of absorbance at 450 nm . the signal for controls is typically 0 . 6 - 1 . 2 absorbance units , with essentially no background in wells without the pgt substrate and is proportional to the time of incubation for 10 minutes . inhibitors are identified by reduction of signal relative to wells without inhibitor and ic 50 values corresponding to the concentration of compound required for 50 % inhibition are determined . the compounds exemplified herein which correspond to formula 1 have ic 50 values of & lt ; 10 mm against erbb2 kinase . ic 50 values may be used to determine selectivity by any means known in the art . for example , the ratio for ic 50 values at erbb1 receptors and erbb2 receptors ( ic 50 erbb1 ≈ ic 50 erbb2 ) can be used . advantageously , the ratio exceeds two . the in vivo anti - tumor activity of the compounds for use in the methods of the present invention can be determined by the amount of inhibition of tumor growth by a test compound relative to a control . the tumor growth inhibitory effects of various compounds can be measured according to the method of corbett t . h ., et al ., “ tumor induction relationships in development of transplantable cancers of the colon in mice for chemotherapy assays , with a note on carcinogen structure ”, cancer res ., 35 , 2434 - 2439 ( 1975 ) and corbett t . h ., et al ., “ a mouse colon - tumor model for experimental therapy ”, cancer chemother . rep . ( part 2 )”, 5 , 169 - 186 ( 1975 ), with slight modifications . tumors can be induced in the left flank of mice by subcutaneous ( sc ) injection of 1 - 5 million log phase cultured tumor cells suspended in 0 . 1 ml rpmi 1640 medium . after sufficient time has elapsed for the tumors to become palpable (˜ 100 - 150 mm 3 in size / 5 - 6 mm in diameter ) the test animals ( athymic female mice ) are treated with test compound ( formulated at a concentration of 10 to 15 mg / ml in 5 gelucire or 0 . 5 % methyl cellulose ) by the intravenous ( iv ) or oral ( po ) route of administration once or twice daily for 7 to 29 consecutive days . in order to determine an anti - tumor effect , the tumor is measured in millimeters with a vernier caliper across two diameters and the tumor size ( mm 3 ) is calculated using the formula : tumor size ( mm 3 )=( w × w )/ 2 × l ( l = length and w = width ), according to the methods of geran , r . i ., et al . “ protocols for screening chemical agents and natural products against animal tumors and other biological systems ”, third edition , cancer chemother . rep ., 3 , 1 - 104 ( 1972 ). results are expressed as percent inhibition , according to the formula : inhibition growth (%)=[ 100 -{(% growth of treated /% growth of control )× 100 }]. the flank site of tumor implantation provides reproducible dose / response effects for a variety of chemotherapeutic agents , and the method of measurement ( tumor diameter ) is a reliable method for assessing tumor growth rates . administration of erbb2 inhibitors can be effected by any method that enables delivery of the compounds to the site of action . these methods include oral routes , intraduodenal routes , parenteral injection ( including intravenous , subcutaneous , intramuscular , intravascular or infusion ), topical , and rectal administration . the amount of the active compound administered will be dependent on the subject being treated , the severity of the disorder or condition , the rate of administration , the disposition of the compound and the discretion of the prescribing physician . however , an effective dosage is in the range of 0 . 001 to 200 mg per kg body weight per day , preferably 1 to 35 mg / kg / day . for a 70 kg human , this would amount to 0 . 05 to 7 g / day , preferably 0 . 2 to 2 . 5 g / day . in some instances , dosage levels below the lower limit of the aforesaid range may be more than adequate , while in other cases still larger doses may be employed without causing any harmful side effect . the erbb2 inhibitors of the present invention may be applied as a sole therapy or may involve one or more other anti - tumour substances , for example those selected from , for example , mitotic inhibitors , for example vinblastine ; alkylating agents , for example cis - platin , carboplatin and cyclophosphamide ; anti - metabolites , for example 5 - fluorouracil , cytosine arabinoside and hydroxyurea , or , for example , one of the preferred anti - metabolites disclosed in european patent application no . 239362 such as n -( 5 -[ n -( 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methyl - 4 - oxoquinazolin - 6 - ylmethyl )- n - methylamino ]- 2 - thenoyl )- l - glutamic acid ; growth factor inhibitors ; cell cycle inhibitors ; intercalating antibiotics , for example adriamycin and bleomycin ; enzymes , for example interferon ; and anti - hormones , for example anti - estrogens such as nolvadex ™ ( tamoxifen ) or , for example anti - androgens such as casodex ™ ( 4 ′- cyano - 3 -( 4 - fluorophenylsulphonyl )- 2 - hydroxy - 2 - methyl - 3 ′-( trifluoromethyl ) propionanilide ). such conjoint treatment may be achieved by way of the simultaneous , sequential or separate dosing of the individual components of the treatment . the pharmaceutical composition may , for example , be in a form suitable for oral administration as a tablet , capsule , pill , powder , sustained release formulations , solution , suspension , for parenteral injection as a sterile solution , suspension or emulsion , for topical administration as an ointment or cream or for rectal administration as a suppository . the pharmaceutical composition may be in unit dosage forms suitable for single administration of precise dosages . the pharmaceutical composition will include a conventional pharmaceutical carrier or excipient and a compound according to the invention as an active ingredient . in addition , it may include other medicinal or pharmaceutical agents , carriers , adjuvants , etc . exemplary parenteral administration forms include solutions or suspensions of active compounds in sterile aqueous solutions , for example , aqueous propylene glycol or dextrose solutions . such dosage forms can be suitably buffered , if desired . suitable pharmaceutical carriers include inert diluents or fillers , water and various organic solvents . the pharmaceutical compositions may , if desired , contain additional ingredients such as flavorings , binders , excipients and the like . thus for oral administration , tablets containing various excipients , such as citric acid may be employed together with various disintegrants such as starch , alginic acid and certain complex silicates and with binding agents such as sucrose , gelatin and acacia . additionally , lubricating agents such as magnesium stearate , sodium lauryl sulfate and talc are often useful for tableting purposes . solid compositions of a similar type may also be employed in soft and hard filled gelatin capsules . preferred materials , therefor , include lactose or milk sugar and high molecular weight polyethylene glycols . when aqueous suspensions or elixirs are desired for oral administration the active compound therein may be combined with various sweetening or flavoring agents , coloring matters or dyes and , if desired , emulsifying agents or suspending agents , together with diluents such as water , ethanol , propylene glycol , glycerin , or combinations thereof . methods of preparing various pharmaceutical compositions with a specific amount of active compound are known , or will be apparent , to those skilled in this art . for examples , see remington &# 39 ; s pharmaceutical sciences , mack publishing company , easter , pa ., 15th edition ( 1975 ). the examples and preparations provided below further illustrate and exemplify the methods of the present invention . it is to be understood that the scope of the present invention is not limited in any way by the scope of the following examples and preparations . the “ test compound ” used in the following examples , unless otherwise indicated , is the selective erbb2 inhibitor , e - 2 - methoxy - n -( 3 -{ 4 -( 3 - methyl - 4 -( 6 - methyl - pyridin - 3 - yloxy )- phenylamino )- quinazolin - 6 - yl }- allyl )- acetamide . the fre model : effect of the duration of exposure on anti - tumor efficacy of a test compound an objective of the pre - clinical investigations was to determine whether the c max or area under the curve ( auc ) of the test compound is critical for the anti - tumor efficacy . an additional goal was to establish a pharmacokinetics / pharmacodynamics ( pk / pd ) relationship in the fre / erbb2 tumor model . the fre / erbb2 is an engineered murine tumor model , which over - expresses human erbb2 with a trans - membrane mutation . the role of duration of the test compound exposure on fre / erbb2 tumor growth in athymic mice was determined . the test compound was either administered using tail vein infusion or orally . using tail vein infusion a calculated fixed c max ( 1200 ng / ml ) concentration was maintained during daily infusion while the duration of exposure and therefore auc was varied . treatments and plasma concentrations in treated animals is shown in table 1 . a 1 . 15 mg / ml solution of the test compound was infused iv at 550 μl / hr for 2 minute ramped infusions followed by 50 μl / hr for 15 min or 4 hour daily infusions . ( projection was based on cl of the test compound ). athymic female mice bearing fre / erbb2 tumors (˜ 100 mm 3 in size ) were treated with vehicle , the test compound orally or the test compound intravenously . body weight changes and tumor measurements were obtained at regular intervals ( days 1 , 3 , 5 , and 7 ). the study was carried out for 7 days . plasma and tumor samples were isolated for pk and pd analysis at the termination of study . the results on anti - tumor efficacy , tumor volume , body weight changes , plasma concentration of the test compound as well as p - erbb2 ( the phosphorylated form of erbb2 receptor ) inhibition in control and test compound animals are shown in table 1 . approximately 54 % tumor growth inhibition was achieved in animals treated with daily oral administration of the test compound . plasma concentration at 0 . 5 hr post - dosing on day 7 was 1460 ng / ml . the test compound treatments were safe and did not cause any body weight loss or mortality . daily 15 - minute infusion of the test compound resulted in approximately 34 % growth inhibition . in contrast , equivalent infusion for 4 hr / day resulted in substantially higher tumor growth inhibition ( 76 %). this suggests that the duration of coverage above a threshold plasma concentration has a significant value in the overall anti - tumor efficacy of the test compound in this model . based on these results , it can be also concluded that the coverage ( auc ) for 4 hr / day at an approximate plasma concentration of 500 ng / ml is sufficient to cause substantial fre / erbb2 tumor growth inhibition . the duration of exposure or auc ( coverage ) significantly affect efficacy : the daily c max alone cannot explain efficacy in this model . the duration of coverage (˜ 4 hr / day ) at a plasma concentration of ˜ 500 ng / ml has an advantage over a shorter duration of coverage (˜ 15 min / day ) in the fre / erbb2 tumor model . the anti - tumor efficacy of 25 mg / kg of the test compound administered orally once a day was effective at slowing volume growth of the fre tumors in the nu / nu mice is shown in bar graph format in fig1 . the figure shows that at seven days of treatment the fre tumor volume in treated mice is about half of the control . fig2 shows in bar graph format that the anti - tumor efficacy of the 10 mg / kg of the test compound administered iv for seven days over a four hour period each day is highly effective both on an absolute basis and when compared to infusion of either about 1 . 4 mg / kg of the inhibitor daily over about 15 min / day or vehicle . the test compound at about 10 mg / kg slowed the tumor volume increase to less than 24 % of the vehicle control . by contrast , rapid infusion of about 1 . 4 mg / kg slowed the tumor volume increase to less than 66 % of the vehicle control . the sk - ov - 3 model : effect of the duration of exposure on anti - tumor efficacy of the test compound pre - clinical investigations were conducted to determine whether the duration of the test compound coverage is critical for the anti - tumor efficacy . another goal was to establish the minimum efficacious ( c max and cave 0 - 4 h ) concentration in human ovarian adenocarcinoma , sk - ov - 3 tumor model . as background , the test compound ( po , qd ) was shown in example 1 to be efficacious against fre erbb2 tumors . similarly , iv administration of test compound was efficacious against fre erbb2 tumors . the findings demonstrated that maintaining ˜ 500 ng / ml blood concentrations of the test compound for 4 hr / day has an advantage over a shorter duration of coverage (˜ 15 min / day ) with comparable p - erbb2 reduction ( 48 - 53 %) in the fre erbb2 tumor model . pharmacokinetic , pharmacodynamic and efficacy data are shown in table 1 . based on the exposure measured in earlier studies , a c max of ˜ 1200 ng / ml or auc 02 h of ˜ 985 ng · hr / ml for the test compound with coverage of ˜ 2 hours was critical for ˜ 50 % fre erbb2 tumor growth inhibition . the investigation was extended to the human xenograft model , human ovarian adenocarcinoma model sk - ov - 3 , which over - expresses erbb2 . sk - ov - 3 cells obtained from atcc ( rockville , md .) were grown in mccoy &# 39 ; s medium containing 10 % fetal bovine serum and pen / strep . exponentially growing cells were harvested and inoculated sc ( 5 million cells / animal ) into female athymic mice . athymic mice bearing sk - ov - 3 tumors (˜ 100 mm 3 in size ) were randomized in 7 groups as shown in table 2 . the tumor measurements and body weight changes were obtained on days 1 , 3 , 6 , 10 , 13 and 18 . tumor volume was calculated by the following formula : tumor volume ( mm 3 )═( w × w )/ 2 × l ( l = length & amp ; w = width ). blood samples (˜ 50 μl ) were isolated at 0 . 5 , 1 , 2 , 4 and 8 hrs after dosing on day 18 for pk - analysis . tumors were isolated at 0 . 5 hr post - dosing on day 18 for pd - analysis by elisa . the p - erbb2 reduction , tumor volume and body weight changes in control and test compound treated animals are shown below in table 2 . oral anti - tumor efficacy of the test compound ( qd and bid ) was determined against human ovarian adenocarcinoma model sk - ov - 3 which overexpresses erbb2 . moreover , the test compound administration ( qd or bid ) was efficacious and caused dose - dependent inhibition of sk - ov - 3 xenografts ( fig3 and 4 ). the test compound was well tolerated and there was no body weight loss or animal mortality . the qd dosing of the test compound at 50 mg / kg for 18 days was non - efficacious . approximately 29 % tumor growth inhibition was achieved when a total daily dose of 50 mg / kg / day was administered on a bid schedule ( 25 mg / kg , bid ). the reduction of erbb2 receptor autophosphorylation at 0 . 5 hr post - dosing on day 18 was comparable in both qd and bid treatment groups ( 14 - 20 %), however , the c max for the test compound in 50 mg / kg qd group was approximately 2 - fold higher compared to 25 mg / kg bid dosed animals ( c max , 3640 ng / ml vs . 1780 ng / ml ). similarly , the auc 0 - 4 h ( 3410 ng . hr / ml vs . 1560 ng . hr / ml ) and cave 0 - 4 h ( 853 ng / ml vs . 390 ng / ml ) in qd group was approximately 2 - fold higher compared to bid dosed group . these results demonstrate that neither higher c max nor auco 4 h are critical for the anti - tumor efficacy of the test compound . an average coverage of 390 ng / ml of the test compound ( cave 0 - 4 hr ) twice a day ( bid ) has a benefit over an average coverage of 853 ng / ml ( cave 0 - 4 hr ) once a day ( qd ) though both approaches ( qd & amp ; bid ) gave comparable reduction of erbb2 autophosphorylation . the benefit of bid over qd dosing was also observed at higher doses of the test compound in the sk - ov - 3 model . in comparison with 50 mg / kg bid dosing of the test compound ( 100 mg / kg / day ), qd dosing of 100 mg / kg / day resulted in higher reduction of erbb2 - autophosphorylation ( 75 % vs . 24 %) and was associated with higher c max ( 12 , 100 ng / ml vs . 3880 ng / ml ), auco 4 h ( 16 , 300 ng . hr / ml vs . 4180 ng . hr / ml ) and cave 0 - 4 h ( 4080 ng / ml vs . 1050 ng / ml ). however , the qd schedule was less efficacious than the bid schedule ( 23 % vs . 45 % tumor growth inhibition ). these results support the interpretation that higher c max , or auc 0 - 4 h of the test compound does not have any significant benefit in this tumor model whereas the frequency of coverage ( cave 04 , bid versus qd ) above a threshold level is the determining factor for the anti - tumor efficacy . furthermore , an approximately 24 % reduction of sk - ov - 3 tumor p - erbb2 may be sufficient for ˜ 50 % growth inhibition if the average duration of coverage is maintained for a longer period of time with bid dosing . oral absorption of the test compound was non - linear at 200 mg / kg qd dosing . the c max and the cave 0 - 4 h values for the test compound were comparable in both 200 mg / kg qd and 100 mg / kg bid dosed animals . despite the lower reduction of tumor erbb2 - autophosphorylation in 100 mg / kg bid dosed animals ( 62 % vs . 90 %), the tumor growth inhibition in this group was 2 - fold higher than 200 mg / kg , qd dosed animals ( 71 % vs . 36 %). these observations further support the interpretation that a lower reduction of erbb2 - autophosphorylation ( 62 % vs . 90 %) with a longer / more frequent daily coverage ( bid schedule ) at a comparable c max has significant benefit . the present findings are in accord with the results in athymic mice bearing fre erbb2 tumors ( example 1 ). in that study , compared to 15 min / day , maintaining ˜ 500 ng / ml blood concentrations of the test compound for 4 hr / day with a comparable reduction of erbb2 - autophosphorylation had a benefit . thus , in this example , the findings of sk - ov - 3 tumor model suggest that the total daily coverage , i . e . frequency of daily dosing , is critical for the anti - tumor efficacy of the test compound . that is , a bid schedule has a benefit over qd dosing . the higher reduction of erbb2 - autophosphorylation for a shorter duration has limited value . pre - clinical investigations were conducted to determine whether the duration of the test compound coverage is critical for the anti - tumor efficacy and also to establish the minimum efficacious ( c max and cave 0 - 4 h ) concentration in the human breast adenocarcinoma , bt - 474 tumor model . as background , the test compound ( po , qd ) was shown in example 1 to be efficacious against fre erbb2 tumors . similarly , iv administration of test compound was efficacious against fre erbb2 tumors . the findings demonstrated that maintaining ˜ 500 ng / ml blood concentrations of the test compound for 4 hr / day has an advantage over a shorter duration of coverage (˜ 15 min / day ) with comparable p - erbb2 reduction ( 48 - 53 %) in the fre erbb2 tumor model . pharmacokinetic , pharmacodynamic and efficacy data are shown in table 1 . based on the exposure measured in the earlier study in fre erbb2 model the investigation was extended in example 2 to the human ovarian adenocarcinoma xenograft model sk - ov - 3 , which overexpresses erbb2 . the test compound was efficacious and the findings of the sk - ov - 3 tumor model suggested that the total daily coverage , i . e . frequency of daily dosing , is critical for the anti - tumor efficacy of the test compound . a bid dosing schedule is more beneficial than a qd dosing schedule . the higher reduction of erbb2 - autophosphorylation for a shorter duration has limited value . the present example extends the evaluation of the significance of the frequency of daily dosing for the anti - tumor efficacy of the test compound to a human breast adenocarcinoma model bt - 474 , which over - expresses erbb2 receptors . exponentially growing bt - 474 cells ( rpmi 1640 with 10 mm hepes , 10 % fbs , and pen / strep [ gibco ]) were harvested and inoculated sc ( 5 million cells / animal ) into female athymic mice . trochar pieces of bt - 474 tumors were then implanted into the right flank of animals . bt - 474 tumor bearing mice ( 50 - 320 mm 3 in size , n = 40 ) were randomized in 7 groups consisting 5 - 6 animals each . animals were treated with vehicle ( po , bid ) or the test compound ( po , qd or bid ) as described in table 4 . the tumor measurements and body weight changes were obtained on days 1 , 6 , 11 , 15 and 22 . tumor volume was calculated by the following formula : tumor volume ( mm 3 )═( w × w )/ 2 × l ( l = length & amp ; w = width ). blood samples (˜ 50 μl ) were isolated at 0 . 5 , 1 , 2 , 4 and 8 hrs after dosing on day 22 for pk - analysis . tumors were isolated at 0 . 5 hr post - dosing on day 22 for pd - analysis by elisa . statistical analysis : anova was conducted on the percentage growth data and planned comparisons were conducted between like - doses . the data were log transformed for the analysis due to the distribution of the values . the dunnett - tamahane procedure was used for the multiple comparison analysis . the p - erbb2 reduction , tumor volume and body weight changes in control and test compound treated animals is shown in table 4 . table 5 c max 0 . 5 h auc 0 - 4 h groups ( ng / ml ) ( ng · hr / ml ) cave 0 - 4 h ( ng / ml ) 15 mg / kg , po , qd 250 nd nd 30 mg / kg , po , qd 1800 1280 * 320 * 50 mg / kg , po , qd 5890 4220 * 1060 * 15 mg / kg , po , bid 616 480 120 30 mg / kg , po , bid 1570 1440 * 360 * 50 mg / kg , po , bid 6170 5280 1320 nd : not determined due to the extrapolated portion of auc ≧ 30 % of total auc values represent the average . * values were estimated based on the extrapolated concentration at 4 hr from 2 hr and 8 hr exposures . thus , oral anti - tumor efficacy of the test compound ( qd and bid ) was determined against human breast adenocarcinoma model bt - 474 which overexpresses erbb2 . the test compound administration ( qd or bid ) was efficacious and caused growth inhibition of bt - 474 xenografts ( fig5 a and 5 b ). the test compound was well tolerated and there was no body weight loss or animal mortality . due to a wide variation in the initial tumor volume , % growth of individual tumor was calculated and an average of each group was used to determine relative anti - tumor efficacy . the test compound treatments at 15 mg / kg qd ( 15 mg / kg / day ) and bid ( 30 mg / kg / day ) for 22 days were efficacious and caused 22 % and 54 % ( p = 0 . 007 ) tumor growth inhibition , respectively . the reduction of erbb2 receptor autophosphorylation at 0 . 5 hr post - dosing on day 22 was below the limit of detection in both qd and bid treatment groups and the determination of cave 0 - 4 h in qd dosed animals was not possible due to the extrapolated portion of auc ≧ 30 % of total auc . the efficacious c max , auc 0 - 4 h and cave 0 - 4 h ( 54 % growth inhibition ) for the test compound in 15 mg / kg , bid dosed animals were 616 ng / ml , 480 ng - hr / ml and 120 ng / ml , respectively . the pk , pd and anti - tumor efficacy of the test compound was also determined after 30 mg / kg qd ( 30 mg / kg / day ) and bid ( 60 mg / kg / day ) treatments . the pk values were comparable for the test compound after qd or bid dosing determined on day 22 i . e . c max ( 1800 ng / ml vs . 1570 ng / ml ), auco 4 h ( 1280 ng · hr / ml vs . 1440 ng - hr / ml ) and cave 0 - 4 h ( 320 ng / ml vs . 360 ng / ml , table 5 ). the reduction of bt - 474 tumor erbb2 autophosphorylation in qd dosed animals was higher than bid dosed animals ( 57 % vs . 26 %, p = 0 . 06 ). the 30 mg / kg bid schedule of the test compound was more efficacious than qd dosing ( 68 % vs . 33 % growth inhibition , p = 0 . 053 ). in comparison with 30 mg / kg qd or bid dosing of the test compound ( 30 mg / kg / day or 60 mg / kg / day ), qd or bid dosing of 50 mg / kg / day ( 50 mg / kg / day or 100 mg / kg / day ) resulted in greater reduction of tumor erbb2 - autophosphorylation (˜ 75 % reduction ). the pk - parameters of the test compound in 50 mg / kg qd or bid treatment groups on day 22 were also comparable i . e . c max ( 5890 ng / ml vs . 6170 ng / ml ), auco 4 h ( 4220 ng - hr / ml vs . 5280 ng - hr / ml ) and cave 0 - 4 h ( 1060 ng / ml vs . 1320 ng / ml ). the qd schedule appeared less efficacious than the bid schedule ( 35 % vs . 68 % tumor growth inhibition , p = 0 . 066 ). a pooled test , comparing like - doses between qd and bid , was performed . this test showed that , overall , the bid dosings were more efficacious than qd dosing ( p = 0 . 0346 ). this finding suggests that the multiplicity of the test compound - dosing has positive effect on overall outcome of treatment . a comparison of pk , pd and anti - tumor efficacy of the test compound observed in 50 mg / kg , qd ( 50 mg / kg / day ) vs . 30 mg / kg , bid ( 60 mg / kg / day ) groups ( the two closest groups in the total daily dosing ) were also evaluated to determine the value of dosing - frequency . the p - erbb2 reduction in 50 mg / kg , qd ( 50 mg / kg / day ) dosed group was much higher than 30 mg / kg , bid ( 60 mg / kg / day ) dosed group ( 75 % vs . 26 % p - erbb2 reduction , table 4 ). similarly , higher c max ( 5890 ng / ml vs . 1570 ng / ml ), auc 0 - 4 h ( 4220 ng · hr / ml vs . 1440 ng - hr / ml ) and cave 0 - 4 h ( 1060 ng / ml vs . 360 ng / ml ) for the test compound was observed in 50 mg / kg , qd dosed group compared to 30 mg / kg , bid dosed group ( table 5 ). despite the lower p - erbb2 reduction and pk - values for the test compound ( i . e ., c max , auc 0 - 4 h and cave 0 - 4 h ), 30 mg / kg , bid dosing ( 60 mg / kg / day ) was more efficacious than 50 mg / kg , qd dosing ( 50 mg / kg / day ). overall , approximately 68 % and 35 % tumor growth inhibition was observed in 30 mg / kg , bid and 50 mg / kg , qd groups , respectively ( p = 0 . 0636 ). although the total daily dose of the test compound in these two groups is slightly unequal , a conclusion can be made that the frequency of daily dosing i . e . bid dosing has benefit over qd dosing . these results are similar to the findings with the sk - ov - 3 tumor model study , example 2 , supra , that the frequency of daily dosing i . e . the cave 0 - 4 twice a day coverage with bid dosing confers a benefit compared to cave 0 - 4 once a day coverage with qd dosing . furthermore , an approximately 26 % reduction of bt - 474 tumor - autophosphorylation twice a day with bid dosing may be sufficient for ˜ 50 % growth inhibition if the average duration of coverage (˜ 360 ng / ml ) is maintained for a longer period of time with bid dosing . the present findings are also in accord with the results of iv administration of the test compound by infusion into athymic mice bearing fre erbb2 tumors . that study demonstrated that maintaining ˜ 500 ng / ml blood concentrations of the test compound for 4 hr / day conferred a benefit compared to a bolus administration . thus , the findings from the bt - 474 tumor model suggest that both multiplicity of dosing and the frequency of daily dosing are critical for the anti - tumor efficacy of the test compound . multiplicity of dosing relates to administering a dose ( x mg / kg ) from at least twice a day to six or optionally seven times per day compared to administering the same dose ( x mg / kg ) once per day . frequency of daily dosing relates to dividing a daily dose , for example one half x mg / kg twice per day compared to x mg / kg once per day . the higher reduction of erbb2 - autophosphorylation for a shorter duration has limited value . pre - clinical investigations were conducted to determine whether the duration of the test compound coverage is critical for the anti - tumor efficacy and also to establish the minimum efficacious ( c max and cave 0 - 4 h ) concentration in the human breast adenocarcinoma tumor model , mda - mb - 453 . as background , the test compound ( po , qd ) was shown in example 1 to be efficacious against fre erbb2 tumors . similarly , iv administration of test compound was efficacious against fre erbb2 tumors . the findings demonstrated that maintaining ˜ 500 ng / ml blood concentrations of the test compound for 4 hr / day has an advantage over a shorter duration of coverage (˜ 15 min / day ) with comparable p - erbb2 reduction ( 48 - 53 %) in the fre erbb2 tumor model . pharmacokinetic , pharmacodynamic and efficacy data are shown in table 1 . the investigation was extended to the human ovarian adenocarcinoma xenograft model sk - ov - 3 which overexpresses erbb2 . the test compound was efficacious and the findings of sk - ov - 3 tumor model suggest that the total daily coverage , i . e . frequency of daily dosing is critical for the anti - tumor efficacy of the test compound ( bid schedule has benefit over qd dosing ). the anti - tumor effect of qd vs . bid oral dosing schedules of the test compound was also investigated against the bt - 474 human breast adenocarcinoma model which overexpresses erbb2 . the findings also suggest that both multiplicity and frequency of dosing are critical for the anti - tumor efficacy of the test compound . overall , the findings of both sk - ov - 3 and bt - 474 models suggest that the higher reduction of erbb2 - autophosphorylation for a shorter duration has limited value . the present investigation was performed to determine the oral anti - tumor efficacy of the test compound against an additional human breast carcinoma model , mda - mb - 453 which overexpresses erbb2 . our second objective of this investigation was to determine whether multiplicity or frequency of the test compound dosing has any benefit against this model . study design : exponentially growing mda - mb - 453 cells ( dmem / f12 with 10 % fbs , and pen / strep [ gibco ]) were harvested and inoculated sc ( 5 million cells / animal ) into female athymic mice . mda - mb - 453 tumor bearing mice (˜ 100 mm 3 in size , n = 64 ) were randomized in 8 groups consisting 8 animals each . animals were treated with vehicle ( po , qd or bid ) or the test compound ( po , qd or bid ) as described in table 6 . the tumor measurements and body weight changes were obtained on days 1 , 3 , 7 , 10 , 14 , 17 , 21 , 24 , and 29 . tumor volume was calculated by the following formula : tumor volume ( mm 3 )═( w × w )/ 2 × l ( l = length & amp ; w = width ). blood samples (˜ 50 μl ) were isolated at 0 . 5 , 1 , 2 , 4 and 8 hrs after dosing on day 29 for pk - analysis . tumors were isolated at 0 . 5 hr post - dosing on day 29 for pd - analysis by elisa . statistical analysis : anova was conducted on the percentage growth data and planned comparisons were conducted between like - doses . the data were log transformed for the analysis due to the distribution of the values . the dunnett - tamahane procedure was used for the multiple comparison analysis . the p - erbb2 reduction , tumor volume and body weight changes in control and test compound treated animals are shown in table 6 . thus , oral anti - tumor efficacy of the test compound ( qd and bid ) was determined against human breast adenocarcinoma model mda - mb - 453 which overexpresses erbb2 . the test compound administration ( qd or bid ) was efficacious and caused growth inhibition of mda - mb - 453 xenografts ( fig6 a and 6 b ). the test compound was well tolerated and there was no body weight loss or animal mortality . the test compound treatments at 50 , 100 and 200 mg / kg qd ( 50 , 100 and 200 mg / kg / day ) for 29 days were efficacious and caused 38 %, 63 % and 100 % tumor growth inhibition , respectively . the reduction of erbb2 receptor autophosphorylation at 0 . 5 hr post - dosing on day 29 in 50 , 100 and 200 mg / kg groups were 78 %, 88 % and 92 %, respectively . bid dosing of 25 , 50 and 100 mg / kg the test compound for 29 days was efficacious against mba - mb - 453 tumors and caused 19 %, 66 % and 83 % growth inhibition , respectively . the p - erbb2 reduction in these groups were 69 %, 75 % and 79 %, respectively . anova was used for statistical analysis of overall efficacy for the different doses of the test compound . dunnett - tamahane &# 39 ; s procedure was used for multiple comparisons to vehicle adjustments . the results show that there is no significant difference between 25 mg / kg bid and the 50 mg / kg qd ( p = 0 . 295 ), the 50 mg / kg bid and the 100 mg / kg qd ( p = 0 . 703 ) and the 100 mg / kg bid and the 200 mg / kg qd ( p = 0 . 117 ) dosing schedules of the test compound . similarly , there was no significant difference between like doses i . e . 50 mg / kg bid vs . 50 mg / kg qd ( p = 0 . 13 ) and 100 mg / kg bid vs . 100 mg / kg qd ( p = 0 . 17 ). comparative statistical evaluation using only the dose / dosing - schedule and anti - tumor efficacy observed in different groups is not sufficient to derive any definitive conclusion to address the question : whether bid schedule has any benefit over qd dosing of the test compound . the reduction of p - erbb2 after qd ( 50 - 200 mg / kg ) or bid ( 25 - 100 mg / kg ) dosings was 69 - 92 % and it was difficult to use it as a parameter for any further statistical data analysis . hence , the data - analysis was extended using pharmacokinetic parameters i . e . c max and cave 0 - 4 h of the test compound . the caves 0 - 4 h of 591 ng / ml and 3120 ng / ml obtained after 50 mg / kg ( 50 mg / kg / day ) and 100 mg / kg ( 100 mg / kg / day ) qd dosing caused 38 % and 63 % tumor growth inhibition . cave 0 - 4 h of 509 ng / ml obtained twice a day with 50 mg / kg bid dosing schedule resulted in 66 % efficacy . the cave 0 - 4 h of 509 ng / ml maintained for 8 hrs / day with bid dosing is not significantly different from maintaining cave 0 - 4 h at 591 ng / ml ( 50 mg / kg qd dosing ) or 3120 ng / ml ( 100 mg / kg qd dosing ) for 4 hrs / day ( p = 0 . 13 & amp ; p = 0 . 58 , respectively ). this can also be interpreted that maintaining 509 ng / ml average plasma concentration for 8 hrs / day has equal or better benefit compared to maintaining average plasma concentrations of 591 to 3120 ng / ml for 4 hrs / day . the c max for the test compound in the 50 mg / kg qd and 50 mg / kg bid groups was comparable ( 2760 ng / ml vs . 2390 ng / ml ) whereas the c max in the 100 mg / kg , qd group was approximately 4 - fold higher ( 9770 ng / ml ). these results suggest that higher c max or cave 0 - 4 h alone has limited value when p - erbb2 reduction is comparable . a comparison of c max and cave 0 - 4 h vs . anti - tumor efficacy of the test compound observed in the 100 mg / kg bid and 200 mg / kg qd groups was also performed . the c max for the test compound in the 200 mg / kg qd group was 2 . 4 - fold higher than that in the 100 mg / kg bid group ( 16700 ng / ml vs . 6870 ng / ml ). similarly cave 0 - 4 h was 3 . 8 - fold higher in the 200 mg / kg qd group compared to the 100 mg / kg bid group ( 6510 ng / ml vs . 1710 ng / ml ). despite the higher c max and cave 0 - 4 h , the overall efficacy of the test compound observed in with the 200 mg / kg qd dose was comparable to the anti - tumor efficacy observed with 100 mg / kg bid dosing ( 100 % vs . 83 %). this data further suggest that maintaining 8 hrs / day average plasma concentration at 1710 ng / ml ( c max , 6870 ng / ml ) by 100 mg / kg bid dosing of the test compound is as beneficial as maintaining 6510 ng / ml ( c max , 16 , 700 ng / ml ) average plasma concentration after 200 mg / kg qd dosing . thus , the findings here suggest that in the mda - mb - 453 tumor model , maintaining 8 hrs / day ˜ 509 ng / ml plasma concentration of the test compound ( 50 mg / kg , bid dosing ) is as effective as maintaining 4 hrs / day average plasma concentrations of 591 to 3120 ng / ml ( 50 - 100 mg / kg qd dosing ) in inhibiting tumor growth . thus a low dose of the test compound given on bid schedule has benefit equal to the higher doses given on qd schedule . the present invention is not to be limited in scope by the specific embodiments described herein . indeed , various modifications of the invention in addition to those described herein will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description and the accompanying figures . such modifications are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims . all patents , applications , publications , test methods , literature , and other materials cited herein are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties . | 0 |
schematically illustrated in fig1 are major components of a booster pump control valve of the type generally illustrated in the aforementioned u . s . pat . no . 2 , 384 , 420 and presently sold by the assignee of the present invention as a clayton booster type pump control valve model 60p - 1a ( globe ). the valve of fig1 controls flow of fluid from a pump ( not shown in fig1 ) via an upstream pipe 10 to a downstream pipe 12 and includes a valve seat 14 cooperating with a movable valve closure member 16 that is operated by a valve shaft 18 . valve shaft 18 , in turn , is operated by a diaphragm 20 that is driven either upwardly or downwardly ( as viewed in fig1 ) in accordance with the pressure differential in first and second valve operator chambers 22 , 24 on either side of the diaphragm 20 . pressure in the valve operator chambers 22 , 24 is controlled by a valve controller in the form of a pilot valve solenoid 26 . valve controller 26 receives liquid under pressure via check valves 28 and 30 respectively from a conduit 32 connected to the upstream pipe 10 and from a conduit 34 connected to the downstream conduit 12 . pilot valve solenoid or valve controller 26 includes a solenoid that switches the pilot valve between energized and de - energized conditions . in this booster pump arrangement , the pilot valve solenoid , when de - energized , feeds a relatively high pressure to chamber 22 via line 36 . the pilot valve and line 38 connect the chamber 24 to a low pressure or atmosphere . this keeps the valve ( 14 , 16 ) closed . when the solenoid of the valve controller 26 is energized , high pressure from the upstream pipe 10 is fed via line 32 through check valve 28 and through the pilot valve and line 38 to the chamber 24 . upper chamber 22 is connected via line 36 and the pilot valve solenoid , when energized , to a lower pressure or the atmosphere . thus the valve ( 14 , 16 ) begins to open under control of diaphragm 20 and valve shaft 18 , when the pilot valve solenoid is energized . limit switch 40 is connected to be operated by an upper extension 42 of the valve shaft 18 so that the switch is in one position when the closure member 16 contacts the seat 14 to close the valve and is in another position when the closure member 16 raises a small amount to begin to open the valve ( 14 , 16 ). the system pump ( not shown in fig1 and 2 ) is under control of a motor 50 , shown in fig2 in a prior control system . this prior control system includes a pair of power input terminals 52 , 54 which energize a first circuit including a remote control and manual start selector 56 and a remote control switch 58 . energization of these switches , manually or remotely , energize the coil 60 of a run command relay ( rcr ) having normally open run command contact pairs , 60 - 1 and 60 - 2 connected to be closed when coil 60 is energized . contacts 60 - 1 operate ( when closed ) in a second circuit to energize a solenoid coil 66 ( pvs ) of the pilot control or valve controller 26 of fig1 . when this circuit is energized by operation of switches 56 , 58 , the pilot valve solenoid coil 66 is energized to begin opening the normally closed valve 14 , 16 of fig1 . concomitantly , contacts 60 - 2 energize a third circuit in which is connected the coil 68 of a motor control relay ( mcr ) having first and second normally open contacts 68 - 1 , 68 - 2 connected to be closed upon energization of coil 68 . thus , upon the run command achieved by operation of switches 56 , 58 , both coils 60 and 68 are energized and contacts 68 - 2 are also energized to establish a fourth circuit having the motor 50 connected therein . as the valve 14 , 16 moves from its normally closed position , the normally open contact limit switch 40 is closed to establish a circuit including the contacts of limit switch 40 , the closed contacts 68 - 1 and the motor control relay coil 68 , to thereby latch the motor in a steady state run condition . the motor is connected to drive the pump . to stop the pump , under control of the prior circuit of fig2 switches 56 , 58 are operated to de - energize coil 60 and open contact 60 - 1 , 60 - 2 . opening contacts 60 - 1 de - energizes the pilot valve solenoid coil 66 and the anti - surge valve 14 , 16 begins to close . nevertheless , the motor continues to run because the motor control relay coil 68 is latched by the still closed limit switch 40 and the still closed motor control relay contacts 68 - 1 . only when the valve closure member 16 attains a nearly closed condition , do the contacts of the limit switch 40 open thereby de - energizing the motor control relay coil 68 and opening the contacts 68 - 2 to the motor . a valve substantially similar to that of fig1 is illustrated in fig3 and is arranged for use with a deep well pump ( not shown ) that provides pressurized fluid from its discharge side to the upstream pipe 10a and thence through a main flow control valve having a closure member 76 and a valve seat 78 to a downstream pipe 12a . closure member 76 is connected to be operated by pressure difference on the two sides of the valve 76 , 78 . when the pump is off , downstream pressure in conduit 12a , which is connected to the hydraulic mainline system , is a higher pressure and , via a valve operating diaphragm 80 , forces closure member 76 into a closed position . when the pump is operating , the upstream side of the main valve 76 , 78 has a higher pressure to thereby open the valve 76 , 78 . parts of the valve of fig3 that correspond to parts of the valve of fig1 are designated by the same reference numbers , but with the suffix a . in this deep well pump arrangement , the pump is started with the pump control valve in open condition to flow a mixture of liquid and air , initially discharged from the starting pump , from the system to the atmosphere via a conduit 82 . the anti - surge valve for control of the deep well pump is substantially identical to the valve of fig1 but its closure member 16a is initially open ( when the pump is off ), and the valve controller is de - energized with the lower chamber 24a adjacent the valve operating diaphragm 20a having a higher pressure than the upper chamber 22a . this drives the closure member 16a to its upper or open position . according to previous practice , when the pump is started , the valve controller or pilot valve solenoid 26a is energized to start the closing of valve closure member 16a by producing a higher pressure in chamber 22a and a relatively low pressure in chamber 24a . as valve 16a begins to move from its open position , limit switch 40a closes to establish and latch a motor control relay circuit similar to circuit of fig2 and including limit switch 40a , contacts 68 - 1 and motor control relay coil 68 of fig2 . as valve member 16a closes , pressure increases at the upstream side of main valve 76 , 78 which then opens , as valve member 16a reaches its final closed position , and the system continues with the pump running in such a steady state condition . when the pump run command is removed , pilot valve solenoid 26a is de - energized and closure member 16a begins to raise , to open the pump control valve 16a , 14a . as the closure member 16a nears its fully opened position , limit switch 40a disables the motor control relay latch circuit and the motor and pump stop . the system and controls described above have been used for some time , but are subject to several problems , as previously mentioned . with the above - described prior system , it is possible to start the pump with the control valve in the wrong position ( open for a booster pump , or closed for the deep well pump ). if the pump loses suction or discharge pressure , or a pump shaft is broken , the system or at least those parts still operable may continue to run . in case of a power failure , this prior system may begin its stop cycle , but if power should return before the control valve has fully closed in the booster pump , or before the control valve has fully opened in the deep well pump , the pump may restart and subject the hydraulic mainline system to an undesired starting surge . it may be noted that the valves described above may take about four to five minutes to move from one position to the other . the rate of closure and the rate of opening of the valves are controlled by throttling and rate control valves ( not shown ) that are connected in the lines between the valve controllers 26 , 26a and the chambers 22 , 24 , and 22a , 24a . in the deepwell pump , as controlled according to prior art , it is possible that the control valve may close before all of the mixture of air and liquid in the line between the valve and the discharge side of the pump has been fully vented to the atmosphere . in the prior system , this time of closing is not readily controllable . to eliminate these problems in prior systems , to provide a safety control that avoids incorrect and potentially dangerous operation of the system in the presence of certain hazards and failures , and to provide generally improved functioning of the system , principles of the present invention are employed to control the pump and valve as illustrated in fig4 . a system pump 86 , having an input side 88 and a discharge side 90 , is driven by a motor 50 under control of a motor control 92 . pump 86 feeds fluid under pressure to a control valve 94 which may be a booster control valve of the type illustrated in fig1 or a deep well control valve of the type illustrated in fig3 . valve 94 is operated between its open and closed positions by a valve controller 96 which is a conventional solenoid controlled pilot valve , of the type normally employed with the above identified cla - val valves . a valve position detector in the form of a limit switch 98 is connected with the valve 94 to send an electrical signal representing the sensed position of the valve . when the valve is in one position , closed for the booster pump or open for the deep well pump , it sends a &# 34 ; run &# 34 ; signal via a line 97 , and in the other position the detector 98 sends an &# 34 ; off &# 34 ; signal via a line 99 . a pressure detector 100 is connected to sense fluid pressure at a point between the discharge side of the pump and the input of the valve , preferably adjacent the input side of the valve 94 . detector 100 provides a signal on a line 101 when the sensed pressure is at or above a pre - determined pressure level . the valve controller 96 receives a first input on line 101 representing sensed pressure and a second input on a line 103 representing a run command which is a manually or remotely provided command signal to operate the pump . motor control 92 is operated by a motor run signal on a line 93 which is provided by one or more of three different circuits at different conditions of operation . thus , the motor run signal is provided by ( a ) an initiate circuit 104 , ( b ) a timed start circuit 106 , and ( c ) a steady state run circuit 108 . a timer 110 is provided to generate a time interval for system start . upon occurrence of a run command signal , a run command input to timer 110 via a line 111 starts a time interval to provide a start interval input on lines 113 and 114 to the initiate circuit 104 and to the timed start circuit 106 . the initiate circuit 104 also receives inputs from the run command on line 116 and from the valve position detector on line 99 ( indicating position of the valve when the system is not running ). the timed start circuit 106 receives a run command input on line 118 and a motor on input on a line 120 from the output of the motor control relay 92 when the latter is energized to drive the motor 50 . the steady state run circuit 108 has a motor on input on a line 122 from the motor control 92 when the latter is energized to drive the motor , and also has a second input on line 97 from the valve position detector 98 , indicating that the valve is in the run position ( open for the booster pump and closed for the deep well pump ). operation of the control system of fig4 will be described with respect to a booster pump such as shown in fig1 . valve 94 is initially closed and valve controller 96 is de - energized . low pressure is sensed by pressure sensor 100 . position detector 98 detects the off position of the valve . motor control 92 is de - energized , motor 50 is not running and the pumps 86 is off . a run command actuates the timer 110 to initiate the start time interval and further provides a first input to both the initiate circuit 104 and the timed start circuit 106 . the latter , however , still lacks an input on line 120 since the motor control 92 has not yet been energized . run circuit 108 is also not energized at this time because the valve is in its off position . however , initiate circuit 104 receives all of its three required inputs , the start interval from the timer , the run command and the off valve position and accordingly , motor control 92 is energized from circuit 104 to start motor 50 and to drive pump 86 . timed start circuit 106 is established ( enabled ) as soon as the motor control 92 is energized , receiving its motor on input on line 120 , the run command on line 118 and the start interval on line 114 . initially pressure of the discharge side of pump 90 is low and no input to valve controller 96 is provided from the pressure sensor 100 , whereby the valve controller initially remains de - energized and the valve 94 remains in its off position , while the motor and pump begin to run . as soon as the pressure at the input of valve 94 reaches the predetermined level , this is detected by the pressure sensor 100 , and valve controller 96 receives its second input . controller 96 is accordingly energized , whereupon valve 94 begins to move from its off position to its run position . as the valve moves from its off position , valve position detector 98 senses displacement of the valve . the initiate circuit 104 is now disabled because it no longer receives an off valve position signal . however , run circuit 108 which is receiving a motor on input from motor control 92 now receives a run valve position signal from the position detector and this steady state run or latch circuit is now established to operate the motor control . at the end of the start time interval provided by timer 110 , timed start circuit 106 is disabled but is no longer needed since the steady state run circuit 108 is now energizing the motor controller 92 . however , if valve 94 had failed to open even though the motor control 92 had been energized and the motor and pump were operating , the timed start circuit 106 would be disabled at the end of the start time interval and the motor control 92 would thereupon be de - energized . initiate circuit 104 is also de - energized at the end of the start time interval because it requires a start interval input on line 113 . further , the steady state run circuit 108 is not energized if the valve does not move to its run position . in prior circuits , the motor control 92 is operated directly by the run command and thus will drive the motor regardless of valve position . assuming the run circuit 108 is established and the system is running in steady state condition , it will continue to do so only as long as the run command continues and the pressure at the input to valve 94 as detected by pressure sensor 100 remains above a preselected value . to stop the system , the run command is removed , thereby de - energizing valve controller 96 which starts to move the valve 94 from its run position to its off position . however , the motor and pump continue to run until the valve has almost reached its off position , at which time the run valve position input to run circuit 108 is removed by valve position detector 98 and the motor and pump are stopped . should the pressure detected by pressure sensor 100 drop below a pre - determined minimum during operation of the system , valve controller 96 is de - energized . accordingly , the system will stop in the same manner as it would if the run command is removed . should there be an electrical failure during steady state operation , the system must be completely shut down before it can be restarted . in prior control systems , on the other hand , the pump and motor could be restarted upon resumption of power after a power failure , even though the valve had not yet returned to its off position . with the arrangement of fig4 however , run circuit 108 cannot be re - energized until the motor controller 92 is energized once again . the latter cannot be initially energized by the run circuit nor by the timed start circuit , both of which require the motor control to be on . start and restart can be controlled only by the initiate circuit 104 . since this circuit is under control of the valve position detector and can be established only when the valve is in the off position the system cannot be restarted until it has been entirely shut down . it will be understood that the control concepts of the present invention are merely functionally illustrated in fig4 and can be implemented by various electrical and electromechanical control elements and devices well known in the art . thus , the timer and the three motor control energizing circuits 104 , 106 and 108 , may be all or partly provided by conventional electronic components such as solid state semi - conductor logic . alternatively , these may be provided by control relays . a system of the latter type is selected for purposes of illustration and shown in fig5 . a plurality of circuits are provided between electric power input terminals 126 , 128 . a run command circuit for energizing a run command relay ( rcr ) coil 130 is operable by a manual run command provided by a remote / manual selector switch 132 or a remote switch 134 so that the coil 130 may be manually energized by moving switch 132 to its lower position or by remote operation of switch 134 with the selector switch 132 in its upper position . an indicator light 136 is connected to provide a visible indication of remote operation of the circuit . a valve controller circuit including the solenoid 138 of the pilot valve ( pvs ) is connected in circuit with a first set of normally open contacts 130 - 1 that are operated by coil 130 . also connected in the circuit of solenoid 138 is a pressure switch 142 that is open when the pressure at its sensing input is below a predetermined value and closed when the pressure is at or above its predetermined value . a time delay relay ( tdr ) 144 is connected in a time interval circuit with a second set of normally open contacts 130 - 2 that are operated by the run command relay coil 130 . time delay relay 144 operates a set of normally closed contacts 144 - 1 to cause these contacts to open a predetermined time interval after energization of the coil of the time delay relay . a motor control relay ( mcr ) coil 150 is connected to be energized by three different circuits as described above in connection with fig4 . the first of these circuits is the initiate circuit and includes a limit switch 152 in its illustrated normally closed position , the normally closed time delay relay contacts 144 - 1 and a third set of normally open contacts 130 - 3 connected to be closed by energization of the run command relay coil 130 . a second or timed start circuit for energization of the motor control relay coil 150 comprises the normally closed time delay relay contacts 144 - 1 , the third set of run command relay contacts 130 - 3 and a first set of normally open motor control relay contacts 150 - 2 that are connected to be closed by energization of motor control relay coil 150 . the steady state run circuit for motor control relay coil 150 comprises limit switch 152 , when it moves to its run position ( the unillustrated position of fig5 ), and a second set of normally open contacts 150 - 1 connected to be closed upon energization of the motor control relay coil 150 . a third set of normally open contacts 150 - 3 connected to be closed by energization of motor control relay coil 150 is connected in circuit with the motor 50 and with an indicator light 162 which is energized whenever the motor is energized to provide a visual indication of the motor on condition . the relay control circuit of fig5 operates just as previously described in connection with the functional diagram of fig4 and will control either the booster type pump control valve or the deep well type pump control valve . the system will automatically shut down in the absence of appropriate pressure at the input side of the valve . it will provide a delay upon start to allow the pressure to build up . it will start to operate the pump control valve to its run position only after pressure has reached its selected value and only with the control valve in its off position . further , if the valve does not move to its run position , the system will stop after a start time interval . where the system of fig5 is applied to a booster pump , a starting cycle is initiated by closing switch 132 ( manual operation ) or both switches 132 and 134 ( remote operation ) to energize coil 130 thereby closing run command relay contacts 130 - 1 , 130 - 2 and 130 - 3 . solenoid coil 138 is not yet energized because pressure switch 142 has not yet sensed its preset pressure level . time delay relay 144 is energized and the start time interval commences . normally closed contacts 144 - 1 remain closed during the start time interval and open at the end of this interval . motor control relay coil 150 is energized by the initiate circuit including limit switch 152 in the illustrated off position , contacts 130 - 3 and normally closed contacts 144 - 1 . upon energization of motor control relay coil 150 , its contacts 150 - 1 , 150 - 2 and 150 - 3 close . this energizes the timed start circuit including contacts 150 - 2 , contacts 130 - 3 and still closed contacts 144 - 1 . upon build up of pressure , switch 142 closes to energize solenoid 138 of the valve controller and the pump control valve begins to open . as the valve opens slightly , switch 152 moves to its other position to establish the run control circuit including limit switch 152 and now closed contacts 150 - 1 . just after the valve begins to open the initiate circuit is disabled . as soon as the start time interval terminates , the timed start circuit is disabled . now the pump continues to run on the run circuit including limit switch 152 and contacts 150 - 1 . if the valve had not opened after receipt of the run command , the run circuit ( limit switch 152 and contacts 150 - 1 ) would not have been established and at the end of the start time , the system would have shut down . further , if the pressure had not risen to the preset level , the valve controller coil 138 would not have been energized and the valve would remain closed , whereupon at the end of the start time interval the system would shut down . during steady state run under control of the run circuit , including limit switch 152 and motor control relay latching contact 150 - 1 , the system continues to run and will stop upon command or upon the occurrence of certain failures . if pressure should be lost as by loss of suction or a broken pump shaft , for example , pressure switch 142 opens , de - energizing the solenoid of the valve controller , thereby driving the pump control valve toward its closed position , operating limit switch 152 and de - energizing the run circuit . upon occurrence of an electrical failure , all relay coils are de - energized . all relay contacts moved to their de - energized position and the valve begins to close . if power should be resumed before the valve is fully closed , the system will not restart . as previously described , it is undesirable to start the system unless the valve is closed . however , when the time delay relay is de - energized contacts 144 - 1 close and , upon re - establishment of power after a momentary power failure , contacts 130 - 3 of the timed start circuit also close . however , the motor control relay contacts 150 - 2 do not close unless the motor control relay coil 150 has been energized again . but the latter cannot be energized unless and until the valve has completely closed , to move limit switch 152 to the illustrated position and establish the initiate circuit . in a commanded stop , the command circuit is disabled by opening one or the other of switches 132 , 134 , thereby de - energizing run command relay coil 130 and opening its contacts 130 - 1 , 130 - 2 and 130 - 3 . pilot valve solenoid 138 is de - energized and the control valve starts to close . the pump is still being driven because the motor is still energized by the run circuit including limit switch 152 and contacts 150 - 1 . limit switch 152 remains in its run position ( unillustrated in fig5 ) until the valve has almost closed . then it switches back to the position illustrated , de - energizing the run command circuit and stopping the motor and pump . the circuit of fig5 is also applicable to the deep well pump illustrated in fig3 . operation , including start cycle , stop cycle and its protective functioning is substantially same as that described for the booster type . however , as previously indicated , the deep well type pump control valve is initially open and begins to close only after the motor and pump have been started and pressure , as detected by pressure switch 142 at the input of the valve , has reached the predetermined level . this feature is particularly useful with the deep well pump to ensure that the pump control valve does not close prematurely . although the invention has been described and specifically illustrated in connection with booster type and deep well type pumps and control valves therefor , it will be readily appreciated that principles of the invention may be applied to other types of pump and valve systems wherein a desired sequencing of pump and valve operations is required for start or stop or where other system protective features are useful . the foregoing detailed description is to be clearly understood as given by way of illustration and example only , the spirit and scope of this invention being limited solely by the appended claims . | 5 |
this application incorporates by reference all subject matter included in u . s . provisional ser . no . 61 / 860 , 534 entitled “ variable noise attenuator with adjustable attenuation ” filed jul . 31 , 2013 . this application incorporates by reference all subject matter included in u . s . provisional ser . no . 61 / 790 , 243 entitled “ variable noise attenuator ” filed mar . 15 , 2013 . this application incorporates by reference all subject matter included in u . s . ser . no . 14 / 212 , 409 entitled “ variable sound attenuator ” filed mar . 14 , 2014 . referring to fig1 , an ear attenuator headset 200 is shown being placed on the head of a user 100 . the variable attenuator headset 200 is shown having an earcup 215 being connected to a strap 220 / 225 , which has adjustment member 230 , that is able to adjust the size of strap 220 / 25 , so that it comfortable fits the user &# 39 ; s head . in fig1 , control element 210 is shown as a knob whereby the knob can be rotated along arrow a . power control 240 is shown having on switch 245 , whereby the ear attenuator headset 200 can be turned on or off . in certain embodiments , the control element 210 does not extend or extends just minimally past the earcup 215 , such that the attenuator 200 appears to be an ordinary headset . in fig2 a - 2d , various cross sections along axis b - b of ear attenuator headset 200 are shown . fig2 a shows the open position of ear attenuator headset 200 . fig2 b shows a 60 % open position , fig2 c shows a 30 % open position and fig2 d shows a closed position . the control element 210 is rotated to control the amount of attenuation through the at least one earcup 215 . the amount of attenuation can be modified as the control element 210 is rotated . in the cross - section view of fig2 a - 2d , the control element 210 is connected via a fastening element 260 ( shown as a screw ) to a plate 250 , which is then connected to a blocking member 210 . the blocking member 210 can be made of foam or other attenuating material . the plate 250 is the outer portion of the earcup 215 . the plate 250 may be flat or may have a curved shape according to a headset as control element 210 is turned , the blocking member 270 moves axially with respect to the control element 210 , such that in fig2 a , the blocking member is furthest from the control element 210 ( the open position ) and in fig2 d the blocking member is closest to the control element 210 and is flush against the earcup 215 , closing the passageway through the earcup 215 . in certain embodiments , the blocking member 270 rotates when the control element 210 is rotated . in other embodiments , the blocking member 270 does not rotate when the control element 210 is rotated , but rather moves in a straight line path when the control element 210 is rotated . the attenuator works on the fact that the greater the opening in the passageway , the greater the amount of sound that can pass through the passageway , as the blocking member 270 prevents the passage of sound , thus providing attenuation . as the control element 210 rotates , the amount of rotation of the control element 210 allows for varying levels of attenuation through the earcup 215 . shown are levels where the device is fully open , 60 % open , 30 % open and closed . as the control element 210 is turned to tighten the blocking member 270 towards the plate 250 , the level of attenuation decreases as the blocking member is tightened . as the blocking member is tightened with respect to the control element 210 , less sound is able to pass through the passageway . in the fully open , 60 % open , and 30 % open diagrams , the sound is able to pass through the top portion of the passageway , around the blocking member 270 and through the rest of the passageway into a user &# 39 ; s ear . however , in the closed position , the blocking member 270 prevents sound from passing through the passageway and the sound is reflected back and not able to be heard by a person wearing the device . when closed , the device provides for complete attenuation . when open , the device provides enough sound to enter the passageway to make voice audible . when partial attenuation is desired , the control element gives a varying degree of sound flow through . referring to fig3 , another embodiment of the invention is shown . here , the control element 310 ( shown as a knob ) is slidable with respect to a bore 305 in the ear attenuator headset 300 . the ear attenuator headset 300 is shown located on the head of a person 100 . in fig3 , the control element 310 is shown having a greater width than the passageway ( rectangular bore 305 ), and is able to slide along the outside of the ear attenuator 300 in a manner that is perpendicular to the passageway and along arrow c . the earcup 315 is shown being attached via a strap 320 / 235 with adjustable element 330 . as the knob 310 slides , it can go from a position where the blocking member does not cover the passageway ( fully open ) to a position where the blocking member covers the passageway ( closed ) and prevents sound from passing through the passageway . in certain embodiments , the control element 310 does not extend or extends just minimally past the earcup 315 , such that the attenuator 300 appears to be an ordinary headset . in certain embodiments , the ear attenuator headset 300 is shown having an audio source 380 . the audio source 380 provides a sound to a user and is reminiscent of the audio source on a standard headset . the audio source can receive sounds from a wire or from a wireless source , such that the ear attenuator headset 300 can either be powered via batteries ( in a wireless version ) or can draw power from a device that it is plugged into via a wire . the audio source can be controlled via bluetooth and can include a processor whereby software executes on the processor to control the audio source . the audio source 380 can also be provided in various additional embodiments of the invention , for example , in the embodiments shown in fig1 a - 2d , and 5 - 7 . as shown in fig4 a - 4d , various positions of the attenuator are shown along axis d - d of the device . fig4 a shows the attenuator 300 in an open position having passageway e , whereby sound is able to pass through the earcup 315 into a person &# 39 ; s ear . also shown in fig4 a is control element 310 , which is held via a screw 360 to a blocking member 370 . the blocking member 270 prevents the passage of sound , thus providing attenuation . the blocking member 270 can be made of foam or other attenuating material , such as foam and / or rubber than prevents sound from passing through the blocking material . also shown in fig4 a is the audio source 380 with acoustic signal f . the acoustic signal f is sound that comes from an audio source on a standard headset . having both the audio source 380 allows a user to listen to music . if another person asks the user a question , the user can hear the person without having to remove the ear attenuator device 300 from the user &# 39 ; s head , as external noise can pass through the passageway . fig4 a shows the open position , fig4 b shows a position whereby the attenuator is 60 % open , fig4 c shows a position that is 30 % open and fig4 d shows the closed position . in certain embodiments , the position of the knob can be varied , which allows a user to control the level of attenuation of the device . the blocking member 270 is able to slide to block the passageway to control the level of attenuation in the device . in certain embodiments , as the blocking member 270 slides , it tightens with respect to the earcup 315 and forms an airtight seal to provide complete attenuation in the closed position . in certain embodiments , a screen is provided such that the screen prevents debris from entering the device . the screen does not prevent sound from entering the passageway . fig5 shows another embodiment of the invention whereby an external power source is used to power the control element . in fig5 , attenuator device 500 includes an earcup 515 and a control element 510 , the control element 510 able to control the blocking element in the same manner as shown in fig1 and as described in fig2 a - 2d . additionally , fig5 shows power source 580 , the power source 580 being controlled by an external element such as bluetooth or by a controller . the power source 580 is able to control the rotation of control element 510 , to control attenuation of the device . in certain instances , this is useful as a user may not be able to physically control the control element 510 , as in the case of a user lacking coordination or even lacking the ability to perform such a maneuver as a result of an injury . in certain embodiments , the earcup 515 includes a processor and software executing on the processor , such that the software is able to control the power source 580 . in certain embodiments , a computer or non - transient medium is used to store instructions to control the power source 580 and the control element . fig6 shows another embodiment of the invention whereby an external power source is used to power the control element . in fig6 , attenuator device 600 includes an earcup 615 and a control element 610 , the control element 610 able to control the blocking member in the same manner as shown in fig3 and as described in fig4 a - 4d . additionally , fig6 shows power source 685 , the power source 685 being controlled by an external element such as bluetooth or by a controller . the power source 685 is able to control amount of sliding of the control element 610 , to control attenuation of the device . in certain instances , this is useful as a user may not be able to physically control the control element 610 , in the case of a user lacking coordination or even lacking the ability to perform such a maneuver as a result of an injury . in certain embodiments , the earcup 615 includes a processor and software executing on the processor , such that the software is able to control the power source 685 . in certain embodiments , a computer or non - transient medium is used to store instructions to control the power source 685 and the control element . referring to fig7 a - 7d , another embodiment of the invention is shown . here , the control element 710 is shown as a knob whereby the knob can be rotated . fig7 a shows the open position of ear attenuator headset 700 . fig7 b shows a 60 % open position , fig7 c shows a 30 % open position and fig7 d shows a closed position . the control element 710 is rotated to control the amount of attenuation through the at least one earcup 215 . in the cross - section views of fig7 a - 7d , the control element 710 is connected via a fastening element 760 ( shown as a screw ) to various pancake shaped elements 720 , 725 , 730 and 735 . while four pancake shaped elements are shown , either a greater or lesser amount of pancake elements are contemplated as part of the embodiment . as the control element 710 is rotated , the pancake shaped elements 720 , 725 , 730 and 735 are drawn into the passageway , thus closing the passageway and obstructing the passageway , thus , providing attenuation . the pancake elements 720 , 725 , 730 and 735 are blocking members that may be made of attenuating material such as foam , rubber , or other attenuating material . the pancake elements may be connected via the fastening member 760 or may be connected to one another via a spring or other such element that allows these pancake members to axially move with respect to the control member 710 , either towards the control member 710 to close off the passageway , or away from the control member 710 to allow sound to pass through the passageway . in certain embodiments , the pancake members rotate when the control element 710 is rotated . in other embodiments , the pancake members simply move either towards or away from the control element without rotation of the pancake members . in certain embodiments of the invention , the control member is controlled by a remote control . in certain embodiments , the remote control allows for a user to close or open the passageway through the at least one earcup allowing for sound to pass through . in certain embodiments , the remote control is located away from or remote from the at least one earcup and in other embodiments , the remote control may be attached to or linked via an electronic cable to the at least one earcup . in certain embodiments , the remote control includes a processor and / or a computer and software executing on a processor to provide control signals to control the amount of attenuation in the earcup . in certain embodiments , the remote control changes the size of the passageway ( also the attenuation space ( as )) based upon the detected amount of sound in the environment . in certain embodiments , the width , length and / or depth of the passageway may be changed by the remote control . in certain embodiments , the ear attenuator headset includes a sensor or noise detector ( such as a microphone ) to detect the amount of external sound that is present in the environment . in certain embodiments , the sensor or noise detector is located in the at least one earcup or in the strap . in certain embodiments , the sensor or noise detector is located in the remote control . in certain embodiments of the invention , variable attenuation is provided in earphones or headphones which deliver sound and in sound monitoring devices , but at the same time also need to provide attenuation , such as in active ear attenuators such as noise cancelling electronic devices . in these embodiments , variable attenuation devices are provided so that external sound can be controlled through the attenuation device . while the invention has been specifically described in connection with certain specific embodiments thereof , it is to be understood that this is by way of illustration and not of limitation and that various changes and modifications in form and details may be made thereto , and the scope of the appended claims should be construed as broadly as the prior art will permit . the description of the invention is merely exemplary in nature , and thus , variations that do not depart from the gist of the invention are intended to be within the scope of the invention . such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention . | 0 |
sphericity of the particles of the instant invention is achieved through a polymerization in suspension , wherein the polymerization consists of two phases , one aqueous and the other organic , under agitation . size of the particles depends on a series of experimental parameters such as temperature , agitation , and initiator . the hardness of said particles depends on the type , amount of crosslinking agent and the medium in which the polymerization in suspension takes place . the polymerization process for obtaining the ultralight crosslinked polymer particles of the instant invention is a polymerization in suspension wherein the organic phase is constituted by a mixture of two or more monomers : one of those is bifunctional for promoting the reticulation and micro - and nano - loads for reducing the static , an initiator ( trimers , oligomers , or a low - molecular weight polymer can be added as dispersant of the organic phase ) and an aqueous phase with dispersant agent . the resulting material has a density between 0 . 95 and 1 . 04 g / ml . accordingly , the instant invention encompasses a reticulate composite material in which the polymer presents a repetitive structure of formula i : wherein s 1 and s 2 are olefin substituent groups , r 2 is an alkyl or aryl of the crosslinking monomer . as a generic example , a way to put into practice the instant invention is presented : reactor which can be cylindrical heating blanket for the reactor mechanical agitator , with corresponding stand agitating rod nitrogen input ( g ) thermocouple with temperature controller cooler distilled water / residual waters from polymerization polyvinylic alcohol (+ 99 . 9 % hydrolized , sigma - aldrich ) sodium chloride ( nacl ) mono - olefinic monomer / s divinylbenzene ( dvb ) azobisisobutyronitrile ( aibn ) lampblack / carbon nanotubes / carbon nanotubes plus ceramic nanoparticles smaller than 50 nm polyvinylic alcohol ( pva ) and sodium chloride ( nacl ) are weighted in a scale and added to the reactor , along with the corresponding water volume ( distilled and residual water ). then , agitation is started at about 850 rpm and the heating mat connected to a thermocouple with temperature controller is turned on . the solution is heated to more than 50 ° c ., preferably 70 ° c ., wherein said process requires about 30 min . separately , the monomeric phase is prepared , which consists of two or more monomers , mono - olefin / s and a di - olefin , a initiator , aibn , whose optimal activation temperature is the reaction temperature ( 70 ° c . ), a dispersant can be added such as low molecular weight polystyrene . for preparation of the monomeric phase , it is first required the extraction of the inhibitors present in each of the commercial monomers . said process consists of the following steps : 1 . each monomer is washed three times with a 10 % naoh ( sodium hydroxide ) solution , using a base volume equal to one third of the monomer amount to be purified ( separate ampoules ) ( see fig2 ). 2 . three washes of the organic phase with distilled water , whose volume corresponds to one third of the volume of the monomer . verification that the wash water is not basic . 3 . the organic phase is removed and anhydrous calcium chloride is added ( cacl 2 anh .). 4 . the monomer is then passed through a column with basic alumina , for extracting the remaining inhibitor . once said procedure is finished , each monomer will be ready to be incorporated into the batch together with the initiator . the mass of the load ( lampblack / carbon nanotubes / carbon nanotubes plus ceramic particles ) is added to the monomeric phase and it is sonicated for 8 minutes . then the initiator is added and sonication is performed again for 2 minutes , verifying that the aibn has dissolved completely into the monomeric phase . finally , the solution resulting from the monomers , the initiator , and the load , is incorporated into the reactor , which is already at 70 ° c . and under continuous agitation . right after the addition , the nitrogen pass is open , in order to generate the inert atmosphere . after about 20 min ., the pass is closed , and all the inlets to the reactor are kept closed . the agitation speed from start until 20 minutes from the addition of the monomeric phase is about 850 rpm , then the speed is incremented to 1048 rpm , until the end of polymerization after 5 hrs of reaction . from the time of the addition of the monomeric phase , agitation should not be interrupted , since otherwise the suspension will coalesce . it must be controlled that during polymerization the agitating rod is correctly placed , as to avoid material projections . addition of the load was assayed in two different ways : either by incorporation into the aqueous phase , or by addition to the organic phase . it was noticed that the solid resulting from co - polymerization with addition of micro - or nano - load in the organic phase had an intense black color , and also that the reaction water was not darkened , which indicates that the particles were successfully incorporated into the solid . when the load particles were added to the aqueous phase , the resulting solid had a grayish coloration and load particles were found remaining into the reaction water . accordingly , it was observed that a better addition of particles into the solid is achieved if the pigment is incorporated in the monomeric phase . the final step of the process can include ( or not ) one wash with water or other polar solvent as to eliminate the excess of aqueous dispersing agent . in table 1 the amounts of reagents used in each reaction are indicated . once completed the 5 hrs of the reaction , the solid is removed from the reactor and the residual water is separated , for use in a subsequent polymerization . the obtained solid is successively washed with distilled water , including steps of washing at temperatures higher than 50 ° c ., in order to eliminate all the polyvinyl alcohol that could have remained on the surface of the spheres . afterwards , if the maximum degree of crosslinking was not achieved , a post - curation step can be performed . finally , the resulting material is dried and weighted . a new washing is performed with hot toluene , in order to eliminate the rests of mono - olefinic monomers , or small chains of non - crosslinked polymer which could have formed into the reactor . again , the material is brought to vacuum stove for 2 hrs at 70 ° c . after this time , it is removed and weighted again ( at room temperature ). the mass difference between the two washes determinates the percentage of monomers , oligomers and lineal polymer slightly resistant to organic solvents . afterwards , the material is separated by size using the astm sieves # 60 - 12 , by means of mechanic agitator . for analyzing the thermal stability of the solid , the thermogravimetric assays were performed in a tga - 51 shimadzu equipment . two jumps corresponding to the mass losses were observed , where the first one is situated about 420 - 450 ° c . with losses in the range of 85 %- 90 %; and the second jump at 580 - 600 ° c . with mass losses in the range of 15 %- 10 %. the glass - to - solid transition temperature was studied by dsc . the assays were performed in a taq series ™ q20 - 1041 equipment . a ramp of 20 ° c ./ min was used , with prior erasing of the thermal history of the material . the glass transition temperature was higher than 140 ° c . the chemical structure of the different materials synthetized was analyzed by infrared spectroscopy ft - ir , in a nicolet 550 equipment , using potassium bromide tablets . in all cases , signals were observed at round 3000 cm − 1 , corresponding to the c — h bounds of the aromatic and aliphatic groups . then , around 1600 cm − 1 , the peak associated to the c ═ c stretching is found , while at 700 cm − 1 , deformation of the c — h of the aromatic rings is found . density : it was determined by using a conical 25 ml hubbard pycnometer . for obtaining the solid density value , density of the used solvent ( measured in the same pycnometer ), mass of the solid to be analyzed , and the difference of weight between the pycnometer filled with solvent alone and later with the solvent and the solid inside are taken into account . the resulting density values ranged from 0 . 95 to 1 . 04 g / ml . the following assays were performed according to the norm : measurement of properties of proppants used in hydraulic fracturing and gravel - packing operations granulometry : the size of the obtained solid was analyzed using astm sieves # 12 , # 30 and # 60 . 90 % by weight of the material is between sieves # 12 and # 60 , according to iso 13503 - 2 standard . geometry : a portion of the sample was observed under optical microscope olympikus bx60m , and sphericity and roundness of the developed proppant was measured . the process consists in observing 20 particles under the microscope , with the appropriate magnification , and taking a value for each parameter . said value results from comparing with the graphic representation of roundness vs . sphericity that is in section 7 . 2 of iso1350 - 2 standard . average values were between 0 . 5 and 1 , for both parameters . see fig1 . mechanical strength : the strength to the compression assay was analyzed by applying 10 , 000 psi ( compressive force over the container area in which the sample is confined ). samples with granulometry # 16 / 30 were used , and their resulting fine residues are between 2 and 14 % by mass ( section 11 iso 1350 - 2 standard ). a hydraulic press was used in the assays . a ) the assay consists in adding a portion of sample to a container with the corresponding acid , placing it into a sonicator for 15 minutes and filtering in previously tared filtering funnels . the filtrate is successively washed with water , until a neutral ph is achieved . then , it is brought to vacuum stove . once it is cold , it is weighted and the percentage of mass loss is calculated . resistance to concentrated hydrochloric acid , 37 %, was analyzed , resulting in a decrease of 0 % to 2 % by weight for granulometry # 12 / 30 . b ) applying the same procedure described above chemical resistance to mineral acids was determined ( concentrated hydrochloric acid , 37 %) resulting in a decrease of 0 % to 2 % by weight for granulometry # 30 / 60 . a ) the assay consists in adding a portion of sample to a container with the corresponding solvent , placing it into a sonicator for 15 minutes and filtering in previously tared filtering funnels . the filtrate is then brought to vacuum stove . once it is cold , it is weighted and the percentage of mass loss is calculated . resistance to solvents was analyzed , such as dichloromethane , toluene , benzene and octane , for granulometry # 12 / 30 resulting in a decrease of 0 % to 2 % by weight . b ) applying the same procedure described above chemical resistance to organic solvents was determined such as dichloromethane , toluene , octane , acetone , tetrahydrofurane , for granulometry # 30 / 60 resulting in a decrease of 0 % to 2 % by weight . the invention comprises , without limitation , the following embodiments : 1 ) a polymeric material particle suitable for hydraulic fracture in a secondary gas and oil extraction wherein said particle comprises cross - linked polymer and loads . 2 ) the particle of embodiment 1 , wherein said loads comprise microloads at a concentration of up to 0 . 13 % ( w / w ). 3 ) the particle of embodiment 1 , wherein said loads comprise nanoloads at a concentration of up to 0 . 03 % ( w / w ). 4 ) the particle of embodiment 1 , wherein said loads comprise a combination of nanoloads and microloads at a concentration of up to 0 . 13 % ( w / w ). 5 ) the particle of embodiment 1 , wherein has a density of between 0 . 95 and 1 . 04 g / ml . 6 ) the particle of embodiment 1 , wherein has a density of up to 1 . 04 g / ml . 7 ) the particle of embodiment 1 , wherein it has a mass loss lower than 2 % when subjected to the action of organic solvents selected from the group comprising acetone , toluene , octane and tetrahydrofurane . 8 ) the particle of embodiment 1 , wherein it has a mass loss lower than 2 % when subjected to the action of organic acids such as hydrochloric acid . 9 ) the particle of embodiment 1 , wherein it has a mass loss lower than 14 % when subjected to a pressure of 20 , 000 psi . 10 ) the particle of embodiment 1 , wherein said particle is a microparticle . 11 ) the particle of embodiment 1 , wherein said loads are selected from the group comprising lampblack , carbon nanotubes , ceramic nanoparticles and combinations thereof . 12 ) the particle of embodiment 1 , wherein said loads comprise carbon nanotubes and ceramic nanoparticles . 13 ) the particle of embodiment 1 , wherein said particle comprises a reticulated polymeric material in which the polymer presents a repetitive structure of formula i : wherein s 1 and s 2 are substituent groups of olefins , and r 2 is an alkyl or aryl from a crosslinking monomer . 14 ) a process for obtaining the particle of embodiment 1 , wherein said process comprises a polymerization in suspension which comprises the following steps : a . mixing a stabilizer and a dispersing agent in water and heating ; b . adding a mixture of at least one monomer , loads and one initiator to the aqueous solution of step a ; c . making react the mixture at a temperature higher than 50 ° c . under continuous agitation and for a time of at least 3 hours ; d . once the polymerization reaction is completed , filtering and washing with water the obtained particles of the invention . 15 ) the process of embodiment 14 , wherein in step a said stabilizer is selected from the group comprising sodium chloride , potassium chloride , an inorganic salt and mixtures thereof ; while said dispersing agent is selected from the group comprising polyvinylic alcohol , sodium polyacrylates , cellulose polymers , hydroxyethyl cellulose ( natrosol ), hydroxypropyl cellulose ( klucel ), poly ( n , n - dialyl - n , n - dimethyl ammonium chloride ) ( cat - floc b ), gelatin , polyalcohols or combinations thereof . 16 ) the process of embodiment 14 , wherein said process is isothermal and is carried out at a temperature of at least 50 ° c . 17 ) the process of embodiment 14 , wherein said process is isothermal and is carried out at a temperature of 70 ° c . 18 ) the process of embodiment 14 , wherein the mixture of step b comprises at least two monomers . 19 ) the process of embodiment 18 , wherein a first monomer is a bis - olefin selected from the group comprising polyfunctional acrylates , trimethacrylate , trimethylpropane , diacrylate , pentaeritrithol tetramethylacrylate divinylbenzene , dimethacrylate ethylene glycol , and combinations thereof , and a second monomer is a mono - olefinic one , selected from the group comprising acrylates , vinyl acetate , styrene , vinylnaphthalenes , vinyltoluene , allylic esters , vinyl chloride olefins , and combinations thereof . 20 ) the process of embodiment 19 , wherein said first monomer comprises a concentration of between 20 and 55 % by weight of the monomer . 21 ) the process of embodiment 18 , wherein a second monomer is a mono - olefinic selected from the group comprising acrylates , vinyl acetate , styrene , vinylnaphtalenes , vinyl toluene , allylic esters , vinyl chloride olefins , and combinations thereof . 22 ) the process of embodiment 18 wherein said process comprises two or more monomers comprising a vinyl group . 23 ) the process of embodiment 14 , wherein said initiator of the mixture of step b comprises azobisisobutyronitrile ( aibn ). 24 ) the process of embodiment 14 , wherein said loads of step b are selected from the group comprising lampblack , carbon nanotubes , ceramic nanoparticles and combinations of any of the preceding . 25 ) the process of embodiment 14 , wherein said loads of step b are nanoloads and comprise carbon nanotubes and ceramic nanoparticles . 26 ) the process of embodiment 14 , wherein in step b said loads are microloads and comprise a concentration of between 0 . 1 and 0 . 2 w / w % relative to the weight of the monomers . 27 ) the process of embodiment 14 , wherein in step b said loads are nanoloads and comprise a concentration lower than 0 . 03 % w / w equivalent to 0 . 015 % v / v . 28 ) the process of embodiment 14 , wherein in step b said loads are comprise a combination of microloads at a concentration lower than 0 . 12 % w / w and nanoloads at a concentration of up to 0 . 01 % w / w . 29 ) the process of embodiment 14 , wherein step b comprises dispersion of said loads in monomer solution under sonication in absence of the dispersing agent . 30 ) the process of embodiment 14 , wherein the aqueous phase resulting from the reaction medium can be reused . 31 ) the process of embodiment 14 , wherein said stabilizer of the aqueous phase of step a comprises a neutral inorganic salt at a concentration lower than 4 % by weight as salt . 32 ) the process of embodiment 14 , wherein said process comprises a neutral ph in the aqueous phase of step a . 33 ) the process of embodiment 14 , wherein said water of step a comprises the aqueous phase of a reaction medium used in a previous polymerization . 34 ) the process of embodiment 14 , wherein agitation comprises at least a rotation speed in the order of 850 rpm during the manufacturing process . in example 1 , it was used a 1 liter capacity reactor with four inlets , placing on each a refrigerant , thermocouple , nitrogen entrance , and at the center thereof a mechanical agitator . heating is achieved by a heating mat . synthesis consists in a co - polymerization in suspension , comprising an aqueous phase and a monomeric phase . the aqueous phase is formed by distilled water , sodium chloride as stabilizer , polyvinylic alcohol as dispersing agent . meanwhile the monomeric phase consists , in this example , of two monomers , styrene and divinylbenzene , an initiator as azobisisobutyronitrile ( aibn ) and a load of lampblack . distilled water , along with sodium chloride and the polyvinylic alcohol are placed into the reactor , and are brought to 70 ° c ., in order to form the aqueous phase . when that temperature is reached , 10 ml of the solution are removed . to that fraction , the mass of lampblack is added , and is taken to the sonicator for 10 minutes . the resulting solution is taken back to the reactor . in another batch , the monomers and the initiator are mixed , ensuring the dissolution of the initiator into the organic phase . then , the mixture is incorporated into the reactor , which presents the aqueous phase at the desired temperature and under continuous stirring . the entrance of nitrogen in kept open for about 15 minutes as from the addition of the organic phase , and is then closed , keeping an inert atmosphere within the reactor . the agitator should not be stopped from the time of adding the monomeric phase until the reaction is considered as completed , since otherwise the suspension will coalesce . temperature must be kept around 70 ° c . at all times during polymerization . agitation speed from the start until 20 minutes counted since the addition of the monomeric phase is about 850 rpm , after which the speed is increased to 1050 rpm , until the polymerization is completed after 5 hrs of reaction . agitation should not be stopped from the time of adding the monomeric phase as otherwise the suspension will coalesce . after the polymerization is complete , the polymer is removed , filtered and successively washed with distilled water in order to eliminate the remaining stabilizing agent . in example 2 , a similar equipment to the one used in example 1 was employed , using a reactor with 1 liter capacity reactor with four inlets , placing on each a refrigerant , thermocouple , nitrogen entrance , and at the center thereof a mechanical agitator . heating is achieved by a heating mat . synthesis consists in a co - polymerization in suspension , comprising an aqueous phase and a monomeric phase . the aqueous phase is formed by distilled water , sodium chloride as stabilizer , polyvinylic alcohol as dispersing agent . meanwhile , the monomeric phase consists , in this example , of two monomers , methyl methacrylate and divinylbenzene , an initiator as azobisisobutyronitrile ( aibn ) and a load of lampblack . distilled water , along with sodium chloride and the polyvinylic alcohol are placed into the reactor , and are brought to 70 ° c ., in order to form the aqueous phase . in another batch , the monomers and the load are mixed . after 8 minutes of sonication , the initiator is added and sonication continues for two additional minutes , ensuring dissolution of the initiator into the organic phase . lastly , said phase is incorporated into the reactor which has the aqueous phase at the desired temperature and under continuous stirring . the entrance of nitrogen in kept open for about 15 minutes as from the addition of the organic phase , and is then closed , keeping an inert atmosphere within the reactor . the agitator should not be stopped from the time of adding the monomeric phase until the reaction is considered as completed , since otherwise the suspension will coalesce . temperature must be kept around 70 ° c . at all times during polymerization . agitation speed from the start until 20 minutes counted since the addition of the monomeric phase is about 850 rpm , after which the speed is increased to 1050 rpm , until the polymerization is completed after 5 hrs of reaction . agitation should not be stopped from the time of adding the monomeric phase as otherwise the suspension will coalesce . after the polymerization is complete , the polymer is removed , filtered and successively washed with distilled water in order to eliminate the remaining stabilizing agent . example 3 , consisted in the co - polymerization of the three monomers , one of them with crosslinking ability , and the addition of loads to the reaction . a similar equipment to the one used in example 1 was used , using a reactor with 1 liter capacity reactor with four inlets , placing on each a refrigerant , thermocouple , nitrogen entrance , and at the center thereof a mechanical agitator . heating is achieved by a heating mat . synthesis consists in a co - polymerization in suspension , comprising an aqueous phase and a monomeric phase . the aqueous phase is formed by distilled water , sodium chloride as stabilizer , polyvinylic alcohol as dispersing agent . meanwhile , the monomeric phase consists , in this example , of two monomers , styrene , methyl methacrylate and divinylbenzene , an initiator as azobisisobutyronitrile ( aibn ) and a load of lampblack . distilled water , along with sodium chloride and the polyvinylic alcohol are placed into the reactor , and are brought to 70 ° c ., in order to form the aqueous phase . in a batch , the monomers and the load are mixed . then the initiator is added , ensuring its dissolution into the organic phase . then , the solution is incorporated into the reactor , which presents the aqueous phase at the desired temperature and under continuous stirring at about 850 rpm . the entrance of nitrogen in kept open for about 15 minutes as from the addition of the organic phase , and is then closed , keeping an inert atmosphere within the reactor . then , the agitation speed is increased to 1050 rpm . the agitator should not be stopped from the time of adding the monomeric phase until the reaction is considered as completed , since otherwise the suspension will coalesce . temperature must be kept around 70 ° c . at all times during polymerization , i . e . during the course of the 5 hrs . the addition of the monomeric phase is considered as the start of polymerization . after the polymerization is complete , the polymer is removed , filtered and successively washed with distilled water in order to eliminate the remaining stabilizing agent . example 4 , consisted in the co - polymerization of the two monomers , one of them with crosslinking ability , and the addition of loads to the reaction . a similar equipment to the one used in example 1 was used , using a reactor with 1 liter capacity reactor with four inlets , placing on each a refrigerant , thermocouple , nitrogen entrance , and at the center thereof a mechanical agitator . heating is achieved by a heating mat . synthesis consists in a co - polymerization in suspension , comprising an aqueous phase and a monomeric phase . the aqueous phase is formed by distilled water , sodium chloride as stabilizer , polyvinylic alcohol as dispersing agent . meanwhile , the monomeric phase consists , in this example , of two monomers , styrene and divinylbenzene , an initiator as azobisisobutyronitrile ( aibn ) and one load of carbon nanotubes . a procedure similar to the described before was followed . in table 5 , the employed amounts are indicated . example 5 , consisted in the co - polymerization of the two monomers , one of them with crosslinking ability , and the addition of loads to the reaction . a similar equipment to the one used in example 1 was used , using a reactor with 1 liter capacity reactor with four inlets , placing on each a refrigerant , thermocouple , nitrogen entrance , and at the center thereof a mechanical agitator . heating is achieved by a heating mat . synthesis consists in a co - polymerization in suspension , comprising an aqueous phase and a monomeric phase . the aqueous phase is formed by distilled water , sodium chloride as stabilizer , polyvinylic alcohol as dispersing agent . meanwhile , the monomeric phase consists , in this example , of two monomers , styrene and divinylbenzene , an initiator as azobisisobutyronitrile ( aibn ) and two loads , one of lampblack and the other of carbon nanotubes . a procedure similar to the described before was followed . in table 6 , the employed amounts are indicated . example 6 , consisted in the co - polymerization of the two monomers , one of them with crosslinking ability , and the addition of loads to the reaction . a similar equipment to the one used in example 1 was used , using a reactor with 1 liter capacity reactor with four inlets , placing on each a refrigerant , thermocouple , nitrogen entrance , and at the center thereof a mechanical agitator . heating is achieved by a heating mat . synthesis consists in a co - polymerization in suspension , comprising an aqueous phase and a monomeric phase . the aqueous phase is formed by distilled water , sodium chloride as stabilizer , polyvinylic alcohol as dispersing agent . meanwhile , the monomeric phase consists , in this example , of two monomers , styrene and divinylbenzene , an initiator as azobisisobutyronitrile ( aibn ) and one load of carbon nanotubes plus ceramic nanoparticles . a procedure similar to the described before was followed . in table 7 , the employed amounts are indicated . example 7 , consisted in the co - polymerization of the two monomers , one of them with crosslinking ability , and the addition of loads to the reaction . a similar equipment to the one used in example 1 was used , using a reactor with 1 liter capacity reactor with four inlets , placing on each a refrigerant , thermocouple , nitrogen entrance , and at the center thereof a mechanical agitator . heating is achieved by a heating mat . synthesis consists in a co - polymerization in suspension , comprising an aqueous phase and a monomeric phase . the aqueous phase is formed by distilled water , sodium chloride as stabilizer , polyvinylic alcohol as dispersing agent . meanwhile , the monomeric phase consists , in this example , of two monomers , styrene and divinylbenzene , an initiator as azobisisobutyronitrile ( aibn ) and two loads , one of lampblack and the other of carbon nanotubes plus ceramic nanoparticles . a procedure similar to the described before was followed . in table 8 , the employed amounts are indicated . | 2 |
referring now to the drawings , an embodiment to be preferred of a compressed gas powered gun , made according to the present invention , is disclosed . the gun includes , generally , a grip 45 ; a body , including an upper main housing 3 and a lower main housing 1 ; a barrel 10 ; a bore 5 ; a bolt 9 within a breech ; a hammer chamber 2 ; a pneumatic gas cylinder 34 ; a slider 33 ; and a trigger 24 . throughout the description , the term “ forward ” indicates being towards the outer , open , free end of the barrel 10 extending from the upper main housing 3 of the gun . “ rearward ” indicates the opposite direction of “ forward .” as shown in fig1 and 2 , a projectile feed tube 6 opens into the barrel 10 , said projectile feed tube 6 for supplying the barrel 10 with projectiles 100 , which are preferably spherical in form and contain a marking fluid . a conventional projectile retention lever ( not shown ) biased by a spring allows only one projectile 100 to enter the barrel 10 at a time . generally rearward and below the barrel 10 , the hammer chamber 2 holds a hammer 32 which is integrally attached to the forward end of the slider 33 . slider 33 is horizontally and reciprocally moveable within gas cylinder 34 from a cocked position , as shown in fig1 to a firing position , as shown in fig2 through the use of spring bias and compressed gas . the slider 33 is cocked by means of an electronic solenoid actuated 4 - way valve 65 located in the lower main housing 1 . a manifold 8 connects the 4 - way valve 65 to the pneumatic gas cylinder 34 . when biased to the firing position , the slider 33 forces the hammer 32 to engage a valve stem 29 . a link pin 41 , circular in cross - section , extends between and connects the bolt 9 to the hammer 32 . the bolt 9 is held within the gun through use of the link pin 41 , attached to the hammer 32 . removal of the link pin 41 allows the bolt 9 to be removed from the gun . this may be done for routine maintenance . the link pin 41 is held in place by means of a bolt retention spring 76 . within the pneumatic gas cylinder 34 , a main compression spring 71 extends between the slider 33 and an end - cap 35 which is attached at the rearward end of the gas cylinder 34 . a solid main spring guide 36 rests within the cylinder 34 between the slider 33 and the end - cap 35 , said guide 36 for receiving the coiled main compression spring 71 . slider 33 is biased forward to a firing position by the main compression spring 71 and compressed gas ( not shown ). the shock of the hammer 32 is dampened both as the hammer 32 moves forward into the firing position and as it returns to a recocked position . the forward motion of the hammer 32 is dampened by both the valve spring 72 and the compressed gas surrounding the valve spring 72 . the rearward motion of the hammer 32 is dampened by an o - ring 84 located in gas cylinder 34 , between the guide 36 and the end - cap 35 . releasably holding the slider 33 in a cocked position is an electronic solenoid activated 4 - way valve 65 . the electronic solenoid 60 is actuated through a micro - switch 61 located rearward of the trigger 24 . pulling on the trigger 24 sends an electronic signal to a cpu ( microprocessor ) 64 located in the grip 45 . this cpu 64 by means of software determines which of a number of dual in - line package ( hereinafter “ dip ”) switches 63 have been switched on or off , thereby determining the firing rate and mode selected by the user . the cpu 64 then , based on firing rate and mode , actuates the solenoid 60 , causing the 4 - way valve 65 to shift , causing the slider 33 to be propelled forward under the bias of spring pressure and compressed gas . the cpu 64 then deactuates the solenoid 60 causing the 4 - way valve 65 to shift , and compressed gas forces the main compression spring 71 to compress thereby recocking the gun . a trigger spring 75 forces the trigger 24 back to its original position . compressed gas for propelling projectile 100 and for moving the slider 33 to a firing position is provided from a canister or cylinder ( not shown ), which may be attached directly to the gun or may be attached to the person operating the gun . the gas is fed through a high pressure ( hereinafter “ hp ”) regulator 50 , and then through a passageway through a high pressure adaptor 51 to a cavity , the high pressure storage chamber 210 defined by upper main housing of body 3 . the high pressure regulator 50 reduces the gas pressure from over 500 pounds per square inch ( hereinafter “ p . p . s . i .”) to around ( hereinafter “˜”) 250 p . p . s . i .. the hp regulator comprises an hp adjustment screw 39 , an hp regulator spring 73 , an hp regulator piston 53 , an hp regulator cup 52 , and an hp regulator cup spring 74 . this high pressure regulator 50 further comprises a safety feature forcibly closing the high pressure regulator cup 52 when over 800 or so p . p . s . i . is applied . this closure protects the inner workings of the gun and protects the gun &# 39 ; s operator . contained within the gun are two valve means . the first valve means is for operating a low pressure ( hereinafter “ lp ”) circuit , including for propelling the slider 33 . the second valve means is for operating an hp circuit , including for supplying gas to propel the projectile 100 . the first valve means further comprises a lp regulator 54 for reducing pneumatic gas pressure from the ˜ 250 p . p . s . i . supplied to ˜ 85 p . p . s . i . this pressurized gas is then channeled to the gas cylinder 34 for the propulsion of the slider 33 upon actuation of the trigger 24 . the lp regulator comprises an lp adjustment screw 56 , an lp regulator spring 173 , an lp regulator piston 153 , an lp regulator cup 152 , and an lp regulator cup spring 174 . this low pressure regulator 54 further comprises a safety feature forcibly closing the low pressure regulator cup 152 when over 300 or so p . p . s . i . is applied . this closure protects the inner workings of the gun and protects the gun &# 39 ; s operator . the second valve means includes a horizontally oriented valve stem 29 which is horizontally and reciprocally moveable within the valve stem guide 30 . valve stem 29 is provided with a valve cup 28 engaged by a valve spring 72 , biasing the value cup 28 to a seated position on the valve stem guide 30 to prevent flow of compressed gas from the high pressure storage chamber 210 into the barrel 10 . it has also been found that projectile 100 velocity can be maximized through the use of specifically angled surfaces within the gas passage 4 , through which the gas expands as it enters the barrel 10 . the gas passage 4 is defined by the continuous conduit extending from the valve cup 28 , through the valve stem guide 30 and the forward portion of the bolt 9 . when the valve cup 28 is actuated to an open / firing position , the gas is allowed to expand through the conduit extending through the valve stem guide 30 and the bolt 9 . bolt 9 has an angled port 220 drilled through its forward portion . valve stem guide 30 is the discharge port . bolt 9 with its port 220 is in the breech of the gun . the breech is connected to the rearward port of barrel 10 . the inner surfaces of the valve stem guide 30 and the bolt 9 are machined to form a conduit having a specific maximum angle through which the gas expands . it has been found by the inventor that 23 degrees ± 5 degrees is the optimal angle for these surfaces . use of such angular surfaces allows the present invention to fire a projectile 100 using less than one half the p . p . s . i . of traditional guns at the same firing rate as those guns , without jeopardizing the efficiency , trajectory or range of the projectile 100 . by funneling the gas as it expands through the use of such angular surfaces , resistance is reduced , thereby allowing firing at a high firing rate to be done with lower p . s . i . the gun further comprises an electronic system comprising a circuit board 62 containing a microprocessor ( cpu ) 64 , and a series of dip switches 63 which can be set to control the firing rate and mode of the gun . the gun is further programmable so as to allow firing rate and mode limits to be forcibly set . sequential action of the gun may be seen to advantage . a projectile 100 is in place within the barrel 10 . a second projectile ( not shown ) is held in place above the barrel 10 and within feed tube 6 by the projectile retention lever ( not shown ). slider 33 is in the cocked position via the solenoid 60 . it is assumed that the high pressure regulator 50 is in fluid communication with an external compressed gas source ( not shown ) to fill the high pressure storage chamber 210 with compressed gas . the trigger 24 is then pulled , a microswitch 61 is activated sending a signal to the cpu 64 that the user wishes to fire the gun . the cpu 64 then determines which dip switches 63 have been preset by the user , thereby determining the firing rate and mode of the gun . upon determining the firing rate and mode , the cpu 64 then directs the solenoid 60 to act accordingly . the firing rate and mode of the gun are detailed as follows : rate of fire is dependent on the mode and switch settings of the dip switches . modes are : 2 . 3 shot ( 3 shots if the trigger is pulled and not released , with single shot capabilities ), 3 . 6 shot burst ( 6 shots if the trigger is pulled and not released , with single shot or any amount between capabilities ), 4 . full auto ( as long as the trigger is pulled it will cycle ). mode selection is done via switches # 1 and # 2 . mode settings using the switches are as follows : # 1 # 2 off off semi auto mode on off 3 shot mode off on 6 shot burst mode on on full auto mode dip switch # 3 and # 4 ( registers solenoid on ; times in milliseconds ) # 3 # 4 off off = 06 ms on off = 08 ms off on = 10 ms on on = 12 ms dip switch # 5 , # 6 , and # 7 ( registers solenoid off ( delay before re - cycle ); times in milliseconds ) # 5 # 6 # 7 off off off = 70 ms on off off = 80 ms off on off = 90 ms on on off = 100 ms off off on = 110 ms on off on = 120 ms off on on = 130 ms on on on = 140 ms as the solenoid 60 is deactuated , the gun is cocked . as the solenoid 60 is actuated , compressed gas and the main compression spring 71 move the hammer 32 and slider 33 to the firing position , by moving the slider 33 forward with hammer 32 slidably engaging the valve stem 29 . the hammer 32 engages valve stem 29 , thereby unseating the valve cup 28 , causing the release of compressed gas into the gas passage 4 , thereby propelling the projectile 100 through the barrel 10 . the slider 33 has moved forward into the firing position forcing the hammer 32 to engage the tip of valve stem 29 . simultaneously , valve stem 29 is forced inwardly against the bias of valve spring 72 to unseat the valve cup 28 from its seat , thus allowing the compressed gas to enter the barrel 10 . gas entering the barrel 10 progresses through the conduit formed by angular surfaces of the valve stem guide 30 and the port 220 in the forward portion of the bolt 9 , forcing projectile 100 , which has a diameter approximating that of the bore 5 of the barrel 10 , out of the barrel 10 at a velocity dependent upon the gas pressure within the barrel 10 which is controlled by high pressure regulator 50 . the solenoid 60 is then deactuated to force the slider 33 and hence hammer 32 back to the recocked position . valve stem 29 is again biased into its seated position by valve spring 72 to prevent further flow of compressed gas into the barrel 10 . upon deactuation of solenoid 60 , the slider 33 and hence the link pin 41 and bolt 9 are forced back to the recocked position . as the bolt 9 moves to the recocked position , the projectile retention lever ( not shown ) allows a new projectile 100 to enter barrel 10 and again holds a next projectile ( not shown ) in place under bias of a spring . having thus described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention , it is to be appreciated and will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many physical changes could be made in the apparatus without altering the inventive concepts and principles embodied therein . the present embodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive , the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the forgoing description , and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore to be embraced therein . | 5 |
the following description is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the disclosure , its application , or uses . for purposes of clarity , the same reference numbers will be used in the drawings to identify similar elements . as used herein , the term module , circuit and / or device refers to an application specific integrated circuit ( asic ), an electronic circuit , a processor ( shared , dedicated , or group ) and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs , a combinational logic circuit , and / or other suitable components that provide the described functionality . it should be understood that steps within a method may be executed in a different order without altering the principles of the present disclosure . most memory technologies are limited to n = 2 states . however , in addition to binary storage of data with n = 2 states , phase change materials can store additional states ( n & gt ; 2 ) that can be used to further increase data storage density . the additional states are obtained by interim resistance values between the low and high values corresponding to fully crystalline and fully amorphous states , respectively . for example with n = 4 , two bits can be stored per cell . the present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for accurately writing and reading multi - level values into a memory array including phase change memory cells . the memory array may be used in electronic devices including portable electronic devices , such as cell phones , laptop computers , personal digital assistants ( pdas ), hand - held gaming devices , portable music players , portable video players , and the like . a memory module may perform calibration of the phase change memory cells in the array for each write operation . calibration may include writing a cell with a first write profile , writing the cell with a second write profile and comparing the resulting cell resistance values to a predetermined resistance value ( i . e . optimal target resistance value ). a target write profile may be based on the comparison . the target write profile may be used to write a target resistance value into the cell that may differ from the optimal target resistance value . the target resistance value may be incrementally decreased to approach the optimal target resistance . calibration according to the present disclosure enables programming of multiple resistance levels into phase change memory cells of the memory array , which allows storage of more than one bit per cell . this , in turn , increases storage density . referring now to fig1 , a phase change memory cell including a phase change material such as chalcogenide alloy can be programmed using a temperature profile 1 . on the left side of the temperature profile 1 , the phase change material remains in a substantially constant high resistance state until a sufficient current pulse ( reset pulse ) is applied . during the reset pulse , the temperature of the phase change material is raised above a melting temperature ( t m ) and allowed to quench or cool down quickly in an amorphous state . in other words , the temperature of the phase change material is brought below a crystallization temperature ( tx ) during a time period ( t 1 ). on the right side of the profile 1 , a set pulse programs the memory cell from the high resistance amorphous state to the low resistance crystalline state . the set pulse heats the phase change material to a temperature tset that is below tm but above tx . a prolonged period ( t 2 ) at tset allows the material to re - order to the crystalline state . the length of t 2 may determine the extent of crystallization . if the phase change material is annealed at a temperature other than tset , intermediate resistance values between the crystalline and amorphous state can be obtained . as annealing temperature increases , relative resistance tends to decrease . further , because partial crystallization is possible , control of crystallization time during a write process allows multi - level writing . in other words , each cell can store additional states and n can be greater than 2 . while a write current pulse and duration controls a temperature profile , there may be at least two limitations . first , process , material , and pattern formation non - uniformities can cause the memory cells to have slightly different programmed resistance values for a given temperature profile ( or write parameter ). second , with resistance changes over several orders of magnitude , it may be difficult to read - back the resistance value with sufficient dynamic range and accuracy . referring now to fig2 , 3 , and 4 , to calibrate memory cells , interpolation and / or extrapolation may be used for each write operation . crystallization time and / or temperature maybe varied to calibrate the cell so that it approaches a predetermined or optimal target resistance . in fig2 , temperature profiles 2 , 3 , 4 including successively decreasing crystallization times , t 1 , t 2 , and t 3 respectively , are illustrated . a curve 6 in fig3 illustrates different resistivities corresponding to crystallization temperatures t 1 , t 2 , and t 3 . following the erase / write operations 8 , 9 of the first profile 2 , a difference between the resulting resistance 10 of the material and the optimal target resistance is measured . crystallization time of the second profile 3 is reduced based on the difference resulting in resistance 12 . a difference between the resulting resistance 12 of the material and the optimal target resistance is measured . the third profile 4 results in a third resistance 13 that may correspond to the optimal target resistance for the material . the temperature profile 4 may be based on interpolation and / or extrapolation of the resistance differences and may include a shorter crystallization time than profiles 2 , 3 . t 1 and t 2 of profiles 2 , 3 may be chosen above an estimated crystallization time for the memory cell . t 1 may be based on a optimal target resistance ( r target ) plus a resistance above the optimal target resistance ( δr ), and t 2 may be between t 1 and a crystallization temperature for the optimal target resistance . in fig4 , incremental write pulses 20 , 22 , 24 may be used to incrementally adjust the resistance 13 closer to the optimal target resistance . pulse height corresponds to temperature applied to the cell . successive heights 26 , 28 , 30 of the incremental write pulse 20 , 22 , 24 are measured in view of a resulting resistance value of the memory cell . as the resistance approaches the optimal target resistance , the pulses 20 , 22 , 24 are reduced . referring now to fig5 a , 5 b , and 6 , exemplary memory cells are illustrated . in fig5 a , a memory cell 50 includes a phase change material 52 . a heater 56 and a select switch 58 are connected in a row and column orientation . the heater 56 can be a resistive heater . the memory cell 50 may be located at an intersection of a column bit line 64 and row select line 66 . one end 68 of the material 52 is connected to the column bit line 64 . another end 72 is connected to the resistive heater 56 , which is selectively connected by the switch 58 to a reference potential such as ground . the switch 58 is controlled by the row select line 66 . the resistive heater 56 may include an inert electrical heater cell . referring now to fig5 b , another select switch 59 may be controlled by a read row select line 61 . this approach eliminates the resistive heater 56 from a read operation but increases cell size . reading the phase change memory cell may include applying current and / or measuring voltage to determine resistance . referring now to fig6 , current and voltage ( i / v ) characteristics of a phase change material are shown . in addition , the i / v characteristic curve shows read voltage and write current ranges . due to material break - down characteristics , a substantial amount of current may be conducted by applying a voltage exceeding the breakdown voltage ( v b ) of the material . current flowing through the material may be adjusted to control heating . a rise in temperature from both heating and power dissipated within the phase change material provides controlled temperature cycling used for writing the phase change memory cell . because of the break - down characteristics of the phase change material , the read - back process may be performed at an applied voltage lower than the breakdown voltage . referring now to fig7 a and 7b , a memory module 100 or phase change memory system is illustrated . the memory module 100 is capable of being read from and written to by an input / output ( i / o ) module 102 of a host device 104 through a memory i / o module 106 . the memory module 100 typically includes a memory core 180 . the memory core 180 includes multiple phase change memory cells 210 - 1 , 210 - 2 , . . . , 210 - n ( collectively 210 ). the memory cells 210 - 1 , 210 - 2 , . . . , 210 - n hold the data to be stored . each of the memory cells may be programmable to a plurality of resistance states . a control module 122 receives control signals from the host device 104 and controls a read module 124 , a write module 126 , and a row / column select module 150 . further , the control module 122 includes an estimation module 137 , as will be described below . the row / column select module 150 outputs select signals to a column read / write module 160 and a row select module 170 to select one or more phase change memory cells 210 in the array . in fig7 b , the row select module 170 is split into a read row select module 211 controlling reading stored cell data and a write row select module 213 controlling heating of memory cell phase change materials during a write operation , the control module 122 instructs the row / column select module 150 ( and the column and row select modules 160 and 170 ) to select write target cells for the write procedure . the target cells may include any number of cells , such as a particular cell , a row of cells , a column of cells , a block of cells , etc . once the target cells are selected , the control module 122 instructs the write module 126 to generate a write signal having a first parameter . the write target cells are written to using the first parameter . the first parameter may be a default value for the initial write process . alternately , the first parameter may be stored in a write profile module 136 and may be unique for each cell , and group of cells , etc . once the write target cells have been written , additional target cells may be identified and written . the estimation module 137 compares read back values for the target cells and may generate a second write parameter based on the first write parameter and the comparison . the second write parameter may be stored in the write profile module 136 . the read back value may be compared with a predetermined threshold . the second write parameter may be determined based upon the first write parameter , the read back values and / or the comparison . the write and read process may be repeated as necessary . the write process may include heating the phase change memory cells to a melting temperature and cooling the phase change memory cells to a crystallization temperature based on the first parameter . the first parameter may include a crystallization time or a crystallization temperature . the estimation module 137 determines the extent to which the read back value matches a predetermined threshold . when the control module 122 finds the cell resistance within an acceptable threshold of the optimal target value , the first write parameter is used . if outside of an acceptable threshold , the estimation module 137 generates the second write parameter and / or a target write parameter using any suitable method . for example , interpolation and / or extrapolation may be used . during a read operation , the control module 122 instructs the row / column select module 150 to select read target cells for the read procedure . the read target cells may include any number of cells , such as a particular cell , a row of cells , a column of cells , a block of cells , etc . once the read target cells are selected , the control module 122 instructs the read module 124 to generate a read signal . a sensing module 132 in the read module 124 senses the stored value in the target cells . the sensing module 132 may include one or more amplifiers 133 . in some implementations , the amplifiers 133 may have a logarithmic transfer function as will be described further below . referring now to fig8 , a method 350 for controlling a multi - level phase change memory system including an array of phase change memory cells is illustrated . in step 352 , a first write process is performed for one or more of the phase change memory cells within the system based on a first parameter . the first parameter may be a predetermined crystallization time or temperature associated with a target data value . a write waveform profile from a precalibrated write parameter table or equation may be used as first parameter so that it is nominally correct for a majority of the phase change memory cells . a second activation of step 352 generates a second write process using a second profile ( for example temperature profile 3 in fig2 ) having a different crystallization time and / or temperature than the first profile . in step 354 , values within the cell or cells from the write process of step 352 may be read back using a read - back amplifier . a determination is then made in step 356 whether the read - back values of step 354 differ from respective predetermined optimal target values by more than a predetermined threshold . the threshold may depend on memory cell parameters and a degree of accuracy required by the system . a comparison may be based on a resistance value within a portion of at least one phase change memory cell and the predetermined optimal target value . in step 358 , a determination is made whether the read - back value is lower than the optimal target value . for a positive response , in step 360 , crystallization time of the phase change material within the cells is shortened , crystallization temperature is decreased , or a combination of the aforementioned is implemented . for example , the second profile discussed regarding fig2 illustrates a shortened crystallization time in relation to the first profile . other approaches can also be used . otherwise , in step 362 , crystallization time of the phase change material within the cells is lengthened , crystallization temperature is increased , or a combination of the aforementioned is implemented . step 362 may be eliminated when the crystallization time and / or temperature for one write operation is deliberately chosen higher than the target value by the control module and merely reduced for each successive write profile . in response to steps 360 and 362 , control returns to step 352 . for step 356 true , a target write profile is interpolated and / or extrapolated from previous write profiles in step 364 . resistance values resulting from previous write profiles are compared with the predetermined optimal target resistance for the interpolations and / or extrapolations . in step 366 , incrementally decreasing write pulses may refine a target resistance resulting from the target write profile . the memory control module may check the memory cell following each incremental pulse and may determine whether the memory cell is sufficiently close to the optimal target resistance . in operation , during each new write of a memory cell , write profiles may be used that have decreasing crystallization times . the crystallization times are chosen above a typical or predetermined time for crystallization to an optimal target resistance . a target profile may be based on interpolation / extrapolation of cell resistances resulting from the write profiles as compared with the optimal target resistance . cell resistance resulting from the target profile may be incrementally adjusted down to more closely resembles the optimal target resistance . the memory control module 122 may check the memory cell following each incremental adjustment . as an illustrative example , where the crystallization time is used as the controlled parameter so that t 21 is the crystallization time for the first write , logv 1 is the read - back value after the first write , t 22 is the crystallization time for the second write , logv 2 is the read - back value after the second write , and logvtarget is the target read - back value ; the crystallization time t 23 can be determined to the first order using linear interpolation and extrapolation as : the write and read process can be repeated as many times as required to achieve a predetermined accuracy . one interpolation step , however , may be all that is needed for achieving accurate results . further , the corrected write profile may be determined by using the gradient of t 2 versus logv values described in a calibrated write table and simply performing a second write step using the following equation : a third write may be required for achieving a desired accuracy , and the third write process can be determined by analyzing the behavior of the first write and the second write processes and an interpolation between the first and second resistances and the target resistance . to improve the read - detection performance further , read - back processes may be processed serially through the control module 122 using a trellis coded modulation ( tcm ) or iterative ( for example , a low - density parity - check code ( ldpc )) channel . the signal processing of the tcm channel may be corrected through a hard error correcting code . further , every written cell of the array of phase change memory cells may be read - back through the column read / write module 160 including an automatic gain control function and a level linearization function . the level linearization function includes an iterative decoding channel for signal processing . the iterative decoding channel functions with a low density parity code ( ldpc ) and is corrected through a hard error correcting code . further , the hard error correcting code may include a reed - solomon ( rs ) code . further , the column read / write module 160 may control future drift in cell resistance due to a high temperature condition through an automatic gain control ( agc ) loop having a non - linear channel . referring now to fig9 a - 9g , various exemplary implementations incorporating the teachings of the present disclosure are shown . referring now to fig9 a , the teachings of the disclosure can be implemented in memory of a hard disk drive ( hdd ) 400 . the hdd 400 includes a hard disk assembly ( hda ) 401 and a hdd pcb 402 . the hda 401 may include a magnetic medium 403 , such as one or more platters that store data , and a read / write device 404 . the read / write device 404 may be arranged on an actuator arm 405 and may read and write data on the magnetic medium 403 . additionally , the hda 401 includes a spindle motor 406 that rotates the magnetic medium 403 and a voice - coil motor ( vcm ) 407 that actuates the actuator arm 405 . a preamplifier device 408 amplifies signals generated by the read / write device 404 during read operations and provides signals to the read / write device 404 during write operations . the hdd pcb 402 includes a read / write channel module ( hereinafter , “ read channel ”) 409 , a hard disk controller ( hdc ) module 410 , a buffer 411 , nonvolatile memory 412 , a processor 413 , and a spindle / vcm driver module 414 . the read channel 409 processes data received from and transmitted to the preamplifier device 408 . the hdc module 410 controls components of the hda 401 and communicates with an external device ( not shown ) via an i / o interface 415 . the external device may include a computer , a multimedia device , a mobile computing device , etc . the i / o interface 415 may include wireline and / or wireless communication links . the hdc module 410 may receive data from the hda 401 , the read channel 409 , the buffer 411 , nonvolatile memory 412 , the processor 413 , the spindle / vcm driver module 414 , and / or the i / o interface 415 . the processor 413 may process the data , including encoding , decoding , filtering , and / or formatting . the processed data may be output to the hda 401 , the read channel 409 , the buffer 411 , nonvolatile memory 412 , the processor 413 , the spindle / vcm driver module 414 , and / or the i / o interface 415 . the hdc module 410 may use the buffer 411 and / or nonvolatile memory 412 to store data related to the control and operation of the hdd 400 . the buffer 411 may include dram , sdram , etc . the nonvolatile memory 412 may include flash memory ( including nand and nor flash memory ), phase change memory , magnetic ram , or multi - state memory , in which each memory cell has more than two states . the spindle / vcm driver module 414 controls the spindle motor 406 and the vcm 407 . the hdd pcb 402 includes a power supply 416 that provides power to the components of the hdd 400 . referring now to fig9 b , the teachings of the disclosure can be implemented in memory of a dvd drive 418 or of a cd drive ( not shown ). the dvd drive 418 includes a dvd pcb 419 and a dvd assembly ( dvda ) 420 . the dvd pcb 419 includes a dvd control module 421 , a buffer 422 , nonvolatile memory 423 , a processor 424 , a spindle / fm ( feed motor ) driver module 425 , an analog front - end module 426 , a write strategy module 427 , and a dsp module 428 . the dvd control module 421 controls components of the dvda 420 and communicates with an external device ( not shown ) via an i / o interface 429 . the external device may include a computer , a multimedia device , a mobile computing device , etc . the i / o interface 429 may include wireline and / or wireless communication links . the dvd control module 421 may receive data from the buffer 422 , nonvolatile memory 423 , the processor 424 , the spindle / fm driver module 425 , the analog front - end module 426 , the write strategy module 427 , the dsp module 428 , and / or the i / o interface 429 . the processor 424 may process the data , including encoding , decoding , filtering , and / or formatting . the dsp module 428 performs signal processing , such as video and / or audio coding / decoding . the processed data may be output to the buffer 422 , nonvolatile memory 423 , the processor 424 , the spindle / fm driver module 425 , the analog front - end module 426 , the write strategy module 427 , the dsp module 428 , and / or the i / o interface 429 . the dvd control module 421 may use the buffer 422 and / or nonvolatile memory 423 to store data related to the control and operation of the dvd drive 418 . the buffer 422 may include dram , sdram , etc . the nonvolatile memory 423 may include flash memory ( including nand and nor flash memory ), phase change memory , magnetic ram , or multi - state memory , in which each memory cell has more than two states . the dvd pcb 419 includes a power supply 430 that provides power to the components of the dvd drive 418 . the dvda 420 may include a preamplifier device 431 , a laser driver 432 , and an optical device 433 , which may be an optical read / write ( orw ) device or an optical read - only ( or ) device . a spindle motor 434 rotates an optical storage medium 435 , and a feed motor 436 actuates the optical device 433 relative to the optical storage medium 435 . when reading data from the optical storage medium 435 , the laser driver provides a read power to the optical device 433 . the optical device 433 detects data from the optical storage medium 435 , and transmits the data to the preamplifier device 431 . the analog front - end module 426 receives data from the preamplifier device 431 and performs such functions as filtering and a / d conversion . to write to the optical storage medium 435 , the write strategy module 427 transmits power level and timing information to the laser driver 432 . the laser driver 432 controls the optical device 433 to write data to the optical storage medium 435 . referring now to fig9 c , the teachings of the disclosure can be implemented in memory of a high definition television ( hdtv ) 437 . the hdtv 437 includes a hdtv control module 438 , a display 439 , a power supply 440 , memory 441 , a storage device 442 , a wlan interface 443 and associated antenna 444 , and an external interface 445 . the hdtv 437 can receive input signals from the wlan interface 443 and / or the external interface 445 , which sends and receives information via cable , broadband internet , and / or satellite . the hdtv control module 438 may process the input signals , including encoding , decoding , filtering , and / or formatting , and generate output signals . the output signals may be communicated to one or more of the display 439 , memory 441 , the storage device 442 , the wlan interface 443 , and the external interface 445 . memory 441 may include random access memory ( ram ) and / or nonvolatile memory such as flash memory , phase change memory , or multi - state memory , in which each memory cell has more than two states . the storage device 442 may include an optical storage drive , such as a dvd drive , and / or a hard disk drive ( hdd ). the hdtv control module 438 communicates externally via the wlan interface 443 and / or the external interface 445 . the power supply 440 provides power to the components of the hdtv 437 . referring now to fig9 d , the teachings of the disclosure may be implemented in memory of a vehicle 446 . the vehicle 446 may include a vehicle control system 447 , a power supply 448 , memory 449 , a storage device 450 , and a wlan interface 452 and associated antenna 453 . the vehicle control system 447 may be a powertrain control system , a body control system , an entertainment control system , an anti - lock braking system ( abs ), a navigation system , a telematics system , a lane departure system , an adaptive cruise control system , etc . the vehicle control system 447 may communicate with one or more sensors 454 and generate one or more output signals 456 . the sensors 454 may include temperature sensors , acceleration sensors , pressure sensors , rotational sensors , airflow sensors , etc . the output signals 456 may control engine operating parameters , transmission operating parameters , suspension parameters , etc . the power supply 448 provides power to the components of the vehicle 446 . the vehicle control system 447 may store data in memory 449 and / or the storage device 450 . memory 449 may include random access memory ( ram ) and / or nonvolatile memory such as flash memory , phase change memory , or multi - state memory , in which each memory cell has more than two states . the storage device 450 may include an optical storage drive , such as a dvd drive , and / or a hard disk drive ( hdd ). the vehicle control system 447 may communicate externally using the wlan interface 452 . referring now to fig9 e , the teachings of the disclosure can be implemented in memory of a cellular phone 458 . the cellular phone 458 includes a phone control module 460 , a power supply 462 , memory 464 , a storage device 466 , and a cellular network interface 467 . the cellular phone 458 may include a wlan interface 468 and associated antenna 469 , a microphone 470 , an audio output 472 such as a speaker and / or output jack , a display 474 , and a user input device 476 such as a keypad and / or pointing device . the phone control module 460 may receive input signals from the cellular network interface 467 , the wlan interface 468 , the microphone 470 , and / or the user input device 476 . the phone control module 460 may process signals , including encoding , decoding , filtering , and / or formatting , and generate output signals . the output signals may be communicated to one or more of memory 464 , the storage device 466 , the cellular network interface 467 , the wlan interface 468 , and the audio output 472 . memory 464 may include random access memory ( ram ) and / or nonvolatile memory such as flash memory , phase change memory , or multi - state memory , in which each memory cell has more than two states . the storage device 466 may include an optical storage drive , such as a dvd drive , and / or a hard disk drive ( hdd ). the power supply 462 provides power to the components of the cellular phone 458 . referring now to fig9 f , the teachings of the disclosure can be implemented in memory of a set top box 478 . the set top box 478 includes a set top control module 480 , a display 481 , a power supply 482 , memory 483 , a storage device 484 , and a wlan interface 485 and associated antenna 486 . the set top control module 480 may receive input signals from the wlan interface 485 and an external interface 487 , which can send and receive information via cable , broadband internet , and / or satellite . the set top control module 480 may process signals , including encoding , decoding , filtering , and / or formatting , and generate output signals . the output signals may include audio and / or video signals in standard and / or high definition formats . the output signals may be communicated to the wlan interface 485 and / or to the display 481 . the display 481 may include a television , a projector , and / or a monitor . the power supply 482 provides power to the components of the set top box 478 . memory 483 may include random access memory ( ram ) and / or nonvolatile memory such as flash memory , phase change memory , or multi - state memory , in which each memory cell has more than two states . the storage device 484 may include an optical storage drive , such as a dvd drive , and / or a hard disk drive ( hdd ). referring now to fig9 g , the teachings of the disclosure can be implemented in memory of a mobile device 489 . the mobile device 489 may include a mobile device control module 490 , a power supply 491 , memory 492 , a storage device 493 , a wlan interface 494 and associated antenna 495 , and an external interface 499 . the mobile device control module 490 may receive input signals from the wlan interface 494 and / or the external interface 499 . the external interface 499 may include usb , infrared , and / or ethernet . the input signals may include compressed audio and / or video , and may be compliant with the mp3 format . additionally , the mobile device control module 490 may receive input from a user input 496 such as a keypad , touchpad , or individual buttons . the mobile device control module 490 may process input signals , including encoding , decoding , filtering , and / or formatting , and generate output signals . the mobile device control module 490 may output audio signals to an audio output 497 and video signals to a display 498 . the audio output 497 may include a speaker and / or an output jack . the display 498 may present a graphical user interface , which may include menus , icons , etc . the power supply 491 provides power to the components of the mobile device 489 . memory 492 may include random access memory ( ram ) and / or nonvolatile memory such as flash memory , phase change memory , or multi - state memory , in which each memory cell has more than two states . the storage device 493 may include an optical storage drive , such as a dvd drive , and / or a hard disk drive ( hdd ). the mobile device may include a personal digital assistant , a media player , a laptop computer , a gaming console or other mobile computing device . those skilled in the art can now appreciate from the foregoing description that the broad teachings of the disclosure can be implemented as a variety of forms . therefore , while this disclosure includes particular examples , the true scope of the disclosure should not be so limited since other modifications will become apparent to the skilled practitioner upon a study of the drawings , the specification and the following claims . | 6 |
in accordance with the present invention , there are provided methods for the in vivo reduction of nitric oxide levels in a subject . invention methods comprise : administering to a subject an effective amount of at least one dithiocarbamate - containing nitric oxide scavenger . dithiocarbamate - containing nitric oxide scavengers contemplated for use in the practice of the present invention include any physiologically compatible derivative of the dithiocarbamate moiety ( i . e ., ( r ) 2 n -- c ( s )-- sh ). such compounds can be described with reference to the following generic structure : each of r 1 and r 2 is independently selected from a c 1 up to c 18 alkyl , substituted alkyl , cycloalkyl , substituted cycloalkyl , heterocyclic , substituted heterocyclic , alkenyl , substituted alkenyl , alkynyl , substituted alkynyl , aryl , substituted aryl , heteroaryl , substituted heteroaryl , alkylaryl , substituted alkylaryl , arylalkyl , substituted arylalkyl , arylalkenyl , substituted arylalkenyl , arylalkynyl , substituted arylalkynyl , aroyl , substituted aroyl , acyl , substituted acyl or r 1 and r 2 can cooperate to form a 5 -, 6 - or 7 - membered ring including n , r 1 and r 2 , m is a monovalent cation when x is 1 , or m is a physiologically compatible divalent or trivalent transition metal cation when x is 2 . presently preferred compounds having the above - described generic structure are those wherein : each of r 1 and r 2 = a c 1 up to c 12 alkyl , substituted alkyl , alkenyl , substituted alkenyl , alkynyl or substituted alkynyl , wherein the substituents are selected from carboxyl , -- c ( o ) h , oxyacyl , phenol , phenoxy , pyridinyl , pyrrolidinyl , amino , amido , hydroxy , nitro or sulfuryl , and especially preferred compounds having the above - described generic structure are those wherein : r 1 = a c 2 up to c 8 alkyl or substituted alkyl , wherein the substituents are selected from carboxyl , acetyl , pyridinyl , pyrrolidinyl , amino , amido , hydroxy or nitro , r 2 is selected from a c 1 up to c 6 alkyl or substituted alkyl , or r 2 can cooperate with r 1 to form a 5 -, 6 - or 7 - membered ring including n , r 2 and r 1 , and the presently most preferred compounds having the above - described generic structure are those wherein : r 1 = a c 2 up to c 8 alkyl or substituted alkyl , wherein the substituents are selected from carboxyl , acetyl , amido or hydroxy , r 2 = a c 1 up to c 4 alkyl or substituted alkyl , and when r 1 and r 2 cooperate to form a 5 -, 6 - or 7 - membered ring , the combination of r 1 and r 2 can be a variety of saturated or unsaturated 4 , 5 or 6 atom bridging species selected from alkenylene or -- o --, -- s --, -- c ( o )-- and / or -- n ( r )-- containing alkylene moieties , wherein r is hydrogen or a lower alkyl moiety . monovalent cations contemplated for incorporation into the above compounds include h + , na + , nh 4 + , tetraalkyl ammonium , and the like . physiologically compatible divalent or trivalent transition metal cations contemplated for incorporation into the above compounds include charged forms of iron , cobalt , copper , manganese , or the like ( e . g ., fe + 2 , fe + 3 , co + 2 , co + 3 , cu + 2 , mn + 2 or mn + 3 ). in accordance with the present invention , the ratio of dithiocarbamate - species to counter - ion m can vary widely . thus , dithiocarbamate - containing nitric oxide scavenger can be administered without any added metallic counter - ion ( i . e ., m = h + , or a transition metal cation to dithiocarbamate - species ratio of zero ), with ratios of transition metal cation to dithiocarbamate - species up to about 1 : 2 ( i . e ., a 2 : 1 dithiocarbamate : transition metal cation complex ) being suitable . as employed herein , &# 34 ; substituted alkyl &# 34 ; comprises alkyl groups further bearing one or more substituents selected from hydroxy , alkoxy ( of a lower alkyl group ), mercapto ( of a lower alkyl group ), cycloalkyl , substituted cycloalkyl , heterocyclic , substituted heterocyclic , aryl , substituted aryl , heteroaryl , substituted heteroaryl , aryloxy , substituted aryloxy , halogen , trifluoromethyl , cyano , nitro , nitrone , amino , amido , -- c ( o ) h , acyl , oxyacyl , carboxyl , carbamate , sulfonyl , sulfonamide , sulfuryl , and the like . as employed herein , &# 34 ; cycloalkyl &# 34 ; refers to cyclic ring - containing groups containing in the range of about 3 up to 8 carbon atoms , and &# 34 ; substituted cycloalkyl &# 34 ; refers to cycloalkyl groups further bearing one or more substituents as set forth above . as employed herein , &# 34 ; alkenyl &# 34 ; refers to straight or branched chain hydrocarbyl groups having at least one carbon - carbon double bond , and having in the range of about 2 up to 12 carbon atoms , and &# 34 ; substituted alkenyl &# 34 ; refers to alkenyl groups further bearing one or more substituents as set forth above . as employed herein , &# 34 ; alkynyl &# 34 ; refers to straight or branched chain hydrocarbyl groups having at least one carbon - carbon triple bond , and having in the range of about 2 up to 12 carbon atoms , and &# 34 ; substituted alkynyl &# 34 ; refers to alkynyl groups further bearing one or more substituents as set forth above . as employed herein , &# 34 ; aryl &# 34 ; refers to aromatic groups having in the range of 6 up to 14 carbon atoms and &# 34 ; substituted aryl &# 34 ; refers to aryl groups further bearing one or more substituents as set forth above . as employed herein , &# 34 ; alkylaryl &# 34 ;, refers to alkyl - substituted aryl groups and &# 34 ; substituted alkylaryl &# 34 ; refers to alkylaryl groups further bearing one or more substituents as set forth above . as employed herein , &# 34 ; arylalkyl &# 34 ; refers to aryl - substituted alkyl groups and &# 34 ; substituted arylalkyl &# 34 ;, refers to arylalkyl groups further bearing one or more substituents as set forth above . as employed herein , &# 34 ; arylalkenyl &# 34 ; refers to aryl - substituted alkenyl groups and &# 34 ; substituted arylalkenyl &# 34 ; refers to arylalkenyl groups further bearing one or more substituents as set forth above . as employed herein , &# 34 ; arylalkynyl &# 34 ; refers to aryl - substituted alkynyl groups and &# 34 ; substituted arylalkynyl &# 34 ; refers to arylalkynyl groups further bearing one or more substituents as set forth above . as employed herein , &# 34 ; aroyl &# 34 ; refers to aryl - carbonyl species such as benzoyl and &# 34 ; substituted aroyl &# 34 ; refers to aroyl groups further bearing one or more substituents as set forth above . as employed herein , &# 34 ; heterocyclic &# 34 ; refers to cyclic ( i . e ., ring - containing ) groups containing one or more heteroatoms ( e . g ., n , o , s , or the like ) as part of the ring structure , and having in the range of 3 up to 14 carbon atoms and &# 34 ; substituted heterocyclic &# 34 ; refers to heterocyclic groups further bearing one or more substituents as set forth above . as employed herein , &# 34 ; halogen &# 34 ; refers to fluoride , chloride , bromide or iodide atoms . in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention , there are provided methods for treating nitric oxide overproduction in a subject . invention methods comprise : administering to a subject an effective amount of at least one dithiocarbamate - containing nitric oxide scavenger . nitric oxide overproduction is associated with a wide range of disease states and / or indications , such as , for example , septic shock , ischemia , administration of cytokines , overexpression of cytokines , ulcers , inflammatory bowel disease ( e . g ., ulcerative colitis or crohn &# 39 ; s disease ), diabetes , arthritis , asthma , alzheimer &# 39 ; s disease , parkinson &# 39 ; s disease , multiple sclerosis , cirrhosis , allograft rejection , encephalomyelitis , meningitis , pancreatitis , peritonitis , vasculitis , lymphocytic choriomeningitis , glomerulonephritis , uveitis , ileitis , liver inflammation , renal inflammation , hemorrhagic shock , anaphylactic shock , burn , infection ( including bacterial ( e . g ., e . coli infection ), viral ( e . g ., hiv ), fungal ( e . g ., candidiosis and histoplasmosis ) and parasitic ( e . g ., leishmaniasis and schistosomiasis ) infections ), hemodialysis , chronic fatigue syndrome , stroke , cancers ( e . g ., breast , melanoma , carcinoma , and the like ), cardiopulmonary bypass , ischemic / reperfusion injury , and the like . with particular reference to cytokine therapy , the invention method will find widespread use because cytokine therapy ( with consequent induction of nitric oxide overproduction ) is commonly used in the treatment of cancer and aids patients . systemic hypotension due to the induction of . no overproduction is a dose - limiting side effect of cytokine therapy . thus , a large patient population exists which will benefit from the invention method . presently preferred indications for treatment in accordance with the present invention include septic shock , ischemia , administration of il - 1 , administration of il - 2 , administration of il - 6 , administration of il - 12 , administration of tumor necrosis factor , administration of interferon - gamma , ulcers , ulcerative colitis , diabetes , arthritis , asthma , alzheimer &# 39 ; s disease , parkinson &# 39 ; s disease , multiple sclerosis , cirrhosis or allograft rejection . especially preferred indications for treatment in accordance with the present invention include nitric oxide overproduction associated with septic shock and nitric oxide overproduction associated with cytokine therapy . in accordance with a particular aspect of the present invention , the dithiocarbamate - containing nitric oxide scavenger is administered in combination with a cytokine ( e . g ., il - 1 , il - 2 , il - 6 , il - 12 , tnf or interferon - γ ), an antibiotic ( e . g ., gentamicin , tobramycin , amikacin , piperacillin , clindamycin , cefoxitin or vancomycin , or mixtures thereof ), a vasoactive agent ( e . g ., a catecholamine , noradrenaline , dopamine or dobutamine ), or mixtures thereof . in this way , the detrimental side effects of many of the above - noted pharmaceutical agents ( e . g ., systemic hypotension ) can be prevented or reduced by the dithiocarbamate - containing nitric oxide scavenger . thus , a patient being treated with any of the above - described agents could be monitored for evidence of nitric oxide overproduction ( e . g ., blood pressure drop ). at the first evidence of such overproduction , co - administration of a suitable dose of the above - described dithiocarbamate - containing nitric oxide scavenger could be initiated , thereby alleviating ( or dramatically reducing ) the side - effects of the primary therapy . those of skill in the art recognize that the dithiocarbamate - containing nitric oxide scavengers described herein can be delivered in a variety of ways , such as , for example , orally , intravenously , subcutaneously , parenterally , rectally , by inhalation , and the like . since individual subjects may present a wide variation in severity of symptoms and each drug has its unique therapeutic characteristics , the precise mode of administration and dosage employed for each subject is left to the discretion of the practitioner . in general , the dosage of dithiocarbamate - containing nitric oxide scavenger employed in the practice of the present invention falls in the range of about 0 . 01 mmoles / kg body weight of the subject / hour up to about 0 . 5 mmoles / kg / hr . in accordance with still another embodiment of the present invention , there are provided physiologically active composition ( s ) comprising a compound having the structure i or the structure ii , as described hereinafter , in a suitable vehicle rendering said compound amenable to oral delivery , transdermal delivery , intravenous delivery , intramuscular delivery , topical delivery , nasal delivery , and the like . as noted above , compounds of structure i ( i . e ., dithiocarbamate - species free of transition metal cations ) can be employed directly in the practice of the present invention , or pre - formed dithiocarbamate - transition metal chelates ( i . e ., compounds of structure ii ) having varying ratios of transition metal to dithiocarbamate - species can be employed in the invention methods . depending on the mode of delivery employed , the dithiocarbamate - containing nitric oxide scavenger can be delivered in a variety of pharmaceutically acceptable forms . for example , the scavenger can be delivered in the form of a solid , solution , emulsion , dispersion , micelle , liposome , and the like . pharmaceutical compositions of the present invention can be used in the form of a solid , a solution , an emulsion , a dispersion , a micelle , a liposome , and the like , wherein the resulting composition contains one or more of the compounds of the present invention , as an active ingredient , in admixture with an organic or inorganic carrier or excipient suitable for enteral or parenteral applications . the active ingredient may be compounded , for example , with the usual non - toxic , pharmaceutically acceptable carriers for tablets , pellets , capsules , suppositories , solutions , emulsions , suspensions , and any other form suitable for use . the carriers which can be used include glucose , lactose , gum acacia , gelatin , mannitol , starch paste , magnesium trisilicate , talc , corn starch , keratin , colloidal silica , potato starch , urea , medium chain length triglycerides , dextrans , and other carriers suitable for use in manufacturing preparations , in solid , semisolid , or liquid form . in addition auxiliary , stabilizing , thickening and coloring agents and perfumes may be used . the active compound ( i . e ., compounds of structure i or structure ii as described herein ) is included in the pharmaceutical composition in an amount sufficient to produce the desired effect upon the process or condition of diseases . pharmaceutical compositions containing the active ingredient may be in a form suitable for oral use , for example , as tablets , troches , lozenges , aqueous or oily suspensions , dispersible powders or granules , emulsions , hard or soft capsules , or syrups or elixirs . compositions intended for oral use may be prepared according to any method known to the art for the manufacture of pharmaceutical compositions and such compositions may contain one or more agents selected from the group consisting of a sweetening agent such as sucrose , lactose , or saccharin , flavoring agents such as peppermint , oil of wintergreen or cherry , coloring agents and preserving agents in order to provide pharmaceutically elegant and palatable preparations . tablets containing the active ingredient in admixture with non - toxic pharmaceutically acceptable excipients may also be manufactured by known methods . the excipients used may be , for example , ( 1 ) inert diluents such as calcium carbonate , lactose , calcium phosphate or sodium phosphate ; ( 2 ) granulating and disintegrating agents such as corn starch , potato starch or alginic acid ; ( 3 ) binding agents such as gum tragacanth , corn starch , gelatin or acacia , and ( 4 ) lubricating agents such as magnesium stearate , stearic acid or talc . the tablets may be uncoated or they may be coated by known techniques to delay disintegration and absorption in the gastrointestinal tract and thereby provide a sustained action over a longer period . for example , a time delay material such as glyceryl monostearate or glyceryl distearate may be employed . they may also be coated by the techniques described in the u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 256 , 108 ; 4 , 160 , 452 ; and 4 , 265 , 874 , to form osmotic therapeutic tablets for controlled release . in some cases , formulations for oral use may be in the form of hard gelatin capsules wherein the active ingredient is mixed with an inert solid diluent , for example , calcium carbonate , calcium phosphate or kaolin . they may also be in the form of soft gelatin capsules wherein the active ingredient is mixed with water or an oil medium , for example , peanut oil , liquid paraffin , or olive oil . the pharmaceutical compositions may be in the form of a sterile injectable suspension . this suspension may be formulated according to known methods using suitable dispersing or wetting agents and suspending agents . the sterile injectable preparation may also be a sterile injectable solution or suspension in a non - toxic parenterally - acceptable diluent or solvent , for example , as a solution in 1 , 3 - butanediol . sterile , fixed oils are conventionally employed as a solvent or suspending medium . for this purpose any bland fixed oil may be employed including synthetic mono - or diglycerides , fatty acids ( including oleic acid ), naturally occurring vegetable oils like sesame oil , coconut oil , peanut oil , cottonseed oil , etc ., or synthetic fatty vehicles like ethyl oleate or the like . buffers , preservatives , antioxidants , and the like can be incorporated as required . compounds contemplated for use in the practice of the present invention may also be administered in the form of suppositories for rectal administration of the drug . these compositions may be prepared by mixing the drug with a suitable non - irritating excipient , such as cocoa butter , synthetic glyceride esters of polyethylene glycols , which are solid at ordinary temperatures , but liquify and / or dissolve in the rectal cavity to release the drug . since individual subjects may present a wide variation in severity of symptoms and each drug has its unique therapeutic characteristics , it is up to the practitioner to determine a subject &# 39 ; s response to treatment and vary the dosages accordingly . typical daily doses , in general , lie within the range of from about 10 μg up to about 100 mg per kg body weight , and , preferably within the range of from 50 μg to 10 mg per kg body weight and can be administered up to four times daily . the daily iv dose lies within the range of from about 1 μg to about 100 mg per kg body weight , and , preferably , within the range of from 10 μg to 10 mg per kg body weight . in accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention , there are provided compounds having the structure i : provided , however , that the following compounds are excluded from the definition of formula i , i . e ., when r 1 is ethyl , r 2 is not ethyl ; or when r 1 is ch 2 ( choh ) 4 ch 2 oh , r 2 is not methyl , isoamyl , benzyl , 4 - methylbenzyl or p - isopropylbenzyl ; or when r 1 is ch 2 co 2 --, r 2 is not ch 2 co 2 --; or when r 1 is c0 2 -, r 2 is not ch 3 ; or when r 1 is ch 2 ch 2 -- oh , r 2 is not ch 2 ch 2 -- oh ; or when r 1 and r 2 combined , together with the carbamate nitrogen , form a pyrrolidinyl - 2 - carboxylate . in accordance with still another embodiment of the present invention , there are provided compounds having the structure ii : m is a physiologically compatible divalent or trivalent transition metal cation , provided , however , that the following compounds are excluded from the definition of formula ii , i . e ., when r 1 is ethyl , r 2 is not ethyl ; or when r 1 is ch 2 ( choh ) 4 ch 2 oh , r 2 is not methyl , isoamyl , benzyl , 4 - methylbenzyl or p - isopropylbenzyl ; or when r 1 is ch 2 co 2 --, r 2 is not ch 2 co 2 --; or when r 1 is co 2 --, r 2 is not ch 3 ; or when r 1 is ch 2 ch 2 -- oh , r 2 is not ch 2 ch 2 -- oh ; or when r 1 and r 2 combined , together with the carbamate nitrogen , form a pyrrolidinyl - 2 - carboxylate . also contemplated are compositions representing a combination of compounds of structure i and compounds of structure ii , i . e ., dithiocarbamate species wherein the ratio of m + 1 : dithiocarbamate - species is less than 1 : 1 and the ratio of m + 2 ,+ 3 : dithiocarbamate - species is less than 1 : 2 . a presently preferred composition is one wherein the ratio of m + 2 ,+ 3 : dithiocarbamate - species is about 1 : 5 ( i . e ., about 40 % of the dithiocarbamate - species are incorporated into a dithiocarbamate : transition metal cation complex , while about 60 % of the dithiocarbamate - species exist in monovalent form ). r 1 = a c 1 up to c 12 alkyl , substituted alkyl , alkenyl , substituted alkenyl , alkynyl or substituted alkynyl , wherein the substituents are selected from carboxyl , -- c ( o ) h , oxyacyl , phenol , phenoxy , pyridinyl , pyrrolidinyl , amino , amido , hydroxy , nitro or sulfuryl , r 2 = a c 1 up to c 4 alkyl or substituted alkyl , and r 1 = a c 2 up to c 8 alkyl or substituted alkyl , wherein the substituents are selected from carboxyl , acetyl , pyridinyl , pyrrolidinyl , amino , amido , hydroxy or nitro , the presently most preferred compounds having the structure ii are those wherein : r 1 = a c 2 up to c 8 alkyl or substituted alkyl , wherein the substituents are selected from carboxyl , acetyl , amido or hydroxy , the invention will now be described in greater detail by reference to the following non - limiting examples . icr mice ( female , 20 - 30 g ) were supplied by harlan sprague - dawley ( indianapolis , ind .). dexamethasone , lipopolysaccharide ( lps ; e . coli 026 : b6 ) and acetylcholine chloride were obtained from sigma ( st . louis , mo .). 15 n 2 - guanido - l - arginine ( 15 n - arginine ) was purchased from cambridge isotope laboratories ( woburn , mass .). n g - monomethyl - l - arginine ( nmma ) was obtained from calbiochem ( san diego , calif .). methoxyflurane was obtained from pitman - moore ( mundelein , ill .). pure . no gas was purchased from matheson ( joliet , ill .) and pure argon gas was obtained from airco ( murray hill , n . j .). saturated . no solution in water was prepared by following the method of kelm and schrader , supra . the concentration of the saturated . no solution is 2 . 0 mm , as verified by an iso - no meter from world precision instruments ( sarasota , fla .). no 2 - was measured by a colorimetric assay ( green et al ., anal . biochem . 126 : 131 - 138 ( 1982 )). no 3 -- was first converted to no 2 - by e . coli nitrate reductase ( bartholomew , b ., fd . chem . toxic . 22 : 541 - 543 ( 1984 )) and measured as described above . n - methyl - d - glucamine and carbon disulfide were obtained from aldrich ( milwaukee , wis .). n - methyl - d - glucamine dithiocarbamate ( mgd ) was synthesized by following the method of shinobu et al . ( acta pharmacol . toxicol . 54 : 189 - 194 ( 1984 )). a . in vivo measurement of ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! levels in the circulation of the lps - treated mice . noninvasive in vivo epr spectra were recorded with an epr spectrometer equipped with an s - band microwave bridge and a low - frequency loop - gap resonator with a 4 - mm loop with a length of 1 cm , operating at 3 . 5 ghz ( froncisz and hyde , j . magn . reson . 47 : 515 - 521 ( 1982 )). instrument settings include 100 - g field scan , 30 - s scan time , 0 . 1 - s time constant , 2 . 5 - g modulation amplitude , 100 - khz modulation frequency and 25 - mw microwave power . the measured unloaded q of the empty resonator was 3000 and the loaded q was 400 ( with the presence of the mouse tail ). other instrument settings and experimental conditions have been described previously ( komarov et al ., supra and lai and komarov , supra ). for measurement of 15 no production , at 6 h after i . v . injection of lps ( 6 mg / mouse ) via the lateral tail vein , the mice were anesthetized with methoxyflurane prior to subcutaneous injections of 15 n - arginine ( 5 or 10 mg per mouse ) in saline , and of 0 . 4 ml of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex ( 326 mg / kg of mgd and 34 mg / kg of feso 4 ) in water . injections of ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex at levels up to 1 % body weight did not affect the survival of the mice ( lai and komarov , supra ). immediately after injection , the mouse housed in a plexiglass restraining tube was transferred to the s - band epr spectrometer and the tail of the mouse was immobilized by taping down with a thin and narrow plexiglass stick and then placed inside the resonator ; no anesthetic agent was used . the in vivo epr signal was recorded at 2 h after the injection of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex ( lai and komarov , supra ). for inhibition experiments , at 6 h after lps treatment , mice were injected intraperitoneally with an aliquot of 50 mg / kg n - monomethyl - l - arginine ( nmma ) in saline . nmma is an inhibitor of both constitutive and inducible synthase activities ( aisaka et al ., supra and rees et al ., supra ). in other experiments , at 1 . 5 h prior to lps challenge , mice were injected intravenously with 3 mg / kg dexamethasone in saline . dexamethasone is an inhibitor of inducible . no synthase , but not constitutive . no synthase ( rees et al ., biochem . biophys . res . commun . 173 : 541 - 547 ( 1990 )). the in vivo epr signal was also recorded at 2 h after the injection of ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex ( lai and komarov , supra ). b . ex vivo measurements of ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! levels in the urine of normal mice . normal mice housed in a restraining tube were injected subcutaneously with 0 . 4 ml of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex ( 326 mg / kg of mgd and 34 mg / kg of feso 4 ). after 2 h , the animals were sacrificed and the urine samples were collected from the urinary bladder . the urine sample , which was dark brown ( characteristic of the presence of ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex ), was transferred to a quartz flat cell for epr measurement . the spectra were recorded at 22 ° c . with an x - band epr spectrometer , operating at 9 . 5 ghz . instrument settings include 100 - g field scan , 4 - min scan time , 0 . 5 - s time constant , 2 . 5 - g modulation amplitude , 100 - khz modulation frequency and 100 - mw microwave power . the concentrations of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! complex in the urine samples were calculated by comparing the signal intensities obtained from the samples to the signal intensity of a standard solution containing 0 . 1 mm of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! complex . for inhibition experiments , mice were injected intraperitoneally with 50 mg / kg nmma in saline immediately after the injection of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex . in other experiments , mice were injected intravenously with 3 mg / kg dexamethasone in saline about 1 . 5 h before the injection of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex . for measurement of 15 no production in normal mice , mice were injected subcutaneously with 15 n - arginine ( 5 or 10 mg / mouse ) in saline immediately before the injection of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex . acetylcholine chloride ( sigma ) in saline was freshly prepared prior to subcutaneous injection at a dose of 67 mg / kg . c . ex vivo measurement of ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! levels in the urine of lps - treated mice . at 0 , 2 , 4 , 6 or 8 h after lps treatment ( 6 mg / mouse ; at least three animals in each group ), the mice housed in a restraining tube were anesthetized with methoxyflurane prior to subcutaneous injection with 0 . 4 ml of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex ( 326 mg / kg of mgd and 34 mg / kg of feso 4 ). after 2 h , the mouse was sacrificed and the urine sample was collected from the urinary bladder , and immediately transferred to a quartz flat cell for x - band epr measurement as described above in example 2b . inhibition experiments with nmma or dexamethasone were performed as described above in example 2a , except that the mice were treated with lps prior to following the protocols for . no inhibition experiments . the procedures for s - band epr measurement of wet tissues and blood samples were as described previously ( lai and komarov , supra ). at 2 h after subcutaneous injection of an aliquot ( 0 . 4 ml ) of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex ( 326 mg / kg of mgd and 34 mg / kg of feso 4 ) into normal mice ( a ) ( and also in the presence of nmma ( 50 mg / kg ) ( b ), or of dexamethasone ( 3 mg / kg ) ( c )), the animals were sacrificed and the urine samples collected and transferred to a quartz flat cell for x - band ( 9 . 5 ghz ) epr measurement at 22 ° c . the spectrum of the urine samples was found to be composed of two components , a three - line spectrum ( α n = 12 . 5 g and g iso = 2 . 04 ) characteristic of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! complex , and a strong broad signal ( see fig1 a ). the strong broad signal is part of the epr spectrum of the ( mgd ) 2 / cu ! complex present in the urine , resulting from the chelation of urinary copper by the excreted mgd molecule . the concentration of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! complex detected in the urine sample of normal mice is estimated to be 1 . 3 μm ( see table 1 ). table 1______________________________________quantitation of the amounts of ( mgd ). sub . 2 / fe -- no ! present in mouse urine under various conditionsconditions ( mgd ). sub . 2 / fe -- no !, μm . sup . a______________________________________controls 1 . 3 ± 0 . 2 ( 8 ) . sup . b + nmma ( 50 mg / kg ) 0 . 4 ± 0 . 3 ( 8 ) *+ acetylcholine ( 67 mg / kg ) 3 . 9 ± 0 . 8 ( 3 ) *+ dexamethasone ( 3 mg / kg ) 1 . 4 ± 0 . 3 ( 7 ) ______________________________________ . sup . a the amounts of the ( mgd ). sub . 2 / fe -- no ! complex in mouse urine were calculated by comparing the epr signal intensities of mouse urine with the signal intensity of a standard solution containing known concentration of ( mgd ). sub . 2 / fe -- no !. . sup . b the data presented are mean ± s . e . ( number of mice ). * p & lt ; 0 . 05 compared with controls . simultaneous injection of ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! and nmma markedly reduced the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! signal in the urine samples , see fig1 b and table 1 . on the other hand , as noted in fig1 c and table 1 , injection of ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! into mice pretreated with dexamethasone produced negligible effects on the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! signal . these results suggest that the no detected in normal mouse urine in the form of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! complex was produced by constitutive no synthase , but not by inducible . no synthase . to further verify this suggestion , the effect of acetylcholine , a vasodilatory agent which is known to effect the basal . no level , but not the inducible . no level ( aisaka et al ., biochem . biophys . res . commun . 163 : 710 - 717 ( 1989 ); whittle et al ., br . j . pharmacol . 98 : 646 - 652 ( 1989 ); and vicaut et al ., j . appl . physiol . 77 : 536 - 533 ( 1994 )), was tested on the urinary ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! level of normal mice . injection of acetylcholine was found to produce a 3 - fold increase in urinary ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! levels ( see table 1 ). this observation represents the first direct in vivo evidence to confirm that the endothelium - derived relaxation factor released by acetylcholine ( the furchgott phenomenon ) is indeed nitric oxide . the question is raised whether the . no detected in normal mouse urine ( example 3 ) and the . no trapped by the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex ( table 1 ) is a result of the injection of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex . in other words , does the injection of the complex alone enhance the . no production in vivo ? in the previous experiments , it has been shown that the intravenous injection of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex did not affect the mean arterial pressure of mice ( komarov , et al . supra ), suggesting that the complex by itself does not seem to affect the in vivo . no production . it is well established in the art that l - arginine is converted into . no and citrulline by . no synthase enzymes ( ignarro , l . j ., supra ; moncada , s ., supra ; and lowenstein and snyder , supra ). to determine the origin of . no detected in normal mouse urine , 15 n - arginine ( 10 mg / mouse ) and ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! were injected simultaneously , and the epr signal in the resulting urine sample was measured , as described above . thus , mice were injected with 0 . 4 ml of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex ( 326 mg / kg of mgd and 34 mg / kg of feso 4 ) with ( a ) 10 mg 15 n - arginine or ( b ) 5 mg 15 n - arginine . the animals were sacrificed at 2 h after injection , and the urine samples were transferred to a quartz flat cell for epr measurement at 22 ° c . it was reasoned that if the . no detected in normal mouse urine comes from the arginine - no synthase pathway , upon injection of 15 n - arginine , one should expect to detect the 15 no in the form of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - 15 no ! complex in the urine . this indeed was the case as seen by epr , in which the two - line spectrum of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - i 5 no ! complex was detected in the urine , along with a weak three - line spectrum of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - 14 no ! complex ( fig2 a , the solid lines ); the 14 no was generated by the same enzymatic pathway , except utilizing endogenous 14 n - arginine as a substrate . this suggests that subcutaneously injected 15 n - arginine competes effectively with endogenous 14 n - arginine as a substrate for . no synthases . when 15 n - arginine was omitted from the injection solution , the typical three - line spectrum of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - 14 no ! complex became more visible ( see fig2 a , dotted lines ). on the other hand , when the amount of 15 n - arginine injected ( 5 mg / mouse ) was reduced by one - half , the signal intensity of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - 15 no ! complex decreased compared to that of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - 14 no ! complex ( see fig2 b ). therefore , it can be concluded that the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex injected subcutaneously into normal mice interacts with the . no produced in tissues through the arginine - constitutive . no synthase pathway to form the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! complex , which is eventually concentrated in the urine and excreted . detection of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! complex in the blood circulation of lps - treated mice it has previously been shown that upon bolus infusion of lps ( 6 mg / mouse ), mice are in septic - shock like conditions within 6 h , as indicated by a gradual fall in mean arterial pressure from 121 ± 3 mm hg to 85 ± 7 mm hg ( lai and komarov , supra ). in addition , it has been shown that at 6 h after lps treatment , the in vivo three - line spectrum of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! complex ( wherein ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! is injected subcutaneously 2 h before epr measurement ) is observed in the circulation of the mouse tail , as detected by s - band epr spectroscopy ( lai and komarov , supra ). to further ascertain the chemical nature of . no detected in lps - treated mice , 15 n - arginine ( 10 mg / kg ) was injected , together with 0 . 4 ml of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! spin - trapping reagent ( 326 mg / kg of mgd and 34 mg / kg of feso 4 ), into lps - treated mice and measured in vivo by s - band epr spectrum . the in vivo s - band epr spectra were recorded 2 h after administration of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex . albeit weak , the in vivo two - line spectrum of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe 15 - no ! complex in the circulation of the mouse tail was clearly visible ( fig3 a , the solid lines ), further confirming that the detected . no in the form of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! complex in lps - treated mice was produced via the arginine - no synthase pathway . the three - line spectrum typical of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - 14 no ! complex was obtained when 15 n - arginine was omitted ( fig3 a , the dotted lines ). the mice treated with 15 n - arginine were sacrificed , and the whole blood obtained was transferred for x - band epr measurement at 22 ° c . the epr signal of the whole blood obtained from 15n - arginine treated mice ( fig3 b ) is identical to that of the solid lines of fig3 a . this suggests that the epr signal in fig3 a or fig3 b is attributed to the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! complex circulating in the blood , rather than trapped in the tail muscle at or near the site of the injection . the s - band epr signal of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - 15 no ! complex was also detected in various isolated tissues obtained from lps - treated mice injected with the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex and 1 n - arginine ( fig4 ). thus , the two - line spectrum characteristic of ( mgd ) 2 / fe - 15 no !, superimposed with the three - line spectrum characteristic of ( mgd ) 2 / fe - 14 no !, were observed in the liver and kidneys ( see fig4 a and 4b , respectively ). again , the spectrum characteristic of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - 14 no ! complex was detected in the mouse liver when 15 n - arginine was omitted from the injection fluid ( see fig4 a , the dotted lines ). detection of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! complex in the urine of lps - treated mice the effects of nmma on ex vivo 9 . 5 - ghz epr spectra of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! complex in the urine of the lps - treated mice were determined . thus , at 6 h after lps treatment , mice were injected with the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex , with and without i . p . injection of nmma ( 50 mg / kg ). the mice were sacrificed at 2 h after injection of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex . the urine samples were collected and the epr measurement was carried out at 22 ° c . a strong three - line spectrum characteristic of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! complex was detected in the urine sample obtained from the lps - treated mouse injected with the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex ( see fig5 a ). the concentration of the complex is estimated to be 35 . 1 μm at 8 h after lps challenge ; the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex was injected at 6 h after lps . injection of nmma markedly reduces the signal intensity ( fig5 b ) as well as the amounts of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! complex ( table 2 ), which is consistent with the notion that the . no trapped by the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex injected in the lps - treated mice is produced mainly by inducible . no synthase . thus , inducible . no synthase activities in living animals may be reduced by treatment with . no trapping agents as described herein . furthermore , simultaneous injection of 15 n - arginine ( 10 mg / mouse ) and the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex into the lps - treated mice gave rise to a composite epr spectrum , consisting of a two - line spectrum of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - 15 no ! complex ( closed circles ), and a three - line spectrum of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - 14 no ! complex ( open circles ) as shown in fig6 a ( the solid lines ). the pure three - line spectrum of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - 14 no ! complex as depicted by the dotted lines in fig6 a was obtained when 15 n - arginine was omitted from the injection solution . in addition , when 15 n - arginine was administered at a level of 5 mg / mouse , the signal intensity of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - 15 no ! complex was reduced compared to that of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - 14 no ! complex ( fig6 b ). the results clearly confirm that the . no detected in the lps - treated mouse urine was overproduced via the arginine - no synthase pathway . in summary , the isotopic tracer experiments using 15 n - arginine have unambiguously demonstrated that the no trapped by the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex either in normal or the lps - treated mice is produced via arginine - no pathway ( fig2 , 4 and 6 ). the authenticity of . no produced in vivo which is trapped by the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex in our experimental systems is therefore firmly established . the time - dependent increase in ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! levels detected in urine samples after lps administration is shown in table 2 . table 2______________________________________time - dependent changes in the amounts of ( mgd ). sub . 2 / fe -- no ! present in the lps - treated mouse urineconditions ( mgd ). sub . 2 / fe -- no !, μm . sup . a______________________________________lps - treated . sup . b0 h 1 . 4 ± 0 . 4 ( 3 ) . sup . c2 h 7 . 3 ± 2 . 2 ( 3 ) * 4 h 18 . 2 ± 4 . 8 ( 4 ) * 6 h 17 . 1 ± 4 . 8 ( 4 ) * 8 h 35 . 1 ± 5 . 7 ( 3 ) * lps - treated ( after 6 h ) . sup . d + nmma ( 50 mg / kg ) 3 . 6 ± 0 . 9 ( 4 ) †+ nmma ( 100 mg / kg ) 3 . 8 ± 2 . 3 ( 3 ) † ______________________________________ . sup . a the amounts of ( mgd ). sub . 2 / fe -- no ! in mouse urine were determine as described in table 1 . . sup . b at different times points after lps challenge as indicated , the mice were injected subcutaneously with ( mgd ). sub . 2 / fe !, and were sacrificed 2 h later to collect urine for epr measurement . . sup . c the data presented are mean ± s . e . ( number of mice ). . sup . d various amounts on nmma were injected intraperitoneally at 6 h after lps challenge just prior to injection of ( mgd ). sub . 2 / fe !. urine was collected 2 h later . * p & lt ; 0 . 05 compared with controls ( see table 1 ). † p & lt ; 0 . 05 compared with the lpstreated group at 6 h . in vivo reduction of no levels by ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex in lps - treated mice the time - dependent increase in plasma nitrate levels in lps - treated mice was determined as previously described ( see komarov and lai , supra ). the results are summarized in table 3 . table 3______________________________________effects of lps and ( mgd ). sub . 2 / fe ! on total nitrate / nitrite levels in mouse plasmaconditions nitrate / nitrite , μm . sup . a______________________________________controls 73 ± 7 ( 10 ) . sup . dlps - treated . sup . b2 h 103 ± 10 ( 6 ) * 4 h 291 ± 38 ( 6 ) * 6 h 506 ± 75 ( 4 ) * 8 h 638 ± 29 ( 8 ) * lps + mgd ). sub . 2 / fe ! complex . sup . c8 h 336 ± 46 ( 3 ) *† ______________________________________ . sup . a the nitrate / nitrite determination in the mouse plasma was performe as previously described ( see komarov and lai , supra ). . sup . b the mice were sacrificed at different time points as indicated after intravenous injection of lps . . sup . c at 6 h after lps challenge the mice were injected subcutaneously with ( mgd ). sub . 2 / fe ! and were sacrificed 2 h later . . sup . d the data presented are mean ± s . e . ( number of mice ). * p & lt ; 0 . 05 compared with controls † p & lt ; 0 . 05 compared with the lpstreated group at 8 h . nitrate levels are seen to increase with time after lps challenge . injection of the . no trapping agent , ( mgd ) 2 / fe !, reduced the nitrate level in the plasma by about one - half , a result suggesting that the trapping of . no by ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! in the lps - treated mice prevents it from interaction with hemoglobin in the red blood cells , thereby reducing nitrate levels in the plasma . these results demonstrate that the administration of a dithiocarbamate - containing nitric oxide scavenger , such as the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex , is effective to reduce in vivo . no levels in lps - treated mice . although the route by which the subcutaneously injected spin - trapping reagent enters the tissues before its excretion into the urine is not yet known , it can be speculated that upon subcutaneous injection , the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex diffuses across the capillary bed , where it interacts with . no produced by . no synthases to form the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! complex . the latter complex then enters the blood circulation and is eventually excreted and concentrated in the urine , thereby reducing in vivo . no levels . the isolated urine containing the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! complex was found to be stable at 4 ° c . for several hours . when the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex was injected intravenously into normal or lps - treated mice , the epr signal of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe - no ! complex was also detected in the urine . this suggests that regardless of the route of administration employed , dithiocarbamate - containing nitric oxide scavengers , such as the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex , are capable of interacting with the . no produced in vivo to form a dithiocarbamate - fe - no complex , which reduces in vivo . no levels . as shown in example 7 , subcutaneous administration of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex reduced the in vivo . no levels in lps - treated mice . since excessive . no production is known to induce systemic hypotension , injections of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex that reduce in vivo . no levels should also restore blood pressure in hypotensive animals induced by lps treatment . to test this idea , experiments were carried out to determine the effects of administration of the ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex on the blood pressure of the hypotensive rats induced by lps challenge . thus , male wistar rats ( 230 - 300 g ) fasted overnight were anesthetized with thiobutabarbital ( inactin , 100 mg / kg , i . p .). a catheter was implanted in the femoral vein for drug infusions . the femoral artery was cannulated for continuous blood pressure measurement . rats were injected with an i . v . bolus dose of lps ( s . typhosa endotoxin , 4 mg / kg ). two hours after lps challenge , rats were then subjected to one of the following treatments : ( a ) control , saline infusion -- 1 . 0 ml saline i . v . injection followed by 1 . 0 ml / hr of saline infusion for 1 . 5 hours , ( b ) ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! ( at a ratio of 2 - to - 0 . 4 )- 0 . 1 mmole / kg i . v . bolus injection followed by 0 . 1 mmole / kg infusion for 1 . 5 hours , ( c ) ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! ( at a ratio of 2 - to - 0 . 2 )- 0 . 1 mmole / kg i . v . bolus injection followed by 0 . 1 mmole / kg infusion for 1 . 5 hours , and ( d ) ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! ( at a ratio of 2 - to - o )- 0 . 1 mmole / kg i . v . bolus injection followed by 0 . 1 mmole / kg infusion for 1 . 5 hours . the results of mean arterial pressure ( map ) measurement are summarized in table 4 . table 4______________________________________effects of various ratios of ( mgd ). sub . 2 / fe ! treatment on themean arterial pressure ( map in mmhg ) in thelipopolysaccharide ( lps )- induced shocked rats . 2 hrs 1 . 5 hrs baseline . sup . 2 after lps afterconditions . sup . 1 ( mean ± sem ) treatment treatment______________________________________a ) control 96 ± 2 77 ± 2 78 ± 4saline ( n = 16 ) . sup . 3b ) ( mgd ). sub . 2 / fe ! 95 ± 3 75 ± 2 96 ± 3 ( 2 / 0 . 4 ) . sup . 4 ( n = 16 ) c ) ( mgd ). sub . 2 / fe ! 98 ± 3 73 ± 4 87 ± 4 ( 2 / 0 . 2 ) ( n = 6 ) d ) mgd ( 2 / 0 ) 102 ± 5 73 ± 2 94 ± 6 ( n = 6 ) ______________________________________ . sup . 1 experimental conditions were as described in the text . . sup . 2 the values of map prior to lps treatment . . sup . 3 n , the number of animals in each group . . sup . 4 ( mgd ). sub . 2 / fe ! ( 2 / 0 . 4 ) is defined as the ratio of ( mgd ). sub . 2 / fe ! to be 2to - 0 . 4 . the map of anesthetized rats was in the range of 96 to 102 mmhg . two hours after lps treatment , the map decreased to between 73 and 77 mmhg , which is indicative of the onset of systemic hypotension , caused by abnormally elevated levels of nitric oxide . while the 1 . 5 hr saline infusion did not change the map , infusions of ( mgd ) 2 / fe ! complex at various ratios , ranging from 2 - to - 0 . 4 ( mgd to fe ) to 2 - to - 0 ( mgd to fe ), restored the blood pressure to 87 - 96 mmhg ( table 4 ). these results suggest that the i . v . infusion of mgd either with or without added iron ( fe ) can restore normal blood pressure in hypotensive rats induced by lps challenge ( table 4 ). since mgd does not bind . no , it is speculated that the restoration of the map by mgd infusion may at least in part be attributed to the mgd chelation of cellular iron released by excess . no production , which is known to attack cellular iron - containing proteins and result in cellular iron loss during sepsis or septic shock . this example shows that mgd , either with or without added iron , is effective for the treatment of systemic hypotension , a condition which is associated with many inflammatory and / or infectious diseases . while the invention has been described in detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood that modifications and variations are within the spirit and scope of that which is described and claimed . | 0 |
loudspeaker suspension systems play an important role in the sound quality provided by loudspeaker arrays . such arrays comprise a plurality of individual loudspeakers positioned adjacent to one another in selected configurations to maximize the quality of sound emanating therefrom . proper alignment of the acoustic wavefronts of the individual speakers and proper positioning of the acoustic centers comprise key design considerations for such systems . additionally , depending upon the size of the venue , such systems may comprise hundreds of arrayed speakers , requiring an enormous expenditure of time and effort to effect proper placement for the audience . while conventional methods for suspending loudspeakers work well to provide a satisfactory level of sound quality for permanent and semi - permanent installations , such systems fail to provide the modularity and portability required to efficiently transport , erect and dismantle temporary configurations commonly undertaken by traveling stage organizations . the method of the present invention provides steps for suspending a plurality of individual loudspeakers such that the respective acoustic wavefronts and centers are aligned to provide maximum sound quality . furthermore , the method combines such alignment capability with steps for maximizing the modularity and portability of such a loudspeaker rigging system . referring now to fig1 - 3 , a frame or truss module device 1 comprises two tubular assemblies , one positioned in the front of the device 2 and one positioned in the back of the device 3 . two additional tubular assemblies or suspension supports 4 and 5 are positioned lengthwise between the tubular assemblies 2 and 3 thereby completing a framework for the truss module device . plates 6 are added to the device for stiffening and mounting . the tubular assemblies 2 , 3 , 4 and 5 , and the plates 6 are connected together by structural weldment . various holes 7 are positioned throughout the tubular assemblies 2 , 3 , 4 , and 5 to accommodate attachment of various mounts described in the present invention at several locations . fig3 shows the open end of tubular assembles 2 and 3 where a connector or connecting bar device may be inserted into the truss module device . with reference to fig4 - 6 , a shackle mount device 15 comprises two identically formed assemblies 17 , one positioned front and one positioned back , the back part positioned 180 degrees from the front part . an extension 16 is fastened between the two formed parts 17 with sae grade 8 bolt type fasteners 18 and sae grade 8 nylon insert locking nuts 19 . the formed parts 17 contain high tolerance holes 21 which serve as attachment points to the truss module devices described in the present invention . the extension part 16 includes one large diameter hole 20 which serves as the suspension attachment point for the present invention . referring now to fig7 - 9 , an extended shackle mount device 8 comprises two identically formed assemblies 10 , one positioned front and one positioned back , the back part positioned 180 degrees from the front part . an extension 9 is fastened between the two formed parts 10 with sae grade 8 bolt type fasteners 11 and sae grade 8 nylon insert locking nuts 12 . the formed parts 10 contain high tolerance holes 14 which serve as the attachment point to the truss module devices described in the present invention . the extension part 9 includes several large diameter holes 13 which serve as the suspension attachment point for the present invention . referring now to fig1 - 12 , a stacking bracket device 22 comprises two identically shaped assemblies 23 , one positioned on either side of a perpendicularly positioned plate 24 and connected together by structural weldment . assemblies 23 contain high tolerance holes 25 which serve as attachment points to the truss module devices described in the present invention . with reference to fig1 - 15 , a connecting bar device 26 comprises two elongated connecting or extension arms 27 and 28 pivoted together at a pivot joint including two identical swivel joint parts 29 and 30 fastened together with sae grade 8 bolt type fasteners and sae grade 8 nylon insert locking nuts 31 through a male - female hinge intersection . swivel joint part 29 is positioned opposing swivel joint part 30 and both 29 and 30 are fastened together at a central pivot point with an sae grade 8 bolt type fastener and sae grade 8 nylon insert locking nut 32 . parts 27 , 28 , 29 , and 30 , when fastened with bolts 31 and 32 , create a universal type joint able to flex in all directions and then be fixed into position by tightening bolts 31 and 32 . parts 27 and 28 contain several holes 33 which serve as selectable retention points when the part is inserted into the front and / or back tubular assemblies on the truss module device described in the present invention . referring to fig1 - 17 , a quick release pin device 34 comprises a cylindrical shaft 35 of a predetermined length which contains two retractable retaining balls 36 at a predetermined location toward the end of the shaft 35 . a handle 38 is attached to the top end of the shaft 35 by conventional mechanical means for handling and serves as a stop for the shaft 35 . the retaining balls 36 contained within the shaft 35 are spring loaded and will retract into the shaft 35 when a button 37 is depressed at the top of the handle 38 . when the button 37 is released , the retaining balls 36 will move to protrude from the shaft 35 and cause the quick release pin to be locked in to the appropriate devices as described in the present invention . referring now to fig1 - 21 , a representative two loudspeaker grouping suspended by the method of the present invention comprises four truss modules 1 fastened to the loudspeakers with conventional mechanical means to the top and the bottom of each loudspeaker . connecting bar devices 26 are inserted into the rear tubular assemblies of the adjacent truss modules 1 at the top and the bottom of each loudspeaker , the bottom connecting bar 26 being held in place with quick release pins 34 at the selected inward - most position thereby positioning the loudspeakers close together at the bottom . the top connecting bar 26 is held in place with quick release pins 34 at the selected outward - most position thereby positioning the loudspeakers farther apart at the top . the connecting bar 26 is retained in the truss module 1 by passing a quick release pin 34 through one side of the truss module tubular assembly , through the inserted connecting bar , and then through the opposite side of the truss module tubular assembly . the universal joint mechanism built into the connecting bar 26 is adjusted to provide a splay ( horizontal spreading ) between the loudspeakers and then fastened securely by tightening the bolt fasteners located in the joint of the connecting bars 26 . the loudspeakers , being in a fixed position , can then be suspended as a group utilizing two extended shackle mounts 8 fastened to the top truss modules 1 of each of the loudspeakers with the use of quick release pins 34 . the extended shackle mounts 8 can be attached at any one of the selected holes included in the truss module 1 tubular assemblies . the extended shackle mount 8 is retained in the truss module 1 by passing a quick release pin 34 through one side of the extended shackle mount 8 , through the truss module 1 tubular assembly , and then through the opposite side of the extended shackle mount 8 . the extended shackle mount 8 can be positioned toward the rear of the truss module 1 in order to cause the loudspeaker grouping to tilt downward or the extended shackle mount 8 can be positioned toward the front of the truss module 1 in order to cause the loudspeaker grouping to suspend vertically or tilt upward . referring to fig2 - 24 , a representative six loudspeaker grouping suspended by the method of the present invention comprises twelve truss modules 1 fastened to the loudspeakers with conventional mechanical means to the top and the bottom of each loudspeaker . connecting bar devices 26 are inserted into the rear tubular assembly of the adjacent truss modules 1 at the top and the bottom of each loudspeaker , the bottom connecting bars 26 being held in place with quick release pins 34 at the selected inward - most position thereby positioning the loudspeakers close together at the bottom . the top connecting bars 26 are held in place with quick release pins 34 at the selected outward - most position thereby positioning the loudspeakers farther apart at the top and automatically tilting the loudspeaker downward . the connecting bar 26 is retained in the truss module 1 by passing a quick release pin 34 through one side of the truss module tubular assembly then through the inserted connecting bar then through the opposite side of the truss module tubular assembly . the universal joint mechanism built into the connecting bar 26 is adjusted to provide a splay ( horizontal spreading ) between the loudspeakers that will enable a circular loudspeaker grouping and then fastened securely by tightening the bolt fasteners located in the joint of the connecting bars 26 . the loudspeakers , being in a fixed position , can then be suspended as a group utilizing three extended shackle mounts 8 fastened to the top truss modules 1 of each of the loudspeakers with the use of quick release pins 34 . the extended shackle mounts 8 can be attached at any one of the selected holes included in the truss module 1 tubular assemblies . the extended shackle mount 8 is retained in the truss module 1 by passing a quick release pin 34 through one side of the extended shackle mount 8 then through the truss module 1 tubular assembly then through the opposite side of the extended shackle mount 8 . with reference to fig2 - 27 , a representative nine loudspeaker multiple row grouping suspended by the method of the present invention comprises eighteen truss modules 1 fastened to the loudspeakers with conventional mechanical means to the top and the bottom of each loudspeaker . connecting bar devices 26 are inserted into the rear tubular assembly of the adjacent truss modules 1 at the top and the bottom of each loudspeaker . the top and bottom connecting bars 26 of the top and middle rows of grouped loudspeakers are held in place with quick release pins 34 at the selected inward - most position thereby positioning the loudspeakers close together at the top and at the bottom . the bottom connecting bars 26 of the bottom row of grouped loudspeakers are held in place with quick release pins 34 at the selected inward - most position thereby positioning the loudspeakers close together at the bottom . the top connecting bars 26 of the bottom row of grouped loudspeakers are being held in place with quick release pins 34 at the selected outward - most position thereby positioning the loudspeakers farther apart at the top . the connecting bar 26 is retained in the truss module 1 by passing a quick release pin 34 through one side of the truss module tubular assembly then through the inserted connecting bar then through the opposite side of the truss module tubular assembly . the universal joint mechanism built into the connecting bar 26 is adjusted to provide a splay ( horizontal spreading ) between the loudspeakers and is then fastened securely by tightening the bolt fasteners located in the joint of the connecting bars 26 . following the connecting of the loudspeakers to one another , the individual rows of loudspeaker groupings , being in a fixed position , can then be suspended as independent groups utilizing a combination of stacking brackets 22 and / or shackle mounts 15 and / or extended shackle mounts 8 fastened to the selected truss modules 1 of each of the loudspeakers with the use of quick release pins 34 . the stacking brackets 22 and shackle mounts 15 and extended shackle mounts 8 can be attached at any one of the selected holes included in the truss module 1 tubular assemblies . the stacking bracket 22 and shackle mount 15 and extended shackle mount 8 is retained in the truss module 1 by passing a quick release pin 34 through one side of the stacking bracket 22 and / or shackle mount 15 and / or extended shackle mount 8 then through the truss module 1 tubular assembly then through the opposite side of the stacking bracket 22 and / or shackle mount 15 and / or extended shackle mount 8 . the top row loudspeaker grouping is suspended with two shackle mounts 15 and the middle row loudspeaker grouping is attached to the top row with two stacking brackets 22 fastened to the truss modules 1 as described above . the top row loudspeaker grouping and the middle row loudspeaker grouping are fixed into a vertically stacked configuration with the use of the stacking brackets 22 . the bottom row loudspeaker grouping is suspended from the middle row loudspeaker grouping utilizing four extended shackle mounts 8 fastened to the truss modules 1 as described above . two extended shackle mounts 8 are attached to the bottom truss modules 1 of the middle row at the selected hole positions in the truss module 1 tubular assembly . two extended shackle mounts 8 are attached to the top truss modules 1 of the bottom row loudspeaker grouping at the selected hole positions in the truss module 1 tubular assembly . those skilled in the art will appreciate that by selecting the appropriate extended shackle mount 8 mounting hole in the truss modules 1 attached to the bottom of the middle row loudspeaker grouping , the bottom row loudspeaker grouping may be moved back so that the fronts of the loudspeakers are in coherent alignment . additionally , by selecting the appropriate extended shackle mount 8 mounting hole in the truss modules 1 attached to the top of the bottom row grouping of loudspeakers , the bottom row downward tilt angle may be adjusted as desired . the connection between the extended shackle mounts 8 attached to the bottom of the middle row grouping of loudspeakers and the extended shackle mounts 8 attached to the top of the bottom row grouping of loudspeakers is achieved by commonplace mechanical means . the present invention thus provides a method for suspending a plurality of loudspeakers to form a modular loudspeaker enclosure suspension rigging system including the steps of selecting structural members ( truss modules ) which , when attached to a loudspeaker enclosure , renders that loudspeaker enclosure suspendable . the same structural members ( truss modules ), when attached to numerous loudspeaker enclosures , render the group of loudspeaker enclosures suspendable as a whole unit from a minimized number of suspension points when various other members selected by steps in the present invention are utilized in conjunction with the truss modules . moreover , the present invention allows for angle variance between adjacent loudspeaker enclosures by providing steps utilizing multiple adjustable structural components ( connecting bars ) between adjacent loudspeaker enclosures . the aforementioned connecting bars can be adjusted for proper loudspeaker enclosure aim and then tightened into a rigid connection between adjacent loudspeaker enclosures , thereby rendering the loudspeaker enclosure group a solid mass . the present invention allows for the suspension of the loudspeaker group by a minimal number of suspension points with the utilization of structural mounts ( shackle mounts , extended shackle mounts , stacking brackets ) connecting onto the truss modules . the present invention provides for the expedient assembly and disassembly of all components parts with the use of structural retaining pins ( quick release pins ) and / or bolt and nut fasteners . while the invention has been described with reference to its preferred configuration , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention . in addition , many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teaching of the invention without departing from its essential teachings . | 8 |
in a first embodiment , a system with two nodes a and b interconnected by a communication network n is depicted in fig1 . the nodes communicate by sending messages ( packets ) over the network n . a measurement is performed from a node a to a node b , where a is called a requesting node , and b is called a responding node . each node may work both as a requesting node and a responding node . a node can also perform measurements with more than one other node . for example , a can perform a measurement with a third node c ( not disclosed in fig1 ) at the same time . the network n may be an inter - network running the ip protocol . this enables any nodes with an ip - interface and an ip protocol stack to communicate with each other over n . in fig2 , an embodiment of a node is shown . the computer node is equipped with a network interface card that can communicate using ip . such a node has a cpu , memory buses , disks , etc ., that enables it to operate as a computer . the node runs an operating system , in which the system software can be implemented . this embodiment is implemented as a software module running in an operating system of such a node . in fig3 , an embodiment of a network module is shown . the software module implementing the method described in this document needs to have access to a network module . the network module shown in fig3 typically consists of a network interface card , a device driver , an ip stack and a socket api . the network interface card enables the node to physically connect to an access network . the device driver contains software enabling the ip stack to access the network services on the network interface card . the ip stack contains full implementation of the communication protocols that enables the node to communicate over the internet . this may be the set of protocols referred to as tcp / ip . the socket api is a functional interface that the system module can access in order to send and receive packets to and from the network . in an embodiment , a system module implementing the invention may be implemented as a user application in an operating system . it requires a socket api to access the network in order to send and receive packets over the network . the nodes communicate with messages over the network . there are two kinds of messages : both types of messages may be encapsulated over the ip protocol using the udp / ip transport protocol or some other non - reliable datagram service . in an embodiment , both types of messages are encoded with the rtp protocol . a synchronization message is either a request ( syncreq ) or response ( syncresp ). the request message is sent by the requesting node and received by a responding node . a response is sent by a responding node when it receives a syncreq message . the syncresp message is received by the requesting node . the syncreq message contains the following fields : a sequence number and a time - stamp t1 . the syncresp message contains the following fields : a sequence number and three timestamps : t1 , t2 , and t3 . the semantics of the message fields are as follows : sequence number — the requesting node sets the sequence number incrementally ( 0 , 1 , 2 , etc .). the responder copies the sequence number from a syncreq to a syncresp message . the sequence number is used to detect packet loss , reordering or duplications on the network . timestamp t1 . the time when the syncreq message was sent by the requesting node . timestamp t2 . the time when the syncreq message was received by the responding node . timestamp t3 . the time the syncresp message was sent by the responding node . the measurement messages are sent from the requesting node to the responding node only . the measurement message contains a sequence field and a timestamp field t1 . sequence number — the requesting node sets the sequence number incrementally ( 0 , 1 , 2 , etc .). the responder copies the sequence number from a syncreq to a syncresp message . the sequence number is used to detect packet loss , reordering or duplications on the network . timestamp t1 . the time when the measurement message was sent by the requesting node . timestamp t2 . the time when the syncreq message was received by the responding node timestamp t3 . the time the syncresp message was sent by the responding node . the measurement messages are sent from the requesting node to the responding node only . the measurement message contains a sequence field and a timestamp field t1 . the sequence number . the requesting node sets the sequence number incrementally ( 0 , 1 , 2 , etc .). timestamp t1 . the time when the measurement message was sent by the requesting node . now referring to the inventive method , both nodes have high accuracy clocks that are not synchronized with each other . high accuracy means that they are linear with respect to each other over a limited time period on the order of minutes , and that they have high resolution , at least to the level of 1 microsecond . that is , the clocks have different rates , but the rate difference is constant over time . p1 — synchronization 1 p2 — measurement p3 — synchronization 2 p4 — interpolation and generating a latency profile . in table 1 below an embodiment of constants used to parameterize the method are given . the values given to the constants are merely an example ; the method can be used also for other values . in fig4 , an embodiment of a requestor node pre - synchronization flowchart is schematically depicted . the node sends a syncreq to the responding node . it sets the sequence number and the t1 timestamp in the syncreq message . then it waits for a reply to come back from the responding node , or for a timeout to occur . if a syncreq message was received , a timestamp t4 is registered when the syncresp message was received . together with the three timestamps t1 , t2 and t3 , the module tries to find the message with the smallest round - trip - time . this message is used to find the two values cabs0 and cdiff0 and is used in the interpolation method p4 . the method uses two variables nsreq and nsresp to record the number of sent syncreq messages and received syncresp messages , respectively . these variables are used as a terminating condition . if the module sends 2snr syncreq messages without having received snr syncresp messages , this is an error . as soon as the module has received snr syncresp messages , it continues to the next phase , p2a . snr is a predefined constant , typically 50 messages . the method may also use the variables rtt and rtt_min . rtt_min is pre - set to a large value , and is used to find the syncreq / syncresp pair with the smallest round - trip - time . this measurement is then used to compute the cabs and cdiff values . in other words , we claim that the best measurement is the one with the smallest rtt . many other methods use the mean value . note that the method described in fig4 may be implemented somewhat differently . for example , the sending and receiving of messages can be made concurrently , not sequentially as is shown in the figure . in that case , two processes are created , one that is sending syncreq messages regularly , and one that is waiting for syncresp messages . in that case , a timeout need not be made . instead , a delay between the sending of syncreq messages need to be introduced . in fig5 , an embodiment of a responder node pre - synchronization flowchart is schematically depicted . the node waits for a syncreq from the requesting node . when such a message is received , it creates a syncresp message , copies the sequence number and t1 from the syncreq message , records t2 and t3 , and sends the syncresp message back to the requesting node . if the received message is not a syncreq message , it is assumed that it is a measurement message which is handled in p2b . the size of the vectors is equal to the number of measurement messages sent . the measurement phase consists of the requesting node periodically sending measurement messages to the responding node . the responding node records the timestamps of the time of sending and the time of receiving the messages in two vectors a [ ] and b [ ], respectively . the size of the vectors is equal to the number of measurement messages sent , nm . the two vectors are later used in p4 . in fig6 , an embodiment of a flowchart of requesting node in the measurement phase is schematically depicted . the requesting node sends nm messages ( for example 10000 ) with interval dt between each packet ( for example 20 ms ). each syncreq message will contain seq , the sequence number ; and t1 , the time the message was sent . the overhead of sending a message ks is computed initially . this is the difference in time from when the timestamp was taken and when the message was actually sent . ks may be set to 0 if the node lacks the capability to compute this time . in fig7 , an embodiment of a flowchart of the responding node is shown . the responding node stores the sending timestamp t1 in a vector a , and the receiving timestamp t2 in the vector b . the sequence number is used as an index in the vector . the overhead of sending a message kr is computed initially . this is the difference in time from when the timestamp was taken and when the message was actually sent . kr may be set to 0 if the node lacks the capability to compute this time . the second synchronisation phase is in this embodiment similar to phase p1 described above . the differences are as follows : 1 . the two processes are called p3a and p3b instead of p1a and p1b , respectively . 2 . the resulting variables are named cabs1 and cdiff1 instead of cabs0 and cdiff0 , respectively . 3 . after successful completion of the processes , both flowchart goes to p4 instead of to p2a and p2b . in the interpolation phase , the measurements collected in phase p2 in the vectors a [ ] and b [ ] and the synchronization values cabs0 , cdiff0 , cabs1 and cdiff1 in phases p1 and p3 are used to interpolate a sequence of one - way latency values . the method itself can be performed on the requesting node , the responding node , or some other node , and can be performed at any time after the other three phases . for example , this phase can be made as a post processing stage in a server . however , the data must be transferred to the place where the method is implemented . the end result of the method is a vector l [ ], i . e . the latency profile , with size nm containing the true one - way latency values of the measurement between the requesting and responding node . in fig8 , an embodiment of a flowchart of the interpolation method is schematically depicted . first the difference in rate ratebias is computed as follows : the method iteratively computes the values of the one - way latency vector l [ ] from values collected or computed , as follows : | 7 |
reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the present invention ( s ), examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described below . while the invention ( s ) will be described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments , it will be understood that present description is not intended to limit the invention ( s ) to those exemplary embodiments . on the contrary , the invention ( s ) is / are intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments , but also various alternatives , modifications , equivalents and other embodiments , which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . referring to fig1 , step s 10 is a step of ascertaining whether idle stop and go ( isg ) entrance is possible with an isg logic executed , which means determining whether ventilation conditions satisfy conditions preventing isg entrance by using the ventilation conditions in isg entrance . step s 20 models external air temperature on the basis of the correlation between the engine room temperature and the intake air temperature and calculates a modeling value d of the external air temperature from the modeling . in step s 21 , the factor a is the engine room temperature , b is a correction factor according to the modeling , c is a calibration factor determined with b as an x axis , and d is the modeling value of the external air temperature . the engine room temperature a is implemented by a 2d map composed of engine torque representing the load state of the engine and cooling water temperature , in which an offset factor is used for the cooling water temperature when a cooling fan operates . the 2d map is commonly used to analyze the relationship between the engine torque and the cooling water temperature . the correction factor b represents the difference between the exterior air temperature and the intake air temperature which are modeled on the basis of the intake air temperature , information closest to the external air temperature . the intake air temperature means a temperature value directly measured by a sensor . the calibration factor c , as a time filter , smoothes time variation of the calculation value of the modeling by considering the characteristics of the external air temperature without a rapid change . as described above , the modeling value d of the external air acquired in step s 20 is calculated from d = a × c , in which d is used as the value of the engine room temperature considering the external air temperature . d is also referred to as the modified engine room temperature . the variables and factors are determined by estimation or measurement of parameters for a vehicle and are not limited to specific values or specific methods . next , the voltage of the air - conditioning system is detected in step s 30 , and the detected voltage value is used for modeling using the relationship between voltage and temperature , such that it is possible to calculate a relationship between the magnitude of voltage of the air - conditioning system and temperature according to heating / cooling of the air - conditioning system , or the reverse relationship . in various embodiments , voltage output from a blower is used as the voltage of the air - conditioning system . referring to fig2 , it shows voltage value of the air - conditioning system for cooling / heating temperature by driving the air - conditioning system . step s 40 is a process of determining whether it corresponds to the isg entrance restriction conditions in isg entrance by using the engine room temperature d calculated by the modeling and the detected voltage of the air - conditioning system . this is determined by comparing the conditions to see whether the voltage of the air - conditioning system & lt ; e and modified engine room temperature d & lt ; g . in the voltage of the air - conditioning system & lt ; e , e is a voltage value corresponding to a specific temperature in the table of fig2 , and accordingly , the voltage of the air - conditioning system & lt ; e represents that the detected voltage value is lower than the modeled voltage value of fig2 . in modified engine room temperature d & lt ; g , g is a specific temperature in the table of fig2 . when the condition of voltage of the air - conditioning system & lt ; e and the condition of modified engine room temperature d & lt ; g are simultaneously satisfied after performing step s 40 , isg entrance is performed , as in step s 41 . that is , step s 41 means that the ventilation condition does not relate to the idle stop condition restricting the isg entrance , in the isg entrance , such that idle go is performed and the engine is restarted . a determination logic for the ventilation condition in isg entrance which is executed in step s 10 and step s 41 can be performed independently by being independently added to the isg logic . next , step s 50 and step s 51 mean that isg is performed through determination of the ventilation condition in isg entrance and then the engine stops in accordance with the idle stop condition . meanwhile , step s 60 to step s 90 are a logic that determines again whether the engine is restarted during idle stop and restarts the engine during the idle stop when the condition is satisfied , and it may be executed by being added to the isg logic , independently from or together with the determination logic of the ventilation condition in the isg entrance which is executed in step s 10 and step s 41 described above . when the process enters a process of determining whether the engine is restarted during idle stop in step s 60 , as in step s 70 , the external air temperature and the voltage of the air - conditioning system are detected or calculated through modeling . the logic used in step s 70 is basically the same as the logic used in step s 20 and step s 30 described above , such that the external air temperature through the modeling means the modified engine room temperature d ( d = a × c ) and the voltage of the air - conditioning system means the voltage measured in the air - conditioning system . in step s 80 , whether to restart the engine is determined by determining time passage of the idle stop or comparing voltage values of the air - conditioning system . a map1 ( h ) implies a comparing value that can be compared with time passage in the idle stop , such as when time passes and the engine should be restarted without charging a battery during the idle stop , and map1 ( h ) includes time according to the external air temperature through modeling . the map1 ( h ) is calculated by using the map2 ( h ), as in step s 81 . accordingly , when at least one of a condition of idle stop time passage & gt ; map1 ( h ) and the voltage of the air - conditioning system & gt ; i , which are compared in step s 80 , is satisfied , the engine is restarted as in step s 90 . in the voltage of the air - conditioning system & gt ; i , i is a voltage value corresponding to a specific temperature in the table of fig2 , and accordingly , the voltage of the air - conditioning system & gt ; i represents that the detected voltage value is higher than the modeled voltage value of fig2 . as described above , in various embodiments , the determination of the ventilation condition in the isg entrance and the determination of whether to restart the engine during the idle stop can be implemented by a software - typed logic , not a hardware - typed method using the air - conditioning controller of the air - conditioning system , sensors , and communication network as in the related art , by acquiring the external air temperature information by the ventilation state modeling using the information ( cooling water temperature , intake air temperature , engine torque , blower voltage in the air - conditioning system ) which can be acquired from the vehicle . therefore , the problem due to the layout , which makes it difficult to use the isg , of vehicles that have been manufactured is removed such that it is possible to greatly increase availability of the isg , and particularly , it is possible to easily mount the isg even in a vehicle where an air - conditioning controller cannot be mounted . for convenience in explanation and accurate definition in the appended claims , the terms higher or lower , and etc . are used to describe features of the various embodiments with reference to the positions of such features as displayed in the figures . the foregoing descriptions of specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description . they are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed , and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings . the exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain certain principles of the invention and their practical application , to thereby enable others skilled in the art to make and utilize various exemplary embodiments of the present invention , as well as various alternatives and modifications thereof . it is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents . | 1 |
fig4 shows the principle of an apparatus for detecting a pn pattern . the apparatus shown in fig4 is composed of a received data latch unit 10 , an operation unit 11 , a comparator 12 , a counter 13 and a coincidence detection unit 14 and a delay unit 15 . the received data latch unit 10 latches n received bits where n is an arbitrary number . the delay unit 15 delays the latched n - bit data in order to synchronize n bits output by the latch unit 10 with n bits output by the operation unit 11 . the operation unit 11 generates an n - bit pattern subsequent to the previous n - bit data by an operation which will be described later . the operation unit 11 is configured based on the principle in which an n - bit pattern subsequent to an n - bit pattern within the period of a pn pattern is definitely determined by the generating polynomial thereof . the operation unit 11 receives an n - bit pattern input via the received data latch unit 10 and the delay unit 15 , and generates , from the received n - bit pattern , an n - bit pattern subsequent thereto . more specifically , the operation unit 11 leftwardly shifts the received n - bit pattern by a predetermined number of bits . next , the operation unit 11 executes a first exclusive - or operation on the received n -- bit pattern and the shifted n - bit pattern . then , the operation unit 11 rightwardly shifts a resultant n - bit pattern obtained by the first exclusive - or operation by a predetermined number of bits . finally , the operation unit 11 executes a second exclusive - or operation on the resultant n - bit pattern and the leftwardly shifted n - bit pattern . a resultant n - bit pattern generated by the second exclusive operation shows the n - bit pattern which should be received immediately after the n - bit pattern latched in the latch unit 10 . the comparator 12 compares the n - bit pattern latched in the received data latch unit 10 with the next n - bit pattern generated by the operation unit 11 . when both the n - bit patterns are the same as each other , the comparator 12 generates an increment signal which increments the counter value in the counter 13 by + 1 . on the other hand , when both the n - bit patterns are not the same as each other , the comparator 12 generates a reset signal which clears the counter value in the counter 13 . the counter value in the counter unit 13 is output to the coincidence detection unit 14 , which receives a specified threshold value . when the counter value is equal to the specified threshold value , the coincidence detection unit 14 generates a pattern detection signal , which functions as an activating signal and activates the data circuit - terminating equipment . fig5 shows a data circuit - terminating circuit 20 configured based on the present invention . the data circuit - terminating equipment 20 is coupled , via a four - wire ( 4 w ) subscriber line ( data transmission line ), to a network including a data exchange . the data circuit - terminating equipment 20 is composed of a subscriber line bipolar signal receiver 21 , a subscriber line bipolar signal transmitter 22 , subscriber line / data terminal format conversion units 23 and 24 , a data terminal signal transmitter 25 , a data terminal signal receiver 26 , a loopback circuit 27 and a microprocessor 28 . the receiver 21 receives a signal transmitted via a two - wire receive line of the four -- wire subscriber line and a transformer . the transmitter 22 sends a signal received from the format conversion unit 24 to a two - wire transmit line of the four - wire subscriber line via a transformer . the format conversion unit 23 converts the format of the received signal in conformity to the four - wire transmission line into a format used in a data terminal 29 . the format conversion unit 24 converts the format used in the data terminal 29 into the format in conformity to the four - wire subscriber line . the transmitter 25 transmits the received signal from the format converter 23 to the data terminal 29 through the loopback circuit 27 . the receiver 26 receives a signal from the data terminal 29 through the loopback circuit 27 , and outputs the received signal to the format conversion unit 24 . the loopback circuit 27 forms a loopback path which connects the transmitter 25 and the receiver 26 by detecting a loopback test starting signal sent out by another data circuit - terminating equipment ( not shown in fig5 ). the microprocessor 28 controls the entire operation of the data circuit - terminating equipment 20 , as will be described below . it will be noted that the configuration shown in fig4 is implemented by the microprocessor 28 . fig6 is a flowchart of a loopback test starting signal detection procedure executed under the control of the microprocessor 28 . the illustrated procedure handles a pn pattern which consists of 127 bits within one period and which is generated by the aforementioned generating polynomial 1 + x - 4 + x - 7 . further , the aforementioned n is equal to 7 . at step 30 , the microprocessor 28 of the data circuit - terminating equipment 20 shown in fig5 waits for data received via the two - wire receive line of the four - wire subscriber line . at step 31 , the microprocessor 28 receives seven consecutive bits and registers them in an internal register a , which corresponds to the received data latch unit 10 shown in fig4 . at step 32 , the microprocessor 28 generates a 7 - bit pattern subsequent to the 7 - bit pattern previously received at step 31 from the previously received 7 - bit pattern , and registers the generated n - bit pattern into an internal register b . at step 33 , the microprocessor 28 compares the received n - bit pattern registered in the internal register a with the generated n - bit pattern registered in the internal register b . when it is determined , at step 33 , that both the n - bit patterns are the same as each other , the microprocessor 28 increments the counter value in an internal counter by + 1 . this internal counter corresponds to the counter 13 shown in fig4 and is formed in an internal memory area of the microprocessor 28 . at subsequent step 35 , the microprocessor 28 determines whether or not the counter value is greater than a predetermined value ( which corresponds to the aforementioned specified threshold value ). when the result at step 35 is yes , the microprocessor 28 activates the loopback test ( in other words , the microprocessor 28 detects the loopback test starting signal ). on the other hand , when the result at step 35 is no , the process returns to step 30 . the process also returns to step 30 when it is determined , at step 33 , that the received n - bit pattern is not the same as the generated n - bit pattern . at step 34 , it is possible to arbitrarily determine the predetermined value . in order to detect 16 periods ( 2047 bits ) of the 127 - bit pn pattern , the predetermined value is set equal to 292 (≈ 2047 / 7 ). a description will now be given of an example of the operation executed at step 33 shown in fig6 with reference to fig7 . a part of the 127 - bit pn pattern which functions as the loopback test starting signal is illustrated in ( a ) of fig7 . as shown in fig8 in which x : y , such as 1 : 1 , means the bit identified by a serial number x is y , the pattern consisting of the first bit through the seventh bit is 1111111 and is the same as the pattern consisting of the 128th bit through 134th bit . similarly , the pattern consisting of the eighth bit through the 14th bit is 0000111 and is the same as the pattern consisting of the 135th bit through the 140th bit . that is , the same seven - bit pattern repeatedly appears for every 127 bits (= 2 7 - 1 ) in the pn pattern obtained by the generating polynomial 1 + x - 4 + x - 7 . thus , it is possible to generate the next seven - bit pattern from the previously received seven - bit pattern prior to the above next seven - bit pattern . returning fig7 it is now assumed that the received seven bit pattern is 0000111 ( which correspond to the eighth through 14th bits ), as shown in ( b ) thereof . at step 1 shown in ( c ) of fig7 the microprocessor 28 receives the received seven bits labeled ( a ). at step 2 , the microprocessor 28 leftwardly shifts the received seven - bit pattern ( a ) by three bits and sets the three bits on the right side to zero , so that a shifted seven - bit pattern ( b ) is obtained . at step 3 , the microprocessor 28 executes the exclusive - or operation on the patterns ( a ) and ( b ), so that a resultant seven - bit pattern ( c ) is obtained . at step 4 , the microprocessor 28 rightwardly shifts the pattern ( c ) by four bits and sets the four bits on the left side to zero , so that a shifted seven - bit pattern ( d ) is obtained . at step 5 , the microprocessor 28 executes the exclusive - or operation on the patterns ( c ) and ( d ), so that a resultant seven - bit pattern ( e ) is generated . it will be noted that the seven - bit pattern ( e ) shows a seven - bit pattern which should be received immediately after the received seven - bit pattern shown in ( b ) of fig7 . the above - mentioned procedure shown in fig7 can be realized by software . alternatively , it is possible to implement the procedure shown in fig7 by a hardware configuration shown in fig9 . the configuration shown in fig9 corresponds to the operation unit 11 ( fig4 ), and is made up of two 7 - bit registers 101 and 106 , two seven - bit flip -- flops ( f / f ) 102 and 104 , and two exclusive - or units ( hereafter simply referred to as exor units ) 103 and 105 . the seven consecutive bits received are latched in the register 101 and are output to the exor unit 103 . the four low - order bits out of the seven bits are output to the flip - flop 102 . the flip - flop 102 functions to leftwardly shift the seven bits by three bits and outputs a three - bit shifted pattern to the exor unit 103 . the exor unit 103 has seven exor gates , which execute the respective exclusive - or operations on the corresponding bits of the seven - bit patterns from the register 101 and the flip - flop 102 . then , seven bits output by the exor unit 103 are output to the exor unit 105 , and the three high - order bits thereof are output to the flip - flop 104 . the flip - flop 104 functions to rightwardly shift the seven bits generated by the exor unit 103 by four bits . seven bits generated by the flip - flop 104 are output to the exor unit 105 , which includes seven exor gates . seven bits obtained by the exclusive - or operation in the exor unit 105 are latched in the register 106 , and are then output to the comparator 12 shown in fig4 . it will be noted that the seven - bit pattern latched in the register 106 shows the 7 - bit pattern which should be received after the seven - bit pattern latched in the register 101 . the present invention is not limited to the 127 - bit pn pattern . a description will now be given of a second embodiment of the present invention which handles a 2 9 pn pattern ( 511 - bit pn pattern ) generated by a generating polynomial 1 + x - 5 + x - 9 . fig1 shows bits generated by the generating polynomial 1 + x - 5 + x - 9 . as shown , the first through ninth bits are 111111111 , and the 10th through 18th bits are 000001111 . the 512th through 520th bits are 111111111 , and the 521th through 529th bits are 000001111 . that is , the same nine - bit patterns occurs for every 511 bits . referring to fig1 , it is now assumed that the received 9 - bit pattern consists of the 186th through 194th bits equal to 101110010 as shown in ( b ) thereof . at step 1 shown in ( c ) of fig1 , the operation unit 11 shown in fig4 receives the nine bits 101110010 , labeled ( a ). at step 2 , the operation unit 11 leftwardly shifts the received nine bits by four bits , so that nine bits 100100000 labeled ( b ) is obtained . at step 3 , the operation unit 11 executes the exclusive - or operation on the received nine bits ( a ) and the shifted nine bits ( b ), and generates a resultant nine - bit pattern 001010010 , labeled ( c ). at step 4 , the operation unit rightwardly shifts the nine - bit pattern ( c ) by five bits , so that shifted nine bits 000000010 labeled ( d ) are obtained . at step 5 , the operation unit 11 executes the exclusive - or operation on the nine - bit patterns ( c ) and ( d ), so that a nine - bit pattern 001010000 labeled ( e ) is obtained . as shown in ( a ) of fig1 , the pattern ( e ) shows a nine - bit pattern which should be received after the received nine - bit pattern shown in ( b ) thereof . the procedure shown in fig1 can be realized by a hardware configuration shown in fig1 . the configuration shown in fig1 is composed of two nine - bit registers 111 and 116 , two nine - bit flip - flops 112 and 114 , and two exor units 113 and 115 , each having nine exor gates . the operation of the shift register 111 corresponds to step 1 shown in ( c ) of fig1 , and the operation of the flip - flop 112 corresponds to step 2 shown therein . the operation of the exor unit 113 corresponds to step 3 , and the operation of the flip - flop 114 corresponds to step 4 . further , the operation of the exor unit 115 corresponds to step 5 . a description will now be given of a third preferred embodiment of the present invention which handles a 2 11 pn pattern ( 2047 - bit pn pattern ) generated by a generating polynomial 1 + x - 9 + x - 11 . fig1 shows bits generated by the generating polynomial 1 + x - 9 + x - 11 . as shown , the first through eleventh bits are 11111111111 , and the 12th through 22th bits are 00000000011 . the 2048th through 2058th bits are 11111111111 , and the 2059th through 2069th bits are 00000000011 . that is , the same 11 - bit patterns occur for every 2047 (= 2 11 - 1 ) bits . referring to fig1 , it is now assumed that the received 11 - bit pattern consists of the 565th through 575th bits equal to 11011011001 as shown in ( b ) thereof . at step 1 shown in ( c ) of fig1 , the operation unit 11 shown in fig4 receives the 11 bits 11011011001 , labeled ( a ). at step 2 , the operation unit 11 leftwardly shifts the received 11 bits by two bits , so that 11 bits 01101100100 labeled ( b ) is obtained . at step 3 , the operation unit 11 executes the exclusive - or operation on the received nine bits ( a ) and the shifted 11 bits ( b ), and generates a resultant 11 - bit pattern 10110111101 , labeled ( c ). at step 4 , the operation unit rightwardly shifts the 11 - bit pattern ( c ) by nine bits , so that shifted nine bits 00000000010 labeled ( d ) is obtained . at step 5 , the operation unit 11 executes the exclusive - or operation on the 11 - bit patterns ( c ) and ( d ), so that an 11 - bit pattern 10110111111 labeled ( e ) is obtained . as shown in ( a ) of fig1 , the pattern ( e ) shows an 11 - bit pattern which should be received after the received 11 - bit pattern shown in ( b ) thereof . the procedure shown in fig1 can be realized by a hardware configuration shown in fig1 . the configuration shown in fig1 is composed of two 11 - bit registers 121 and 126 , two 11 - bit flip - flops 122 and 124 , and two exor units 123 and 125 , each having 11 exor gates . the operation of the shift register 121 corresponds to step 1 shown in ( c ) of fig1 , and the operation of the flip - flop 122 corresponds to step 2 shown therein . the operation of the exor unit 123 corresponds to step 3 , and the operation of the flip - flop 124 corresponds to step 4 . further , the operation of the exor unit 125 corresponds to step 5 . the above - mentioned procedures are mainly related to the detection of the loopback test starting ( activating ) signal . of course , it is possible to use the above - mentioned procedures in order to detect the aforementioned confirmation signal and the complete signal . further , it is possible to use the present invention to other applications . the description is not limited to the specifically disclosed embodiments , and variations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention . | 7 |
earlier research on parallel computing focused on automatically detecting parallelism in a sequential application . for example , engineers developed techniques in computer architecture , such as out - of - order buffers , designed to detect dependencies among instructions and schedule independent instructions in parallel . such techniques only examine code fragments coded in a sequential programming language and cannot exploit application - level parallelism . accordingly , such techniques limit the amount of parallelism that can be exploited . a large class of applications , in particular data - intensive batch applications , possess obvious parallelism at the data level . however , several technical challenges exist to implementing parallel applications . programmers must address nontrivial issues relating to communications , coordination and synchronization between machines and processors when the programmers design a parallelized application . in stark contrast to sequential programs , programmers must anticipate all the possible interactions between all the machines in the configuration of a parallelized program , given the inherent asynchronous nature of parallel programs . also , effective debugging tools for parallelized application and configuration development do not exist . for example , stepping through some code maybe difficult to perform in an environment where the configuration has many threads running on many machines . also , because of the complex interactions that result in parallelized applications , programmers identify many of the bugs observed as transient in nature and difficult to reproduce . the technical challenges faced by programmers implementing parallelized applications translate directly into higher development costs and longer development cycles . in addition , often programmers cannot migrate or replicate a parallelized solution to other implementations . programmers recognize databases systems as well suited for the analytics applications . unfortunately , database systems do not scale for large data sets for at least two reasons . first , databases systems present a high level sql ( structured query language ) with the goal of hiding the implementation details . although sql maybe relatively easy to use , the nature of such a high level language forces users to express computations in a way that results in processing that performs inefficiently from a parallelization perspective . in contrast to programming in a lower level language ( e . g ., c ++) where the parallelized processing only reads a data set once , the same processing expressed in sql may result in several reads being performed . even though techniques have been developed to automatically optimize query processing , the performance realized by using a lower level language to implement a parallelized computation still far exceeds the performance of the higher level language such as sql . second , the i / o architecture of databases systems limits the scalability of distributed parallelized implementations because databases assume that data access to be via a common logical storage unit on the network , either through a distributed file system or san ( storage area network ) hardware . databases do not leverage logical to physical mappings of data and therefore , do not take advantage of data locality or the physical location of data . even though sophisticated caching mechanisms exist , databases often access data by traversing the network unnecessarily and consuming precious network bandwidth . analytics applications differ from web applications in several regards . analytics applications typically process structured data , whereas , web applications frequently deal with unstructured data . analytics applications often require cross referencing information from different sources ( e . g ., different database tables ). analytics applications typically focus on much fewer statistics than web applications . for example , a word counting application would require statistics for all words in a vocabulary , whereas , an analytics application may be only interested in the number of products sold . gridbatch provides fundamental operators that may be employed for analytics or other applications . a detailed parallelized application implementation may be expressed as a combination of basic operators provided by gridbatch . gridbatch saves the programmer considerable time related to implementing and debugging because gridbatch addresses the parallel programming aspects for the programmer . using gridbatch , the programmer determines the combination of operators desired , the sequence operators , and minimal programming to deploy each operator . although specific components of gridbatch will be described , methods , systems , and articles of manufacture consistent with gridbatch may include additional or different components . for example , a processor may be implemented as a microprocessor , microcontroller , application specific integrated circuit ( asic ), discrete logic , or a combination of other type of circuits or logic . similarly , memories may be dram , sram , flash or any other type of memory . logic that implements the processing and programs described below may be stored ( e . g ., as computer executable instructions ) on a computer readable medium such as an optical or magnetic disk or other memory . alternatively or additionally , the logic may be realized in an electromagnetic or optical signal that may be transmitted between entities . flags , data , databases , tables , and other data structures may be separately stored and managed , may be incorporated into a single memory or database , may be distributed , or may be logically and physically organized in many different ways . programs may be parts of a single program , separate programs , or distributed across several memories and processors . furthermore , the programs , or any portion of the programs , may instead be implemented in hardware . one example is described below in which a web based retailer sells computer equipment such as pcs and printers . the retailer uses several tables requiring terabytes of storage to track volumes of data and information that can be used to derive analytics information using several tables including : transaction table ; customer table ; and distributor table . the transaction table stores the records for the product id of each item sold and the customer id of the purchaser . the customer table stores customer information for every customer , and the distributor table stores information regarding every distributor doing business with the retailer . the retailer may use gridbatch to analyze many analytics , some of the analytics include simple counting statistics ( e . g ., how many of a particular product have been sold and identify the top 10 revenue producing customers ). the retailer may use gridbatch to analyze more complicated analytics that involve multiple tables and complex computations . for example , the retailer may use gridbatch to determine the number of customers located in geographical proximity to one of distribution facilities of the retailer in order to measure the efficiency of the distribution network . the gridbatch infrastructure runs on a cluster of processing nodes (“ nodes ”). two software components run in the gridbatch cluster environment named the file system manager and the job scheduler . the file system manager manages files and stores files across all computation nodes in the cluster . the file system manager may segment a large file into smaller chunks and store each chunk on separate nodes . among all nodes in the cluster , gridbatch may designate , for example , one node to serve as the name node and all other nodes serve as data nodes . a data node holds a chunk of a large file . in one implementation , depending on the number of nodes in the cluster and other configuration considerations , a data node may hold more than one chunk of a large file . a data node responds to client requests to read from and write to chunks assigned to the data node . the name node holds the name space for the file system . the name node maintains the mapping of a large file to the list of chunks , the data nodes assigned to each chunk , and the physical and logical location of each data node . the name node also responds to queries from clients request the location of a file and allocates chunks of large files to data nodes . in one implementation , gridbatch references nodes by the ip addresses of the nodes , so that gridbatch can access nodes directly . the master node also maintains a physical network topology which keeps track of which nodes are directly connected . the physical network topology may be populated manually by an administrator and / or discovered through an automated topology discovery algorithm . the network topology information may improve the performance of the recurse operator by indicating nearby neighbour slave nodes where intermediate results can be sent and / or retrieved in order to reduce network bandwidth consumption . a brief description of the topology and its use in facilitating execution of the recurse operator will be discussed below . the gridbatch file system distributes large files across many nodes and informs the job scheduler of the location of each chunk so that the job scheduler can schedule tasks on the nodes that host the chunks to be processed . gridbatch targets large - scale data analysis problems , such as data warehousing , where a large amount of structured data needs to be processed . a file typically stores a large collection of data records that have identical schema ( e . g ., object owner , or structure , or family of objects ). for structured data , gridbatch uses data partitioning to segment data into smaller pieces , similar to database partitioning . gridbatch file system stores files in a fixed number of chunks , each chunk having a chunk id ( cid ). a programmer may access any chunk , independent of other chunks in the file system . in one implementation , the programmer may specify the number of chunks that gridbatch can assign . in another implementation , a gridbatch administrator specifies the number of chunks gridbatch can assign , and / or gridbatch determines the number of chunks gridbatch can assign based on the number of nodes available and / or other system configuration resource considerations . in one implementation , the gridbatch file system sets the highest assignable cid to be much larger than n , the number of nodes in the cluster . gridbatch employs a system level lookup table to prescribe the mapping from cid to n translation . the translation provides support for dynamic change of the cluster size such that when the configuration decommissions nodes and additional nodes join the cluster , the gridbatch file system can automatically re - balance the storage and workload . in other words , the file system maintains a mapping of cid to data node , and moves data automatically to different nodes when the cid to data node mapping changes ( e . g ., when a data nodes joins and / or leaves the gridbatch cluster 102 ). in one implementation , gridbatch processes two kinds of data sets : vector and indexed vector . similar to records of a database table , a vector includes a set of records that gridbatch considers to be independent of each other . the records in a vector may follow the same schema , and each record may include several fields ( similar to database columns ). in contrast to a vector , but similar to an indexed database table , each record in an indexed vector also has an associated index . for example , one of the fields of the record in the indexed vector could be the associated index of the indexed vector and the index can be of any data type ( e . g ., string or integer ). when using indexed vectors , the programmer defines how data should be partitioned across chunks through a partition function . when a new data record needs to be written , the file system calls the partition function to determine the chunk id and appends the new data record to the end of the chunk corresponding to the chunk id . in one implementation , the user - defined partition function takes the form : int [ ] partitionfunc ( index x ) where x represents the index for the record to be written and int [ ] indicates an array of integers . the partition function applies a hash function to convert the index into one or more integers in the range of 1 to cid that indicate the assigned chunk id ( s ) where the data record should be stored . in another implementation , the partition function may take the form : int [ ] partitionfunc ( distributionkey x ) where x represents the distribution key indicator for the record to be written to indicate a preferred processor and / or set of processors to use . when using vectors , the gridbatch file system may write each new record to a randomly chosen chunk . in one implementation , when a user requests a new file for a new indexed vector to be created , the user provides the file system manager a user - defined hash function , which has the form of int [ ] hashfunc ( distributionkey x ). the hash function accepts a distribution key as input , and produces one or more integers in the range of 1 to cid . when a new record is written , the file system manager invokes the hash function to determine which partition to write the new record . as a result , gridbatch partitions the index vector as new records are processed by the file system manager . the job scheduling system includes a master node and multiple slave nodes . the master node may use master node logic to implement the master node functionality . a slave node manages the execution of a task assigned to the slave node by the master node . the master node may use the master node logic to break down a job ( e . g ., a computation ) into many smaller tasks as expressed in a program by a programmer . in one implementation , the master node logic distributes the tasks across the slave nodes in the cluster , and monitors the tasks to make sure all of the tasks complete successfully . in one implementation , gridbatch designates data nodes as slave nodes . accordingly , when the master node schedules a task , the master node can schedule the task on the node that also holds the chunk of data to be processed . gridbatch increases computational performance by reducing network bandwidth dependencies because gridbatch minimizes data transfers and performs data processing on data local to the nodes . gridbatch provides a set of commonly used primitives called operators that the programmer can use to implement computational parallelization . the operators handle the details of distributing the work to multiple nodes , thus the programmer avoids the burden of addressing the complex issues associated with implementing a parallel programming solution . the programmer introduces a set of operators into a program , in the same fashion as writing a traditional sequential program . gridbatch provides five operators : distribute , join , convolution , recurse , map . the distribute operator converts a source vector or a source indexed vector to destination indexed vector with a destination index . the conversion involves transferring data from a source data node to a destination data node . the distribute operator takes the following form : vector distribute ( vector v , func newpartitionfunc ) where v represents the vector where the data to be converted resides and newpartitionfunc represents the partition function that indicates the destination data node where gridbatch will generate a new vector . in one implementation , the user - defined partition function takes the form int [ ] newpartitionfunc ( index x ), where x represents the index of the record , and int [ ] denotes an array of integers . the user - defined partition function returns a list of numbers corresponding to the list of destination data nodes . in one implementation , the distribute operator may duplicate a vector on all nodes , so that each node has an exact copy for convenient local processing . duplication of the vector on all nodes may result when the newpartitionfunc returns a list of all the data nodes as destination nodes . the join operator takes two indexed vectors and merges the corresponding records where the indexed field matches . gridbatch identifies the corresponding records that have a matching index and invokes a user - defined join function . the user - defined join function may simply merge the two records ( e . g ., similar to a database join ), but generally may implement any desired function . the join operator takes the following form : vector join ( vector x , vector y , func joinfunc ) where x and y represent the indexed vectors to be joined and joinfunc represents the user - defined join function to apply to the corresponding records in the indexed vectors . the join operator produces a new vector that includes the results of applying the user - defined function . the user - defined join function takes the following form : record joinfunc ( record z , record k ) where z and k represent a record of vector x and y , respectively . when gridbatch invokes the user - defined function , gridbatch may guarantee that the indexes for record z and k match . gridbatch may perform a distribute operation before performing the join operation so that gridbatch partitions vector x and y using the partition function on the same index field that the join will subsequently use . the join operator performs the join on each node locally without determining whether gridbatch has distributed or fetched data to each node . in one implementation , the join operator automatically performs the distribute operator before performing the join . the join operator may be used when an exact match exists on the index field . however , when a programmer desires to identify the inverse result of the join operator ( e . g ., identifying non - matching records ), every record z is checked against every record k . the convolution operator identifies matching z and k records and applies a user - defined function to each match . the convolution operator provides additional capability and provides more computational options to the programmer . in one implementation , all the computational operations that involve two vectors can be accomplished through the convolution operator . the convolution operator can perform the join function on non - indexed vectors and indexed vectors using any vector field , even when the join uses a non - indexed field for the join . the convolution operator takes the following form : vector convolution ( vector x , vector y , func convfunc ) where x and y represent the two input vectors , and convfunc represents the user - defined convolution function provided by the programmer . the convolution operator produces a new vector as a result . the user - defined function takes the following form : record convfunc ( record z , record k ) where z and k represent a record of vector x and y , respectively . the convfunc function determines whether any action should be taken ( e . g ., determines whether record z matches record k ) and then performs the corresponding action . gridbatch may perform a distribute operator before performing the convolution operator so that gridbatch partitions vector x and y on the same index field that the convolution may subsequently use . the convolution operator performs the computation on each node locally without determining whether gridbatch has distributed or fetched data to each node . in other implementations , the convolution operator automatically performs the distribute operator before performing the convolution . as one example , a programmer may desire to determine the number of customers located in close proximity to the distributors of a retailer . the gridbatch file system would generate a customer vector that includes a physical location field that indicates the physical location of each customer , and a distributor vector that includes a physical location field that indicates the physical location of each distributor . the programmer may use gridbatch to merge the customer vector and distributor vector based on the physical location field of both vectors . the programmer may use the convfunc to evaluate the physical distance between each customer and each distributor based on the proximity specified by the programmer , and store each record meeting the specified proximity in a results vector . in one implementation , the gridbatch recurse operator performs a reduce operation , which takes all records of a vector and merges them into a single result . the actual logical operation performed on the records of the vector is defined by a user - specified function . addition is an example of the reduce operation where all records of a vector are added together . sorting another example of the reduce operation where all the records of a vector are checked against each other to produce a desired sequence . the recurse operator spreads the reduce operation across many nodes . web applications often perform frequent reduce operations ( e . g ., word count , where each word requires a reduce operation to add up the number of appearances ), in contrast to most analytics applications which perform few reduce operations . the reduce operator of most analytics applications becomes a bottleneck and limit the scalability of an application when a programmer merely needs sorted output for reporting or a few statistics . many reduce operations exhibit commutative and associative properties , and may be performed order independently . for example , counting the number of occurrences of an event involves the commutative and associative operator known as addition . the order in which the addition occurs does not affect the end result . similarly , sorting may be order independent . gridbatch recurse operator performs order independent reduce operations and takes the following form : record recurse ( vector x , func recursefunc ) where x represents the input vector to reduce and recursefunc represents the user - defined recurse function to apply . the recurse operator merges the vector into a single record . the user - defined function recursefunc takes the following form : record recursefunc ( record z 1 , record z 2 ) where z 1 and z 2 represent partial results from merges of two subparts of vector x . the recursefunc function specifies how to further merge the two partial results . for example , where vector x represents a vector of integers and the programmer desires to compute the sum of the integers then the programmer will use the addition function as the user - defined recursefunc function expressed : record addition ( record z 1 , record z 2 ) { return new record ( z 1 . value ( )+ z 2 . value ( ));}. gridbatch will apply the addition function recursively over the records of vector x to eventually compute the sum total of the integers in the vector . in another example , vector x includes records that represent sorted lists of strings and the programmer desires to sort the strings for final reporting . table 1 illustrates how gridbatch may implement the user - defined function for sorting the strings . the user - defined function merges two sorted list of strings into one sorted string and when the programmer implements the user - defined function to be called recursively , the user - defined function implements the merge sort algorithm . recurse parallelizes the reduce operation over many nodes . in addition , recurse minimizes network traffic for operations that need partial results . for example , where a programmer needs to identify the top 10 revenue producing customers , each node computes the local top 10 customers and forwards the results ( e . g ., partial results ) to neighbouring nodes that in turn merge the partial results with the local result of the receiving node to produce the top 10 . each node only passes the top 10 records to particular neighbouring nodes , rather than passing every record of each node to a single node performing the reduce operation . accordingly , the recurse operator avoids large bandwidth requirements and undesired network traffic , and provides higher computational performance . the map operator applies a user - defined map function to all records of a vector . the map operator takes the following form : vector map ( vector v , func mapfunc ) where v represents the vector , more specifically the records of the vector , to which the mapfunc will be applied . the user - defined map function may take the following form : record mapfunc ( record x ). the user - defined function , mapfunc , accepts one record of the input vector as an argument and produces a new record for the result vector . in one implementation , gridbatch tolerates slave node failures and errors by re - executing tasks when slave nodes fail to complete tasks . each vector chunk of a vector is duplicated x times on x different slave nodes designated backup nodes , where x is a constant that may be specified by the user and / or determined by gridbatch based on the configuration , available resources and / or historical observations . during the computation of any operator , if a slave node fails before the slave node completes the assigned task , the master node is informed and the master node starts another process on a slave node that holds a backup copy of the vector chunk . the master node identifies a slave node as a failed slave node when the master node does not receive a periodic heartbeat from the slave node . fig1 illustrates the gridbatch system configuration 100 ( gridbatch ) that includes a gridbatch cluster 102 , an application 104 and user interface 106 . gridbatch 100 components communicate through a network 108 ( e . g ., the internet , a local area network , wide area network , or any other network ). gridbatch cluster 102 includes multiple nodes ( e . g ., master node 116 and slave node 120 ). each slave node 120 may include a communications interface 113 and memory 118 . gridbatch 100 designates a master node 116 , and the remaining nodes slave nodes ( e . g ., slave node 120 ). gridbatch 100 may designate slave nodes as data nodes ( e . g ., data node 134 ), described further below . the slave node 120 uses slave node logic 160 to manage the execution of slave tasks 158 assigned to the slave node 120 by the master node 116 . fig2 shows an example master node 116 . the master node 116 may include a communications interface 211 and memory 215 . gridbatch 100 uses file system manager logic 222 to manage and store files across all the nodes in gridbatch cluster 102 . in one implementation , the file system manager logic 222 segments a large file into smaller chunks and stores the chunks among slave nodes . the file system manager logic 222 maintains a mapping of cid to data node , and moves data automatically to different nodes when the cid to data node mapping changes ( e . g ., when a data nodes joins and / or leaves the gridbatch cluster 102 ). gridbatch 100 uses job scheduler logic 230 to coordinate operations between all the nodes in gridbatch cluster 102 . among all the nodes in gridbatch cluster 102 , gridbatch 100 may designate the master node 116 as the name node 232 , and designate all other nodes to serve as data nodes ( e . g ., data node 134 ). the name node 232 holds the name space 238 of the file system 240 . the name node 232 maintains the vector mappings 242 of files to the list of corresponding vector chunks , the data nodes assigned to each chunk , and the physical and logical location of each data node . the name node 232 also responds to task requests 244 for the location of a file . in one implementation , the name node 232 allocates chunks of large files to data nodes . the master node 116 breaks down a task 252 ( e . g ., a computation ) as expressed in a program by a programmer into slave tasks ( e . g ., slave task 158 ) that the job scheduler logic 230 distributes among the slave nodes . in one implementation , the master node 116 distributes the slave tasks across the slave nodes in gridbatch cluster 102 , and monitors the slave tasks to make sure all of the tasks complete successfully . accordingly , when the master node 116 schedules a task 252 , the master node 116 can schedule the slave tasks ( e . g ., slave task 158 ) on the slave node that also holds the chunk of data to be processed . for example , the master node 116 may decompose the task 252 into slave tasks corresponding to slave nodes where the data to be processed resides locally in vector chunks , so that gridbatch 100 increases computational performance by reducing network bandwidth dependencies by minimizing data transfers and performing data processing on data local to the nodes . in one implementation , gridbatch 100 implements master node logic 260 on the master node 116 that coordinates communication and interaction between gridbatch cluster 102 , the application 104 and user interface 106 . the master node logic 260 may coordinate and control the file system manager logic 222 and job schedule logic 230 . the master node logic 260 may maintain gridbatch software library 262 that includes the distribute operator logic 264 , join operator logic 266 , convolution operator logic 268 , recurse operator logic 270 and map operator logic 278 . the master node 116 may receive task requests 244 and coordinate the execution of the task requests 244 through the slave nodes and the slave node logic 160 . fig3 shows gridbatch 100 during the processing of a distribute function call 300 ( e . g ., task request 244 ) and exercise of the distribute operator logic 264 . in one implementation , the master node 116 receives the distribute function call 300 to perform the distribute operator with parameters that include a first vector identifier 272 that identifies a first vector to redistribute to obtain redistributed vector chunks redistributed among a set of nodes . for example , the first vector may represent a previously distributed vector with distributed vector chunks v 1 c 1 308 , v 1 c 2 310 , and v 1 c 3 312 among a set of nodes ( e . g ., slave node 1 328 , slave node 3 330 , and slave node 6 332 , respectively ). the vector chunks v 1 c 1 308 , v 1 c 2 310 , and v 1 c 3 312 include corresponding vector chunk records v 1 c 1 r 1 - v 1 c 1 rx 322 , v 1 c 2 r 1 - v 1 c 2 ry 324 and v 1 c 3 r 1 - v 1 c 3 rz 326 , respectively . the master node logic 260 initiates execution of a partition function by spawning partitioning tasks 334 on each set of nodes ( e . g ., slave node 1 328 , slave node 3 330 , and slave node 6 332 , respectively ) with first vector chunks . the arrow 336 represents a transition to a node state where each node with first vector chunks runs partitioning tasks 334 . the records of each vector chunk v 1 c 1 308 , v 1 c 2 310 and v 1 c 3 312 of the first vector chunk may be evaluated by corresponding partitioning tasks 334 to determine destination vector chunk assignments . for example , each partitioning task 334 may evaluate the first vector chunk records residing on the corresponding slave node to determine a destination vector chunk location to redistribute each first vector chunk record . each partitioning task 334 may create destination vector chunk assignment files ( e . g ., v 1 c 1 f 1 338 , v 1 c 2 f 1 - v 1 c 2 f 4 - v 1 c 2 f 3 - v 1 c 2 f 6 340 and v 1 c 3 f 1 - v 1 c 3 f 2 - v 1 c 3 f 5 - v 1 c 3 f 6 342 ) on the corresponding slave node for each destination vector chunk location ( e . g ., destination vector chunk assignment ) where the first vector chunk records will be redistribute . the master node 116 may receive task completion notifications from each partitioning task 334 as each partitioning task 334 completes . the master node 116 initiates execution of a redistribution task by spawning redistribution tasks 344 on each slave node ( e . g ., slave node 1 328 , slave node 3 330 , slave node 4 346 , slave node 5 348 , slave node 6 332 and slave node 8 350 ). the arrow 346 represents a transition to a node state in which each node corresponding to destination vector chunks run redistribution tasks 344 . the destination vector chunks ( e . g ., v 1 c 1 352 , v 1 c 2 354 , v 1 c 3 356 , v 1 c 4 358 , v 1 c 5 360 and v 1 c 6 362 ) indicated by the vector chunk locations identified by the vector chunk assignment files ( e . g ., v 1 c 1 f 1 338 , v 1 c 2 f 1 - v 1 c 2 f 4 - v 1 c 2 f 3 - v 1 c 2 f 6 340 and v 1 c 3 f 1 - v 1 c 3 f 2 - v 1 c 3 f 5 - v 1 c 3 f 6 342 ). the redistribution tasks 344 initiate the remote copying of the vector chunk assignment files to the corresponding destination slave nodes to collocate the vector chunk assignment files on the slave node corresponding to the vector chunk assigned to the slave node ( e . g ., v 1 c 1 f 1 - v 1 c 3 f 1 - v 1 c 2 f 1 364 , v 1 c 3 f 2 368 , v 1 c 2 f 3 370 , v 1 c 2 f 4 372 , v 1 c 3 f 5 374 , and v 1 c 3 f 6 - v 1 c 3 f 6 376 ). the redistribution tasks 344 initiates a merge 378 of the records ( e . g ., v 1 c 1 r 1 - v 1 c 1 rx 382 , v 1 c 2 r 1 - v 1 c 2 ry 384 , v 1 c 3 r 1 - v 1 c 3 rz 386 , v 1 c 4 r 1 - v 1 c 4 rq 388 , v 1 c 5 r 1 - v 1 c 5 rs 390 and v 1 c 6 r 1 - v 1 c 6 rt 392 ) located in each vector chunk assignment file corresponding to a particular destination vector chunk . the arrow 380 represents a transition to a node state in which each node corresponding to destination vector chunks perform the merge 378 . the merge 378 results in the redistributed vector chunks of the first vector redistributed among the set of nodes . the slave node logic 160 of each slave node sends the master node 116 a completion notice that indicates the completion status of the merge 378 . fig4 shows gridbatch 100 during the processing of a join function call 400 ( e . g ., task request 244 ) and exercise of the join operator logic 266 . in one implementation , the master node 116 receives the join function call 400 with parameters that include the first vector identifier 272 and a second vector identifier 274 , and a user - defined join function ( e . g ., a user - defined function 276 ). the first vector identifier 272 and a second vector identifier 274 identify the first vector and a second vector partitioned into first vector chunks ( e . g ., v 1 c 1 404 , v 1 c 2 406 and v 1 c 3 408 ) and second vector chunks ( e . g ., v 2 c 1 410 , v 2 c 2 412 and v 2 c 3 414 ). the first vector chunks and second vector chunks include first vector chunk records ( e . g ., v 1 c 1 r 1 - v 1 c 1 rz 416 , v 1 c 2 r 8 - v 1 c 2 rj 418 and v 1 c 3 r 4 - v 1 c 3 rl 420 ) and second vector chunk records ( e . g ., v 2 c 1 r 3 - v 2 c 1 ry 422 , v 2 c 2 r 7 - v 2 c 2 rk 424 and v 2 c 3 r 4 - v 2 c 3 rm 426 ), respectively . the master node 116 initiates spawning of sorting tasks ( e . g ., slave tasks 158 ) locally on the set of nodes ( e . g ., slave node 1 428 , slave node 4 430 and slave node 6 432 ) corresponding to the location of the first vector chunks and second vector chunks to sort each of the first vector chunks and second vector chunks for the second vector located on each of the set of nodes . in one implementation , the sorting task 434 sorts the first vector records and the second vector records according to an index value of the join index field present in each first vector record of the first vector ( e . g ., v 1 c 1 r 1 if - v 1 c 1 rzif 438 , v 1 c 2 r 81 f - v 1 c 2 rjif 440 and v 1 c 3 r 41 f - v 1 c 3 rlif 442 ) and each second vector record of the second vector ( e . g ., v 2 c 1 r 3 if - v 2 c 1 ryif 444 , v 2 c 2 r 7 - v 2 c 2 rkif 446 and v 2 c 3 r 4 - v 2 c 3 rmif 448 ), respectively . the arrow 436 represents a transition to a node state in which each node with vector chunks runs sorting tasks 434 . in one implementation , the sorting task 434 compares the index value of the index field present in the first vector records and the second vector records to determine first vector records and second vector records that include matching index values and apply the user - defined function 276 ( e . g ., a user - defined join function ) to first vector records and second vector records with matching index field values . the sorting task 434 performs a matching task 450 which compares the index field values of the index fields of the first vector records and second vector records . the arrow 452 represents a transition to a node state in which each node with vector chunks run matching tasks 450 . the matching task 450 applies the user - defined function 276 ( e . g ., a user - defined join function ) to first vector records and second vector records with matching index field values for corresponding vector chunks ( e . g ., v 1 c 2 rbif 454 and v 2 c 2 rpif 456 , and v 1 c 2 rbif 458 and v 2 c 2 rpif 460 ) to obtain a join function chunk result ( e . g ., “ no jfc 1 r ” 462 , jfc 2 r 464 and jfc 3 r 466 ). the matching task 450 does not apply the user - defined join function to first vector records and second vector records when the index field values for corresponding vector chunks do not match ( e . g ., v 1 c 1 rxif 468 and v 2 c 1 ryif 470 ). the join function chunk results form a join function vector result that identify join function vector chunks ( e . g ., jfvc 1 476 and jfvc 2 478 ) that include join function vector chunk records ( jfvc 1 rt 480 and jfvc 2 r 3 - jfvc 2 rn 482 ) obtained from the join function chunk results ( e . g ., jfc 2 r 464 and jfc 3 r 466 ). in one implementation , the slave node logic 160 of each slave node sends the master node 116 a completion notice that indicates that the completion status of the sorting task 434 . for example , in one implementation , a programmer may use gridbatch 100 to index two vectors , a product vector ( e . g ., first vector identified by the first vector identifier 272 ) indexed by a product id field ( e . g ., index fields v 1 c 1 r 1 if - v 1 c 1 rzif 438 , v 1 c 2 r 81 f - v 1 c 2 rjif 440 and v 1 c 3 r 41 f - v 1 c 3 rlif 442 ) and the customer vector ( e . g ., second vector identified by the second vector identifier 274 ) indexed by customer id field ( e . g ., index fields v 2 c 1 r 3 if - v 2 c 1 ryif 444 , v 2 c 2 r 7 - v 2 c 2 rkif 446 and v 2 c 3 r 4 - v 2 c 3 rmif 448 ). the product vector includes the product id and the customer id corresponding to the products purchased ( e . g ., index field values ). the customer vector holds the customer id and the demographic information of the customers ( e . g ., index field values such as age , address , gender ). in the event the programmer desires to know how many people in each age group purchased a particular product , the programmer invokes a join function call with the product vector and the customer vector as parameters to obtain a join result that links the product id information with the customer demographic information . in one implementation , in order to ensure the highest performance by gridbatch 100 in processing the join function call 400 of the product vector and the customer vector based on the customer id field ( e . g ., index field ), the programmer invokes the distribute function call 300 to index the product vector by the customer id instead of the product id . the distribute function call ensures that gridbatch 100 distributes the records of the product vector to the nodes in gridbatch cluster 102 according to the customer id field . gridbatch 100 then may apply the user - defined function 276 ( e . g ., a user - defined join function ) to each record of the product vector and the customer vector where the customer id field values of both product vector and the customer vector equal to obtain the join function vector result . fig5 shows gridbatch 100 during the processing of a convolution function call 500 ( e . g ., task request 244 ) and exercise of the convolution operator logic 268 . in one implementation , the master node 116 receives the convolution function call 500 with parameters that include the first vector identifier 272 and the second vector identifier 274 , and a user - defined convolution function ( e . g ., a user - defined function 276 ). the first vector identifier 272 and a second vector identifier 274 identify the first vector and a second vector partitioned into first vector chunks ( e . g ., v 1 c 1 504 and v 1 c 2 506 ) and second vector chunks ( e . g ., v 2 c 1 508 and v 2 c 2 510 ) correspond to partitioned vector chunks distributed across the nodes of gridbatch cluster 102 . the first vector chunks and second vector chunks include first vector chunk records ( e . g ., v 1 c 1 r 1 - v 1 c 1 rz 512 and v 1 c 3 r 4 - v 1 c 3 rl 514 ) and second vector chunk records ( e . g ., v 2 c 1 r 3 - v 2 c 1 ry 516 and v 2 c 3 r 4 - v 2 c 3 rm 518 ), respectively . the master node 116 initiates spawning of convolution tasks ( e . g ., slave tasks 158 ) locally on the set of nodes ( e . g ., slave node 1 520 and slave node 8 522 ) corresponding to the location of the first vector chunks and second vector chunks . the arrow 526 represents a transition to a node state for each node where the master node 116 spawns the convolution tasks 524 . the convolution tasks 524 apply the user - defined function 276 ( e . g ., a user - defined convolution function ) locally to the permutations of first vector chunk records and second vector chunk records ( e . g ., 528 and 530 ). the user - defined convolution function evaluates each permutation of corresponding first vector chunk records and second vector chunk records ( e . g ., 528 and 530 ) to obtain convolution function evaluation results ( e . g ., 536 , 538 , 540 and 542 ). the arrow 534 represents a transition to a node state for each node where the user - defined convolution function evaluates each permutation of corresponding first vector chunk records and second vector chunk records . the convolution function evaluation results may indicate when a permutation of the corresponding first vector chunk records and second vector chunk records results in a convolution function chunk result records ( e . g ., cfc 1 r 1 - cfc 1 r 3 - cfc 1 r 4 - cfc 1 rz 536 and cfc 2 r 3 - cfc 2 rk 540 ). the convolution function evaluation results may indicate when a permutation of the corresponding first vector chunk records and second vector chunk records results in no convolution function chunk result records ( e . g ., “ no cfc 1 rx ” 538 and “ no cfc 2 ry ” 542 ). the user - defined convolution function may transform the convolution function results into convolution function chunk result records ( e . g ., cfvc 1 r 1 - cfvc 1 r 3 - cfvc 1 r 4 - cfvc 1 rz 548 and cfvc 2 r 3 - cfvc 2 rk 550 ) to obtain convolution function results for each node ( e . g ., slave node 1 520 and slave node 8 522 ). for example , in one implementation , a programmer may invoke the convolution function call 500 to determine the number of customers located in close proximity to the distributors of a retailer . the file system manager logic 222 may include a customer vector ( e . g ., first vector identified by the first vector identifier 272 ) that includes a physical location field that indicates the physical location of each customer and a distributor vector ( e . g ., second vector identified by the second vector identifier 274 ) that includes a physical location field that indicates the physical location of each distributor . the programmer may invoke the convolution function call 500 to apply a user - defined convolution function ( e . g ., user - defined function 276 ) to the customer vector and distributor vector based on the physical location field to evaluate the physical distance between each customer and each distributor and obtain a convolution function results vector . in one implementation , the user - defined convolution function may be expressed as convfunc . before the convolution call , the customer vector may be partitioned into customer vector chunks ( e . g ., first vector chunks — v 1 c 1 504 and v 1 c 2 506 ) partitioned across the nodes of gridbatch cluster 102 according to the physical location field ( e . g ., index field ) present in each of the customer vector records . the distributor vector chunks ( e . g ., second vector chunks — v 2 c 1 508 and v 2 c 2 510 ) may be copied to all nodes of the cluster . this can be achieved by supplying a partition function which always returns a list of all nodes to the distribute operator . the user - defined convolution function evaluates the permutations of customer vector records and the distributor vector records residing on corresponding slave nodes , to obtain convolution function chunk results records . in other words , where the customer vector chunk has z number of records and the distributor vector chunk has k number of records , the user - defined convolution function may evaluate z × k number of permutations where for each record 1 through z of the customer vector chunk gridbatch 100 applies the user - defined convolution function to every record 1 though k of the distributor vector chunk . the result of the convolution function call performed by each slave node of gridbatch cluster 102 results in corresponding convolution function vector chunks to obtain convolution function results for each node ( e . g ., slave node 1 520 and slave node 8 522 ). fig6 illustrates gridbatch 100 during the processing of a recurse function call 600 ( e . g ., task request 244 ) and exercise of the recurse operator logic 270 . in one implementation , the master node 116 receives the recurse function call 600 with parameters that include the first vector identifier 272 and a user - defined recurse function ( e . g ., a user - defined function 276 ). the first vector identifier 272 identifies the first vector partitioned into first vector chunks ( e . g ., v 1 c 1 604 , v 1 c 2 606 and v 1 c 3 610 ) corresponding to partitioned vector chunks distributed across the nodes of gridbatch cluster 102 . the first vector chunks include first vector chunk records ( e . g ., v 1 c 1 r 1 - v 1 c 1 rx 616 , v 1 c 1 r 3 - v 1 c 1 rj 618 , v 1 c 2 r 1 - v 1 c 2 ry 620 , v 1 c 2 rk - v 1 c 2 rn 622 , v 1 c 3 r 4 - v 1 c 3 rz 624 and v 1 c 3 rg - v 1 c 3 rm 626 ). the master node 116 initiates spawning of recurse tasks 634 ( e . g ., slave tasks 158 ) locally on the set of nodes ( e . g ., slave node 1 628 , slave node 4 630 and slave node 6 632 ) corresponding to the location of the first vector chunks . the arrow 636 represents a transition to a node state in which each node with first vector chunks run the recurse tasks 634 . the recurse tasks 634 initially apply the user - defined recurse function to the first vector chunk records to produce intermediate recurse vector chunk results for each first vector chunks ( e . g ., irv 1 c 1 r 1 638 , irv 1 c 1 r 2 640 , irv 1 c 2 r 1 642 , irv 1 c 2 r 2 644 , irv 1 c 3 r 1 646 and irv 1 c 3 r 2 648 ). the recurse tasks invoke the user - defined recurse function on the intermediate recurse vector chunk results to produce intermediate recurse slave node results ( e . g ., irsn 1 r 650 , irsn 4 r 652 and irsn 6 r 654 ). the recurse tasks communicate a subset of the intermediate recurse slave node results ( e . g ., irsn 1 r 650 ) to a subset of the set of nodes ( e . g ., slave node 4 630 ) and the recurse tasks iterate invocation of the user - defined recurse function on the intermediate results ( e . g ., irsn 1 r 650 and irsn 4 r 652 ) to produce increasingly fewer intermediate slave node results ( e . g ., ifirsn 4 r 660 ). the recurse tasks communicate a subset of the increasingly fewer intermediate results ( e . g ., ifirsn 4 r 660 ) to an increasingly smaller subset of the set of nodes ( e . g ., slave node 6 632 ) until gridbatch 100 obtains a final recurse result ( e . g ., frr 668 ) on a final node in the set of nodes . in one implementation , a subset of the intermediate results communicated by the recurse tasks to a subset of the set of nodes includes one - half of the intermediate results that produce a subset of increasingly fewer intermediate results . similarly , each subset of increasingly fewer intermediate results subsequently communicated by the recurse tasks to a subset of the set of nodes includes one - half of the increasingly fewer intermediate results . in one implementation , the recurse operator logic 270 uses network topology information to improve computation performance of the recurse operator by identifying nearby neighbour slave nodes where intermediate results can be sent and / or retrieved in order to reduce network bandwidth consumption . the programmer , user and / or gridbatch 100 may define the factors that determine whether a slave node constitutes a nearby neighbour slave node to another slave node . the factors that may be used to determine whether a slave node is designated a nearby neighbour slave node may include data transmission times between slave nodes , the number of network hops ( e . g ., number of network routers ) between slave nodes , or a combination of data transmission times and network hops . fig6 illustrates how the gridbatch recurse operator logic 270 distributes intermediate results among slave nodes of gridbatch cluster 102 . the slave nodes may compute a local intermediate recurse result ( e . g ., irsn 1 r 650 , irsn 4 r 652 and irsn 6 r 654 ). a subset of the slave nodes ( e . g ., slave node 1 628 ) may transmit the local intermediate recurse result ( e . g ., irsn 1 r 650 ) to a subset of the slave nodes ( e . g ., slave node 4 630 ). the slave nodes receiving intermediate recurse results from other slave nodes may iteratively apply the transmitted intermediate results ( e . g ., irsn 1 r 650 ) with the local intermediate results ( e . g ., irsn 4 r 652 ). iteratively , until a single slave node ( e . g ., slave node 6 632 ) produces the final recurse result ( e . g ., frr 668 ), a subset ( e . g ., one - half ) of the slave nodes transmit intermediate results to the other one - half of nodes with local intermediate results ( e . g ., folding transmitted intermediate results into local intermediate results ). in one implementation , the master node determines the scheme for passing intermediate results to slave nodes in the set of nodes and the number of folding iterations required to produce a final recurse result ( e . g ., frr 668 ). fig7 illustrates the logic flow gridbatch 100 may take to perform the distribute operator . in one implementation , the master node 116 receives the distribute function call 300 to perform the distribute operator . in one implementation , the distribute function call 300 may be expressed as distribute ( vector v , func newpartitionfunc ). vector v represents the source vector and the newpartitionfunc represents a function that determines the location of new nodes for data in vector v . fig7 and the discussion here uses vector u as a notational aid to explain the redistribution of the data in vector v . vector v contains the same data as vector u . the distribute function call 300 results in one vector remaining , possibly partitioned into new chunks that may be redistributed to a different set of nodes . the master node logic 260 spawns a slave task ( e . g ., slave task 158 ) corresponding to each vector chunk of vector v ( 702 ). in one implementation , the number of slave tasks equal the number of vector chunks of vector v . the slave tasks reside on the slave nodes where corresponding vector chunks reside ( 704 ). localizing the slave tasks to slave nodes where corresponding vector chunks reside minimizes data transfer and avoids network bandwidth scaling issues . slave nodes invoke slave node logic 212 to generate output files corresponding to vector chunks of vector u where gridbatch 100 will redistribute records of vector v ( 706 ). the slave node logic 160 evaluates each record of the corresponding vector chunk of v to determine the chunk identifier of vector u where gridbatch 100 will redistribute the record . the slave node logic 160 writes the record to the output file corresponding to the vector chunk of vector u where gridbatch 100 will redistribute the record of vector v . as each slave task completes evaluation of the records of the corresponding vector chunks of v , each slave task notifies the master node logic 260 of the completion status of the slave task and the location of the output files corresponding to the vector chunks of vector u ( 708 ). the master node logic 260 spawns new slave tasks on slave nodes where gridbatch 100 will redistribute vector chunks of vector v to vector chunks of vector u ( 710 ). each slave task receives a list of the locations of output files that include vector chunks of u that correspond to the slave node corresponding to the slave task and retrieves the output files to the slave node ( e . g ., using a remote copy operation , or other file transfer ). each slave task merges the output files into corresponding vector chunks of u and notifies the master node logic 260 of the completion status of the slave task ( 712 ). in one implementation , the distribute function call 300 distributes all records of the first vector to all the available slave nodes . for example , the newpartitionfunc of the distribute function call 300 expressed as distribute ( vector v , func newpartitionfunc ) may direct gridbatch 100 to distribute each record of vector v to all of the available slave nodes to duplicate vector v on all the available slave nodes . fig8 shows the logic flow gridbatch 100 may take to perform the join operator . in one implementation , the master node logic 260 receives the join function call 400 to join vector x and vector y . in one implementation , the join function call 400 may be expressed as vector join ( vector x , vector y , func joinfunc ) ( 802 ). the master node logic 260 spawns a slave task corresponding to a vector chunk number ( e . g ., vector chunk id ), where the file system manager logic 222 partitions vector x and vector y into an equal number of vector chunks and the file system manager logic 222 assigns vector chunks of x and vector chunks of y with corresponding chunk numbers or vector chunk ids ( 804 ). for example , the file system manager logic 222 may assign a particular chunk id to both a vector chunk of x and a vector chunk of y residing on a corresponding slave node . in one implementation , the slave task sorts , according to an indexed field value , the records of the vector chunk of x and records of vector chunk of y residing on the corresponding slave node ( 806 ). the slave task invokes slave node logic 160 and evaluates the indexed field value of the records of the vector chunk of x and records of vector chunk of y . where the indexed field values of the records of the vector chunk of x and records of vector chunk of y equal ( 808 ), gridbatch 100 invokes a user - defined join function ( e . g ., user - defined function 276 ). in one implementation , the user - defined join function may be expressed as record joinfunc ( record z , record k ) that joins the records of the vector chunk of x and records of vector chunk of y ( 814 ). where the slave node logic 160 evaluates the indexed field value of record z of vector chunk x to be less than the indexed field value of record k of vector chunk of y then the slave node logic 160 evaluates the next record z of vector chunk of x with the indexed field value of record k of vector chunk of y ( 810 ). where the slave node logic 160 evaluates the indexed field value of record z of vector chunk x to be greater than the indexed field value of record k of vector chunk of y then the slave node logic 160 evaluates the next record k of vector chunk of y with the indexed field value of record z of vector chunk of x ( 812 ). the slave node logic 160 evaluates every record z of vector chunk of x and record k of vector chunk of y ( 816 ). fig9 shows the logic flow gridbatch 100 may take to perform the convolution operator . in one implementation , the master node logic 260 receives the convolution function call 500 to process vector x and vector y ( 902 ). in one implementation , the convolution function call 500 may be expressed as vector convolution ( vector x , vector y , func convfunc ), where convfunc is the user - specified convolution function . for each record 1 to z of the vector chunks of vector x the master node logic 260 applies a user - defined convolution function ( e . g ., user - defined function 276 ), expressed as record convfunc ( record z , record k ) to records 1 to k of vector chunks of vector y ( 904 ). in other words , where a vector chunk of vector x has z number of records and a vector chunk of vector y has k number of records , the user - defined convolution function evaluates z × k number of permutations of record pairs . the slave node logic 160 applies the user - defined convolution function to each record 1 though k of the vector y ( 906 ) with every record 1 through z of the vector chunk x ( 908 ). fig1 shows the logic flow gridbatch 100 may take to perform the recurse operator . in one implementation , the master node logic 260 receives the recurse function call 600 to recurse vector x . in one implementation , the recurse function call 600 may be expressed as record recurse ( vector x , func recursefunc ). the master node logic 260 spawns recurse operation slave tasks corresponding to each vector chunk residing on corresponding slave nodes ( 1002 ). slave tasks invoke slave node logic 160 to reduce ( e . g ., merge ) the first record and the second records of vector chunk of vector x residing on corresponding slave nodes . the slave node logic 160 stores the intermediate recurse ( e . g ., merger ) result ( 1004 ). the slave node logic 160 evaluates whether more records of vector chunk of vector x exist ( 1006 ) and merges the next record of vector chunk of vector x to the intermediate merge result ( 1008 ). once the slave node logic 160 obtains the intermediate merge result of the vector chunks of vector x , each slave task notifies the master node logic 260 of the completion status of the slave task ( 1010 ). a subset of slave tasks ( e . g ., one - half ) send intermediate merge results to the remaining slave tasks ( e . g ., the other one - half ) with local intermediate results . the subset of slave tasks receiving the intermediate merge results merge the intermediate merge tasks with local intermediate merge results ( 1012 ). the slave nodes with intermediate merge results iteratively fold the intermediate merge results into fewer slave nodes , until the slave nodes merge the increasingly smaller number of intermediate merge results into a final merge result residing on one slave node ( 1014 ). fig1 illustrates gridbatch 100 during the processing of a map function call 1100 ( e . g ., task request 244 ) and exercise of the map operator logic 278 . the map operator may be expressed as vector map ( vector v , func mapfunc ) where v represents the vector , more specifically the records of the vector , to which the mapfunc will be applied to obtain a new vector of mapped records of vector v . the map operator allows the user to apply a user - defined function to all the records of a vector . in one implementation , the master node logic 260 receives the map function call 1100 with parameters that include a first vector identifier 272 and a user - defined map function ( e . g ., a user - defined function 276 ). the first vector identifier 272 identifies the first vector partitioned into first vector chunks ( e . g ., v 1 c 1 1104 , v 1 c 2 1108 and v 1 c 3 1110 ) corresponding to partitioned vector chunks distributed across the nodes of gridbatch cluster 102 . the first vector chunks include first vector chunk records ( e . g ., v 1 c 1 r 1 1116 , v 1 c 1 rx 1118 , v 1 c 2 r 1 1120 , v 1 c 2 ry 1122 , v 1 c 3 r 4 1124 , and v 1 c 3 rz 1126 ). the master node 116 initiates spawning of map tasks 1134 ( e . g ., slave tasks 158 ) locally on the set of nodes ( e . g ., slave node 1 1128 , slave node 4 1130 and slave node 6 1132 ) corresponding to the location of the first vector chunks . the arrow 1136 represents a transition to a node state in which each node with first vector chunks run the map tasks 1134 ( e . g ., map tasks running in parallel 1150 , 1152 and 1154 ). the map tasks 1134 apply the user - defined map function to each of first vector chunk records to produce the mapped vector chunk records that form mapped vector chunks of vector m . the arrow 1158 represents a transition to a node state in which each node with first vector chunks includes corresponding mapped vector chunks ( e . g ., vmc 1 1160 , vmc 2 1162 , and vmc 3 1164 ) with corresponding mapped vector chunk records ( e . g ., vmc 1 r 1 1166 , vmc 1 rx 1168 , vmc 2 r 1 1170 , vmc 2 ry 1172 , vmc 3 r 4 1174 , and vmc 3 rz 1176 ). for example , a sales record vector 1180 may include a customer id , product id , and date of purchase field , along with several other fields . however , for a particular analysis , only two fields of the sales record vector may be of interest , such as the customer id and the product id . for efficient processing performance , a programmer may invoke the map function call 1100 to perform the map operator to extract just the customer id and the product id fields from the sales record vector ; the map function call 1100 may be expressed in the following form : vector newvector = map ( salerecordvector , chop ). the user - defined chop function parses each record of the sale record vector 1180 to produce new records that only include the customer id and product id fields in the newvector 1182 records . fig1 shows the logic flow gridbatch 100 may take to perform the map operator . the master node logic 260 receives the map function call 1100 to map vector v ( 1202 ). the master node logic 260 spawns slave tasks corresponding to each vector chunk of vector v ( 1204 ). slave tasks invoke slave node logic 160 to locate each vector chunk of vector v assigned to corresponding slave nodes ( 1206 ). for each vector chunk of vector v , the slave node logic 160 applies the user - defined mapfunc to each vector chunk record to obtain mapped vector chunk records that form a mapped vector chunk of vector m ( 1208 ). once the slave node logic 160 has applied the mapfunc to each vector chunk record of vector v , each slave task notifies the master node logic 260 of the completion status of the slave task and the location of the corresponding mapped vector chunk of m . the map operator successfully finishes when the slave nodes notify the master node that all slave tasks have finished ( 1210 ). the mapped vector chunks of vector m combine to form a new vector m . the additional operators that gridbatch provides yield unexpectedly good results for parallel programming techniques . in particular , each operator provides significant advantages over prior attempts at application parallelization . the unexpectedly good results include significant additional programming flexibility , efficiency , and applicability to extraordinarily difficult problems faced by modern businesses , particularly with enormous amounts of data that must be processed in a realistic timeframe to achieve meaningful results . the mapreduce programming model implements a unitary programming construct . in particular , a map function is always paired with a reduce function . on the other hand , gridbatch provides multiple independent operators : recurse , convolution , join , distribute , and map that a programmer may use in virtually any order or sequence to build a complex application that executes in parallel across many nodes . furthermore , the gridbatch framework implements user defined functions specified for the independent operators through which the programmer may impart an immense degree of custom functionality . such user defined functions include a partition function to determine how to break a vector into chunks , a hash function for distributing vector chunks among nodes , a join function for specifying how to combine records , a convolution function to support the join operator , a recurse function that specifies how to merge partial results of the recurse operator , and a map function for application to records of a vector . a number of implementations 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 implementations are within the scope of the following claims . | 6 |
references herein to directional relationships and movement , such as left and right , refer to the relationship and operation of the apparatus in the orientation illustrated in the drawings , which may not be the operational orientation in every application of the present invention . with initial reference to fig1 an apparatus 10 for cooling and salting cheese is connected to the outlet 12 of a conventional cheese molding machine , such as one that produces blocks of mozzarella . each cheese block emerging from outlet 12 enters an inlet flume system 15 formed by an inlet flume 16 and four side channels 21 , 22 , 23 , and 24 . the inlet flume 16 is a u - shaped , open channel having a width that is less than twice the width of a cheese block thus ensuring that the block travel in single file and will not wedge side - by - side blocking the flume . as will be described in greater detail , a variable speed pump creates a flow of brine through the inlet flume at a rate up to 300 gallons per minute in a direction indicated by arrow 20 . the flow of brine propels floating blocks of cheese through the inlet flume 16 and the flow rate determines the speed of the cheese blocks . a plurality of first sensors 26 are spaced along the inlet flume 16 to detect the presence of a cheese block at the respective locations . the first sensors 26 provide input signals to a microcomputer based controller 25 which governs the operation of the cheese cooling apparatus 10 . fig2 illustrates the details of one of the first sensors 26 . the sensor 26 has a pivotally mounted rod 27 that extends downward into the inlet flume 16 . a cross member 28 is mounted to pivot with the rod 27 and has an end that is adjacent a proximity sensor 29 . the proximity sensor 29 is of a conventional design and emits a signal the indicates the presence or absence of the end of the cross member 28 . a block of cheese floating past the sensor 29 moves the rod 27 upward as indicated by the rod drawn in phantom lines . when the rod pivots upward , the cross member 28 moves away from the proximity sensor 29 changing the signal from that device thereby indicating the presence of the cheese block . it should be understood that other types of devices for sensing the passage of cheese may be employed in the present system . with reference again to fig1 a movable stop 42 is located in the inlet flume 16 to control the flow of cheese from the outlet 12 of the molding machine . the details of the stop 42 are shown in fig3 . the stop 42 has a rod 44 that extends downward into the inlet flume 16 to prevent a cheese block from floating past the stop . the rod 44 is pivotally mounted above the inlet flume 16 and is connected to a lever 45 that is driven by a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder 46 . when the cylinder 46 rotates the lever 45 by 90 degrees , the rod 44 pivots out of the inlet flume 16 to allow cheese blocks to pass . when power is reversed to the cylinder 46 the stop rod 44 returns to the illustrated downward position . returning to fig1 the warm cheese blocks travel down the inlet flume 16 toward a series of open u - shaped side channels 21 , 22 , 23 and 24 . each side channel 21 - 24 leads at an angle from the inlet flume 16 to the top of a separate cell of a cooling tank 19 and has separate inlet control gate 36 at the junction with the inlet flume 16 . as shown in fig4 for the third side channel 23 , each inlet control gate 36 is connected to a first actuator 38 , such as a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder and piston , located above the inlet flume , which operates a linkage 40 connected to that control gate . the inlet control gate 36 is pivotally attached to a side wall of inlet flume 16 and moves in response to activation of the first actuator 38 by the microcomputer 25 . as will be described , cheese blocks flow with the brine along the inlet flume 16 until reaching a side channel 21 - 24 with an control open gate 36 , as is illustrated for third side channel 23 . that open gate 36 directs the flow of brine and the cheese block into the side channel . the cooling apparatus 10 can be utilized with large blocks of cheese which have a width approximately equal to the width of an entrance 59 into the cooling tank 19 . alternatively smaller blocks that are slightly less than one - half the entrance width can be processed . for this latter version , each side channel 21 - 24 has a secondary control gate 55 that is operated by a second actuator , such as pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder 57 mounted above the side channel . beyond the secondary gate 57 , the side channel 23 is divided in half longitudinally by a vertical wall 54 . the secondary gate 57 directs the smaller cheese blocks into one side of the wall 54 and then into the other side , as will be described . a plurality of second sensors 58 are located between the secondary gates 57 and the entrance 59 of the cooling tank 31 - 34 and provide sensor signals to the controller 25 . the second sensors 58 are of the same design as shown in fig2 for the first sensors 26 . the cooling tank 19 in fig1 is subdivided into four identical cooling cells 31 , 32 , 33 , and 34 defined by walls 43 extending the full height and width of the cooling tank . four cooling cells are shown for ease of illustration , with the understanding that additional cooling cells can be provided to increase the capacity of the cooling apparatus 10 . the cooling tank 19 further includes a brine reservoir 30 which does not receive blocks of cheese . each of the brine reservoir 30 and cooling cells 31 - 34 are separate water tight compartments of the cooling tank 19 and can be independently drained and filled with brine . referring to fig1 and 6 , each cooling cell 31 - 34 is divided lengthwise into two sections 61 and 62 by an internal wall 63 which extends across the length of the cooling cell . the cheese blocks flow into and out of the top of the first section 61 . within each cooling cell 31 - 24 is a carousel 65 having chains 66 on which are mounted elongated tubes 64 fabricated of perforated sheet metal or welded rods , thereby forming receptacles for the cheese blocks . for example , the carousel 65 can have twenty tubes 64 with ten tubes residing in each cooling cell section 61 and 62 at any given time . the tubes 64 rotate in a vertical loop through the cooling cell around the internal wall 63 when the chain 66 is driven by a motor 53 connected to the lower sprocket 67 . thus the chain 66 , lower sprocket 67 and motor 53 form a drive mechanism for the carousel 65 . as the chain rotates 65 in a clockwise direction indicated by arrow 68 in fig6 the tubes 64 in the first section 61 move downward while the tubes move upward in the second section 62 . the tubes 64 travel above and below the internal wall 63 between the two sections 61 and 62 of the cooling cell . the cooling cells 31 - 34 are filled with brine to a level 69 that is slightly below the top of the upper most tubes 64 . as will be described , this level allows the cheese blocks to float into and out of the tube at the top of the first section 61 in each cooling cell . referring specifically to fig1 each cooling cell 31 - 34 has an exit opening 75 in a wall that is opposite to the wall having the entrance 59 . a pair of exit stops 77 are located side by side in different halves of each exit opening 75 to control the movement of cheese blocks through that opening , as will be described . each exit stop 77 has the same design as stop shown in fig3 . each exit opening 75 of the cooling tank 19 is connected to an outlet flume system 70 comprising a plurality of outlet channels 71 , 72 , 73 and 74 and an outlet flume 76 . a trough shaped outlet channel 71 , 72 , 73 or 74 connects one of the cell exit openings 75 to the similarly shaped outlet flume 76 . a separate outlet control gate 80 is located at the junction of each outlet channel 71 - 74 with the outlet flume 76 and has an actuator operated by controller 25 . a plurality of third sensors 78 are located in each outlet channel 71 - 74 and a fourth sensor 79 is positioned in the outlet end of the outlet flume 76 to provide sensor signals to the controller 25 . the outlet flume 76 leads to equipment ( not shown ) for packaging the cheese blocks . a fluid level sensor 81 provides a signal indicating the brine level in the outlet flume 76 , which level corresponds to the height of brine in the cooling cell associated with an open exit gate 80 ( e . g . third cooling cell 33 ). alternatively , separate level sensors can be provided in each cooling cell 31 - 34 and in the reservoir 30 . the cheese cooling apparatus 10 includes a fluid circulation system 100 that comprises a flume circuit 102 and a cooling circuit 108 shown in fig1 . the flume circuit 102 creates a flow of brine that moves the blocks of cheese through the cooling apparatus 10 . a first variable speed pump 82 draws brine from the reservoir 30 at a rate between zero and 300 gallons per minute . the speed of the first variable speed pump 82 and an electrically operated flow valve 83 in the flume circuit 102 are operated by the controller 25 . the flow of brine from the first variable speed pump 82 is applied to the input flume adjacent the outlet 12 of the cheese molding machine , as indicated by arrow 20 . this creates flow of brine at a high rate that carries the cheese blocks into the cooling tank 19 . the brine flows along inlet flume 16 until encountering an open inlet control gate 36 , such as shown for the third side channel 23 . at that location the brine is directed into the side channel and the associated cell ( e . g . third cooling cell 33 ) of the cooling tank 19 . this flow of brine exits this cooling cell 33 through exit opening 75 and an open outlet control gate 80 for the third outlet channel 73 . additional electrically operated , proportional valves 84 and 85 control the flow of brine from the outlet flume 76 back to the reservoir 30 through return conduit 86 and provide the primary means of controlling the fluid levels in the system . the difference in the flow rate from the first variable speed pump 82 and that through these outlet valves 84 and 85 determines the rate of level change in the flume systems 15 and 70 and in the cooling cell 33 in which cheese is being exchanged . the pump rate is set for a desired flow velocity in the inlet flume 16 . the outlet valves 84 and 85 are constantly being adjusted by a feedback control loop based on the fluid level measured by sensor 81 . accurate level control is required for proper movement of the cheese . in addition to the flume circuit 102 that creates a fluid flow which moves the blocks of cheese , the fluid circulation system 100 includes a cooling circuit 108 which circulates refrigerated brine through the cooling tank 19 . with continuing reference to fig1 the cooling circuit 108 has a second variable speed pump 112 with an inlet connected to an outlet of the brine reservoir 30 . the second variable speed pump 112 supplies brine at a flow rate of 50 - 100 gallons per minute to a conventional heat exchanger 114 of a refrigeration system , which reduces the temperature of the brine to 25 - 40 degrees fahrenheit . the chilled brine from the heat exchanger 114 flows to a diverter valve 116 which directs the brine flow into either a first or a second distribution conduit 118 or 119 , respectively . half of the cooling cells 31 - 34 are connected to each distribution conduit 118 or 119 . specifically , the third and fourth cooling cells 33 and 34 are connected to the first distribution conduit 118 by separate control valves 120 , which are electrically operated by the controller 25 . the first and second cooling cells 31 and 32 are connected by similar electrically operated valves 120 to the second distribution conduit 119 . as will be described , chilled brine is introduced to the bottom of one of the cooling cells 31 - 34 at any given time by selectively directing the flow of chilled brine from the heat exchanger 114 to one of the distribution conduits 118 or 119 and then opening the associated distribution valve 120 connected to the selected cell . the two distribution conduits 118 and 119 also are connected to a drain control valve 122 which is electrically operated by the controller 25 . the drain control valve 122 directs the brine from one of the distribution conduits 118 or 119 through a return line 124 to the input of a drain pump 126 , that feeds into the brine reservoir 30 . by selectively coupling one of the distribution conduits 118 or 119 to the drain pump 126 and opening the appropriate valve 120 , the drain pump 126 can be used to empty brine from a cooling cell 31 - 34 that needs maintenance . in addition , as cheese is loaded into a previously empty cooling cell , the cheese blocks will displace brine which is removed from that cell and sent to the reservoir by the drain pump 126 . the cooling circuit 108 further includes a series of inter - cell pumps 131 - 134 which route brine between the cooling cells . the first inter - cell pump 131 transfers brine from the second section 62 of the first cooling cell 31 to an inlet of the fourth cooling cell 34 which is adjacent the cheese entrance 59 . similarly , the second inter - cell pump 132 feeds brine from the second cooling cell 32 to the cheese entrance area of the first cooling cell 31 . the third inter - cell pump 133 transfers brine between the third and second cooling cells , and the fourth inter - cell pump 134 transfers brine between fourth and third cooling cells . each inter - cell pump 131 - 134 introduces brine near the top of the first section 61 of a cooling cell 31 - 34 from which point the brine flows downward , under the internal cell wall 63 ( fig6 ) and upward in the second section 62 of the cooling cell from which the brine is drawn by another inter - cell pump . this path circulates the chilled through the entire cooling cell and produces uniform cooling of the cheese blocks . the cheese to be cooled enters from the outlet 12 of the molding machine and the flow of brine in the flume circuit 102 carries the floating cheese through the cooling apparatus 10 . this enables the cheese blocks to be loaded into and removed from the cooling tank 19 entirely without human intervention . newly molded cheese blocks replace ones that have been stored in the cooling tank for the greatest amount of time . the controller 25 tracks the time that cheese has been stored in each tube 64 of the tank cooling cells 31 - 34 . a particular cooling cell ( e . g . cell 33 ) is selected to receive the newly molded cheese blocks by the controller opening the inlet control gate 36 and the outlet control gate 80 associated with that cell . this action allows blocks of cheese to float with the brine flowing through the inlet flume system 15 into the selected cooling cell . when the cheese cooling apparatus 10 is started , the cooling cells are loaded with cheese beginning with the fourth cooling cell 34 and then going sequentially to the left in fig1 . at that time each cooling cell does not contain any cheese blocks that were previously being cooled . therefore , the entering blocks of cheese displace a significant amount of brine in the cell . when fully loaded , the cheese blocks may occupy 28 % of the cooling cell volume , for example . this means that the selected cell must be filled initially with a significantly greater amount of brine than required once fully loaded . the present system enables this extra brine to be temporally borrowed from another cooling cell . for example , brine can be borrowed from the first cooling cell 31 to fill the third cooling cell 33 . when the third cooling cell is being loaded for the first time , chilled brine from the heat exchanger 114 is being fed into the fourth cooling cell 34 from the first distribution conduit 118 . at this time , the drain control valve 122 is operated to connect the second distribution conduit 119 to the drain pump 126 . the valve 120 for the first cooling cell 31 is open to supply brine to the second distribution conduit 119 from which the brine is drawn by the drain pump 126 and sent to the reservoir 30 . this replenishes brine that previously was drawn from the reservoir 30 . the brine drained from the first cooling cell 31 is supplied from the reservoir 30 to the selected third cooling cell 33 via the flume circuit 102 and the cooling circuit 108 . the brine , that is displaced by blocks of cheese entering the third cooling cell 33 , flows out through the outlet flume system 70 from which the brine is returned to the reservoir 30 via return conduit 86 . by drawing brine from an cooling cell that does not contain cheese during start - up of the system 10 , the size of the reservoir 30 can be reduced as it does not have to provide the entire volume of brine needed to charge the flume systems and initially overfill the cooling cells . after all of the cooling cells have been filled with cheese , newly molded cheese replaces the cheese block that have been in the cooling system the longest . at that time , the cheese being replaced has been cooled to a temperature at which it can be handled by processing equipment downstream of the cooling system 10 . because the old cheese now is being exchanged with newly molded cheese , a significantly smaller volume of brine is being displaced as occurred during system start - up and the capacity of the reservoir 30 is sufficient to compensate for the minor fluctuations in the brine level . to load freshly molded cheese blocks into the selected cooling cell , such as the third cell 33 as illustrated in fig1 the carousel 65 sequentially aligns each of its tubes 64 with the entrance 59 and exit opening 75 of the cooling cell . each time that another carousel tube 64 is indexed into this alignment , the top most position in the first section 61 of the selected cell , the stop 42 near the connection of the cheese molding machine to the cooling system prevents cheese blocks from entering the inlet flume 16 . the exit stop 77 , for the half of the cell tube 64 that is selected by the secondary control gate 55 , is opened to allow the flow of brine to carry previously stored cheese blocks from the topmost carousel tube 64 before newly molded blocks enter the other end of that tube . the exiting cheese blocks travel through the third outlet channel 73 , past closed outlet control gates 80 in the outlet flume 76 for the other outlet channels 71 - 72 and on toward the packaging machine ( not shown ). while this movement of cheese blocks is occurring , the controller 25 is receiving signals from the third sensor 78 at the exit of the selected cooling cell 33 . thus the controller 25 is able to count the number of cheese blocks that float out of the cooling cell to determine when all of the blocks have exited . at that time , the controller 25 closes the exit stop 77 so that new cheese blocks will not travel through the tube and out the exit opening . after a predefined interval of time , the controller 25 opens the stop 42 in the inlet flume 16 allowing the newly molded cheese blocks to flow into the cooling tank 19 . the brine flow and the blocks of cheese are directed past the closed inlet control gates 36 , which provide a water - tight closure of the opening of their respective side channels . the open inlet control gate 36 directs the brine flow and the blocks of cheese carried by that flow into and along the third side channel 23 until encountering its secondary gate 55 . that secondary gate 55 directs the cheese blocks to one side or the other of vertical channel wall 54 ( fig4 ). the blocks continue to move through the entrance 59 of the associated cooling cell 33 and into one side of the topmost carousel tube 64 in the first cell section 61 . the cheese blocks float on the surface of the brine in the cooling cell and move through the top most tube until reaching remote end where the first cheese block strikes the exit stop 77 . when one side of the topmost carousel tube 64 is full , the controller 25 activates the secondary gate 55 to fill the other side of the tube . when both sides of the topmost tube 64 have been filled with fresh blocks of cheese , the carousel 65 indexes to the next location so that the tube which previously was at the top of the second cell section 62 moves into the top position in the first section 61 . the process of replacing the cooled cheese blocks with fresh blocks to be cooled then repeats for that tube and each of the other tubes until the third cooling cell 33 has been filled with new blocks of cheese . while the cheese blocks are cooling in each cell 31 - 34 , the carousel 65 moves tubes 64 in a closed path through the brine in the tank to ensure that the cheese cools uniformly . the cheese in the top tubes should be submerged when cheese in its cooling cell is not being exchanges ( i . e . its inlet and outlet control gates 36 and 80 are closed ). when the outlet control gate 80 opens , the level of fluid in the associated cell should drop enabling the cheese blocks in the upper most tubes to float . a 300 gallon per minute flow from the inlet flume system 15 should drop the level one inch . at that time , the inlet control gate 36 and the outlet control gate 80 for the third cooling cell 33 are closed by the controller 25 . this causes the level of brine in the third cooling cell 33 to rise above the top of the upper most carousel tubes 64 . the second cooling cell 32 then is selected by opening its inlet and outlet control gates . in this manner , the cheese blocks are loaded into each cooling cell 31 - 34 sequentially from left to right in fig1 . when the first cooling cell 31 has been loaded with new cheese blocks , the sequence selects the fourth cooling cell 34 . as will be described , this loading sequence has an important relationship to the direction that refrigerated brine flows through the cooling tank 19 . although the exemplary cheese cooling apparatus 10 has only four cooling cells for ease of illustration , it should be understood that additional cooling cells can be provided so that a given cheese block will remain in the cooling tank for a long enough period of time to cool sufficiently before having to be replaced with freshly molded cheese . for example , ten cooling cells as described may be required to allow continuous operation of a typical molding machine and provide sufficient cooling time . regardless of the number of cooling cells , the cooling circuit 108 produces a flow of chilled brine through the cooling tank 19 to cool the cheese blocks uniformly . the chilled brine from the heat exchanger 114 is introduced into the bottom of the cooling cell 31 - 34 which is closed - off from the flume systems 15 and 70 and which contains the cheese blocks that have been in the cooling tank 19 the greatest amount of time , i . e . the coldest cheese . that cooling cell usually is the one to the immediate left of the cell that is being loaded with warm , freshly molded cheese , except chilled brine is introduced into the fourth cooling cell 34 when the first cooling cell 31 is being loaded with cheese blocks . thus , the coldest brine flows around the coldest cheese first and then is transferred to the cooling cell with the next coldest cheese , and so on until finally reaching the cooling cell having the warmest cheese , that has recently entered the cooling tank . to accomplish this flow pattern in the exemplary apparatus in fig1 where newly molded cheese is entering the third cooling cell 33 , the controller 25 opens the distribution valve 120 associated with the second cooling cell 32 and closes all the other distribution valves . at this time , the third inter - cell pump 133 , having an inlet connected to the third cooling cell 33 , is turned off . thus brine from the cell receiving hot , freshly molded cheese will not be fed to the adjacent cell with relatively cold cheese . the other inter - cell pumps 131 - 133 transfer the brine between cooling cells in a direction going toward cells with increasingly warmer cheese . this inter - cell brine flow ultimately reaches the cooling cell with the warmest cheese , i . e . the one presently be loaded with freshly molded cheese blocks ( cooling cell 33 in the example ). the brine then exits the cooling tank 19 through the cheese exit 75 of the third cell 33 and is returned to the reservoir 30 through the outlet flume 76 , valves 84 , 85 and conduit 86 . when the third cooling cell 33 becomes filled with newly molded cheese , the cheese blocks from the molding machine will be sent through the inlet flume system 15 into the second cooling cell 32 . at that time , the distribution valve 120 associated with the second cooling cell 32 is closed and the distribution valve for the first cooling cell 31 is opened to introduce chilled brine from the heat exchanger 114 into that latter cell . the inter - cell pump 132 for the second cooling cell 32 now is turned off by the controller 25 and the inter - cell pump 133 for the third cooling cell 33 is activated . this switching of the brine flow path continues as loading and unloading cheese blocks sequences through the cooling cells 31 - 34 so that brine always flows in a direction from the coldest to the warmest cheese in the tank 19 . as stated previously , each carousel 65 periodically moves in a closed path around the internal cell wall 64 which results in more uniform cooling and minimization of cupping and bulging of the cheese blocks . as evident from fig6 the carousel tubes 64 act as a paddle wheel forcing water over the outer wall 43 into the adjacent cooling cell to the left in fig1 . this movement of the carousels 65 also stirs the brine in each cooling cell 31 - 34 to minimize temperature gradients within the brine , and also flips the cheese blocks over in the cooling cells thereby producing uniformly shaped blocks . the present cheese cooling apparatus 10 offers automated operation so that human intervention , required in previous cooling systems to guide and submerge the cheese blocks , is not needed . the counter flow of the cheese to the direction of the chilled brine flow increases cooling efficiency , that is the incoming refrigerated brine first contacts the coldest cheese , i . e . that which has been in the cooling system the greatest amount of time . this counter flow leads to a larger temperature difference being maintained throughout the system resulting in greater and more efficient heat transfer . the dual distribution conduits 118 and 119 of the cooling circuit 108 enable brine to be drained from a given cooling cell 31 - 34 without affecting operation of the remaining cooling cells . when the chilled brine from the heat exchanger 114 is being supplied to a cooling cell connected to one distribution conduit 118 or 119 , a cooling cell connected to the other conduit can be drained . that other distribution conduit is connected by outlet control valve 122 to the drain pump 126 and the distribution valve 120 for the cooling cell to be drained is opened . when the drain pump 126 is turned - on brine is drawn from the selected cooling cell and fed to the reservoir 30 . the water - tight inlet and outlet control gates 36 and 80 prevent brine from the various flumes 16 and 76 from entering the cooling cell being drained . note that additional connections than those illustrated have to be provided between the inter - cell pumps 131 - 134 to bypass the cooling cell being drained . the foregoing description was primarily directed to a preferred embodiment of the invention . although some attention was given to various alternatives within the scope of the invention , it is anticipated that one skilled in the art will likely realize additional alternatives that are now apparent from disclosure of embodiments of the invention . accordingly , the scope of the invention should be determined from the following claims and not limited by the above disclosure . | 0 |
referring to the drawings in detail , and in particular to fig1 a portable ball retriever , holder , and carrier apparatus , indicated generally at 12 , is utilized in this condition to be pushed along a support surface 13 in order to contact and grasp ball members such as tennis ball members 15 . the ball members 15 are grasped and moved in arcuate path upwardly to be placed within a container structure of this invention as will be described . the condition for &# 34 ; ball retrieving &# 34 ; is indicated in fig1 but the invention has further embodiments of ( 1 ) being a ball holder to place a container structure in an elevated position as shown in fig8 ; and ( 2 ) ball carrier position as illustrated in fig3 with the handle assembly in a folded storage condition as indicated in dotted lines . the operation of these three ( 3 ) various positions of the invention will be described in detail . the portable ball retriever , holder , and carrier apparatus 12 includes ( 1 ) a main support frame assembly 14 ; ( 2 ) a support and power drive assembly 16 positioned forwardly and connected to the main support frame assembly 14 ; ( 3 ) a ball pick - up assembly 18 mounted forwardly of the support and power drive assembly 16 ; ( 4 ) a ball container assembly 20 operable to hold the ball members 15 therein and mounted adjacent but rearwardly of the ball pick - up assembly 18 ; and ( 5 ) an actuator handle assembly 22 connected to the ball pick - up assembly 18 and operable to be usable in three ( 3 ) various functions as will be explained . the main support frame assembly 14 includes ( 1 ) a base support assembly 26 ; ( 2 ) a base support wheel assembly 28 connected to the base support assembly 26 ; and ( 3 ) spaced vertical support arms 30 connected to the base support assembly 26 . the base support assembly 26 includes a pair of divergent support members 32 as noted in fig9 with the adjacent ends thereof interconnected by a connector plate member 34 . the support members 32 can be constructed of a square tubular material or the like which provides support for the ball container assembly 20 when in the retrieving and carrier positions as will be explained . the base support wheel assembly 28 includes an adjustable caster wheel member 36 which is rotatable 360 degrees so as to easily direct the entire portable ball retriever , holder , and carrier apparatus 12 in a ball member retrieving operation . as noted in fig4 the vertical support arms 30 includes spaced , parallel , upright support members 38 which are interconnected by a cylinder support member 40 to provide a rigid connection between the base support assembly 26 and the support and power drive assembly 16 as will be noted . the support and power drive assembly 16 includes a wheel drive assembly 44 operably connected to a power drive assembly 46 . the wheel drive assembly 44 includes a main support shaft or axle 48 having wheel members 50 secured to outer ends thereof and anchored to the support shaft 48 through anchor nut members 52 . the wheel members 50 resemble lawn mower type wheel members and being rotatable to drive the power drive assembly 46 which operates to actuate the ball pick - up assembly 18 as will be explained . the power drive assembly 46 includes a drive sprocket 54 secured to the adjacent wheel member 50 so as to be rotatable therewith ; and a drive chain member 56 trained about the drive sprocket member 54 and a driven sprocket member 58 . the driven sprocket member 58 is anchored to a support shaft of the ball pick - up assembly 18 as will be noted . the ball pick - up assembly 18 includes a main retriever housing 62 which is connected through the cylinder housing support arm 40 to the main support frame assembly 14 ; and a ball pick - up cylinder assembly 64 which is mounted within the main retriever housing 62 and driven through the power drive assembly 46 . the main retriever housing 62 includes ( 1 ) an arcuate top wall member 68 ; ( 2 ) an arcuate bottom wall member 70 ; ( 3 ) parallel , spaced side wall members 72 integral with the top wall member 68 and the bottom wall member 70 ; and ( 4 ) a connector assembly 74 operable to connect the retriever housing 62 to the main support frame assembly 14 . the arcuate top wall member 68 is formed with a horizontal wall section 76 integral with a curved wall section 78 having a forward portion integral with a vertical wall section 80 on an outer end thereof . an outer edge of the vertical wall section 80 is elevated a distance off the support surface 13 so as to define a ball entrance opening 82 where the ball members 15 enter as clearly noted in fig4 . the arcuate bottom wall member 70 is provided with a vertical connector wall section 86 integral with a bottom wall section 88 . it is noted that an outer edge of the arcuate bottom wall section 88 defines a ball entrance opening 90 for the ball members 15 to enter . the ball members 15 are engagable with an upper surface of the arcuate bottom wall 70 and the pick - up cylinder assembly 64 in a manner to be explained . the parallel side wall members 72 are extended in spaced vertical planes so as to provide the lateral limitations of the ball entrance openings 82 and 90 . each side wall member 72 is provided with ( 1 ) handle support openings 92 ; ( 2 ) cylinder shaft openings 94 ; and ( 3 ) basket support openings 98 . the functions of these openings will be explained . the connector assembly 74 includes a pair of spaced parallel support yoke members 102 . each support yoke member 102 is provided with a yoke body 104 having a shaft axle opening 106 therein . the shaft axle opening 106 is operable to receive the support shaft or axle 48 therethrough to provide rigid support to the main support frame assembly 14 . the pick - up cylinder assembly 64 , as noted in fig1 , includes ( 1 ) a cylindrical support assembly 108 ; ( 2 ) a ball - pick - up cylinder member 110 ; and ( 3 ) a cylinder connector assembly 112 . the cylindrical support assembly 108 includes a cylindrical drive shaft 114 having an inner support cylinder 116 connected thereto . the cylindrical drive shaft 114 has opposite ends thereof mounted and supported within the cylinder shaft openings 94 of the side wall members 72 . additionally , one end of the cylinder drive shaft 114 extends a distance outwardly of the right side wall member 72 having the driven sprocket member 58 connected thereto which receives the power drive for the entire pick - up cylinder assembly 64 . the inner support cylinder 116 is preferably constructed of a rigid material adapted to support the pick - up cylinder member 110 thereon . the inner support cylinder 116 is provided with an outer sleeve member 120 which is formed of a plastic foam type material which is selected to have the specific capability of being deformed when receiving the ball members 15 thereagainst . as best shown in fig4 the deformity in the sleeve member 120 is indicated by a curved portion 121 . the cylinder connector assembly 112 includes a shaft bearing member 122 mounted on each opposite end of the cylindrical drive shaft 114 in the openings 94 . a lock cap 123 is operable to retain the shaft bearing members 122 on the drive shaft 114 . additionally , a cylinder lock pin 124 , as noted in fig1 , extends through a hole in the cylindrical drive shaft 114 so as to maintain the inner support cylinder 116 in a predetermined axial location along the cylinder drive shaft 114 . the cylinder drive shaft 114 is removed from the pick - up cylinder assembly 64 so it can be removed for repair and maintenance . normally , the main repair and maintenance necessary would be the replacement of the foam sleeve member 120 which may be worn after a long period of usage . the ball container assembly 20 includes a main container support assembly 128 which is connected at a lower end portion to the main retriever housing 62 and at an upper portion to a container member 130 . the container support assembly 128 includes ( 1 ) a pair of spaced container support arm members 134 ; ( 2 ) a container support cross arm member 136 interconnected to the container support arm members 134 ; and ( 3 ) a connector assembly 138 to pivotally connect the support arm members 134 to the main retriever housing 62 . the container support cross arm member 136 is a support strap member 140 connected as by rivets , bolts , or the like to the support arm members 134 . the connector assembly 138 includes ( 1 ) container pivot pins 142 to allow pivotal movement of the container member 130 ; ( 2 ) retriever housing stop pins 144 operable to be engagable by the actuator handle assembly 22 for reasons to be explained ; and ( 3 ) a pair of pivot pins 145 are mounted within the respective basket support openings 98 in the side wall members 72 of the main retriever housing 62 to permit pivotal movement of the support arm members 134 . the container member 130 includes a bottom wall section 146 ; a front wall section 148 ; parallel opposed side wall sections 150 ; and an inclined rearwall section 152 . it is noted that the numerous wall sections are integral with each other so as to form a substantially rectangular box shape with an open top to receive the ball members 15 therein after retrieving ; holding in an elevated position ; and storage as will be explained . the actuator handle assembly 22 includes a u - shaped support yoke member 156 pivotally connected at a lower end thereof to the main retriever housing 62 ; and an actuator handle member 158 pivotally connected to the support yoke member 156 . the support yoke member 156 is provided with connector legs 160 integral with a top yoke section 162 . the connector legs 160 are secured to with connector elbows 163 at the lower end thereof which are pivotally mounted in the respective handle support openings 92 . the actuator handle member 158 includes ( 1 ) a main handle body 164 ; ( 2 ) a connector tee section 166 secured to a lower end of the main handle body 164 and pivotally connected to the top yoke section 162 ; ( 3 ) a handle grip section 168 ; and ( 4 ) a container support hook 169 thereon . the main handle body 164 is of a tubular construction including an outer curved portion 165 having the handle grip section 168 mounted thereon . the container tee section 166 is pivotally mounted on the top yoke section 162 but held in a locked position , as noted in fig8 by a lock pin assembly 170 . the lock pin assembly 170 includes a lock pin member 172 ; a retainer chain assembly 174 having one end connected to the lock pin member 172 and the other end secured to connector tee section 166 ; and a retainer clip member 175 engagable with the lock pin member 172 to prevent its unintentional axial movement within aligned holes through the connector tee section 166 and the top yoke section 162 . the lock pin member 172 locks the actuator handle assembly 22 in the extended condition of fig1 and 8 and in the folded condition as shown in dotted lines in fig3 . the container support hook 169 includes an l - shaped hook member 178 which is operable in the elevated ball holding position as noted in fig8 to support the front wall section 148 of the container member 130 . in the use and operation of the invention , we will note the condition of the portable ball retriever , holder , and carrier apparatus 12 in fig1 as being in the ball retriever condition . in this condition , the ball container assembly 20 is in a lowered position adjacent and rearwardly of the ball pick - up assembly 18 and vertically supported on the main support frame assembly 14 . the main actuator handle member 158 is rearwardly extended and inclined having the handle member 164 connected to the u - shaped support yoke member 156 by the lock pin assembly 170 . this is similar to the locked condition of the actuator handle assembly 22 as shown in fig8 which is in an elevated ball holder condition which will be explained . in the ball retriever condition of fig1 it is noted that the connector legs 160 of the support yoke member 156 are engagable with the retriever housing stop pins 144 . this allows for the operator of the invention to place a downward pressure on the handle grip section 168 which aids in the frictional contact of the wheel members 50 on the support surface 13 which provides the driving force for the ball pick - up assembly 18 . this is important as the initial contact of the ball members 15 as noted in fig4 will be between the outer foam cover member 120 and the support surface 13 . this is necessary to obtain the initial grasping of the ball members 15 on being moved within the arcuate bottom wall 70 of the main retriever housing 62 . as noted in fig4 in the ball retriever condition , the ball members 15 are moved inwardly as shown in dotted lines and moved upwardly by contact with the foam cover member 120 whereupon they are moved through a ball opening 149 in the front wall section 148 of the container member 130 . next , after the ball members 15 have been picked up and placed within the container member 130 , the operator may wish to place the container member in either ( 1 ) the transport or storage condition with the actuator handle assembly 22 in the folded condition ; or ( 2 ) in the elevated ball holder condition as noted in fig8 . on referring to fig8 in the elevated ball holder condition , it is seen that the container member 130 is movable upwardly from the main support frame assembly 14 . the container support arm members 134 are pivoted upwardly with the container member 130 maintained with the bottom wall section 146 in a horizontal plane to prevent spilling of the ball members 15 therefrom . concurrently , the actuator handle assembly 22 is pivoted to a forward position as noted in fig8 . in this position , the forward portion of the front wall section 148 of container member 130 is operable to engage the container support hook 169 so as to provide support . in this elevated ball holder condition of fig8 it is further noted that the support end strap member 140 of the container support assembly 128 is engagable with the horizontal wall section 76 of the arcuate top wall member 68 of the main retriever housing 62 . this , along with the use of the container support hook 169 , is operable to hold the entire container member 130 as shown in fig8 . in this condition , it is obvious that , for example , a tennis player can stand next to the portable ball retriever , holder , and carrier apparatus 12 in order to grasp and receive ball members 15 therefrom to practice volley or serving adjacent with the ball members 15 held in a convenient adjacent elevated position . additionally , the portable ball retriever , holder , and carrier apparatus 12 is movable into a collapsed or folded condition for ( 1 ) the ease of transport in the trunk of a vehicle ; or ( 2 ) storage purposes in a compact condition . on referring to fig3 portable ball retriever , holder , and carrier apparatus 12 is first moved from the ball retriever condition of fig1 by the removing the lock pin member 172 from the connector tee section 166 and moving the actuator handle assembly 22 to the folded condition as noted in dotted lines in fig3 . at this time , the container member 130 is supported on the main support frame assembly 14 . next , the lock pin member 172 is inserted within aligned holes in the connector tee section 166 and the top yoke section 162 to anchor the actuator handle assembly 22 in the condition as shown in dotted lines in fig3 . this allows for the easy grasping of the actuator handle member 158 and transfer of the entire portable ball retriever , holder , and carrier apparatus 12 . this folded condition is ideal for storage purposes or conveyance in the trunk of a vehicle requiring a minimum amount of space . it is seen that the portable ball retriever , holder , and carrier apparatus of this invention provides numerous functions such as ( 1 ) ball member retrieving ; ( 2 ) ball member elevated holding ; and ( 3 ) ball member storage and carrier . the portable ball retriever , holder , and carrier apparatus may be constructed of a lightweight , maintenance free , plastic material having a self powered drive assembly operable to grasp ball members on a support surface and move them inwardly and upwardly into a ball container assembly . it is seen that the portable ball retriever , holder , and carrier apparatus of this invention is illustrated as being used on tennis ball members normally in a tennis practice area . however , it is obvious that the size of this invention can be altered so as to be utilized to pick up various items such as handballs on a handball court ; golf balls on a putting green ; etc . it is noted that the portable ball retriever , holder , and carrier apparatus of this invention is lightweight ; sturdy in construction ; easy to operate ; provides a self contained power drive means to perform the ball pick - up functions ; and substantially maintenance free . while the invention has been described in conjunction with preferred specific embodiments thereof , it is to be understood that this description is intended to illustrate and not to limit the scope of the invention , which is defined by the following claims . | 0 |
the refractory metals within the contemplation of the present invention are sometimes called &# 34 ; reactive &# 34 ; metals because they are highly reactive with oxygen , typically have high melting points and require substantial energy to reduce their ores . refractory metals suitable for treatment by the inventive process include titanium , zirconium , hafnium , thorium , vanadium . niobium , tantalum , chromium , molybdenum , tungsten , alloys thereof , and mixtures thereof . preferred refractory metals are the group iva metals titanium , zirconium and hafnium and the group va metals vanadium , tananium and niobium . of these , titanium , niobium , zirconium and vanadium are more preferred , with titanium and zirconium being even more preferred . because of its commercial significance , titanium is most preferred . as suggested above , the term refractory metal should be read to include mixtures of one or more metals , mixtures of one or more alloys containing the recited metals and mixtures of one or more metals with one or more alloys . the process is directed to the deoxidation of metals which contain oxygen in relatively small amounts as surface or interstitial impurities . preferably , the refractory metal contains up to about one weight percent oxygen , more preferably , less than about 0 . 5 percent . as stated above , the process is effective for alloys of refractory metals , although it should be noted that alloys containing oxygen - scavenging elements such as yttrium , erbium , or rare earths cannot be effectively deoxidized . the refractory metal can be processed in the process of the present invention in the form of sheet , foil , turnings , chips , chunks , powders and the like . in general , it is preferred that the refractory metal be provided in a thickness of less than about 0 . 1875 inch . more preferably , the thickness of the refractory metal is no more than about 0 . 125 inch . if scrap metal is used it should be cleaned , as necessary , with detergents , organic solvents or by mechanical means , such as centrifugation , to remove oil and grease . undesired metal contaminants such as drill bits can be physically or magnetically removed . the material should also be dried , if necessary , to remove moisture . the process is particularly desirable for use on metal powders because powders retain their size and surface characteristics following deoxidation . pure or alloyed metal powder , plasma rotating electrode powder ( prep ), rapidly solidified powder ( rsp ), sponge fines , hydride - dehydride powder and gas atomized powder can be treated with the inventive process . the process involves contacting the oxidized refractory metal with a metallic deoxidant . the metallic deoxidant is a metal that readily forms oxide at the temperature of this process but does not form alloys with the refractory metal . refractory metals meeting these criteria include calcium , barium and strontium . these metals are preferred for use as the refractory metal . of these , calcium is particularly preferred because it is readily and economically available compared to barium and strontium . it , furthermore , is characterized by a melting and a boiling temperature particularly attractive to the desired thermodynamic conditions of the present process . although it is emphasized that any concentration of metallic deoxidant is operable , it is preferred to introduce the metallic deoxidant in a concentration which although providing a large molar excess compared to the concentration of oxygen in the refractory metal , is not present in too great an excess so as to present refractory metal - metallic deoxidant separation problems . to this end , it is preferred that the metallic deoxidant be present in an amount such that it represents between about 1 % and about 3 % by weight , based on the weight of the refractory metal . the metallic deoxidant , preferably calcium , barium or strontium , and most preferably , calcium , may be used in the process of this invention as the pure metal . in the preferred embodiment wherein the metallic deoxidant is a pure metal , it may be provided as shot , turnings , chunks , ingot or liquid . of these forms , calcium shot , a form of pure calcium metal known as those skilled in the art , is particularly preferred . in another preferred embodiment the metallic deoxidant is provided in as a metallic mixture . in this embodiment the metallic deoxidant is mixed with a carrier metal . the carrier can be any metal that does not form alloys with the oxidized metal and is removable from the system by distillation , leaching or other means . the carrier must also have a lower melting point than the metallic deoxidant . preferably , the boiling point of the carrier is above the melting point but below the boiling point of the deoxidant . these thermodynamic conditions allow good dispersion of the molten deoxidant over the refractory metal and also permits selective removal of the carrier by distillation . alkali metals , alkaline earth metals , and zinc are preferred for use as the carrier metal . within these generic classes lithium , potassium , sodium , magnesium and zinc are preferred . of these , sodium and magnesium are more preferred , with sodium being particularly preferred . the metallic deoxidant and the metal carrier can be combined and then heated or the deoxidant can be added to the molten carrier . in a preferred embodiment , existing mixtures of calcium and sodium produced as a by - product of sodium metal manufacturing are conveniently used . these mixtures , known as &# 34 ; sodium sludges ,&# 34 ; are the metallic residues produced during the electrolysis of sodium and calcium fused salts followed by filtration of the liquid sodium metal . such sludges may contain from 65 to 95 percent sodium , 5 to 35 percent calcium , and varying quantities of oxides or chloride salts of either sodium or calcium . the sludge melts between about 110 ° c . and about 200 ° c . depending upon their particular composition . if natural sodium sludge is not available a mixture of calcium and sodium may be used , with calcium representing about 1 to about 35 weight percent , preferably about 1 to about 10 weight percent , based on the total weight of the mixture . in a third preferred embodiment , the metallic deoxidant may be a mixture of pure metal , in one of the forms mentioned above , and a mixture of a metallic deoxidant with a carrier metal . for example , the metallic deoxidant may , in the preferred embodiment wherein calcium is employed , be a blend of calcium shot with sodium sludge . the refractory metal containing oxygen is preferably placed in a dry crucible made of inert metal that does not react or alloy with the refractory metal , for example titanium , titanium alloy , hastelloy metal , stainless steel or steel , and then mixed with the metallic deoxidant . to avoid moisture or other sources or oxygen contamination , the mixing can be conducted in dry air , for example , air maintained at a dew point of minus 10 ° c ., or more preferably , in an atmosphere of an inert gas . the crucible is placed in a dry retort which is sealed , evacuated and pressurized with any inert gas that does not react with any of the metals at the process temperature . nitrogen should not be used with certain metals such as titanium because it embrittles the metal . argon is preferred . the retort can be connected to a condenser system suitable for the collection and the condensation of vapor of the carrier metal if a mixture is utilized . thermocouples and pressure measuring equipment can optionally be connected to the system . if desired , the furnace retort can itself be used as a crucible to contain the refractory metal and the metallic deoxidant . the method of contact of the refractory metal with the metallic deoxidant depends , of course , upon the embodiment employed to contact the components . that is , it depends upon which preferred form of refractory metal and metallic deoxidant contact each other . for instance , if the refractory metal is in sheet form jigs , fabricated from suitable materials , can be used to support the sheet in the retort or other heating means . if foil is used , it can be suspended from hangers in the retort . if the refractory metal is in the form of sheets or foil and if the metallic deoxidant is present as a pure metal , the pure metal deoxidant can be disposed beneath the suspended sheet or foil in inert metal boats . when forms of refractory metal scrap are utilized , they can be mixed with either preferred form of the metallic deoxidant , the pure metal , a metal mixture or a mixture of the pure metal and the metal mixture , by charging alternate layers of refractory metal and metallic deoxidant to the heating means , usually a retort . the retort or other heating means is heated to the reaction temperature , which can be in the range of between about 700 ° c . and about 1200 ° c ., and held for a period of about one to about twelve hours . the retort can be maintained at any convenient pressure from substantially full vacuum to about 20 pounds per square inch gauge ( psig ). in a preferred mode of operation , the retort is held at a temperature of about 800 ° c . to about 1000 ° c . under a pressure of about 2 to about 10 psig for about 2 to about 12 hours . more preferably , the contact occurs at a temperature of between about 900 ° c . and about 1000 ° c . and a pressure of between atmospheric pressure and about 10 psig . still more preferably , the pressure is in the range of between about 0 . 25 psig and about 2 psig . in regard to the pressure in the retort , although a vacuum has advantages , it is critical to prevent oxygen from entering the system . thus , operation at a positive pressure is preferred . if atmospheric pressure is utilized continuous flow of an acceptable inert gas is preferred . at the end of the heating period , the retort is cooled under an inert gas atmosphere to approximately ambient temperature . the retort is isolated from the condenser , opened to the atmosphere , and unloaded . the treated metal , especially if originally powdered , is often sintered into a large mass . this mass can be crushed , if desired , to regain its original size distribution and shape characteristics . standard crushing and materials handling equipment can be used to resize the metal . roll or jaw crushers may be used , preferably under an inert gas blanket , to avoid reoxidation of the metal . the deoxidized refractory metal is then leached with a dilute mineral or organic acid to remove residual metallic deoxidant , if present , metal carrier , oxides of the deoxidant and soluble metal compounds from the surface of the treated refractory metal . any suitable mineral or organic acid may be used to remove these contaminants , provided no insoluble precipitates are formed by reaction with the metallic deoxidant . in a preferred embodiment of the process , about one - half ( 0 . 5 ) to about three ( 3 %) percent muriatic ( hydrochloric ) acid is used to remove the oxide surface layers and any free deoxidant metal from the treated metal . other preferred acids that may be used include acetic acid and nitric acids . sulfuric acid , it is noted , is not recommended for use in this application . metal or organic salts may be also added to the leach solution to minimize hydrogen pickup during the leaching step . any suitable leaching equipment can be used to accomplish this stage of the process . batch stirred tanks , flow - through static bed equipment and rotary leaching equipment are all suitable for use in this step of the process . the leached refractory metal is preferably next washed with water until all acid is removed . the metal is next dried in either a batch or continuous dryer . it is preferable to use vacuum drying equipment to complete this stage of the process . the dry , treated metal is sampled and analyzed for oxygen using conventional methodology . it has been found that the process of this invention reduces the oxygen level to between about 10 % to about 90 %, usually about 20 % to about 80 % of the original oxygen content . the following examples are given to illustrate the scope of the present invention . because these examples are provided for illustrative purposes only , the invention should not be limited thereto . treatment of titanium scrap metal using a mixture of calcium and sodium pure titanium scrap turnings were washed with acetone to remove surface oil and dirt . the cleaned titanium turnings , weighing 55 grams , were mixed with 10 grams of sodium sludge cut into one - eighth inch cubes and placed into a 150 milliliter titanium beaker . the sodium sludge was obtained from a commercial sodium metal production plant and contained approximately 23 % calcium . all mixing and sludge handling was done in a dry box under a dry , argon atmosphere . the beaker was sealed with a loose fitting lid and placed into a hastelloy metal retort . the retort was sealed and placed in a crucible furnace . the retort was evacuated and flushed with high purity argon three times prior to heating . when the temperature in the retort reached 500 ° c ., the argon vent was closed . the temperature was raised to 840 ° c . and held for two hours . the retort temperature was then raised to 940 ° c . and held for another two hours . pressure in the retort was maintained at 10 psig during the heating cycle . the retort was then cooled to room temperature and opened . the titanium turnings were removed from the retort and crushed . the treated turnings were leached in three volumes of 0 . 5 % hydrochloric acid solution in a pyrex beaker with vigorous stirring , then washed three times with deionized water . the acid - free scrap was placed in a vacuum drying oven and dried overnight at a temperature of 110 ° c . and a vacuum of 23 inches hg . the turnings were melted into a button and analyzed for oxygen . the oxygen content of the scrap was found to have been decreased from an initial value of 0 . 197 % to a final concentration of 0 . 052 %, a reduction of 79 %. treatment of a 6 - 4 titanium alloy with a mixture of calcium and sodium turnings from a 6 - 4 titanium alloy , a titanium alloy containing 6 % aluminum and 4 % vanadium , were mixed with 10 grams of sludge in a weight ratio of 5 . 5 to 1 . the sludge contained 23 % calcium . the mixture was stirred and heated in the same manner as described in example 1 . the retention times at 840 ° c . and 940 ° c . were increased to three hours each . analysis of the purified turnings indicated that the oxygen level had decreased from a starting value of 0 . 255 % to a final value of 0 . 031 %, a decrease of 88 percent . treatment of 6 - 4 titanium alloy with calcium metal and a mixture of calcium and sodium a 55 gram sample of the 6 % aluminum , 4 % vanadium ( 6 - 4 ) titanium alloy turnings used in example 2 was heated with 10 grams of a sodium sludge containing 20 to 23 % calcium . one ( 1 ) gram of pure calcium shot was added to this mixture . the reaction retort was heated to 840 ° c . and then 940 ° c . for two hours at each temperature as described in example 1 . the final oxygen level of the treated turnings was found to be 0 . 027 %, a decrease of 89 %. treatment of 6224 titanium alloy with a mixture of calcium and sodium a 60 gram sample of 6224 titanium alloy , a titanium alloy containing 6 % aluminum , 2 % molybdenum , 2 % tin and 4 % zirconium , was treated with 5 grams of sodium sludge similar to that used in examples 1 to 3 . the internal temperature of the retort was maintained at 830 ° c . and then 950 ° c . for one hour at each temperature under a pressure of 2 psig and 10 psig respectively . the temperature was maintained at 950 ° c . for one additional hour with a small argon flow through the system at a retort pressure of 2 psig . the analysis of the treated sample showed that an original oxygen content of 0 . 325 % had been lowered to 0 . 023 %, a decrease of 93 %. a 69 gram sample of a titanium alloy powder passing through a 30 mesh screen , an alloy containing 6 % aluminum , 6 % vanadium , and 2 % tin , produced by the plasma rotating electrode process ( prep ) was mixed with 2 . 5 grams of sodium sludge containing 20 to 25 % calcium in a dry box in which an argon atmosphere was maintained . the sludge was precut into 1 / 8 inch cubes and blended with the powder in a 150 ml . titanium beaker . the beaker was covered with a loose fitting lid and transferred to a high temperature alloy furnace retort . the retort was evacuated and refilled with high purity argon three times prior to heating . the temperature of the retort was increased gradually to 500 ° c . and the argon vent was closed . the temperature was again increased to a temperature of 845 ° c . and was held constant for one hour at a retort pressure of 10 psig . the temperature was then raised to 880 ° c . and was maintained for two hours at a retort pressure of 2 psig . during the last hour of heating , argon gas was allowed to vent from the retort at a nominal rate . the furnace was turned off and the retort was cooled to room temperature . the retort was opened and the reaction products were removed from the titanium beaker . the mass was crushed using a laboratory mortar and pestle to a size which would pass through a 40 mesh screen . the crushed powder was leached with three volumes of dilute ( 0 . 5 %) hydrochloric acid and washed with three volumes of deionized water . acid leaching and washing was conducted with vigorous stirring . the wet powder was dried in a vacuum oven at 110 ° c . and a vacuum of 23 inches hg until thoroughly dry . the treated powder was sampled and analyzed for residual oxygen content . analysis showed that the residual oxygen content of the powder had been decreased 68 % from a starting value of 0 . 174 % to 0 . 055 % as a result of the deoxidation treatment . treatment of a mixture of titanium metal and titanium aluminide powder with a mixture of calcium and sodium a 100 gram sample of titanium alpha 2 aluminide powder passing through a 30 mesh but not an 80 mesh screen was mixed with 10 grams of sodium sludge . the sludge , containing between 20 and 25 % calcium , was melted at 150 ° c . prior to being mixed with the aluminide powder in a dry box containing a pure argon atmosphere . thirty grams of chemically pure titanium metal granules about one - eighth cubic inch in size were added to the mixture of sludge and powder . an additional 15 grams of the same titanium granules were spread evenly over the bottom of a 150 ml . titanium beaker prior to addition of the powder , sludge and pure titanium granules mixture . the titanium granules were added to make the resultant powder mass more porous and easier to remove from the titanium beaker as well as making the products easier to crush . the beaker was sealed with a loose fitting lid and transferred into an alloy retort in an electrically heated crucible furnace . the retort was sealed , then evacuated and refilled with pure argon three times . the retort was then heated to a temperature of 500 ° c . at which time the argon vent was closed . the temperature was gradually increased to 830 ° c . and held constant for one hour at a retort pressure of 2 psig . the retort temperature was then raised to 930 ° c . and the pressure was allowed to rise to 10 psig . these conditions were held for one hour . the pressure of the retort was then lowered to 2 psig and held for another two hours at 930 ° c . argon was allowed to vent from the retort at a low rate during this period . after four hours , the furnace and retort were allowed to cool to room temperature . the retort was then opened and the contents of the titanium beaker were removed and crushed to pass though a 40 mesh screen . during the crushing operation , the larger , pure titanium granules were sieved from the powder . the crushed powder was then thoroughly leached in a 0 . 5 % solution of muriatic acid following the same procedures detailed in example 1 . the leached powder was vacuum dried overnight at a pressure of 23 inches hg . analysis of the dried power showed that the residual oxygen content had been reduced 76 % from a starting value of 0 . 1754 % to a final level of 0 . 0412 %. treatment of niobium hydride powder with a mixture of calcium and sodium a 113 g . sample of niobium hydride - dehydride metal powder passing through a 140 mesh but not a 325 mesh screen containing 0 . 069 % oxygen was treated in a manner similar to example 5 . about 9 . 4 g . sodium sludge ( containing about 30 % calcium ) was used , with heating at 845 ° c . for one hour at 3 psig , then at 950 ° for four hours at the same pressure . the sample was cooled , then crushed and leached with 2 % hydrochloric acid . residual oxygen was determined to be 0 . 032 %, a decrease of 53 % from the oxygen concentration originally present . a prep powder of niobium 55 - titanium 45 alloy was deoxidized with a sodium sludge containing 23 % calcium . specifically , the 30 g . sample was treated with 2 . 5 g . sludge at 845 ° c . for one hour , 950 ° c . for three hours , and finally 845 ° c . for an additional hour , all at 2 psig . oxygen decreased 66 % from an initial concentration of 0 . 056 % to a final concentration of 0 . 019 %. about 30g of zirconium metal turnings were treated in accordance with the procedure of example 1 . three grams of sodium sludge containing 30 % calcium was heated with the zirconium at 830 ° c . for one hour then at 930 ° c . for four hours , all at one psig . following treatment , the oxygen had decreased to 0 . 039 % from 0 . 19 %, a decrease of about 79 %. ten pounds of dry , chopped 6 % aluminum 4 % vanadium ( 6 - 4 ) titanium alloy turnings with an initial oxygen content of 0 . 2040 % were mixed with 0 . 55 pounds of calcium shot . these turnings had previously been cleaned by washing with a detergent solution and hot water and vacuum dried . this mixture was placed in a stainless steel retort which was then evacuated and filled with argon gas . this evacuation procedure was repeated three ( 3 ) times . the retort was then heated to a temperature of 920 ° c . and held for a period of six ( 6 ) hours . a pressure of approximately 0 . 5 psig was maintained in the retort during heat treatment . at the end of the heating period the furnace was switched off and the retort was allowed to cool to room temperature . the sintered mass of alloy scrap was removed from the furnace and crushed in a jaw crusher . the treated scrap turnings were then leached in a plastic lined concrete mixer using one - half percent hydrochloric acid as a leach solution . after leaching , excess acid was drained from the mixer and the turnings were washed with tap water until acid free . the turnings were then dried under vacuum at about 100 ° c . the deoxidized turnings had an oxygen content of 0 . 058 % after treatment , a decrease of 71 . 5 % from the original oxygen content . twenty - five pounds of a 6 % aluminum , 2 % molybdenum , 2 % tin , 4 % zirconium ( 6224 ) titanium alloy chips and one ( 1 ) pound of calcium shot were added to a stainless steel retort in layers . the retort was sealed , evacuated with a mechanical vacuum pump and refilled with argon gas . this procedure was repeated three times . the retort was heated to a temperature of 920 ° c . for a period of seven ( 7 ) hours and cooled to room temperature . both heating and cooling steps were conducted under a 0 . 5 psig argon pressure . the scrap was removed from the retort and crushed and leached in accordance with the procedure of example 10 . the oxygen content of these alloy chips was reduced from an initial level of 0 . 2255 % to 0 . 061 %, a decrease of 72 %. fifty pounds of the 6224 titanium alloy used in example 11 and one ( 1 ) pound of calcium shot were layered in a retort and treated for seven ( 7 ) hours under the conditions described in examples 10 and 11 . the retort was cooled to ambient temperature under an argon pressure of 0 . 5 psig . the product from the retort was crushed and leached in accordance with the procedure of example 10 . the oxygen content of the resultant titanium alloy was reduced from an initial level of 0 . 220 % to a final oxygen concentration of 0 . 061 %, a decrease of 72 %. a one and one half by seven inch sample of titanium alpha - 2 aluminide ( ti - 14al - 21nb ) foil , 0 . 004 inches thick was loaded into a retort with 0 . 6 grams of calcium shot . the retort was evacuated , filled with argon gas and heated for 6 . 5 hours as in the example 10 . after cooling , the foil sample was leached with 0 . 5 % hydrochloric acid and washed with tap water . the oxygen content was reduced from an initial value of 0 . 44 % to a level of 0 . 21 % oxygen , a reduction of 52 . 3 % in the oxygen content . a sample of pure titanium foil , three inches long by one quarter inch wide by 0 . 001 thick , was treated with 5 grams of calcium for 4 hours at 960 ° c . processing procedures were the same as those used in example 13 . after acid cleaning , rinsing and drying , the oxygen level was reduced from 0 . 241 % to 0 . 093 % in the deoxidized foil sample . this is equivalent to a reduction of 61 . 4 % in the oxygen content of the sample . a one inch long by one half inch wide by 0 . 065 inch thick sample of titanium 6 % aluminum , 4 % vanadium ( 6 - 4 ) alloy was deoxidized for 4 hours at a temperature of 950 ° c . using 5 grams of calcium . a sample was cut from the deoxidized coupon and analyzed for oxygen . the sample was then treated for an additional 4 hours at a temperature of 960 ° c . the coupon was again sampled and was subjected to a final four hour treatment . the sample had an initial oxygen content of 0 . 143 %. after the first deoxidation treatment , the oxygen level decreased to 0 . 085 %. after the second deoxidation step the oxygen was reduced to 0 . 06 %. the oxygen dropped to 0 . 0395 % after completion of the total 12 hour treatment . this represents an oxygen decrease of 72 %. a 3 . 5 inch by 0 . 155 inch by 0 . 020 inch thick sheet sample of titanium alpha - 2 aluminide ( ti - 14al - 21nb ) was mixed with 3 grams of calcium and deoxidized at 960 ° c . for 12 hours . after acid cleaning and rinsing , the dry sheet sample which had an initial oxygen content of 0 . 065 % was found to contain 0 . 015 % oxygen . oxygen removal in this sample amounted to 77 percent . the above embodiments and examples are provided to illustrate the scope and spirit of the present invention . these embodiments and examples will make apparent , to those skilled in the art , other embodiments and examples . these other embodiments and examples are within the contemplation of the present invention . therefore , the present invention should be limited only by the appended claims . | 2 |
hereinafter , an embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings . [ 0045 ] fig1 schematically shows the configuration of an electronic endoscope system 1 according to an embodiment of the invention . the electronic endoscope system 1 includes an electronic endoscope 100 , and a processor 200 for processing signals from the electronic endoscope 100 . the electronic endoscope 100 includes an flexible inserting tube 110 to be inserted into a human body and an operation portion 120 connected to the proximal end of the inserting tube 110 . the electronic endoscope 100 further includes a connector 130 which is detachably connected to the processor 200 . a solid state imaging device such as a ccd 104 and an objective optical system 101 for forming an optical image on a light receiving surface of the ccd 104 are provided to the distal end portion of the inserting tube 110 . further , one or more operation buttons 107 are provided to the operation portion 120 for controlling the operation of the processor 200 . further , a memory such as an eeprom 102 is provided to the electronic endoscope 100 for storing data related to the endoscope 100 , in particular , data intrinsic to each endoscope . in the present embodiment , the eeprom 102 is located in the connector 130 . the processor 200 includes a cpu 201 which is connected to the operation buttons 107 and the eeprom 102 via an signal cable 108 of the endoscope 100 . the cpu 201 controls the operation of the processor 200 in accordance with the signals from the operation buttons 107 . the cpu 201 also accesses to the eeprom 102 to retrieve data stored therein . the cpu 201 is further connected to an input unit , such as a keyboard 400 , via an interface 212 , to control the operation of the processor 200 in accordance with the commands inputted through the keyboard 400 . an operation panel 207 is provided to the processor 200 . a plurality of operation buttons ( not shown ) are arranged on the operation panel 207 at the portion exposed to outside of the case of the processor 200 . such that an operator of the endoscope system 1 can press each button . each button outputs a signal to the cpu 201 , as being pressed , to control the operation of the processor 200 . the processor includes a light source 203 optically connected to the end of a light guide 103 that is arranged throughout the electronic endoscope 100 from the connector 130 to the tip end of the inserting tube 110 . the light emitted from the light source 203 is transmitted through the light guide 103 to illuminate the area in front of the tip end of the inserting tube 110 . an diaphragm 210 is provided on the light path of the light emitted from the light source 203 to restrict the amount of light introduced into the light guide 103 . an diaphragm controller 211 controls the opening size of the diaphragm 210 , or the amount of light introduced into the light guide 103 , in accordance with signals from the cpu 201 . the operator can freely control the opening size of the diaphragm 210 by operating the keyboard 400 or the operation panel 207 . first and second signal processors 204 and 205 are provided to the processor 200 to display images captured by the ccd 104 on a monitor 300 . the first signal processor 204 receives the signal from the ccd 104 via a ccd signal cable 109 and transforms it into rgb digital image data represented in 256 levels of gray scale . the first signal processor 204 outputs the digital image data to the second signal processor 205 which generates video signal , such as ntsc , from the digital image data . the second signal processor 205 also adjusts the white balance of the video signal based on calibration data wr ( r ) and wr ( b ) received from the cpu 201 as will be described later . the second signal processor 205 outputs the video signal to the monitor 300 so that the monitor 300 displays the image captured by the ccd 104 . note that the output device to which the second signal processor 205 may be connected is not limited to the monitor 300 , however , the second signal processor 205 may also be connected to other kinds of output devices such as video printer , for example . a crt controller 206 is provided to the processor to superimpose text information on the image displayed on the monitor 300 . the crt controller 206 generates video signals representing the text information , the patient information and so on , requested by the cpu 201 and output the video signals to the monitor 300 in synchronization with the video signal from the second signal processor 205 . in this way , the processor 200 superimposes arbitrary text information obtained from the cpu 201 on the image captured by the ccd 104 . the text information may include information obtained from the eeprom 102 . the processor 200 is also provided with a real time clock ( rtc ) 209 and a memory 208 . the rtc 209 provides information on current date & amp ; time to the cpu 201 . the memory 208 is adapted to include one or more databases of data related to endoscopes , as will be described later . [ 0060 ] fig2 shows an exemplary format of the data in the eeprom 102 , and fig3 shows an example of the content of the data stored in the eeprom 102 . in the present embodiment , the storage capacity of the eeprom 102 is 16 bytes . the following information are stored in the eeprom 102 in the following order . 1 ) “ serial no .” ( three bytes ): the serial number of the electronic endoscope 100 which is unique for each endoscope . the “ serial no .” may be set to one of values from 1 through 16777215 ( 0 × 1 through 0 × ffffff hexadecimal digit ). 2 ) “ scope name ” ( six bytes ): six alphanumeric characters representing the type of the electronic endoscope 100 . 3 ) “ wb ( r )” ( one byte ) a calibration value of the red color brightness for adjusting white balance of the image captured by the ccd 104 . 4 ) “ wb ( b )” ( one byte ): a calibration value of the blue color brightness for adjusting white balance of the image captured by the ccd 104 . both “ wb ( r )” and “ wb ( b )” can take a value between − 128 and 127 . as shown in fig3 “ wb ( r )” and “ wb ( b )” are respectively set to − 4 and 10 ( 0 × 7c and 0 × 8a in hexadecimal digit ) in the present embodiment . this indicates that the brightness of red color should be decreased by four levels in gray scale , while the brightness of blue should be increased by ten levels . 5 ) “ ownership ” ( one byte ): a variable representing whether the endoscope is purchased or leased . “ ownership ”= 0 , 1 and 2 ( 0 × 0 , 0 × 1 , and 0 × 2 in hexadecimal digit ) respectively represents the endoscope is purchased , leased for a long term ( a term not less than 30 days , for example ), and leased for a short term ( term less than 30 days , for example ). 6 ) “ spec ” ( one byte ): a variable representing the specification of the electronic endoscope 100 . if the electronic endoscope 100 is a standard type , then “ speck ” is set to 0 . if the electronic endoscope is a custom made endoscope , then “ spec ” is set to a value corresponding to the particular specification . in the present embodiment , “ spec ” is set to 1 which indicates the optical system 101 includes a lens applied with special coatings . 7 ) “ expiration ” ( three bytes ): the expiration date of the lease of the electronic endoscope 100 . the first one byte of “ expiration ” indicates the year , the next one the month , and the last one the day . in the example shown in fig3 value 040331 is assigned to “ expiration ” which indicates the expiration of the lease is mar . 31 , 2004 . if the electronic endoscope 100 is a purchased one , then 000000 is assigned to “ expiration ”. among the items recited above , the “ serial no .”, “ scope name ”, “ ownership ”, and “ expiration ” are examples of information for managing endoscopes , while “ wb ( r )”, “ wb ( b )”, and “ spec ” are examples of information representing the characteristics of endoscopes . the data of eeprom 102 are copied to the memory 208 of the processor 200 as the electronic endoscope 100 is connected to the processor 200 for the first time to register the endoscope to one of the database . [ 0071 ] fig4 shows an exemplary structure of the database established in the memory 208 of the processor 200 . the memory 208 - is operated by the cpu 201 such that it includes at least two data aggregates each of which being defined to correspond to a specific condition of the endoscopes . in the present embodiment , two data files of csv format , for example , are established in the memory 208 as two data aggregates . one of the data file , “ file - 0 ”, is defined to register data related to purchased endoscopes , or endoscopes of which “ ownership ” is set to 0 , while the other data file , “ file - 1 ”, is defined to register data related to leased endoscope , or endoscopes of which “ ownership ” is set to 1 or 2 . it should be noted , however , that the memory 208 may also include three data files , and utilize the first one for registering data related to purchased endoscopes , the second one for registering data related to endoscopes leased for long term (“ ownership ”= 1 ), and the third one for registering data related to endoscopes leased for short term (“ ownership ”= 2 ). each data file includes 39 records and each record is defined for storing data related to one specific endoscope . thus , data of 39 endoscopes can be stored in each of the data files . “ register no .” is utilized for identifying the record . in the present embodiment , a serial number from 1 to 39 is assigned to the records . “ scope name ”, “ serial no .”, “ wb ( r )” and “ wb ( b )”, “ ownership ”, “ spec ”, and “ expiration ”, are items same as that in the eeprom 102 . “ registered date & amp ; time ” is the date and time when the electronic endoscope 100 is connected to the processor 200 for the first time . “ registered date & amp ; time ” includes six figures date information and four figures time information . if “ registered date ” is set to “ 001015 . 1424 ”, for example , then it represents oct . 15 , 2000 , 2 : 24 p . m . “ used date & amp ; time ” is the date and time when the electronic endoscope 100 was connected to the processor 200 , or used , for the last time . the format of “ used date & amp ; time ” is same as that of “ registered date & amp ; time ” “ count ” is the number of times the electronic endoscope 100 is connected to the processor 200 , or used . this variable may be used as an indication of the frequency in use of the endoscope . [ 0091 ] fig5 is a flow chart showing the main routine related to the operation of the processor 200 according to first embodiment of the invention . at first , the cpu 201 of the processor 200 initializes a variable “ current_scope ” to 0 ( s 100 ). the variable “ current 13 scope ” is for storing the “ register no .” of the record in which the data of the endoscope currently connected to the processor 200 are stored . if 0 is assigned to “ current_scope ”, it represents that no endoscope is currently connected to the processor 200 . after the initialization of “ current_scope ”, the cpu 201 waits until the electronic endoscope 100 is connected to the processor 200 if there isn &# 39 ; t any ( s 102 ). if the electronic endoscope 100 is connected to the processor 200 ( s 102 : yes ), the cpu 201 accesses to the eeprom 102 of the electronic endoscope 100 and obtains the data stored therein ( s 104 ). next , the first and second signal processors transform the output signal from the ccd 104 into video signal to display the image captured by the ccd ( s 106 ). then , the cpu 201 displays the “ scope name ” of the currently connected electronic endoscope 100 on the monitor 300 ( s 108 ). further , the cpu 201 opens one of the data files in the memory 208 ( s 11 o ), and then stores the data obtained from the eeprom 102 therein ( s 112 ). next , the white balance of the image captured by the ccd 104 of the electronic endoscope 100 is adjusted using the calibration value (“ wb ( r )”, “ wb ( b )”) obtained form the eeprom 102 ( s 114 ). that is , the cpu 201 sends the calibration value of “ wb ( r )” and “ wb ( b )” to the second signal processor 205 so that the second signal processor 205 adjusts the color balance of the image signals generated there . after s 114 , the processor watches whether the endoscope 100 is still connected , and as long as the electronic endoscope 100 is still connected to the processor 200 ( s 116 : yes ), the processor 200 displays the current date and time on the monitor 300 ( s 118 ), and also performs various kinds of adjustments in accordance with manual operation by the operator ( s 120 ). if the electronic endoscope 100 is disconnected from the processor 200 , the cpu 201 closes the file opened in s 110 ( s 122 ). after s 122 , the operation of the processor 200 goes back to s 100 . [ 0099 ] fig6 is a flow chart showing a subroutine display scope name called in s 108 of the main routine shown in fig5 . in scope name displaying routine , the cpu 201 first decides whether the currently connected endoscope is a purchased one or a leased one . this is done by checking the value of “ ownership ” obtained from the eeprom 102 ( s 152 ). if “ ownership ” indicates the endoscope is purchased , i . e ., “ ownership ”= 0 , then cpu 201 sends the alphanumeric characters of the “ scope name ” obtained from the eeprom 102 to the crt controller 206 to superimpose the type of the electronic endoscope 100 on the image captured by the ccd 102 and displayed on the monitor 205 ( s 154 ). if “ ownership ” indicates the endoscope is leased , i . e ., “ ownership ”= 1 or 2 , then the cpu 201 sends the characters indicated by “ scope name ” together with characters “ leased ” to the crt controller to superimpose those characters on the image displayed on the monitor 300 ( s 156 ). after the execution of s 154 or s 156 , the operation of the processor 200 returns to the main flow shown in fig5 . [ 0103 ] fig7 is a flow chart showing a subroutine file open called in s 110 of the main routine shown in fig5 . in this routine , the cpu 201 selects the data file , or database , for storing the data of the electronic endoscope 100 in accordance with the ownership of the electronic endoscope 100 . that is , the cpu 201 checks the state of “ ownership ” obtained from the eeprom 102 ( s 172 ). if “ ownership ” is 0 , indicating the endoscope is purchased , then the cpu 201 select the data file “ file - 0 ” by substituting the file name into a character string “ file name ” ( s 174 ). if “ ownership ” is 1 or 2 , indicating the endoscope is leased , then the cpu 201 selects the data file “ file - 1 ” ( s 176 ). after the selection of the data file , the cpu 201 accesses the memory 208 and opens the data file specified by “ file name ”. it should be noted that the data file to be opened may also be determined based on information of “ scope name ”, “ spec ” and / or “ expirations ” of the endoscopes . further , the data file to be opened may be determined based on information manually inputted through input units such as the keyboard 400 , instead of the data obtained from the eeprom 102 . [ 0106 ] fig8 is a flow chart showing a subroutine endoscope registration called in s 112 of the main routine of fig5 . in this routine , the cpu 201 decides whether or not the data related to the currently connected endoscope is already registered with the memory 208 ( s 202 ). this is achieved by searching within the data file opened in s 110 for a record including data that matches the “ scope name ” and “ serial no .” obtained from the eeprom 102 . if there is a record including the above mentioned data ( s 202 : yes ), it means the data of the electronic endoscope 100 currently connected is already registered with the memory 208 . in this case , the “ register no .” of the record found is set to “ current_scope ” ( s 204 ) and the operation of the processor 200 proceeds to s 220 which will be described latter . if a record including the above mentioned data is not found , it means the electronic endoscope 100 is not yet registered ( s 202 : no ). in this case , the cpu 201 checks whether there is still any available memory space , or open records , in which the data except for the “ register no .” are empty , within the data file to register the data obtain from the eeprom 102 ( s 206 ). in the case where there is still an open record ( s 206 : yes ), the “ register no .” of the open record is set to “ current scope ” ( s 208 ). if there are more than one open records , the smallest “ register no .” is preferably selected and set to the “ current scope ”. after execution of s 208 , the operation of the processor 200 proceeds to s 216 which will be described later . in the case where no open record is found ( s 206 : no ), then the “ register no .” of the record including the oldest “ registered date & amp ; time ” is specified ( s 210 ), and the data of the record identified by the specified “ register no .” is deleted , except for the “ register no ”, to free up the record ( s 212 ). further , the specified “ register no .” is set to “ current_scope ” ( s 214 ). after the execution of s 208 or s 214 , the cpu 201 stores the data obtained from eeprom 102 , or the data of currently connected electronic endoscope 100 , into the record identified by the register number in “ current_scope ” ( s 216 ). specifically , the cpu 201 stores “ serial no .”, “ scope name ”, “ wb ( r )”, “ wb ( b )”, “ ownership ”, “ spec ”, and “ expiration ” obtained from the eeprom 102 into the record . in this manner , the data of the new endoscope is automatically registered with the database . next , the cpu 201 obtains the current date and time information from the rtc 209 and stores it in “ registered date & amp ; time ” of the record specified by “ register no .” ( s 218 ). this is to make a record of the date and time of registration of the new electronic endoscope 100 , after the execution of s 218 or s 204 , “ used date & amp ; time ” and “ count ” of the record specified by “ current scope ” are updated . that is , the current time information obtained from the rtc 209 is overwritten to “ used date & amp ; time ” ( s 220 ), and “ count ” is incremented by one ( s 222 ). after s 222 , the operation of the processor 200 returns to the main flow shown in fig5 . [ 0116 ] fig9 is a flow chart showing a subroutine display date & amp ; time in s 118 of the main routine shown in fig5 . in this routine , the cpu 201 checks whether or not the date and time information of a variable “ date & amp ; time ” indicates the exact time by comparing “ date & amp ; time ” with the date and time information from the rtc 209 ( s 242 ). if the difference between the two pieces of the date and time information is less than a second , then the cpu 201 decides the two pieces of the date and time information are same ( s 242 : yes ). in this case , the operation of the processor 200 immediately returns to the main flow of in fig5 without updating the “ date & amp ; time ”. if the difference between the two date and time information is not less that one second ( s 242 : no ), then the date and time information from the rtc 209 , or the current date and time , is set to “ date & amp ; time ” ( s 244 ). then , the cpu 201 generates text information indicating the date and time stored in “ date & amp ; time ” such as “ may 21 , 2002 , 15 : 20 : 31 ”, for example , and sends it to the crt controller 206 to superimpose the current date and time on the image displayed by the monitor 300 ( s 246 ). in this manner , time information displayed is updated every second . after the execution of s 246 , the operation of the processor 200 returns to the main flow shown in fig5 . [ 0121 ] fig1 is a flow chart showing a subroutine adjustment in s 120 of the main routine shown in fig5 . this routine is for allowing the operator to manually adjust the white balance of the image captured by the ccd 104 , and the opening size of the diaphragm 210 . in this routine , the cpu 201 decides whether or not the adjustment of white balance is requested by checking the signals from the keyboard 400 , the operation panel 207 , and the operation buttons 107 ( s 262 ). if there is a request ( s 262 : yes ), then the cpu 201 rewrites the value of the “ wb ( r )”, “ wb ( b )” in the record specified by “ current scope ” in accordance with the signal from the keyboard 400 , the operation panel 207 , or the operation buttons 107 ( s 264 ). further , the cpu 201 sends the value of latest “ wb ( r )” and “ wb ( b )” to the second signal processor 205 so that the second signal processor 205 re - adjusts the white balance of the image generated there ( s 266 ). after the execution of s 266 or in the case there isn &# 39 ; t any request for white balance adjustment ( s 262 : no ), the cpu 201 checks again the output signals from the keyboard 400 , the operation panel 207 , and the operation buttons 107 to decide whether or not the adjustment of diaphragm is requested ( s 268 ). if there is a request ( s 268 : yes ), then the cpu 201 opens / closes the diaphragm 210 , via the diaphragm controller 211 , in accordance with the request from the keyboard 400 , the operation panel 207 , or the operation buttons 107 to control the amount of light introduced into the light guide 103 ( s 270 ). if there isn &# 39 ; t any request ( s 268 : no ), the operation of the processor returns to the main flow of fig5 . it should be noted that the operation of processor 200 described in fig5 through fig1 may be modified in many ways within the scope of the invention . for example , s 210 in the subroutine endoscope registration shown in fig8 may be replaced with a step that specifies the “ register no .” of the record including the oldest “ used date & amp ; time ” as shown in fig1 ( see s 210 *). if s 210 is replaced with s 210 *, the data related to the endoscope not used recently , and may have the lowest possibility to be used again in the future , is deleted to free up memory space for registering data of the new endoscope . further , s 212 in fig8 may also be canceled if data is overwritten in s 214 through s 216 . the manner of managing the data in the memory 208 may also be modified in many ways . for example , a plurality of areas may be defined within one data file of the memory 208 , and data of the electronic endoscope 100 may be registered in the area corresponding to the feature of the electronic endoscope 100 indicated by “ ownership ”, “ spec ”, and / or “ expiration ”, or any data inputted manually into the keyboard 400 . [ 0129 ] fig1 schematically shows an address map of the memory 208 in which two data areas are defined in one data file as second embodiment of the invention . as shown in fig1 , the memory 208 includes a data file 216 , and first and second data areas 220 a and 220 b are defined within the data file 216 . the first data area 220 a extends from address 0 to 1499 ( in decimal system ), and the second data area 220 b from address 1500 to 2999 ( in decimal system ). each of first and second data areas 220 a and 220 b includes 39 records having same format as that shown in fig4 . the first and second data areas 220 a and 220 b are for registering data related to purchased endoscopes and leased endoscopes , respectively . if the memory 208 is managed as shown in fig1 , s 110 and s 112 of fig5 should be modified as shown in fig1 and 14 . that is , in the subroutine file open ( s 110 ), the cpu 201 opens the data file 216 ( s 302 ). next , the cpu 201 checks the state of “ ownership ” obtained from eeprom 102 ( s 304 ). if “ ownership ” is 0 ( s 304 : yes ), indicating the endoscope is purchased , then the cpu 201 sets a variable “ offset ” to 0 ( s 306 ). “ offset ” is used later as an address start to reading the memory 208 . if “ ownership ” is 1 or 2 , indicating the endoscope is leased , then the cpu 201 sets “ offset ” to 1500 . after the execution of s 306 or s 308 , the operation of the processor 200 returns to the main flow shown in fig5 to execute the subroutine endoscope registration ( s 112 ). in the subroutine endoscope registration ( s 112 ) shown in fig1 , s 202 , s 206 , s 208 , and s 210 are replaced with s 202 *, s 206 *, s 208 *, and s 210 *, respectively . other steps are same as that in fig8 . the contents of s 202 *, 206 *, s 208 *, and s 220 * are same as that of the replaced steps except that the memory area that the cpu 201 can treat is limited to the address “ offset ” through “ offset ”+ 1499 . that is , if “ offset ” is set to 0 in the subroutine file open ( s 110 ), then the cpu 201 can read , write , and delete data only within the first data area 220 a of the memory 208 , and if “ offset ” is 1500 , then the cpu 201 can handle the data only in the second data area 220 b . accordingly , if a new leased endoscope , for example , is connected to the processor 200 , the cpu 201 never accesses to the first data area 220 a , and thus never deletes data of purchased endoscopes , which may be more important than data of leased endoscopes , in order to register leased endoscopes &# 39 ; data . the present disclosure relates to the subject matters contained in japanese patent application no . p2001 - 200209 , filed on jun . 29 , 2001 , and japanese patent application no . p2001 - 323463 , filed on oct . 22 , 2001 , which are expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entireties . | 0 |
while this invention is capable of embodiment in many different forms , there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail , several specific embodiments with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiments so illustrated . the basic features that are required to achieve a stable proton conducting membrane material are a proton conducting ceramic phase and a stabilizing ceramic phase . other ceramic phases may be added as required to improve protonic conductivity or chemical stability . the proton conducting ceramic phase could be a doped perovskite of the general composition al 1 − x − α p x b 1 − y q y o 3 − δ . a is a bivalent cation such as barium ( ba ), strontium ( sr ), calcium ( ca ) or magnesium ( mg ) and combinations thereof , p is an a - site dopant , which may be a cation such as pr , sm , er or other cations belonging to the lanthanide series . b is a tetravalent cation which may be either an element in group iv of the period table ( e . g . ti , zr ) or an element in the lanthanide series of the periodic table ( e . g . ce , la ). q is a b - site dopant which may be either an element in group iii of the period table ( e . g . sc , y ) or another element ( other than b ) in the lanthanide series of the periodic table ( e . g . eu , nd , gd , yb ). α represents the a - site non - stoichiometry ( deficiency ), and δ is an oxygen deficiency . in one embodiment , α ranges from about 0 to about 0 . 1 and δ ranges from about 0 to about 0 . 3 . some embodiments of the invention would include compounds with specific combination of elements on the a and b sites represented by the chemical formulas ba 1 − x − ε p x ce 1 − y q y o 3 − δ , sr 1 − x − ε p x ce 1 − y q y o 3 − δ , and ca 1 − x − ε p x ti 1 − y q y o 3 − δ . other embodiments would include an a - site deficiency ε , where 0 ≦ α ≦ 0 . 1 and where 0 ≦ ε ≦ 0 . 3 . it is to be specifically noted here that p and q may represent more than one element of the type specified above , and addition of more than one dopant at the a and b site fall within the scope of this invention . in another embodiment of the present invention , the proton conducting ceramic phase may be a complex perovskite . the complex perovskite could be of the types a 2 ( b ′ 1 + β b ″ 1 − β ) o 6 − λ or a 3 ( b ′ 1 + φ b ″ 2 − φ ) o 9 − λ , in which a ions are always bivalent ( e . g . ba , sr , ca , la ), b ′ ions are trivalent ( eg . y , ga , sc , in , yb , nd ) or tetravalent ( e . g . zr , ti , ce ), and b ″ ions are pentavalent ( e . g . bi , nb ). generally , 0 ≦ β ≦ 0 . 2 and 0 ≦ φ ≦ 0 . 2 . λ may range from about 0 to about 0 . 2 . in yet another embodiment of the present invention , the proton conducting ceramic phase could be a pyrochlore structure ( a ′ 2 − γ a ″ γ ) 2 ( b 2 − η r η ) o 7 − λ where a ′ is a bivalent cation ( e . g . la ), a ″ is another bivalent cation , b is a tetravalent cation ( e . g . zr , ce ) and r is a bivalent cation ( e . g . ca ). in one embodiment , a ″ and r would be the same cation . generally , 0 ≦ γ ≦ 0 . 3 and 0 ≦ η ≦ 0 . 3 . in one embodiment of the present invention , the stabilizing ceramic phase will also be a product of the reaction between a corrosive gas species and the protonically conducting phase . for example when co 2 or h 2 o react with ba or sr - containing perovskites , one of the byproducts is cerium oxide ( ceo 2 ). as disclosed in copending application ser . no . 10 / 708 , 475 , doped ceo 2 is a good electronic conductor under reducing environment . the incorporation of doped ceo 2 above the percolation limit results in sufficient electronic conductivity to make the material an excellent mixed conductor . however , because electronic conductivity is detrimental to fuel cell electrolyte function , the stabilizing phase , if electrically conductive , is present in an amount below the percolation limit . incorporation of ceria , doped or undoped , will improve the thermodynamic stability of the composite material in the presence of co 2 or h 2 o over perovskite materials where no ceo 2 is added . if the perovskite phase is doped , it may be beneficial to have the ceria be doped with same dopant used in the perovskite phase . the principles of the present invention are demonstrated by the following examples of fabricating the proton conducting ceramic composite material . these examples are given to illustrate various embodiments within the scope of the present invention . the examples are given by way of example only , and it is to be understood that the following examples are not comprehensive or exhaustive of the many embodiments within the scope of the present invention . a stoichiometric perovskite material was prepared by adding raw material oxide and carbonate powders ( baco 3 , ceo 2 , eu 2 o 3 ) in stoichiometric amounts to form the perovskite bace 0 . 8 eu 0 . 2 o 2 . 9 . the powders were mixed for 30 minutes on a paint shaker with zirconia milling media in a 1 liter nalgene bottle followed by ball milling for 24 hours . the well mixed powder was then calcined at 1400 ° c . to decompose the carbonate and react the powders together to form a single phase perovskite material . the calcined powder was then ball milled for 72 hrs in acetone resulting in a fine powder with a 1 - 2 micron particle size with a surface area from 1 . 5 - 3 m 2 / g . the powder was screened through an 80 mesh sieve and then mixed with europium doped ceria that was fabricated by a similar process as the bace 0 . 8 eu 0 . 2 o 2 . 9 to form a 50 / 50 volume % mixture . the two powders were placed in a nalgene container with milling media and acetone and then mixed vigorously on a paint shaker for 30 minutes . this mixture was then dried for 12 hours and then screened through an 80 mesh sieve to ensure that the individual powders were well mixed and that there were no large agglomerates from the milling and drying steps . the screened mixture of powders is then placed in a drying oven at 80 - 90 ° c . for 24 hours to ensure that the powder is dry . the dry powder was then ready for fabrication into a ceramic membrane using a variety of ceramic processing techniques such as tape casting , dry pressing or slip casting . in this example the powder was mixed with a 2 wt . % polyvinyl butyral ( pvb ) binder solution and acetone and mixed again with milling media on a paint shaker . after mixing the slurry was dried and the binder / powder was then used to fill a 1 inch pellet die followed by dry pressing at 10 , 000 psi and finally isostatically pressing the pellet at 25 , 000 psi . the pressed pellet was then sintered at 1550 ° c . for 2 hours . the sintered pellet was then analyzed by xrd to verify the formation of the two desired phases . it was found that the barium cerate and doped ceria were indeed the two phases present . finally , the sample was prepared for sem analysis . fig1 shows the microstructure of the sintered two - phase composite material . more specifically , fig1 is a backscattered sem micrograph of two - phase composite of a perovskite ( grey phase ) and doped ceria ( bright phase ). the pores in the structure , the very dark areas , are completely closed and do not allow gas flow across the membrane . two different compositions of the two - phase proton conducting ceramic material were fabricated as described in example 1 . the two compositions formulated were ( 1 ) 50 vol . % bace 0 . 7 eu 0 . 3 o 2 . 85 + 50 vol . % ce 0 . 8 y 0 . 2 o 2 . 9 and ( 2 ) 50 vol . % bace 0 . 8 eu 0 . 2 o 2 . 9 + 50 vol . % ce 0 . 8 y 0 . 2 o 2 . 9 . in order to demonstrate the stability of the two phase composite material , thermogravimetric analysis ( tga ) in reducing environments containing h 2 o and co 2 was performed to observe any weight changes as a function of time . there was no measurable weight change during the tga tests as shown in fig2 indicating that the material was stable at these temperature and gas composition environments . fig2 depicts thermogravimetric analysis data in syngas showing very good stability of perovskite / oxide composites in reducing environments containing co , co 2 and h 2 o . a non - stoichiometric perovskite material was prepared by adding raw material oxide and carbonate powders ( baco 3 , ceo 2 , eu 2 o 3 ) in non - stoichiometric amounts ( barium deficient ) to form the perovskite ba 0 . 92 ce 0 . 8 eu 0 . 2 o 2 . 82 . the powders were mixed for 30 minutes on a paint shaker with zirconia milling media in a 1 liter nalgene bottle followed by ball milling for 24 hours . the well mixed powder was then calcined at 1400 ° c . to decompose the carbonate and react the powders together to form a single phase perovskite material . the calcined powder was then ball milled for 72 hrs in acetone resulting in a fine powder with a 1 - 2 micron particle size with a surface area from 1 . 5 - 3 m 2 / g . it is well known that conventional doped barium cerate compositions are unstable in oxidizing conditions in the presence of co 2 and h 2 o due to hydroxide and carbonate formation respectively . an experiment was performed to demonstrate that the materials in the present invention are more stable than perovskite materials alone that are commonly used as proton conducting membranes . in this experiment x - ray diffraction studies were performed on powder exposed to simulated syngas at high - temperature . the high - temperature exposure tests in simulated syngas showed no noticeable carbonate formation occurring in non - stoichiometric composite samples while baseline perovskite samples that were also non - stoichiometric were completely reacted as shown in fig3 . fig3 depicts x - ray diffraction analysis data for powders exposed to syngas at 900 ° c . showing very little carbonate formation in the non - stoichiometric perovskite / oxide composite compared with the baseline non - stoichiometric perovskite exposed to identical conditions . the arrows in fig3 indicate locations of the primary barium carbonate peaks in the baseline perovskite . a stoichiometric perovskite / doped ceria composite was fabricated as described in example 1 and a non - stoichiometric perovskite / doped ceria composite material was prepared as described in example 3 . these two sample materials were used to compare the stability of the two materials in a syngas environment at 900 ° c . fig4 shows a comparison of x - ray diffraction pattern of composite powders with stoichiometric and non - stoichiometric perovskite phases . more specifically , fig4 shows x - ray diffraction analysis data for powders exposed to syngas at 900 ° c . showing very little carbonate formation in the non - stoichiometric perovskite / oxide composite powder compared with the stoichiometric perovskite / oxide composite powder exposed to identical conditions . the arrows in fig4 indicate locations of the primary barium carbonate peaks in the composite with stoichiometric perovskite . the composite with the non - stoichiometric a - site deficient perovskite had 50 % by volume of ba 0 . 92 ce 0 . 8 eu 0 . 2 o 2 . 82 and 50 % by volume of ce 0 . 8 eu 0 . 2 o 2 . 9 , and the composite with the stoichiometric perovskite composition had 50 % by volume of bace 0 . 8 eu 0 . 2 o 2 . 9 and 50 % by volume of ce 0 . 8 eu 0 . 2 o 2 . 9 . the composite with the barium deficient composition shows improved chemical stability in syngas due to significantly lower carbonate formation , due to the lower activity of the a - site cations ( i . e ., ba 2 + ions in the example given ) in the non - stoichiometric composition . two phase composite ceramic powders were prepared as described in example 1 . these powders were then used to prepare slips for tape casting in order to fabricate a thin membrane mixed conductor that is supported on a porous substrate . the slip for the dense component was cast into 2 thicknesses , 8 mil and 1 mil , while the porous slip is only cast at 8 mil . the tape casts are dried using standard ceramic processing procedures and shapes are punched out of the separate tapes to shapes and sizes that are predetermined to maximize the exposed surface area of the thin layer of the membrane in the membrane package . once the initial dimensions of the membrane were punched out the pieces were cut using a laser cutter to obtain the necessary features to maximize the surface area of the membrane and to also give the membrane support . once laser cutting was finished the pieces were then laminated together using standard ceramic processing procedures to form the membrane package with substrate and membrane support . after the membrane package was laminated it was fired to 1550 ° c . to burn out the pore former from the porous layer of the membrane package and to sinter the laminated layers into a continuous single structure that consisted of both the perovskite and the ceria doped with europium . the sintered membrane package was then sealed into a stainless steel cup with a glass or cement that has a similar coefficient of thermal expansion to that of the composite perovskite and stainless steel . the stainless steel cup was designed and machined to support the membrane package and allow for a sweep gas on the permeate side of the membrane . the testing apparatus was setup in a reforming catalyst reactor to accommodate various molar fractions in the syngas due to changing the volumetric feeds of hydrogen , methane , water , carbon dioxide , and carbon monoxide . the membrane that was sealed to the stainless steel cup was placed downstream of the catalyst in the reactor and heated to a temperature of 900 ° c . helium was used as a sweep gas on the permeate side of the membrane to carry away the hydrogen to a zirconia oxygen sensor to determine the amount of hydrogen flux obtained . the zirconia oxygen sensor was calibrated by varying the concentrations of hydrogen and helium and measuring the voltage across the cell due to the different concentrations of hydrogen in the stream . while the test was running with syngas the voltage of the zirconia oxygen sensor was recorded and then used to determine the concentration of hydrogen in the carrier gas . this information was then used to calculate the flux through the membrane . fig5 shows the open circuit voltage ( ocv ) across the composite membrane . more specifically , fig5 shows the lowering of open circuit voltage in a perovskite / doped - ceria composite showing mixed ionic - electronic conducting behavior . in order to demonstrate the feasibility of pressure - driven hydrogen separation from syngas using the new composite materials , partial pressure / concentration driven h 2 separation experiments were performed using hydrogen / nitrogen mixtures . the experiments were performed using thick membranes ( 500 μm thickness ). fig6 shows the hydrogen flux obtained through a 500 μm thick dense perovskite / oxide composite membrane tested at two feed gas flow - rates to demonstrate that there were no leaks in the system . while the flux obtained ( shown in fig6 ) is relatively low (& lt ; 1 . 4 cc / cm 2 / min ) due to the very thick ( 500 μm ) membranes used , the experiment demonstrated that concentration / pressure driven hydrogen separation is feasible through these dense perovskite / oxide composite membranes . stability of perovskite compositions in fuel conditions , in particular the reaction products co 2 and h 2 o of fuel cell operation , is a major hurdle in the proton - sofc development . from the foregoing examples , the addition of doped ceria significantly lowered the propensity of those reactions . the composites consisted of 50 vol . % ceria to provide an interpenetrating network of proton and electron ( ceria in reducing atmosphere ) conducting phases . the exposure test results are reproduced in fig7 . at the bottom of fig7 is the x - ray pattern for bace 0 . 7 eu 0 . 3 o 3 −∂ after exposure to syngas at 900 ° c . of the two composites , composite 1 is stoichiometric bace 0 . 7 eu 0 . 3 o 3 −∂ with 50 vol . % ceria and composite 2 is 4 %- ba - site deficient perovskite mixed with 50 vol . % ceria . it is clearly seen that a significant reduction in the amount of reaction product baceo 3 occurs with the composite . peaks corresponding to the reaction product nearly disappear when the ba - deficit version of the perovskite is used . as an electronic short will be detrimental to fuel cell electrolyte function , ceria was added in an amount below the percolation limit ( 10 vol . %) to a proton - conducting perovskite . at 10 vol . %, the ceria grains do not form a contiguous phase and hence the composite essentially functions as an ionic ( proton ) conducting electrolyte . fig8 shows the x - ray diffraction pattern of the composite prior to syngas exposure ( at the bottom ), and the 10 % ceria composite after exposure to syngas ( both co 2 and h 2 o present ). the 50 % composite with ba - deficit perovskite is also shown ( at the top ) for comparison . once again , compared to the baseline perovskite in fig7 , even 10 vol . % ceria addition gives a comparable stability as the 50 vol . % ceria addition . a combination of ba - deficit perovskite and ceria addition at 10 vol . %, or higher , but below the percolation limit , is expected to nearly eliminate the stability issue of perovskite electrolyte in syngas fuel . this will eliminate the biggest hurdle in the use of baceo 3 type electrolyte in a practical fuel cell application . one of the well recognized challenges in the fabrication of baceo 3 based compositions is to find suitable powder processing and sintering conditions to achieve adequate density . at a minimum , the sintered body should have closed porosity to avoid direct gas diffusion that will affect fuel efficiency . one known approach to improve density and closed porosity involves various powder milling techniques to achieve the particle size distribution and powder surface area necessary to achieve a density higher than 94 %. scanning electron micrographs are shown in fig9 a and 9b of baceo 3 sintered bars obtained using particle size distribution techniques . fig9 a shows the sintered single phase perovskite showing closed porosity at 200 ×. fig9 b shows the same sintered single phase perovskite at 1500 ×. while the porosity appeared to consist of closed porosity , such a pore distribution is likely to make the material weaker and will give lower conductance for proton and oxygen ions . the biggest risk , however , is that a small amount of electronic conduction remains in composition in the temperature range above 600 ° c . that may cause proton or oxygen ions to “ precipitate ” in the pores by reacting with electrons transported through the material . this will result in gas pressure build up in the pores resulting in electrolyte rupture . this has been well documented in oxygen separation membrane electrolytes that show a small electronic conductivity when a large amount of pores are present . in order to lower the porosity of the sintered material , a small amount ( 10 vol . % ceria ) was added to the powder . this significantly improved the sinterability of the material as seen in fig1 a and 10b . fig1 a and 10b are scanning electron micrographs of sintered perovskite composite material with 10 vol . % ceria at 200 × and 1000 ×, respectively . as the ceria addition also improves the stability of the electrolyte , this approach is a good option to improve density and stability . a more dense material permits the fabrication of thinner membranes and increased strength . a more stable material facilitates its practical use in syngas fuel applications , such as sofc applications . button cells were fabricated using two baseline compositions : 0 . 05 eu - 0 . 05 yb doped and 0 . 1 eu - 0 . 1 yb doped compositions . a total of 15 button cells were tested using both pressed discs ( 0 . 2 cm ; 2000 microns ) and tape cast discs ( 0 . 04 cm ; 400 microns ). most of the cells showed open cell voltage ( ocv ) values ranging from 0 . 85 to 1 . 03 v at 800 ° c . in some cases the cement seal used was inadequate . more than 10 cells showed ocv values of 0 . 95 or higher confirming that these compositions are predominantly ionic conductors ( proton and oxygen ). a tape case electrolyte ( 400 microns ) of baceo 3 with 0 . 05 eu and 0 . 05 yb doping was tested . this batch also had 10 vol . % ceria to improve sinterability and stability . fig1 illustrates a schematic representation of a proton conducting ceramic membrane for fuel cell application containing reference electrodes . the use of reference electrodes also provides additional insights in the dc tests , in particular when comparing proton and oxygen conducting electrolytes . one benefit of a proton conducting electrolyte comes from the fact that the product water formation is on the air side and thus the driving potential is much flatter as a function of fuel utilization . fig1 shows the current - voltage performance of the proton cell that had a measured area specific resistance ( asr ) of about 5 . 3 ohm - cm 2 as would be expected from the total ac low frequency intercept . the reference voltage measured during the sweep is also shown . a zirconia ( oxygen conducting electrolyte ) cell was also tested with identical electrode area , fuel composition ( h 2 - 3 % h 2 o ) and flow rate of 35 standard cubic centimeters per minute ( sccm ). the reference voltage from the oxygen cell is also shown for the same range of fuel utilization . from a comparison of the reference voltage traces , at open circuit the proton ocv is lower than that of oxygen ocv . this is a confirmation of pure ionic conduction of zirconia electrolyte providing near theoretical nernst potential . the lower ocv of the proton cell is an indication of the ionic transference t ion being less than one , in this case about 0 . 96 . because of t ion is less than 1 , the true benefit of the proton cell is not manifest until the cell reaches much higher utilization . the driving potential in this case will cross over at about 10 to 15 % fuel utilization . it is theoretically possible to achieve very high utilization at higher operating voltage with a proton cell . as a function of utilization however , the driving potential of the oxygen cell drops more steeply than the proton cell . this confirms that the proton cell maintains a higher driving force . that is , there is no water dilution of fuel in a pure proton conductor , but in this case some dilution is expected from the oxygen ion conduction . finally while high efficiency operation is clearly possible with the proton cell , the cell resistance is preferably lowered by a factor of 10 to fully realize the benefits of proton cell in terms of cost / kw as well as specific weight and volume . from the foregoing , doped baceo 3 is predominantly proton conducting , having a proton transference number of about 0 . 6 to 0 . 7 at 800 ° c ., which will increase at lower temperatures . the overall ion transference number of doped baceo 3 is about 0 . 95 . this indicates that the ocv is only slightly depressed and is still above 1 v with h 2 - 3 % h 2 o . the addition of ceria improves stability of baceo 3 in syngas . this demonstrates the material is feasible in practical applications . even 10 vol . % ceria addition significantly improves stability in powder exposure and shows no penalty in ocv . a small amount of ba - site deficiency further reduces the amount of reaction product and enhances stability in syngas . a small amount of ceria added to baceo 3 improves the sinterability of the ceramic by lowering the porosity and increasing the density . higher density allows fabrication of thinner electrolytes that are stronger and pore - free . cell tests of the proton conducting ceramic membrane comprising baceo 3 and ceria demonstrated good open circuit voltage (& gt ; 95 % theoretical ). they also maintained high driving potential at increasing utilization and will overtake the driving potential of the oxygen conducting zirconia electrolyte at & gt ; 20 % utilization . this leads to high efficiency operation of the cell . while specific embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described , numerous modifications come to mind without significantly departing from the spirit of the invention , and the scope of protection is only limited by the scope of the accompanying claims . | 1 |
fig1 is a simplified diagram of a hysteresis circuit with a pull up portion and a pull down portion . circuit a performs the pull up , and circuit b performs the pull down . an example of circuit a is a current source that sources current from a high voltage reference , and an example of circuit b is a current source that sinks current to a low voltage reference fig2 is a time domain graph of the output voltage of a hysteresis circuit , showing that the present output is determined not just by the present input , but also by the past output . the transient is slow at the beginning , and then fast at the end . fig3 is a graph of input voltage versus output voltage of a hysteresis circuit , also showing that the present output is determined not just by the present input , but also by the past output . it appears to be the overlapped version of the rising and falling time domain curves , adjusted as functions of the input voltage . hysteresis is created by making the signal hard to transition or slower in one direction than the other direction . fig4 is a circuit diagram of an inverter circuit which is not a hysteresis circuit . fig5 is a graph of input voltage versus output voltage of the inverter circuit of fig4 , showing that the present output is determined by the present input without requiring the past output . the opposite transition from point e to point a is exactly the same as listed above , but in the opposite order . fig6 is a circuit diagram of a hysteresis circuit , which includes a cross - coupled inverter preceded by an inverter circuit . for simplicity , in some embodiments with a series of hysteresis circuits , the hysteresis circuit refers to the cross - coupled inverters , but without the preceding inverter circuit , there is no hysteresis . fig7 is a graph of input voltage versus output voltage of the hysteresis circuit of fig6 , showing that the present output is determined not just by the present input , but also by the past output . however , the opposite transition from point e to point a occurs as follows : because the transition between point a and point e depends on the direction , there is hysteresis . the hysteresis curve of fig7 is explained in the context of fig6 . p 1 stays “ on ”; the same as p 2 and p 3 . n 1 stays “ off ”; the same as n 2 and n 3 , as if nothing happened . vi = 0 . 1 , vx = 1 , vo = 0 p 1 , p 2 and p 3 are still “ on ”. n 1 is beginning to turn “ on ” meaning a tiny amount of current is possibly going through . to simplify , say the current is too small , such that nothing changed . vi = 0 . 3 , vx = 1 , vo = 0 p 1 is turning off , but not yet , such that current from the power supply through p 1 to vx is reduced . if only the single inverter p 1 and n 1 existed , then current ip 1 would be equal to current in 1 . but here p 2 is still “ on ”, n 2 is still “ off . therefore there are two currents ip 1 and ip 2 charging vx ; but only one current in 1 discharging vx . at this moment vi = 0 . 5 , vx = 0 . 9 , vo = 0 . something is happening on vi and vx , but nothing is affecting vo . nothing is affecting vo means vx = 0 . 9 , such that vo changes nothing . the voltage vi = 0 . 7 turns off p 1 . there will be one current ip 2 charging vx and one current in 1 discharging vx . ip 2 & gt ; in 1 due to vi = 0 . 7 . vo is around 0 . so vi = 0 . 7 , vx = 0 . 7 , vo = 0 approximately . n 1 is really “ on ” which makes vx lower . vx = 0 . 3 first . something is going on . vx = 0 . 3 makes p 3 turn “ on ” which charges up vo up to about 0 . 5 . vo = 0 . 5 makes ip 2 smaller , then vx will be lower than 0 . 3 . this feedback loop starts working . the feedback loop keeps increasing vo up to 1 , and decreasing vx lower to 0 . finally assume vi = 0 . 9 , vx = 0 , vo = 1 . fig8 - 10 show example graphs of input voltage versus output voltage of an inverter circuit , showing that the transfer characteristic is predictably varied with the ratio of the strength of the component pmos and nmos transistors . the transient point is controllable by adjusting the p and n wells . fig1 is a graph of input voltage versus output voltage of an inverter circuit , with an example point along the transition region . fig1 is a circuit diagram of an inverter circuit operating at the example point along the transition region as shown in fig1 . there are three currents i 3 = i 1 - i 2 . the three currents are predictable if they are practically simple to calculate . fig1 is a circuit diagram of an inverter circuit with added current sources that attempt to simplify the prediction of the charging current and discharging current of the output node . the added current sources attempt to control the rising and falling time of the inverter by setting the transient current to i 1 for charging current and i 2 for discharging current . fig1 is a time domain graph of the output voltage of an inverter circuit , with the added current sources as in fig1 , illustrating the difference between the expected fast transient discharge speed , and the actual slow transient discharge speed . unfortunately , the transient does not follow the dashed line , as would be the case if the added current sources dominated the transient current . instead , despite the added current sources , the actual transient follows the slower solid line . the transient is slower than expected . the reason is that although i 1 and i 2 determine the transient speed on the pmos and nmos during charging and discharging vo , the i 3 current through the capacitance is too small . for the purposes of predictability , although the equation is i 3 = i 1 − i 2 , the actual value of i 3 is complicated to calculate , because the current i 3 is related to size , vi , mobility , etc . accordingly , there are two problems : slow transient speed , and lack of predictability . various embodiments add current sources to address both problems . fig1 is a circuit diagram of an oscillator circuit with a series of hysteresis circuits including cross - coupled inverters . the circuit demonstrates current flow during the charging and discharging phases . assume v 1 = 1 , vo = 0 , v 2 = 1 ( v 2 = 1 will make v 1 go low like and inverter , and oscillation results .) when vo is at charging phase , ideally , ic is the charging current ic = ip 1 − in 0 . but this is not the case . when vo is at discharging phase , ideally , ic is the discharging current = in 1 − ip 0 . but this is not the case . fig1 is a circuit diagram of an oscillator circuit with a series of hysteresis circuits including cross - coupled inverters , and added current sources to simplify the prediction of the charging current and discharging current of the output node . the current sources simplify prediction of the charging current and discharging current according to fig1 and 18 . the technology adds high controllability to the frequency of a ring oscillator without phase detection . a typical application is medium - high frequency ( 100 mhz ˜ 1 ghz ) operation . i * t = c * v , where i is current , t is period , c is capacitance , and v is peak voltage . there are 4 variables . with a regulated v , c significantly larger than parasitic capacitance , then an accurate i determines 3 variables of the 4 variables , thereby making predictable the remaining 4th variable of t ( or frequency ). accordingly , this technology accurately controls the current . because c and v are also controlled , the current control also controls the frequency . the following is an example of determining the current to achieve a 250 mhz ( 4 ns ) oscillator signal . the goal is t = 2 ns , which represents a half cycle , corresponding to either the charging half cycle or the discharging half cycle . according to the equation , the controlled current should be i = 312 . 5 ua or about 300 ua . so peak current of ic should be 600 ua or higher , due to parasitic capacitance . this current comes from current reference system . in the following equations , i 1 is for short for ip 1 or in 1 ; i 0 is for short for ip 0 or in 0 . i 1 = 600 ua , i 0 = 0 ua , i 1 : i 0 = infinite ; means not physical . i 1 = 700 ua , i 0 = 100 ua , i 1 : i 0 = 7 : 1 ; too large a ratio is hard to current match , but saves some power i 1 = 1 . 2 ma , i 0 = 400 ua , i 1 : i 0 = 3 : 1 ; current consumption is getting larger and not so much gain from ratio . in the preceding example calculation , the ratio of the current sources corresponding to ip 1 and in 0 is 4 : 1 , and the ratio of the current sources corresponding to in 1 and ip 0 is 4 : 1 . similarly , the difference between the current sources corresponding to ip 1 and in 0 is 600 ua , and the difference between the current sources corresponding to in 1 and ip 0 is 600 ua . the values of ip 0 , ip 1 , in 0 and in 1 are controllable by a trimmed bias or a phase detector . the ideal load capacitance cl varies with whether a phase detector is used . with a phase detector , load capacitance cl could be zero for saving power , and increase the oscillator frequency into the ghz range . without a phase detector , load capacitance cl should be as large as possible , to avoid process variation , at the cost of more power consumption . fig1 is a circuit diagram of a portion of the oscillator circuit with a series of hysteresis circuits including cross - coupled inverters , and added current sources , as shown in fig1 , with a charging current path shown , including the two primary current sources that predict the charging current . during the charging phase , the average charging current ic = k *( ip 1 − in 0 ) fig1 is a circuit diagram of a portion of the oscillator circuit with a series of hysteresis circuits including cross - coupled inverters , and added current sources , as shown in fig1 , with a discharging current path shown , including the two primary current sources that predict the discharging current . during the discharge phase , the average discharging current ic = k *( in 1 − ip 0 ) at a lower frequency range , where the output waveform is triangular , ( x − y ) represents a relative magnitude of the current sources , such as ( 800 ua − 200 ua ). ( vd − vs ) represents a difference between the high voltage reference and the low voltage reference . the current sources source current from the high voltage reference vd and sink current to the low voltage reference vs . fig1 - 25 are time domain graphs of different nodes of the oscillator circuit with a series of hysteresis circuits including cross - coupled inverters , and added current sources , as shown in fig1 . fig1 - 25 divide a full clock period into 4 smaller time periods , labeled t 1 , t 2 , t 3 , and t 4 . in both t 1 and t 2 , the output node out has a discharging current of in 1 − ip 0 , and ip 1 and in 0 are almost off . because ip 1 and in 0 are almost off , their contribution can be practically ignored for predicting the oscillator frequency . in both t 3 and t 4 , the output node out has a charging current of ip 1 − in 0 , and ip 0 and in 1 are almost off . because ip 0 and in 1 are almost off , their contribution can be practically ignored for predicting the oscillator frequency . fig1 is in 1 , the current flowing through the nmos of an inverter . the nmos is connected to the output node , and the inverter belongs to a following cross - coupled inverter of neighboring cross - coupled inverters . fig2 is ip 0 , the current flowing through the pmos of an inverter . the pmos is connected to the output node , and the inverter belongs to a preceding cross - coupled inverter of neighboring cross - coupled inverters . fig2 is ip 1 , the current flowing through the pmos of an inverter . the pmos is connected to the output node , and the inverter belongs to a following cross - coupled inverter of neighboring cross - coupled inverters . fig2 is in 0 , the current flowing through the nmos of an inverter . the nmos is connected to the output node , and the inverter belongs to a preceding cross - coupled inverter of neighboring cross - coupled inverters . fig2 is ic , the current flowing through the capacitance of the output node . the magnitude of the ic current determines the speed of charging or discharging the output node . fig2 is out , the output voltage of the output node . accordingly , the rising part of the output voltage out corresponds to positive ic current , and the falling part of the output voltage out corresponds to negative ic current . fig2 is clk , the clock voltage following a buffer of the output node . the buffer helps the oscillator output look more digital . the number of buffers depends on the number of blocks to be driven . buffers make the transient faster to get a square - like waveform . an inverter not only separates signals , but also provides drivability . fig2 is a circuit diagram of a portion of the oscillator circuit with a series of hysteresis circuits including cross - coupled inverters , and added current sources , as shown in fig1 , acting as a key to indicate the graphed nodes of fig1 - 25 . fig2 is a circuit diagram of a voltage controlled oscillator , including the oscillator circuit with a series of hysteresis circuits . an improved voltage controllable oscillator includes the improved oscillator technology herein . the voltage controllable oscillator includes a phase detector and a charge pump circuit . the charge pump circuit includes 2 current sources ip , resistor r , and capacitor c . while the present invention is disclosed by reference to the preferred embodiments and examples detailed above , it is to be understood that these examples are intended in an illustrative rather than in a limiting sense . it is contemplated that modifications and combinations will readily occur to those skilled in the art , which modifications and combinations will be within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the following claims . | 7 |
surprisingly , single eu 2 + - activated kmbp 2 o 8 ( m = ba , sr , ca ) phosphors show white light with high luminous efficiency under near uv excitation . the behavior is unexpected because all other borophosphate phosphors have never shown such a luminescence property and because there is only one crystallographic site available for the activator eu 2 + . in addition , they exhibit a high thermal stability , which is comparable to that of yag : ce 3 + phosphor . the luminescence properties ( e . g . peak center , color coordination and fwhm ) of eu 2 + - doped kmbp 2 o 8 phosphors can be adjusted by changing the eu 2 + concentration or the ratio between ba , sr and ca in kmbp 2 o 8 host lattice . the eu 2 + concentration can vary in a wide range . the emission band of eu 2 + - doped kbabp 2 o 8 phosphor can be shifted to the longer wavelength range by increasing the eu 2 + concentration . while the emission bands of eu 2 + - doped kbabp 2 o 8 phosphors can be shifted to the shorter wavelength range by the replacement of ba 2 + by sr 2 + . in addition , its luminous efficiency also can be improved dramatically by such a replacement . the same effect also can be reached by the replacement of ba 2 + by ca 2 + . in all the eu 2 + - doped phosphors , it would expect that eu 2 + will replace the crystallographic site of m 2 + with 8 - fold oxygen coordination . the present invention discloses new borophosphate phosphors that are activated by rare earth ions , preferably by eu 2 + ions . the inventive phosphor converts radiation . for this , it absorbs radiation in a first wavelength range of the electromagnetic spectrum and emits radiation in a second wavelength range of the electromagnetic spectrum . the first wavelength range of the electromagnetic spectrum differs from the second wavelength range of the electromagnetic spectrum . the inventive borophosphate phosphor is activated with divalent rare earth metal ions . it is represented by the following general formula : symbol a represents at least one univalent alkaline metal ion . symbol m stands for at least one divalent metal ion . symbol re is at least one divalent ion selected from the group comprising rare earth metals as well as pb , sn , cu , and mn . anyway , re contains at least one divalent rare earth metal ion that is acting as an activator . variable x is limited by 0 & lt ; x & lt ; 1 . preferably , re contains at least the divalent rare earth metal ion of eu , namely eu 2 + that is acting as activator . in a further preferred embodiment , re contains at least the divalent rare earth metal ion of sm or yb , namely sm 2 + or yb 2 + that is acting as activator . preferably , re further contains at least one divalent ion selected from the group comprising ce , yb , tb , gd , dy , and sm that is acting as a coactivator . alternatively or supplementary , re further contains at least one divalent ion selected from the group comprising pb , sn , cu , and mn that is acting as a coactivator . variable x is preferably less than or equal to 0 . 2 ; and more preferably less than or equal to 0 . 1 . in a preferred embodiment , symbol a represents at least one univalent alkaline metal ion selected from the group comprising li , k , na , rb , and cs ; or more preferably , selected from the group comprising li , k , and na . preferably , m stands for at least one divalent metal ion selected from the group comprising ca , sr , ba , be , mg , and zn ; or more preferably , selected from the group comprising ca , sr , and ba . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the phosphor shows the following formula : wherein a = li , k , na , rb , and / or cs ; and wherein m = ca , sr , ba , be , mg , and / or zn . in a further preferred embodiment of the inventive phosphor , symbol a stand for potassium k . further , symbol m represents at least one divalent metal ion selected from the group comprising ca , sr , ba , and zn . re contains at least one divalent rare earth metal ion selected from the group comprising eu , sm , and yb that is acting as activator and at least one divalent ion selected from the group comprising pb , cu , and mn . in this embodiment , variable x is less than or equal to 0 . 1 . in a further preferred embodiment of the invention , m stands for calcium , barium , strontium , or combinations of these three elements resulting in one of the following formulae : aba ( 1 - x - y ) sr y eu x bp 2 o 8 ; and aba ( 1 - x - z ) ca z eu x bp 2 o 8 ; preferably , a is at least one univalent alkaline metal ion selected from the group comprising li , k , and na . further , m stands for ba . re represents eu . variable x is smaller or equal 0 . 1 . the resulting general formula is : in that embodiment , a is preferably k , resulting in the general formula : kba 1 - x eu x bp 2 o 8 , wherein variable x is more preferably less than or equal to 0 . 08 . in another preferred embodiment of the invention , symbol a stands for at least one univalent alkaline metal ion selected from the group comprising li , k , and na . further m consists of ba and sr . re represents eu . the resulting general formula is : wherein x ≦ 0 . 1 , 0 & lt ; y & lt ; 1 . 0 and ( x + y )& lt ; 1 . 0 . in this embodiment , a is preferably k , resulting in the general formula : kba ( 1 - x - y ) sr y eu x bp 2 o 8 , wherein variable x is more preferably less than or equal to 0 . 08 and y is more preferably less than or equal to 0 . 4 , wherein ( x + y )≦ 0 . 5 . in another preferred embodiment of the invention , symbol a stands for at least one univalent alkaline metal ion selected from the group comprising li , k , and na . further m consists of ba and ca . re represents eu . the resulting general formula is : aba ( 1 - x - z ) ca z eu x bp 2 o 8 , wherein x ≦ 0 . 1 and 0 & lt ; z ≦ 0 . 3 . in this embodiment , a is preferably k , resulting in the general formula kba ( 1 - x - z ) ca z eu x bp 2 o 8 , wherein variable x is more preferably less than or equal to 0 . 08 and wherein ( x + z )≦ 0 . 3 . the inventive phosphor shows a strong excitation band in the wavelength range of 250 nm to 420 nm . from there , the first wavelength range ranges preferably from 250 nm to 420 nm ; or more preferably from 300 nm to 370 nm . the second wavelength range is preferably the whole visual spectrum , especially in the range from 400 nm to 700 nm , or at least in the range from 420 nm to 600 nm . a peak center of the second wavelength is preferably between 450 nm and 480 nm . the inventive phosphor can be well excited under uv light irradiation and emits blue or white light . in addition , the phosphor shows high thermal stability , which is comparable to that of yag : ce 3 + phosphor . due to the described luminescence characteristics , the phosphor according to the present invention can be used as a radiation converter for the transformation of uv ( 250 nm to 420 nm ) into a longer - wave visible light that well be emitted by the phosphor preferably in blue to orange spectral region . the inventive phosphor can be used in light sources , e . g . in white light emitting light sources . alternatively , this phosphor can be used in photovoltaic cells , in greenhouse foils , or in greenhouse glasses . in these applications , the light of the sun forms the radiation in the first wavelength range of the electromagnetic spectrum . the radiation emitted by the phosphor will be directed to the photovoltaic cells and to the plants in the greenhouse , respectively . the inventive light source comprises an inventive phosphor and a radiation emitting element that emits radiation in the first wavelength range of the electromagnetic spectrum . the phosphor converts the emitted radiation of the first wavelength range into the radiation of the second wavelength range . the radiation emitting element acts as excitation source for the phosphor . the light source emits at least the radiation in the second wavelength range of the phosphor . in a special embodiment of the inventive light source , the light source comprises at least one further phosphor that emits red , yellow , green , and / or blue light in order to improve the performance of the light source . the inventive light source is preferably formed by a fluorescent lamp , by a colored light emitting led , by a white light emitting led or by an application based on uv laser or purple laser excitation . the radiation emitting element is preferably formed by high - pressure discharge plasma or by low - pressure discharge plasma , by a uv inorganic light emitting diode ( led ) or by a purple - blue inorganic light emitting diode ( led ), or by a laser or by a laser diode . the radiation emitting element can be formed by an led . this encloses different types of inorganic led like smd , top - led , and side - view led that are having a plastic or ceramic body and incorporating a light emitting element which emits radiation in the first wavelength range , especially ; in the uv - a and purple - blue . the luminescent borophosphate phosphor according to the invention can be prepared by means of a solid state reaction at a high temperature of a mixture of oxides of the component elements or compounds which are converted into the corresponding oxides on heating . in general , it is advantageous to heat the starting mixtures in two steps . the product obtained need to be pulverized after cooling after each heating operation . the last heating operation is usually performed in a reducing atmosphere ( i . e . 70 % n 2 - 30 % h 2 ) to obtain the europium in the desired bivalent state . in the following the synthesis conditions are still described in more detail on the basis of a few examples . the examples describe typical conditions and materials but do not act as limitation . persons who skilled in the art may find some different ways to get the phosphor , e . g . substitution of raw materials by other decomposable salts , for instance ; carbonates by oxalates , acetates , nitrates ; using other mixing methods like ball mill , vibration mill and others ; deviation in temperature , atmosphere and duration of the high temperature solid state reaction , application of sol - gel - processes or spray pyrolysis and others . a mixture is made of 1 . 380 g k 2 co 3 , 4 . 020 g baco 3 , 0 . 106 g eu 2 o 3 , 1 . 298 g h 3 bo 3 and 4 . 601 g nh 4 h 2 po 4 . the raw materials were weighted in an agate mortar and homogenously mixed . this mixture was placed in alumina crucibles . the crucibles covered with an alumina plate were heated in a furnace in air for 4 hours at a temperature of 400 ° c . after cooling and pulverizing , the product was subjected to a heat operation for 8 hour at 900 ° c . under a flowing 70 % n 2 - 30 % h 2 atmosphere in a covered alumina crucible . after cooling and pulverizing , a luminescent materials have a composition defined by the formula kba 0 . 97 eu 0 . 03 bp 2 o 8 was obtained . for x - ray diffraction photograph , it appeared that the crystalline powder had the crystal structure of the kbabp 2 o 8 phase . a mixture is made of 1 . 380 g k 2 co 3 , 2 . 644 g baco 3 , 0 . 886 g srco 3 , 0 . 106 g eu 2 o 3 , 1 . 298 g h 3 bo 3 , and 4 . 601 g nh 4 h 2 po 4 . this mixture was heated for 4 h in a furnace in air at a temperature of 400 ° c . after cooling and pulverizing , the product was subjected to a heat operation for 10 hour at 900 ° c . under a flowing 70 % n 2 - 30 % h 2 atmosphere in a covered alumina crucible . after cooling and pulverizing , a luminescent materials have a composition defined by the formula kba 0 . 67 sr 0 . 30 eu 0 . 03 bp 2 o 8 was obtained . for x - ray diffraction photograph , it appeared that the crystalline powder had the crystal structure of the kbabp 2 o 8 phase . the luminescence intensity of the sample is about 135 % relative to that of the sample in example 1 under excitation of 340 nm . a mixture is made of 1 . 380 g k 2 co 3 , 3 . 236 g baco 3 , 0 . 300 g caco 3 , 0 . 106 g eu 2 o 3 , 1 . 298 g h 3 bo 3 , and 4 . 601 g nh 4 h 2 po 4 . this mixture was heated for 6 h in a furnace in air at a temperature of 400 ° c . after cooling and pulverizing , the product was subjected to a heat operation for 12 hour at 900 ° c . under flowing 70 % n 2 - 30 % h 2 atmosphere in a covered alumina crucible . after cooling and pulverizing , a luminescent materials have a composition defined by the formula kba 0 . 82 ca 0 . 15 eu 0 . 03 bp 2 o 8 was obtained . for x - ray diffraction photograph , it appeared that the crystalline powder had the crystal structure of the kbabp 2 o 8 phase . the luminescence intensity of this sample is about 126 % relative to that of the sample in example 1 under excitation of 340 nm . a mixture is made of 1 . 106 g k 2 co 3 , 0 . 202 g na 2 co 3 , 3 . 828 g baco 3 , 0 . 106 g eu 2 o 3 , 1 . 298 g h 3 bo 3 , and 4 . 601 g nh 4 h 2 po 4 . this mixture was heated for 4 h in a furnace in air at a temperature of 400 ° c . after cooling and pulverizing , the product was subjected to a heat operation for 9 hour at 900 ° c . under a flowing 70 % n 2 - 30 % h 2 atmosphere in a covered alumina crucible . after cooling and pulverizing , a luminescent materials have a composition defined by the formula k 0 . 8 na 0 . 2 ba 0 . 97 eu 0 . 03 bp 2 o 8 was obtained . the luminescence intensity of the sample is about 120 % relative to that of the sample in example 1 under excitation of 340 nm . a mixture is made of 1 . 106 g k 2 co 3 , 0 . 148 g li 2 co 3 , 3 . 828 g baco 3 , 0 . 106 g eu 2 o 3 , 1 . 298 g h 3 bo 3 , and 4 . 601 g nh 4 h 2 po 4 . this mixture was heated for 4 h in a furnace in air at a temperature of 400 ° c . after cooling and pulverizing , the product was subjected to a heat operation for 9 hour at 900 ° c . under a flowing 70 % n 2 - 30 % h 2 atmosphere in a covered alumina crucible . after cooling and pulverizing , a luminescent materials have a composition defined by the formula k 0 . 8 li 0 . 2 ba 0 . 97 eu 0 . 03 bp 2 o 8 was obtained . the luminescence intensity of the sample is about 80 % relative to that of the sample in example 1 under excitation of 340 nm . a mixture is made of 1 . 382 g k 2 co 3 , 0 . 163 g zno , 3 . 434 g baco 3 , 0 . 106 g eu 2 o 3 , 1 . 298 g h 3 bo 3 , and 4 . 601 g nh 4 h 2 po 4 . this mixture was heated for 4 h in a furnace in air at a temperature of 400 ° c . after cooling and pulverizing , the product was subjected to a heat operation for 9 hour at 900 ° c . under a flowing 70 % n 2 - 30 % h 2 atmosphere in a covered alumina crucible . after cooling and pulverizing , a luminescent materials have a composition defined by the formula kba 0 . 87 zn 0 . 1 eu0 . 03bp 2 o 8 was obtained . the luminescence intensity of the sample is about 105 % relative to that of the sample in example 1 under excitation of 340 nm . a mixture is made of 1 . 382 g k 2 co 3 , 0 . 070 g sm 2 o 3 , 3 . 710 g baco 3 , 0 . 140 g eu 2 o 3 , 1 . 298 g h 3 bo 3 , and 4 . 601 g nh 4 h 2 po 4 . this mixture was heated for 4 h in a furnace in air at a temperature of 400 ° c . after cooling and pulverizing , the product was subjected to a heat operation for 9 hour at 900 ° c . under a flowing 70 % n 2 - 30 % h 2 atmosphere in a covered alumina crucible . after cooling and pulverizing , a luminescent materials have a composition defined by the formula k 0 . 8 li 0 . 2 ba 0 . 97 eu 0 . 03 bp 2 o 8 was obtained . the luminescence intensity of the sample is about 98 % relative to that of the sample in example 1 under excitation of 340 nm . a mixture is made of 1 . 382 g k 2 co 3 , 0 . 078 g yb 2 o 3 , 3 . 710 g baco 3 , 0 . 140 g eu 2 o 3 , 1 . 298 g h 3 bo 3 , and 4 . 601 g nh 4 h 2 po 4 . this mixture was heated for 4 h in a furnace in air at a temperature of 400 ° c . after cooling and pulverizing , the product was subjected to a heat operation for 9 hour at 900 ° c . under a flowing 70 % n 2 - 30 % h 2 atmosphere in a covered alumina crucible . after cooling and pulverizing , a luminescent materials have a composition defined by the formula kba 0 . 94 eu 0 . 04 yb 0 . 02 bp 2 o 8 was obtained . the luminescence intensity of the sample is about 85 % relative to that of the sample in example 1 under excitation of 340 nm . in the following table , luminescence properties of eu 2 + - doped kbabp 2 o 8 phosphors with different eu 2 + doping concentrations are listed : in the following table , luminescence properties of eu 2 + - doped kba 1 - y sr y bp 2 o 8 ( 0 ≦ y ≦ 1 . 0 ) phosphors with different sr contents are listed : in the following table , luminescence properties of eu 2 + - doped kba 1 - z ca z bp 2 o 8 ( 0 ≦ z ≦ 0 . 30 ) phosphors with different ca contents are listed : the foregoing and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily appreciated as the same become better understood by reference to the following accompanying drawings , wherein : fig1 shows typical powder xrd patterns of kba 1 - x eu x bp 2 o 8 ( x = 0 . 05 ), namely kba 0 . 95 eu 0 . 05 bp 2 o 8 in comparison to kbabp 2 o 8 . fig2 shows typical excitation and emission spectra of kba 1 - x eu x bp 2 o 8 ( x = 0 . 05 ), namely kba 0 . 95 eu 0 . 05 bp 2 o 8 . fig3 shows temperature dependence of the luminescence of eu 2 + - doped kbabp 2 o 8 phosphor under excitation of 405 nm in comparison to yag : ce 3 + . fig4 shows emission spectra of kba 1 - x eu x bp 2 o 8 phosphor with different eu 2 + doping concentrations ranging from x = 0 . 005 to x = 0 . 10 . fig5 shows typical xrd patterns of kba 0 . 67 ca 0 . 3 eu 0 . 03 bp 2 o 8 , kba 0 . 87 ca 0 . 1 eu 0 . 03 bp 2 o 8 , and kba 0 . 77 sr 0 . 2 eu 0 . 03 bp 2 o 8 in comparison to kbabp 2 o 8 and ksrbp 2 o 8 . fig6 shows excitation ( inset ) and emission spectra of kba 0 . 97 eu 0 . 03 bp 2 o 8 , kba 0 . 87 sr 0 . 1 eu 0 . 03 bp 2 o 8 , kba 0 . 77 sr 0 . 2 eu 0 . 03 bp 2 o 8 , kba 0 . 67 sr 0 . 3 eu 0 . 03 bp 2 o 8 , and ksr 0 . 97 eu 0 . 03 bp 2 o 8 . fig7 shows excitation ( inset ) and emission spectra of kba 0 . 97 eu 0 . 03 bp 2 o 8 , kba 0 . 92 ca 0 . 05 eu 0 . 03 bp 2 o 8 , kba 0 . 87 ca 0 . 1 eu 0 . 03 bp 2 o 8 , kba 0 . 82 ca 0 . 15 eu 0 . 03 bp 2 o 8 , and kba 0 . 67 ca 0 . 3 eu 0 . 03 bp 2 o 8 . fig8 shows emission spectra of eu 2 + - doped kbabp 2 o 8 and in the case when k is partly substituted by na . fig9 shows emission spectra of eu 2 + - doped kbabp 2 o 8 and in the case when k is partly substituted by li . fig1 shows emission spectra of eu 2 + - doped kbabp 2 o 8 and in the case when ba is partly substituted by zn . | 2 |
fig1 shows a schematic that generally describes one embodiment of the invention , in which energy is transferred wirelessly between two resonant objects . referring to fig1 , energy is transferred , over a distance d , between a resonant source object having a characteristic size l 1 and a resonant device object of characteristic size l 2 . both objects are resonant objects . the source object is connected to a power supply ( not shown ), and the device object is connected to a power consuming device ( e . g . a load resistor , not shown ). energy is provided by the power supply to the source object , transferred wirelessly and non - radiatively from the source object to the device object , and consumed by the power consuming device . the wireless non - radiative energy transfer is performed using the field ( e . g . the electromagnetic field or acoustic field ) of the system of two resonant objects . for simplicity , in the following we will assume that field is the electromagnetic field . it is to be understood that while two resonant objects are shown in the embodiment of fig1 , and in many of the examples below , other embodiments may feature 3 or more resonant objects . for example , in some embodiments a single source object can transfer energy to multiple device objects . in some embodiments energy may be transferred from a first device to a second , and then from the second device to the third , and so forth . initially , we present a theoretical framework for understanding non - radiative wireless energy transfer . note however that it is to be understood that the scope of the invention is not bound by theory . an appropriate analytical framework for modeling the resonant energy - exchange between two resonant objects 1 and 2 is that of “ coupled - mode theory ” ( cmt ). the field of the system of two resonant objects 1 and 2 is approximated by f ( r , t )≈ a 1 ( t ) f 1 ( r )+ a 2 ( t ) f 2 ( r ), where f 1 , 2 ( r ) are the eigenmodes of 1 and 2 alone , normalized to unity energy , and the field amplitudes a 1 , 2 ( t ) are defined so that | a 1 , 2 ( t )| 2 is equal to the energy stored inside the objects 1 and 2 respectively . then , the field amplitudes can be shown to satisfy , to lowest order : where ω 1 , 2 are the individual angular eigenfrequencies of the eigenmodes , γ 1 , 2 are the resonance widths due to the objects &# 39 ; intrinsic ( absorption , radiation etc .) losses , and κ is the coupling coefficient . eqs . ( 1 ) show that at exact resonance ( ω 1 = ω 2 and γ 1 = γ 2 ), the eigenmodes of the combined system are split by 2κ ; the energy exchange between the two objects takes place in time ˜ π / 2κ and is nearly perfect , apart for losses , which are minimal when the coupling rate is much faster than all loss rates ( κ γ 1 , 2 ). the coupling to loss ratio κ /√{ square root over ( γ 1 γ 2 )} serves as a figure - of - merit in evaluating a system used for wireless energy - transfer , along with the distance over which this ratio can be achieved . the regime κ /√{ square root over ( γ 1 γ 2 )} 1 is called “ strong - coupling ” regime . in some embodiments , the energy - transfer application preferably uses resonant modes of high q = ω / 2γ , corresponding to low ( i . e . slow ) intrinsic - loss rates γ . this condition may be satisfied where the coupling is implemented using , not the lossy radiative far - field , but the evanescent ( non - lossy ) stationary near - field . to implement an energy - transfer scheme , usually finite objects , namely ones that are topologically surrounded everywhere by air , are more appropriate . unfortunately , objects of finite extent cannot support electromagnetic states that are exponentially decaying in all directions in air , since , from maxwell &# 39 ; s equations in free space : { right arrow over ( k )} 2 = ω 2 / c 2 where { right arrow over ( k )} is the wave vector , co the angular frequency , and c the speed of light . because of this , one can show that they cannot support states of infinite q . however , very long - lived ( so - called “ high - q ”) states can be found , whose tails display the needed exponential or exponential - like decay away from the resonant object over long enough distances before they turn oscillatory ( radiative ). the limiting surface , where this change in the field behavior happens , is called the “ radiation caustic ”, and , for the wireless energy - transfer scheme to be based on the near field rather than the far / radiation field , the distance between the coupled objects must be such that one lies within the radiation caustic of the other . furthermore , in some embodiments , small q κ = ω / 2κ corresponding to strong ( i . e . fast ) coupling rate κ is preferred over distances larger than the characteristic sizes of the objects . therefore , since the extent of the near - field into the area surrounding a finite - sized resonant object is set typically by the wavelength , in some embodiments , this mid - range non - radiative coupling can be achieved using resonant objects of subwavelength size , and thus significantly longer evanescent field - tails . as will be seen in examples later on , such subwavelength resonances can often be accompanied with a high q , so this will typically be the appropriate choice for the possibly - mobile resonant device - object . note , though , that in some embodiments , the resonant source - object will be immobile and thus less restricted in its allowed geometry and size , which can be therefore chosen large enough that the near - field extent is not limited by the wavelength . objects of nearly infinite extent , such as dielectric waveguides , can support guided modes whose evanescent tails are decaying exponentially in the direction away from the object , slowly if tuned close to cutoff , and can have nearly infinite q . in the following , we describe several examples of systems suitable for energy transfer of the type described above . we will demonstrate how to compute the cmt parameters ω 1 , 2 , q 1 , 2 and q κ described above and how to choose these parameters for particular embodiments in order to produce a desirable figure - of - merit κ /√{ square root over ( γ 1 γ 2 )}=√{ square root over ( q 1 q 2 )}/ q κ . in particular , this figure of merit is typically maximized when ω 1 , 2 are tuned to a particular angular frequency { tilde over ( ω )}, thus , if { tilde over ( γ )} is half the angular - frequency width for which √{ square root over ( q 1 q 2 )}/ q κ is above half its maximum value at { tilde over ( ω )}, the angular eigenfrequencies ω 1 , 2 should typically be tuned to be close to { tilde over ( ω )} to within the width { tilde over ( γ )}. in addition , as described below , q 1 , 2 can sometimes be limited not from intrinsic loss mechanisms but from external perturbations . in those cases , producing a desirable figure - of - merit translates to reducing q κ ( i . e . increasing the coupling ). accordingly we will demonstrate how , for particular embodiments , to reduce q κ . in some embodiments , one or more of the resonant objects are self - resonant conducting coils . referring to fig2 , a conducting wire of length l and cross - sectional radius a is wound into a helical coil of radius r and height h ( namely with n =√{ square root over ( l 2 = h 2 )}/ 2πr number of turns ), surrounded by air . as described below , the wire has distributed inductance and distributed capacitance , and therefore it supports a resonant mode of angular frequency ω . the nature of the resonance lies in the periodic exchange of energy from the electric field within the capacitance of the coil , due to the charge distribution ρ ( x ) across it , to the magnetic field in free space , due to the current distribution j ( x ) in the wire . in particular , the charge conservation equation ∇· j = iωρ implies that : ( i ) this periodic exchange is accompanied by a π / 2 phase - shift between the current and the charge density profiles , namely the energy u contained in the coil is at certain points in time completely due to the current and at other points in time completely due to the charge , and ( ii ) if ρ l ( x ) and i ( x ) are respectively the linear charge and current densities in the wire , where x runs along the wire , is the maximum amount of positive charge accumulated in one side of the coil ( where an equal amount of negative charge always also accumulates in the other side to make the system neutral ) and i o = max {| i ( x )|} is the maximum positive value of the linear current distribution , then i o = ωq o . then , one can define an effective total inductance l and an effective total capacitance c of the coil through the amount of energy u inside its resonant mode : where μ o and ε o are the magnetic permeability and electric permittivity of free space . with these definitions , the resonant angular frequency and the effective impedance are given by the common formulas ω = 1 /√{ square root over ( lc )} and z =√{ square root over ( l / c )} respectively . losses in this resonant system consist of ohmic ( material absorption ) loss inside the wire and radiative loss into free space . one can again define a total absorption resistance r abs from the amount of power absorbed inside the wire and a total radiation resistance r rad from the amount of power radiated due to electric - and magnetic - dipole radiation : where c = 1 /°{ square root over ( μ o ε o )} and ζ o =√{ square root over ( μ o / ε o )} are the light velocity and light impedance in free space , the impedance ζ c is ζ c = 1 / σδ =√{ square root over ( μ o ω / 2σ )} with σ the conductivity of the conductor and δ the skin depth at the frequency ω , is the magnetic - dipole moment of the coil . for the radiation resistance formula eq . ( 5 ), the assumption of operation in the quasi - static regime ( h , r λ = 2πc / ω )) has been used , which is the desired regime of a subwavelength resonance . with these definitions , the absorption and radiation quality factors of the resonance are given by q abs = z / r abs and q rad = z / r rad respectively . from eq . ( 2 )-( 5 ) it follows that to determine the resonance parameters one simply needs to know the current distribution j in the resonant coil . solving maxwell &# 39 ; s equations to rigorously find the current distribution of the resonant electromagnetic eigenmode of a conducting - wire coil is more involved than , for example , of a standard lc circuit , and we can find no exact solutions in the literature for coils of finite length , making an exact solution difficult . one could in principle write down an elaborate transmission - line - like model , and solve it by brute force . we instead present a model that is ( as described below ) in good agreement (˜ 5 %) with experiment . observing that the finite extent of the conductor forming each coil imposes the boundary condition that the current has to be zero at the ends of the coil , since no current can leave the wire , we assume that the resonant mode of each coil is well approximated by a sinusoidal current profile along the length of the conducting wire . we shall be interested in the lowest mode , so if we denote by x the coordinate along the conductor , such that it runs from − l / 2 to + l / 2 , then the current amplitude profile would have the form i ( x )= i o cos ( πx / l ), where we have assumed that the current does not vary significantly along the wire circumference for a particular x , a valid assumption provided a r . it immediately follows from the continuity equation for charge that the linear charge density profile should be of the form ρ l ( x )= ρ o sin ( πx / l ), and thus q o =∫ 0 1 / 2 dxρ o | sin ( πx / l )|= ρ o l / π . using these sinusoidal profiles we find the so - called “ self - inductance ” l s and “ self - capacitance ” c s of the coil by computing numerically the integrals eq . ( 2 ) and ( 3 ); the associated frequency and effective impedance are ω s and z s respectively . the “ self - resistances ” r s are given analytically by eq . ( 4 ) and and therefore the associated q s factors may be calculated . the results for two particular embodiments of resonant coils with subwavelength modes of π s / r ≧ 70 ( i . e . those highly suitable for near - field coupling and well within the quasi - static limit ) are presented in table 1 . numerical results are shown for the wavelength and absorption , radiation and total loss rates , for the two different cases of subwavelength - coil resonant modes . note that , for conducting material , copper ( σ = 5 . 998 · 10 ̂− 7 s / m ) was used . it can be seen that expected quality factors at microwave frequencies are q s abs ≧ 1000 and q s rad ≧ 5000 . referring to fig3 , in some embodiments , energy is transferred between two self - resonant conducting - wire coils . the electric and magnetic fields are used to couple the different resonant conducting - wire coils at a distance d between their centers . usually , the electric coupling highly dominates over the magnetic coupling in the system under consideration for coils with h 2r and , oppositely , the magnetic coupling highly dominates over the electric coupling for coils with h 2r . defining the charge and current distributions of two coils 1 , 2 respectively as ρ 1 , 2 ( x ) and j 1 , 2 ( x ), total charges and peak currents respectively as q 1 , 2 and i 1 , 2 , and capacitances and inductances respectively as c 1 , 2 and l 1 , 2 , which are the analogs of ρ ( x ), j ( x ), q o , i o , c and l for the single - coil case and are therefore well defined , we can define their mutual capacitance and inductance through the total energy : and the retardation factor of u = exp ( iω | x − x ′|/ c ) inside the integral can been ignored in the quasi - static regime d λ of interest , where each coil is within the near field of the other . with this definition , the coupling coefficient is given by is κ = ω √{ square root over ( c 1 c 2 )}/ 2m c + ωm l / 2 √{ square root over ( l 1 l 2 )} q κ − 1 =( m c /√{ square root over ( c 1 c 2 )}) − 1 +(√{ square root over ( l 1 l 2 )}/ m l ) − 1 , therefore , to calculate the coupling rate between two self - resonant coils , again the current profiles are needed and , by using again the assumed sinusoidal current profiles , we compute numerically from eq . ( 6 ) the mutual capacitance m c , s and inductance m l , s between two self - resonant coils at a distance d between their centers , and thus q κ , s is also determined . referring to table 2 , relevant parameters are shown for exemplary embodiments featuring pairs or identical self resonant coils . numerical results are presented for the average wavelength and loss rates of the two normal modes ( individual values not shown ), and also the coupling rate and figure - of - merit as a function of the coupling distance d , for the two cases of modes presented in table 1 . it can be seen that for medium distances d / r = 10 − 3 the expected coupling - to - loss ratios are in the range κ / γ ˜ 2 − 70 . in some embodiments , one or more of the resonant objects are capacitively - loaded conducting loops or coils . referring to fig4 a helical coil with n turns of conducting wire , as described above , is connected to a pair of conducting parallel plates of area a spaced by distance d via a dielectric material of relative permittivity ε , and everything is surrounded by air ( as shown , n = 1 and h = 0 ). the plates have a capacitance c p = ε o εa / d , which is added to the distributed capacitance of the coil and thus modifies its resonance . note however , that the presence of the loading capacitor modifies significantly the current distribution inside the wire and therefore the total effective inductance l and total effective capacitance c of the coil are different respectively from l s and c s , which are calculated for a self - resonant coil of the same geometry using a sinusoidal current profile . since some charge is accumulated at the plates of the external loading capacitor , the charge distribution p inside the wire is reduced , so c & lt ; c s , and thus , from the charge conservation equation , the current distribution j flattens out , so l & gt ; l s . the resonant frequency for this system is ω = 1 /√{ square root over ( l ( c + c p ))}& lt ; ω s = 1 /√{ square root over ( l s c s )}, and i ( x )→ i o cos ( π x / l ) c → c s ω → ω s , as c p → 0 . in general , the desired cmt parameters can be found for this system , but again a very complicated solution of maxwell &# 39 ; s equations is required . instead , we will analyze only a special case , where a reasonable guess for the current distribution can be made . when c p c s & gt ; c , then ω ≈ 1 /√{ square root over ( lc p )} ω s and z ≈√{ square root over ( l / c p )} z s , while all the charge is on the plates of the loading capacitor and thus the current distribution is constant along the wire . this allows us now to compute numerically l from eq . ( 2 ). in the case h = 0 and n integer , the integral in eq . ( 2 ) can actually be computed analytically , giving the formula l = μ o r [ ln ( 8r / a )− 2 ] n 2 . explicit analytical formulas are again available for r from eq . ( 4 ) and ( 5 ), since i rms = i o , | p |≈ 0 and | m |= i o nπr 2 ( namely only the magnetic - dipole term is contributing to radiation ), so we can determine also q abs = ωl / r abs and q rad = ωl / r rad . at the end of the calculations , the validity of the assumption of constant current profile is confirmed by checking that indeed the condition c p c s ω ω s is satisfied . to satisfy this condition , one could use a large external capacitance , however , this would usually shift the operational frequency lower than the optimal frequency , which we will determine shortly ; instead , in typical embodiments , one often prefers coils with very small self - capacitance c s to begin with , which usually holds , for the types of coils under consideration , when n = 1 , so that the self - capacitance comes from the charge distribution across the single turn , which is almost always very small , or when n & gt ; 1 and h 2na , so that the dominant self - capacitance comes from the charge distribution across adjacent turns , which is small if the separation between adjacent turns is large . the external loading capacitance c p provides the freedom to tune the resonant frequency ( for example by tuning a or d ). then , for the particular simple case h = 0 , for which we have analytical formulas , the total q = ωl /( r abs + r rad ) becomes highest at the optimal frequency at lower frequencies it is dominated by ohmic loss and at higher frequencies by radiation . note , however , that the formulas above are accurate as long as { tilde over ( ω )} ω s and , as explained above , this holds almost always when n = 1 , and is usually less accurate when n & gt ; 1 , since h = 0 usually implies a large self - capacitance . a coil with large h can be used , if the self - capacitance needs to be reduced compared to the external capacitance , but then the formulas for l and { tilde over ( ω )}, { tilde over ( q )} are again less accurate . similar qualitative behavior is expected , but a more complicated theoretical model is needed for making quantitative predictions in that case . the results of the above analysis for two embodiments of subwavelength modes of λ / r ≧ 70 ( namely highly suitable for near - field coupling and well within the quasi - static limit ) of coils with n = 1 and h = 0 at the optimal frequency eq . ( 7 ) are presented in table 3 . to confirm the validity of constant - current assumption and the resulting analytical formulas , mode - solving calculations were also performed using another completely independent method : computational 3d finite - element frequency - domain ( fefd ) simulations ( which solve maxwell &# 39 ; s equations in frequency domain exactly apart for spatial discretization ) were conducted , in which the boundaries of the conductor were modeled using a complex impedance ζ c =√{ square root over ( μ o ω / 2σ )} boundary condition , valid as long as ζ c / ζ o 1 (& lt ; 10 − 5 for copper in the microwave ). table 3 shows numerical fefd ( and in parentheses analytical ) results for the wavelength and absorption , radiation and total loss rates , for two different cases of subwavelength - loop resonant modes . note that for conducting material copper ( σ = 5 . 998 · 10 7 s / m ) was used . ( the specific parameters of the plot in fig4 are highlighted with bold in the table .) the two methods ( analytical and computational ) are in very good agreement and show that , in some embodiments , the optimal frequency is in the low - mhz microwave range and the expected quality factors are q abs ≧ 1000 and q rad ≧ 10000 . referring to fig5 , in some embodiments , energy is transferred between two capacitively - loaded coils . for the rate of energy transfer between two capacitively - loaded coils 1 and 2 at distance d between their centers , the mutual inductance m l can be evaluated numerically from eq . ( 6 ) by using constant current distributions in the case ω ω s . in the case h = 0 , the coupling is only magnetic and again we have an analytical formula , which , in the quasi - static limit r d λ and for the relative orientation shown in fig4 , is m l ≈ πμ o / 2 ·( r 1 r 2 ) 2 n 1 n 2 / d 3 , which means that q κ ∝( d /√{ square root over ( r 1 r 2 )}) 3 is independent of the frequency to and the number of turns n 1 , n 2 consequently , the resultant coupling figure - of - merit of interest is which again is more accurate for n 1 = n 2 = 1 . from eq . ( 9 ) it can be seen that the optimal frequency { tilde over ( ω )}, where the figure - of - merit is maximized to the value , is that where √{ square root over ( q 1 q 2 )} is maximized , since q κ does not depend on frequency ( at least for the distances d λ of interest for which the quasi - static approximation is still valid ). therefore , the optimal frequency is independent of the distance d between the two coils and lies between the two frequencies where the single - coil q 1 and q 2 peak . for same coils , it is given by eq . ( 7 ) and then the figure - of - merit eq . ( 9 ) becomes typically , one should tune the capacitively - loaded conducting loops or coils , so that their angular eigenfrequencies are close to { tilde over ( ω )} within { tilde over ( γ )}, which is half the angular frequency width for which √{ square root over ( q 1 q 2 )}/ q κ & gt ; / 2 . referring to table 4 , numerical fefd and , in parentheses , analytical results based on the above are shown for two systems each composed of a matched pair of the loaded coils described in table 3 . the average wavelength and loss rates are shown along with the coupling rate and coupling to loss ratio figure - of - merit κ / γ as a function of the coupling distance d , for the two cases . note that the average numerical γ rad shown are again slightly different from the single - loop value of fig3 , analytical results for γ rad are not shown but the single - loop value is used . ( the specific parameters corresponding to the plot in fig5 are highlighted with bold in the table .) again we chose n = 1 to make the constant - current assumption a good one and computed m l numerically from eq . ( 6 ). indeed the accuracy can be confirmed by their agreement with the computational fefd mode - solver simulations , which give κ through the frequency splitting (= 2κ ) of the two normal modes of the combined system . the results show that for medium distances d / r = 10 − 3 the expected coupling - to - loss ratios are in the range κ / γ ˜ 0 . 5 − 50 . in some embodiments , the results above can be used to increase or optimize the performance of a wireless energy transfer system which employs capacitively - loaded coils . for example , the scaling of eq . ( 10 ) with the different system parameters one sees that to maximize the system figure - of - merit κ / γ one can , for example : decrease the resistivity of the conducting material . this can be achieved , for example , by using good conductors ( such as copper or silver ) and / or lowering the temperature . at very low temperatures one could use also superconducting materials to achieve extremely good performance . increase the wire radius a . in typical embodiments , this action is limited by physical size considerations . the purpose of this action is mainly to reduce the resistive losses in the wire by increasing the cross - sectional area through which the electric current is flowing , so one could alternatively use also a litz wire or a ribbon instead of a circular wire . for fixed desired distance d of energy transfer , increase the radius of the loop r . in typical embodiments , this action is limited by physical size considerations . for fixed desired distance vs . loop - size ratio d / r , decrease the radius of the loop r . in typical embodiments , this action is limited by physical size considerations . increase the number of turns n . ( even though eq . ( 10 ) is expected to be less accurate for n & gt ; 1 , qualitatively it still provides a good indication that we expect an improvement in the coupling - to - loss ratio with increased n .) in typical embodiments , this action is limited by physical size and possible voltage considerations , as will be discussed in following sections . adjust the alignment and orientation between the two coils . the figure - of - merit is optimized when both cylindrical coils have exactly the same axis of cylindrical symmetry ( namely they are “ facing ” each other ). in some embodiments , particular mutual coil angles and orientations that lead to zero mutual inductance ( such as the orientation where the axes of the two coils are perpendicular ) should be avoided . finally , note that the height of the coil h is another available design parameter , which has an impact to the performance similar to that of its radius r , and thus the design rules are similar . 1001241 the above analysis technique can be used to design systems with desired parameters . for example , as listed below , the above described techniques can be used to determine the cross sectional radius a of the wire which one should use when designing as system two same single - turn loops with a given radius in order to achieve a specific performance in terms of κ / γ at a given d / r between them , when the material is copper ( σ = 5 . 998 · 10 7 s / m ): d / r = 5 , κ / γ ≧ 10 , r = 30 cm a ≧ 9 mm d / r = 5 , κ / γ ≧ 10 , r = 5 cm a ≧ 3 . 7 mm d / r = 5 , κ / γ ≧ 20 , r = 30 cm a ≧ 20 mm d / r = 5 , κ / γ ≧ 20 , r = 5 cm a ≧ 8 . 3 mm d / r = 10 , κ / γ ≧ 1 , r = 30 cm a ≧ 7 mm d / r = 10 , κ / γ ≧ 1 , r = 5 cm a ≧ 2 . 8 mm d / r = 10 , κ / γ ≧ 3 , r = 30 cm a ≧ 25 mm d / r = 10 , κ / γ ≧ 3 , r = 5 cm a ≧ 10 mm similar analysis can be done for the case of two dissimilar loops . for example , in some embodiments , the device under consideration is very specific ( e . g . a laptop or a cell phone ), so the dimensions of the device object ( r d , h d , a d , n d ) are very restricted . however , in some such embodiments , the restrictions on the source object ( r s , h s , a s , n s ) are much less , since the source can , for example , be placed under the floor or on the ceiling . in such cases , the desired distance is often well defined , based on the application ( e . g . d ˜ 1 m for charging a laptop on a table wirelessly from the floor ). listed below are examples ( simplified to the case n s = n d = 1 and h s = h d = 0 ) of how one can vary the dimensions of the source object to achieve the desired system performance in terms of κ /√{ square root over ( γ s γ d )}, when the material is again copper ( σ = 5 . 998 · 10 7 s / m ): d = 1 . 5 m , κ /√{ square root over ( γ s γ d )}≧ 15 , r d = 30 cm , a d = 6 mm r s = 1 . 158 m , a s ≧ 5 mm d = 1 . 5 m , κ /√{ square root over ( γ s γ d )}≧ 30 , r d = 30 cm , a d = 6 mm r s = 1 . 15 m , a s ≧ 33 mm d = 1 . 5 m , κ /√{ square root over ( γ s γ d )}≧ 1 , r d = 5 cm , a d = 4 mm r s = 1 . 119 m , a s ≧ 7 mm d = 1 . 5 m , κ /√{ square root over ( γ s γ d )}≧ 2 , r d = 5 cm , a d = 4 mm r s = 1 . 119 m , a s ≧ 52 mm d = 2 m , κ /√{ square root over ( γ s γ d )}≧ 10 , r d = 30 cm , a d = 6 mm r s = 1 . 518 m , a s ≧ 7 mm d = 2 m , κ /√{ square root over ( γ s γ d )}≧ 20 , r d = 30 cm , a d = 6 mm r s = 1 . 514 m , a s ≧ 50 mm d = 2 m , κ /√{ square root over ( γ s γ d )}≧ 0 . 5 , r d = 5 cm , a d = 4 mm r s = 1 . 491 m , a s ≧ 5 mm d = 2 m , κ /√{ square root over ( γ s γ d )}≧ 1 , r d = 5 cm , a d = 4 mm r s = 1 . 491 m , a s ≧ 36 mm as will be described below , in some embodiments the quality factor q of the resonant objects is limited from external perturbations and thus varying the coil parameters cannot lead to improvement in q . in such cases , one may opt to increase the coupling to loss ratio figure - of - merit by decreasing q κ ( i . e . increasing the coupling ). the coupling does not depend on the frequency and the number of turns . therefore , the remaining degrees of freedom are : increase the wire radii a 1 and a 2 . in typical embodiments , this action is limited by physical size considerations . for fixed desired distance d of energy transfer , increase the radii of the coils r 1 and r 2 . in typical embodiments , this action is limited by physical size considerations . for fixed desired distance vs . coil - sizes ratio d /√{ square root over ( r 1 r 2 )}, only the weak ( logarithmic ) dependence of the inductance remains , which suggests that one should decrease the radii of the coils r 1 and r 2 . in typical embodiments , this action is limited by physical size considerations . adjust the alignment and orientation between the two coils . in typical embodiments , the coupling is optimized when both cylindrical coils have exactly the same axis of cylindrical symmetry ( namely they are “ facing ” each other ). particular mutual coil angles and orientations that lead to zero mutual inductance ( such as the orientation where the axes of the two coils are perpendicular ) should obviously be avoided . finally , note that the heights of the coils h 1 and h 2 are other available design parameters , which have an impact to the coupling similar to that of their radii r 1 and r 2 , and thus the design rules are similar . further practical considerations apart from efficiency , e . g . physical size limitations , will be discussed in detail below . it is also important to appreciate the difference between the above described resonant - coupling inductive scheme and the well - known non - resonant inductive scheme for energy transfer . using cmt it is easy to show that , keeping the geometry and the energy stored at the source fixed , the resonant inductive mechanism allows for ˜ q 2 (˜ 10 6 ) times more power delivered for work at the device than the traditional non - resonant mechanism . this is why only close - range contact - less medium - power (˜ w ) transfer is possible with the latter , while with resonance either close - range but large - power (˜ kw ) transfer is allowed or , as currently proposed , if one also ensures operation in the strongly - coupled regime , medium - range and medium - power transfer is possible . capacitively - loaded conducting loops are currently used as resonant antennas ( for example in cell phones ), but those operate in the far - field regime with d / r l , r / λ ˜ l , and the radiation q &# 39 ; s are intentionally designed to be small to make the antenna efficient , so they are not appropriate for energy transfer . a straight conducting rod of length 2 h and cross - sectional radius a has distributed capacitance and distributed inductance , and therefore it supports a resonant mode of angular frequency ω . using the same procedure as in the case of self - resonant coils , one can define an effective total inductance l and an effective total capacitance c of the rod through formulas ( 2 ) and ( 3 ). with these definitions , the resonant angular frequency and the effective impedance are given again by the common formulas ω = 1 /√{ square root over ( lc )} and z =√{ square root over ( l / c )} respectively . to calculate the total inductance and capacitance , one can assume again a sinusoidal current profile along the length of the conducting wire . when interested in the lowest mode , if we denote by x the coordinate along the conductor , such that it runs from − h to + h , then the current amplitude profile would have the form i ( x )= i o cos ( πx / 2 h ), since it has to be zero at the open ends of the rod . this is the well - known half - wavelength electric dipole resonant mode . in some embodiments , one or more of the resonant objects are inductively - loaded conducting rods . a straight conducting rod of length 2 h and cross - sectional radius a , as in the previous paragraph , is cut into two equal pieces of length h , which are connected via a coil wrapped around a magnetic material of relative permeability μ , and everything is surrounded by air . the coil has an inductance l c , which is added to the distributed inductance of the rod and thus modifies its resonance . note however , that the presence of the center - loading inductor modifies significantly the current distribution inside the wire and therefore the total effective inductance l and total effective capacitance c of the rod are different respectively from l s and c s , which are calculated for a self - resonant rod of the same total length using a sinusoidal current profile , as in the previous paragraph . since some current is running inside the coil of the external loading inductor , the current distribution j inside the rod is reduced , so l & lt ; l s , and thus , from the charge conservation equation , the linear charge distribution ρ 1 flattens out towards the center ( being positive in one side of the rod and negative in the other side of the rod , changing abruptly through the inductor ), so c & gt ; c s . the resonant frequency for this system is ω = 1 /√{ square root over (( l + l c ) c )}& lt ; ω s = 1 /√{ square root over ( l s c s )}, and i ( x )→ i o cos ( π x / 2 h ) l → l s ω → ω s , as l c → 0 . in general , the desired cmt parameters can be found for this system , but again a very complicated solution of maxwell &# 39 ; s equations is required . instead , we will analyze only a special case , where a reasonable guess for the current distribution can be made . when l c l s & gt ; l , then ω ≈ 1 /√{ square root over ( l c c )} ω s and z ≈√{ square root over ( l c / c )} z s , while the current distribution is triangular along the rod ( with maximum at the center - loading inductor and zero at the ends ) and thus the charge distribution is positive constant on one half of the rod and equally negative constant on the other side of the rod . this allows us now to compute numerically c from eq . ( 3 ). in this case , the integral in eq . ( 3 ) can actually be computed analytically , giving the formula 1 / c = 1 /( πε o h )[ ln ( h / a )− 1 ]. explicit analytical formulas are again available for r from eq . ( 4 ) and ( 5 ), since i rms = i o , | p |= q o h and | m |= 0 ( namely only the electric - dipole term is contributing to radiation ), so we can determine also q abs = 1 / ωcr abs and q rad = 1 / ωcr rad . at the end of the calculations , the validity of the assumption of triangular current profile is confirmed by checking that indeed the condition l c l s ω ω s is satisfied . this condition is relatively easily satisfied , since typically a conducting rod has very small self - inductance l s to begin with . another important loss factor in this case is the resistive loss inside the coil of the external loading inductor l c and it depends on the particular design of the inductor . in some embodiments , the inductor is made of a brooks coil , which is the coil geometry which , for fixed wire length , demonstrates the highest inductance and thus quality factor . the brooks coil geometry has n bc turns of conducting wire of cross - sectional radius a bc wrapped around a cylindrically symmetric coil former , which forms a coil with a square cross - section of side r bc , where the inner side of the square is also at radius r bc ( and thus the outer side of the square is at radius 2 r bc ), therefore n bc ≈( r bc / 2a bc ) 2 . the inductance of the coil is then l c = 2 . 0285 μ o r bc n bc 2 ≈ 2 . 0285 μ o r bc 5 / 8a bc 4 and its resistance where the total wire length is l bc ≈ 2π ( 3 r bc / 2 ) n bc ≈ 3 πr bc 3 / 4 a bc 2 and we have used an approximate square - root law for the transition of the resistance from the dc to the ac limit as the skin depth varies with frequency . the external loading inductance l c provides the freedom to tune the resonant frequency . ( for example , for a brooks coil with a fixed size r bc , the resonant frequency can be reduced by increasing the number of turns n bc by decreasing the wire cross - sectional radius a bc . then the desired resonant angular frequency ω = 1 /√{ square root over ( l c c )} is achieved for a bc ≈( 2 . 0285 μ o r bc 5 ω 2 c ) 1 / 4 and the resulting coil quality factor is q c ≈ 0 . 169 μ o σr bc 2 ω /√{ square root over ( 1 + ω 2 μ o σ √{ square root over ( 2 . 0285 μ o ( r bc / 4 ) 5 )})}). then , for the particular simple case l c l s , for which we have analytical formulas , the total q = 1 / ωc ( r c r abs + r rad ) becomes highest at some optimal frequency { tilde over ( ω )}, reaching the value { tilde over ( q )}, both determined by the loading - inductor specific design . ( for example , for the brooks - coil procedure described above , at the optimal frequency { tilde over ( q )}≈ q c ≈ 0 . 8 ( μ o σ 2 r bc 3 / c ) 1 / 4 ) at lower frequencies it is dominated by ohmic loss inside the inductor coil and at higher frequencies by radiation . note , again , that the above formulas are accurate as long as { tilde over ( ω )} ω s and , as explained above , this is easy to design for by using a large inductance . the results of the above analysis for two embodiments , using brooks coils , of subwavelength modes of λ / h ≧ 200 ( namely highly suitable for near - field coupling and well within the quasi - static limit ) at the optimal frequency { tilde over ( ω )} are presented in table 5 . table 5 shows in parentheses ( for similarity to previous tables ) analytical results for the wavelength and absorption , radiation and total loss rates , for two different cases of subwavelength - loop resonant modes . note that for conducting material copper ( σ = 5 . 998 · 10 7 s / m ) was used . the results show that , in some embodiments , the optimal frequency is in the low - mhz microwave range and the expected quality factors are q abs ≧ 1000 and q rad ≧ 100000 . in some embodiments , energy is transferred between two inductively - loaded rods . for the rate of energy transfer between two inductively - loaded rods 1 and 2 at distance d between their centers , the mutual capacitance m c can be evaluated numerically from eq . ( 6 ) by using triangular current distributions in the case ω ω s . in this case , the coupling is only electric and again we have an analytical formula , which , in the quasi - static limit h d λ and for the relative orientation such that the two rods are aligned on the same axis , is 1 / m c ≈ 1 / 2 πε o ·( h 1 h 2 ) 2 / d 3 , which means that q κ ∝( d /√{ square root over ( h 1 h 2 )}) 3 is independent of the frequency ω . consequently , one can get the resultant coupling figure - of - merit of interest it can be seen that the optimal frequency { tilde over ( ω )}, where the figure - of - merit is maximized to the value , is that where √{ square root over ( q 1 q 2 )} is maximized , since q κ does not depend on frequency ( at least for the distances d λ of interest for which the quasi - static approximation is still valid ). therefore , the optimal frequency is independent of the distance d between the two rods and lies between the two frequencies where the single - rod q 1 and q 2 peak . typically , one should tune the inductively - loaded conducting rods , so that their angular eigenfrequencies are close to { tilde over ( ω )} within { tilde over ( γ )}, which is half the angular frequency width for which √{ square root over ( q 1 q 2 )}/ q κ & gt ; / 2 . referring to table 6 , in parentheses ( for similarity to previous tables ) analytical results based on the above are shown for two systems each composed of a matched pair of the loaded rods described in table 5 . the average wavelength and loss rates are shown along with the coupling rate and coupling to loss ratio figure - of - merit κ / γ as a function of the coupling distance d , for the two cases . note that for γ rad the single - rod value is used . again we chose l c l s to make the triangular - current assumption a good one and computed m c numerically from eq . ( 6 ). the results show that for medium distances d / h = 10 − 3 the expected coupling - to - loss ratios are in the range κ / γ ˜ 0 . 5 − 100 . in some embodiments , one or more of the resonant objects are dielectric objects , such as disks . consider a two dimensional dielectric disk object , as shown in fig6 , of radius r and relative permittivity ε surrounded by air that supports high - q “ whispering - gallery ” resonant modes . the loss mechanisms for the energy stored inside such a resonant system are radiation into free space and absorption inside the disk material . high - q rad and long - tailed subwavelength resonances can be achieved when the dielectric permittivity ε is large and the azimuthal field variations are slow ( namely of small principal number m ). material absorption is related to the material loss tangent : qabs ˜ re { ε }/ im { ε }. mode - solving calculations for this type of disk resonances were performed using two independent methods : numerically , 2d finite - difference frequency - domain ( fdfd ) simulations ( which solve maxwell &# 39 ; s equations in frequency domain exactly apart for spatial discretization ) were conducted with a resolution of 30 pts / r ; analytically , standard separation of variables ( sv ) in polar coordinates was used . the results for two te - polarized dielectric - disk subwavelength modes of λ / r ≧ 10 are presented in table 7 . table 7 shows numerical fdfd ( and in parentheses analytical sv ) results for the wavelength and absorption , radiation and total loss rates , for two different cases of subwavelength - disk resonant modes . note that disk - material loss - tangent im { ε }/ re { ε }= 10 − 4 was used . ( the specific parameters corresponding to the plot in fig6 . are highlighted with bold in the table .) the two methods have excellent agreement and imply that for a properly designed resonant low - loss - dielectric object values of q rad ≧ 2000 and qabs ˜ 10000 are achievable . note that for the 3d case the computational complexity would be immensely increased , while the physics would not be significantly different . for example , a spherical object of ε = 147 . 7 has a whispering gallery mode with m = 2 , qrad = 13962 , and λ / r = 17 . the required values of ε , shown in table 7 , might at first seem unrealistically large . however , not only are there in the microwave regime ( appropriate for approximately meter - range coupling applications ) many materials that have both reasonably high enough dielectric constants and low losses ( e . g . titania , barium tetratitanate , lithium tantalite etc . ), but also ε could signify instead the effective index of other known subwavelength surface - wave systems , such as surface modes on surfaces of metallic materials or plasmonic ( metal - like , negative - ε ) materials or metallo - dielectric photonic crystals or plasmono - dielectric photonic crystals . to calculate now the achievable rate of energy transfer between two disks 1 and 2 , as shown in fig7 we place them at distance d between their centers . numerically , the fdfd mode - solver simulations give κ through the frequency splitting (= 2κ ) of the normal modes of the combined system , which are even and odd superpositions of the initial single - disk modes ; analytically , using the expressions for the separation - of - variables eigenfields e 1 , 2 ( r ) cmt gives κ through κ = ω 1 / 2 ·∫ d 3 rε 2 ( r ) e * 2 ( r ) e 1 ( r )/∫ d 3 rε ( r )| e 1 ( r )| 2 where ε j ( r ) and ε ( r ) are the dielectric functions that describe only the disk j ( minus the constant ε o background ) and the whole space respectively . then , for medium distances d / r = 10 − 3 and for non - radiative coupling such that d & lt ; 2r c , where r c = mλ / 2π is the radius of the radiation caustic , the two methods agree very well , and we finally find , as shown in table 8 , coupling - to - loss ratios in the range κ / γ ˜ 1 = 50 . thus , for the analyzed embodiments , the achieved figure - of - merit values are large enough to be useful for typical applications , as discussed below . note that even though particular embodiments are presented and analyzed above as examples of systems that use resonant electromagnetic coupling for wireless energy transfer , those of self - resonant conducting coils , capacitively - loaded resonant conducting coils and resonant dielectric disks , any system that supports an electromagnetic mode with its electromagnetic energy extending much further than its size can be used for transferring energy . for example , there can be many abstract geometries with distributed capacitances and inductances that support the desired kind of resonances . in any one of these geometries , one can choose certain parameters to increase and / or optimize √{ square root over ( q 1 q 2 )}/ q κ or , if the q &# 39 ; s are limited by external factors , to increase and / or optimize for q κ . in general , the overall performance of particular embodiment of the resonance - based wireless energy - transfer scheme depends strongly on the robustness of the resonant objects &# 39 ; resonances . therefore , it is desirable to analyze the resonant objects &# 39 ; sensitivity to the near presence of random non - resonant extraneous objects . one appropriate analytical model is that of “ perturbation theory ” ( pt ), which suggests that in the presence of an extraneous object e the field amplitude a 1 ( t ) inside the resonant object 1 satisfies , to first order : where again ω 1 is the frequency and γ 1 the intrinsic ( absorption , radiation etc .) loss rate , while κ 11 - e is the frequency shift induced onto 1 due to the presence of e and γ 1 - e is the extrinsic due to e ( absorption inside e , scattering from e etc .) loss rate . the first - order pt model is valid only for small perturbations . nevertheless , the parameters κ 11 - e , γ 1 - e are well defined , even outside that regime , if a 1 is taken to be the amplitude of the exact perturbed mode . note also that interference effects between the radiation field of the initial resonant - object mode and the field scattered off the extraneous object can for strong scattering ( e . g . off metallic objects ) result in total radiation - γ 1 - e &# 39 ; s that are smaller than the initial radiation - γ 1 ( namely γ 1 - e is negative ). the frequency shift is a problem that can be “ fixed ” by applying to one or more resonant objects a feedback mechanism that corrects its frequency . for example , referring to fig8 a , in some embodiments each resonant object is provided with an oscillator at fixed frequency and a monitor which determines the frequency of the object . both the oscillator and the monitor are coupled to a frequency adjuster which can adjust the frequency of the resonant object by , for example , adjusting the geometric properties of the object ( e . g . the height of a self - resonant coil , the capacitor plate spacing of a capacitively - loaded loop or coil , the dimensions of the inductor of an inductively - loaded rod , the shape of a dielectric disc , etc .) or changing the position of a non - resonant object in the vicinity of the resonant object . the frequency adjuster determines the difference between the fixed frequency and the object frequency and acts to bring the object frequency into alignment with the fixed frequency . this technique assures that all resonant objects operate at the same fixed frequency , even in the presence of extraneous objects . as another example , referring to fig8 b , in some embodiments , during energy transfer from a source object to a device object , the device object provides energy to a load , and an efficiency monitor measures the efficiency of the transfer . a frequency adjuster coupled to the load and the efficiency monitor acts to adjust the frequency of the object to maximize the transfer efficiency . in various embodiments , other frequency adjusting schemes may be used which rely on information exchange between the resonant objects . for example , the frequency of a source object can be monitored and transmitted to a device object , which is in turn synched to this frequency using frequency adjusters as described above . in other embodiments the frequency of a single clock may be transmitted to multiple devices , and each device then synched to that frequency . unlike the frequency shift , the extrinsic loss can be detrimental to the functionality of the energy - transfer scheme , because it is difficult to remedy , so the total loss rate γ l [ e ] = γ 1 + γ 1 - e ( and the corresponding figure - of - merit κ [ e ] /√{ square root over ( γ 1 [ e ] γ 2 [ e ] )}, where κ [ e ] the perturbed coupling rate ) should be quantified . in embodiments using primarily magnetic resonances , the influence of extraneous objects on the resonances is nearly absent . the reason is that , in the quasi - static regime of operation ( r λ ) that we are considering , the near field in the air region surrounding the resonator is predominantly magnetic ( e . g . for coils with h 2 r most of the electric field is localized within the self - capacitance of the coil or the externally loading capacitor ), therefore extraneous non - conducting objects e that could interact with this field and act as a perturbation to the resonance are those having significant magnetic properties ( magnetic permeability re { μ }& gt ; 1 or magnetic loss im { μ }& gt ; 0 ). since almost all every - day non - conducting materials are non - magnetic but just dielectric , they respond to magnetic fields in the same way as free space , and thus will not disturb the resonance of the resonator . extraneous conducting materials can however lead to some extrinsic losses due to the eddy currents induced on their surface . as noted above , an extremely important implication of this fact relates to safety considerations for human beings . humans are also non - magnetic and can sustain strong magnetic fields without undergoing any risk . a typical example , where magnetic fields b ˜ 1t are safely used on humans , is the magnetic resonance imaging ( mri ) technique for medical testing . in contrast , the magnetic near - field required in typical embodiments in order to provide a few watts of power to devices is only b ˜ 10 − 4 t , which is actually comparable to the magnitude of the earth &# 39 ; s magnetic field . since , as explained above , a strong electric near - field is also not present and the radiation produced from this non - radiative scheme is minimal , it is reasonable to expect that our proposed energy - transfer method should be safe for living organisms . one can , for example , estimate the degree to which the resonant system of a capacitively - loaded conducting - wire coil has mostly magnetic energy stored in the space surrounding it . if one ignores the fringing electric field from the capacitor , the electric and magnetic energy densities in the space surrounding the coil come just from the electric and magnetic field produced by the current in the wire ; note that in the far field , these two energy densities must be equal , as is always the case for radiative fields . by using the results for the fields produced by a subwavelength ( r λ ) current loop ( magnetic dipole ) with h = 0 , we can calculate the ratio of electric to magnetic energy densities , as a function of distance d p from the center of the loop ( in the limit r d p ) and the angle θ with respect to the loop axis : where the second line is the ratio of averages over all angles by integrating the electric and magnetic energy densities over the surface of a sphere of radius d p . from eq . ( 12 ) it is obvious that indeed for all angles in the near field ( x 1 ) the magnetic energy density is dominant , while in the far field ( x 1 ) they are equal as they should be . also , the preferred positioning of the loop is such that objects which may interfere with its resonance lie close to its axis ( θ = 0 ), where there is no electric field . for example , using the systems described in table 4 , we can estimate from eq . ( 12 ) that for the loop of r = 30 cm at a distance d p = 10 r = 3 m the ratio of average electric to average magnetic energy density would be ˜ 12 % and at d p = 3 r = 90 cm it would be ˜ 1 %, and for the loop of r = 10 cm at a distance d p = 10 r = 1 m the ratio would be ˜ 33 % and at d p = 3 r = 30 cm it would be ˜ 2 . 5 %. at closer distances this ratio is even smaller and thus the energy is predominantly magnetic in the near field , while in the radiative far field , where they are necessarily of the same order ( ratio → 1 ), both are very small , because the fields have significantly decayed , as capacitively - loaded coil systems are designed to radiate very little . therefore , this is the criterion that qualifies this class of resonant system as a magnetic resonant system . to provide an estimate of the effect of extraneous objects on the resonance of a capacitively - loaded loop including the capacitor fringing electric field , we use the perturbation theory formula , stated earlier , γ 1 - c abs = ω 1 / 4 ·∫ d 3 rim { ε e ( r )}| e 1 ( r )| 2 / u with the computational fefd results for the field of an example like the one shown in the plot of fig5 and with a rectangular object of dimensions 30 cm × 30 cm × 1 . 5 m and permittivity ε = 49 + 16 i ( consistent with human muscles ) residing between the loops and almost standing on top of one capacitor (˜ 3 cm away from it ) and find q c - h abs ˜ 10 5 and for ˜ 10 cm away q c - h abs ˜ 5 · 10 5 . thus , for ordinary distances (˜ 1 m ) and placements ( not immediately on top of the capacitor ) or for most ordinary extraneous objects e of much smaller loss - tangent , we conclude that it is indeed fair to say that q c - e abs →∞. the only perturbation that is expected to affect these resonances is a close proximity of large metallic structures . self - resonant coils are more sensitive than capacitively - loaded coils , since for the former the electric field extends over a much larger region in space ( the entire coil ) rather than for the latter oust inside the capacitor ). on the other hand , self - resonant coils are simple to make and can withstand much larger voltages than most lumped capacitors . in general , different embodiments of resonant systems have different degree of sensitivity to external perturbations , and the resonant system of choice depends on the particular application at hand , and how important matters of sensitivity or safety are for that application . for example , for a medical implantable device ( such as a wirelessly powered artificial heart ) the electric field extent must be minimized to the highest degree possible to protect the tissue surrounding the device . in such cases where sensitivity to external objects or safety is important , one should design the resonant systems so that the ratio of electric to magnetic energy density u e / u m is reduced or minimized at most of the desired ( according to the application ) points in the surrounding space . in embodiments using resonances that are not primarily magnetic , the influence of extraneous objects may be of concern . for example , for dielectric disks , small , low - index , low - material - loss or far - away stray objects will induce small scattering and absorption . in such cases of small perturbations these extrinsic loss mechanisms can be quantified using respectively the analytical first - order perturbation theory formulas all perturbations γ 1 - e rad = ω 1 ∫ d 3 rre { ε e ( r )}| e 1 ( r )| 2 / u γ 1 - e abs = ω 1 / 4 ·∫ d 3 rim { ε e ( r )}| e 1 ( r )| 2 / u where u = 1 / 2 ∫ d 3 rε ( r )| e 1 ( r )| 2 is the total resonant electromagnetic energy of the unperturbed mode . as one can see , both of these losses depend on the square of the resonant electric field tails e 1 at the site of the extraneous object . in contrast , the coupling rate from object 1 to another resonant object 2 is , as stated earlier , κ = ω 1 / 2 ·∫ d 3 rε 2 ( r ) e * 2 ( r ) e 1 ( r )/∫ d 3 rε ( r )| e 1 ( r )| 2 and depends linearly on the field tails e 1 of 1 inside 2 . this difference in scaling gives us confidence that , for , for example , exponentially small field tails , coupling to other resonant objects should be much faster than all extrinsic loss rates ( κ γ 1 - e ), at least for small perturbations , and thus the energy - transfer scheme is expected to be sturdy for this class of resonant dielectric disks . however , we also want to examine certain possible situations where extraneous objects cause perturbations too strong to analyze using the above first - order perturbation theory approach . for example , we place a dielectric disk c close to another off - resonance object of large re { ε }, im { ε } and of same size but different shape ( such as a human being h ), as shown in fig9 a , and a roughened surface of large extent but of small re { ε }, im { ε } ( such as a wall w ), as shown in fig9 b . for distances dh / w / r = 10 − 3 between the disk - center and the “ human ”- center or “ wall ”, the numerical fdfd simulation results presented in fig9 a and 9 b suggest that , the disk resonance seems to be fairly robust , since it is not detrimentally disturbed by the presence of extraneous objects , with the exception of the very close proximity of high - loss objects . to examine the influence of large perturbations on an entire energy - transfer system we consider two resonant disks in the close presence of both a “ human ” and a “ wall ”. comparing fig7 to fig9 c , the numerical fdfd simulations show that the system performance deteriorates from κ / γ c ˜ 1 − 50 to κ [ hw ]/ γ c [ hw ] ˜ 0 . 5 − 10 i . e . only by acceptably small amounts . inductively - loaded conducting rods may also be more sensitive than capacitively - loaded coils , since they rely on the electric field to achieve the coupling . in general , another important factor for any energy transfer scheme is the transfer efficiency . consider again the combined system of a resonant source s and device d in the presence of a set of extraneous objects e . the efficiency of this resonance - based energy - transfer scheme may be determined , when energy is being drained from the device at rate γ work for use into operational work . the coupled - mode - theory equation for the device field - amplitude is where γ d [ e ] = γ d [ e ] rad + γ d [ e ] abs = γ d [ e ] rad +( γ d abs + γ d - e abs ) is the net perturbed - device loss rate , and similarly we define γ s [ c ] for the perturbed - source . different temporal schemes can be used to extract power from the device ( e . g . steady - state continuous - wave drainage , instantaneous drainage at periodic times and so on ) and their efficiencies exhibit different dependence on the combined system parameters . for simplicity , we assume steady state , such that the field amplitude inside the source is maintained constant , namely a s ( t )= a s e − iωt , so then the field amplitude inside the device is a d ( t )= a d e − iωt with a d / a s = iκ [ e ] /( γ d [ e ] + γ work ). the various time - averaged powers of interest are then : the useful extracted power is p work = 2γ work | a d | 2 , the radiated ( including scattered ) power is p rad = 2γ s [ e ] rad | a s | 2 + 2γ d [ e ] rad | a d | 2 , the power absorbed at the source / device is p s / d = 2γ s / d abs | a s / d ] 2 , and at the extraneous objects p e = 2γ s - e abs | a s | 2 + 2γ d - e abs | a 2 | 2 . from energy conservation , the total time - averaged power entering the system is p total = p work + p rad + p s + p d + p c . note that the reactive powers , which are usually present in a system and circulate stored energy around it , cancel at resonance ( which can be proven for example in electromagnetism from poynting &# 39 ; s theorem ) and do not influence the power - balance calculations . the working efficiency is then : where from [ e ] = κ [ e ] /√{ square root over ( γ s [ c ] γ d [ e ] )} is the distance - dependent figure - of - merit of the perturbed resonant energy - exchange system . to derive eq . ( 14 ), we have assumed that the rate γ supply , at which the power supply is feeding energy to the resonant source , is γ supply = γ s [ e ] + κ 2 /( γ d [ e ] + γ work ), such that there are zero reflections of the fed power p total back into the power supply . referring to fig1 , to rederive and express this formula ( 14 ) in terms of the parameters which are more directly accessible from particular resonant objects , e . g . the capacitively - loaded conducting loops , one can consider the following circuit - model of the system , where the inductances l s , l d represent the source and device loops respectively , r s , r d their respective losses , and c s , c d are the required corresponding capacitances to achieve for both resonance at frequency ω . a voltage generator v g is considered to be connected to the source and a work ( load ) resistance r ω to the device . the mutual inductance is denoted by m . then from the source circuit at resonance ( ωl s = 1 / ωc s ): and from the device circuit at resonance ( ωl d = 1 / ωc d ): 0 = i d ( r d + r ω )− jωmi s jωmi s = i d ( r d + r ω ) now we take the real part ( time - averaged powers ) to find the efficiency : which with γ work = r ω / 2 l d , γ d = r d / 2 l d , γ s = r s / 2 l s , and κ = ωm / 2 √{ square root over ( l s l d )}, becomes the general eq . ( 14 ). [ end of example ] from eq . ( 14 ) one can find that the efficiency is optimized in terms of the chosen work - drainage rate , when this is chosen to be γ work / γ d [ e ] = γ s [ e ]=√ { square root over ( 1 + fom [ c 2 )}& gt ; 1 . then , η work is a function of the fom [ e ] parameter only as shown in fig1 with a solid black line . one can see that the efficiency of the system is η & gt ; 17 % for fom [ e ] & gt ; 1 , large enough for practical applications . thus , the efficiency can be further increased towards 100 % by optimizing fom [ e ] as described above . the ratio of conversion into radiation loss depends also on the other system parameters , and is plotted in fig5 for the conducting loops with values for their parameters within the ranges determined earlier . for example , consider the capacitively - loaded coil embodiments described in table 4 , with coupling distance d / r = 7 , a “ human ” extraneous object at distance d h from the source , and that p work = 10 w must be delivered to the load . then , we have ( based on fig1 ) q s [ h ] rad = q d [ h ] rad ˜ 10 4 , q s abs = q d abs ˜ 10 3 , q κ ˜ 500 , and q d - h abs →∞, q s abs ˜ 10 5 at d h ˜ 3 cm and q s - h abs ˜ 5 · 10 5 at d h ˜ 10 cm . therefore fom [ h ] ˜ 2 , so we find η ≈ 38 % , p rad ≈ 1 . 5 w , p s ≈ 11 w , p d ≈ 4 w , and most importantly η h ≈ 0 . 4 %, p h = 0 . 1 w at d h ˜ 3 cm and η h ≈ 0 . 1 %, p h = 0 . 02 w at d h ˜ 10 cm . in many cases , the dimensions of the resonant objects will be set by the particular application at hand . for example , when this application is powering a laptop or a cell - phone , the device resonant object cannot have dimensions larger that those of the laptop or cell - phone respectively . in particular , for a system of two loops of specified dimensions , in terms of loop radii r s , d and wire radii a s , d , the independent parameters left to adjust for the system optimization are : the number of turns n s , d , the frequency f , the work - extraction rate ( load resistance ) γ work and the power - supply feeding rate γ supply . in general , in various embodiments , the primary dependent variable that one wants to increase or optimize is the overall efficiency η . however , other important variables need to be taken into consideration upon system design . for example , in embodiments featuring capacitively - loaded coils , the design may be constrained by , for example , the currents flowing inside the wires i s , d and the voltages across the capacitors v s , d . these limitations can be important because for ˜ watt power applications the values for these parameters can be too large for the wires or the capacitors respectively to handle . furthermore , the total loaded q tot = ωl d /( r d + r w ) of the device is a quantity that should be preferably small , because to match the source and device resonant frequencies to within their q &# 39 ; s , when those are very large , can be challenging experimentally and more sensitive to slight variations . lastly , the radiated powers p rad , s , d should be minimized for safety concerns , even though , in general , for a magnetic , non - radiative scheme they are already typically small . in the following , we examine then the effects of each one of the independent variables on the dependent ones . we define a new variable wp to express the work - drainage rate for some particular value of fom [ e ] through γ work / γ d [ c ] =√{ square root over ( 1 + ωp · fom [ c ] 2 )}. then , in some embodiments , values which impact the choice of this rate are : γ work / γ d [ e ] = 1 ωp = 0 wp = 0 to minimize the required energy stored in the source ( and therefore i s and v s ), γ work / γ d [ e ] =√{ square root over ( 1 + fom [ c ] 2 )}& gt ; 1 ωp = 1 to increase the efficiency , as seen earlier , or γ work / γ d [ e ] 1 ωp 1 to decrease the required energy stored in the device ( and therefore i d and v d ) and to decrease or minimize q tot = ωl d /( r d + r w )= ω /[ 2 ( γ d + γ work )]. similar is the impact of the choice of the power supply feeding rate γ supply , with the roles of the source and the device reversed . increasing n s and n d increases κ /√{ square root over ( γ s γ d )} and thus efficiency significantly , as seen before , and also decreases the currents i s and i d , because the inductance of the loops increases , and thus the energy required for given output power p work can be achieved with smaller currents . however , increasing n d increases q tot , p rod , d and the voltage across the device capacitance v d , which unfortunately ends up being , in typical embodiments one of the greatest limiting factors of the system . to explain this , note that it is the electric field that really induces breakdown of the capacitor material ( e . g . 3 kv / mm for air ) and not the voltage , and that for the desired ( close to the optimal ) operational frequency , the increased inductance l d implies reduced required capacitance c d , which could be achieved in principle , for a capacitively - loaded device coil by increasing the spacing of the device capacitor plates d d and for a self - resonant coil by increasing through h d the spacing of adjacent turns , resulting in an electric field (≈ v d / d d for the former case ) that actually decreases with n d ; however , one cannot in reality increase d d or h d too much , because then the undesired capacitance fringing electric fields would become very large and / or the size of the coil might become too large ; and , in any case , for certain applications extremely high voltages are not desired . a similar increasing behavior is observed for the source p rad , s and v s upon increasing n s . as a conclusion , the number of turns n s and n d have to be chosen the largest possible ( for efficiency ) that allow for reasonable voltages , fringing electric fields and physical sizes . with respect to frequency , again , there is an optimal one for efficiency , and q tot is approximately maximum , close to that optimal frequency . for lower frequencies the currents get worse ( larger ) but the voltages and radiated powers get better ( smaller ). usually , one should pick either the optimal frequency or somewhat lower . one way to decide on an operating regime for the system is based on a graphical method . in fig1 , for two loops of r s = 25 cm , r d = 15 cm , h s = h d = 0 , a s = a d = 3 mm and distance d = 2 mm between them , we plot all the above dependent variables ( currents , voltages and radiated powers normalized to 1 watt of output power ) in terms of frequency and n d , given some choice for wp and n s . the figure depicts all of the dependencies explained above . we can also make a contour plot of the dependent variables as functions of both frequency and wp but for both n s and n d fixed . the results are shown in fig1 for the same loop dimensions and distance . for example , a reasonable choice of parameters for the system of two loops with the dimensions given above are : n s = 2 , n d = 6 , f = 10 mhz and wp = 10 , which gives the following performance characteristics : η work = 20 . 6 %, q tot = 1264 , i s = 7 . 2 a , i d = 1 . 4 a , v s = 2 . 55 kv , v d = 2 . 30 kv , p rad , s = 0 . 15 w , p rad , d = 0 . 006 w . note that the results in fig1 and 13 , and the just above calculated performance characteristics are made using the analytical formulas provided above , so they are expected to be less accurate for large values of n s , n d , still they give a good estimate of the scalings and the orders of magnitude . finally , one could additionally optimize for the source dimensions , since usually only the device dimensions are limited , as discussed earlier . namely , one can add r s and a s in the set of independent variables and optimize with respect to these too for all the dependent variables of the problem ( we saw how to do this only for efficiency earlier ). such an optimization would lead to improved results . an experimental realization of an embodiment of the above described scheme for wireless energy transfer consists of two self - resonant coils of the type described above , one of which ( the source coil ) is coupled inductively to an oscillating circuit , and the second ( the device coil ) is coupled inductively to a resistive load , as shown schematically in fig1 . referring to fig1 , a is a single copper loop of radius 25 cm that is part of the driving circuit , which outputs a sine wave with frequency 9 . 9 mhz . s and d are respectively the source and device coils referred to in the text . b is a loop of wire attached to the load (” light - bulb “). the various κ &# 39 ; s represent direct couplings between the objects . the angle between coil d and the loop a is adjusted so that their direct coupling is zero , while coils s and d are aligned coaxially . the direct coupling between b and a and between b and s is negligible . the parameters for the two identical helical coils built for the experimental validation of the power transfer scheme were h = 20 cm , a = 3 mm , r = 30 cm , n = 5 . 25 . both coils are made of copper . due to imperfections in the construction , the spacing between loops of the helix is not uniform , and we have encapsulated the uncertainty about their uniformity by attributing a 10 % ( 2 cm ) uncertainty to h . the expected resonant frequency given these dimensions is f o = 10 . 56 ± 0 . 3 mhz , which is about 5 % off from the measured resonance at around 9 . 90 mhz . the theoretical q for the loops is estimated to be ˜ 2500 ( assuming perfect copper of resistivity ρ = 1 / σ = 1 . 7 × 10 − 8 ωm ) but the measured value is 950 ± 50 . we believe the discrepancy is mostly due to the effect of the layer of poorly conducting copper oxide on the surface of the copper wire , to which the current is confined by the short skin depth (˜ 20 μm ) at this frequency . we have therefore used the experimentally observed q ( and γ 1 = γ 2 = γ = ω /( 2q ) derived from it ) in all subsequent computations . the coupling coefficient κ can be found experimentally by placing the two self - resonant coils ( fine - tuned , by slightly adjusting h , to the same resonant frequency when isolated ) a distance d apart and measuring the splitting in the frequencies of the two resonant modes in the transmission spectrum . according to coupled - mode theory , the splitting in the transmission spectrum should be δω = 2 √{ square root over ( κ 2 − γ 2 )}. the comparison between experimental and theoretical results as a function of distance when the two the coils are aligned coaxially is shown in fig1 . fig1 shows a comparison of experimental and theoretical values for the parameter κ / γ as a function of the separation between the two coils . the theory values are obtained by using the theoretically obtained κ and the experimentally measured γ . the shaded area represents the spread in the theoretical κ / γ due to the ˜ 5 % uncertainty in q . as noted above , the maximum theoretical efficiency depends only on the parameter κ /√{ square root over ( γ 1 γ 2 )}= κ / γ , plotted as a function of distance in fig1 . the coupling to loss ratio κ / γ is greater than 1 even for d = 2 . 4 m ( eight times the radius of the coils ), thus the system is in the strongly - coupled regime throughout the entire range of distances probed . the power supply circuit was a standard colpitts oscillator coupled inductively to the source coil by means of a single loop of copper wire 25 cm in radius ( see fig1 ). the load consisted of a previously calibrated light - bulb , and was attached to its own loop of insulated wire , which was in turn placed in proximity of the device coil and inductively coupled to it . thus , by varying the distance between the light - bulb and the device coil , the parameter γ work / γ was adjusted so that it matched its optimal value , given theoretically by √{ square root over ( 1 + κ 2 /( γ 1 γ 2 ))}. because of its inductive nature ; the loop connected to the light - bulb added a small reactive component to γ work which was compensated for by slightly returning the coil . the work extracted was determined by adjusting the power going into the colpitts oscillator until the light - bulb at the load was at its full nominal brightness . in order to isolate the efficiency of the transfer taking place specifically between the source coil and the load , we measured the current at the mid - point of each of the self - resonant coils with a current - probe ( which was not found to lower the q of the coils noticeably .) this gave a measurement of the current parameters i 1 and i 2 defined above . the power dissipated in each coil was then computed from p 1 , 2 = γl | i 1 , 2 | 2 , and the efficiency was directly obtained from η = p work /( p 1 + p 2 + p work ). to ensure that the experimental setup was well described by a two - object coupled - mode theory model , we positioned the device coil such that its direct coupling to the copper loop attached to the colpitts oscillator was zero . the experimental results are shown in fig1 , along with the theoretical prediction for maximum efficiency , given by eq . ( 14 ). this embodiment , we were able to transfer significant amounts of power using this setup , fully lighting up a 60 w light - bulb from distances more than 2 m away , for example . as an additional test , we also measured the total power going into the driving circuit . the efficiency of the wireless transfer itself was hard to estimate in this way , however , as the efficiency of the colpitts oscillator itself is not precisely known , although it is expected to be far from 100 %. nevertheless , this gave an overly conservative lower bound on the efficiency . when transferring 60 w to the load over a distance of 2 m , for example , the power flowing into the driving circuit was 400 w . this yields an overall wall - to - load efficiency of ˜ 15 %, which is reasonable given the expected ˜ 40 % efficiency for the wireless power transfer at that distance and the low efficiency of the driving circuit . from the theoretical treatment above , we see that in typical embodiments it is important that the coils be on resonance for the power transfer to be practical . we found experimentally that the power transmitted to the load dropped sharply as one of the coils was detuned from resonance . for a fractional detuning δf / f o of a few times the inverse loaded q , the induced current in the device coil was indistinguishable from noise . the power transfer was not found to be visibly affected as humans and various everyday objects , such as metallic and wooden furniture , as well as electronic devices large and small , were placed between the two coils , even when they drastically obstructed the line of sight between source and device . external objects were found to have an effect only when they were closer than 10 cm from either one of the coils . while some materials ( such as aluminum foil , styrofoam and humans ) mostly just shifted the resonant frequency , which could in principle be easily corrected with a feedback circuit of the type described earlier , others ( cardboard , wood , and pvc ) lowered q when placed closer than a few centimeters from the coil , thereby lowering the efficiency of the transfer . we believe that this method of power transfer should be safe for humans . when transferring 60 w ( more than enough to power a laptop computer ) across 2 m , we estimated that the magnitude of the magnetic field generated is much weaker than the earth &# 39 ; s magnetic field for all distances except for less than about 1 cm away from the wires in the coil , an indication of the safety of the scheme even after long - term use . the power radiated for these parameters was ˜ 5 w , which is roughly an order of magnitude higher than cell phones but could be drastically reduced , as discussed below . although the two coils are currently of identical dimensions , it is possible to make the device coil small enough to fit into portable devices without decreasing the efficiency . one could , for instance , maintain the product of the characteristic sizes of the source and device coils constant . these experiments demonstrated experimentally a system for power transfer over medium range distances , and found that the experimental results match theory well in multiple independent and mutually consistent tests . we believe that the efficiency of the scheme and the distances covered could be appreciably improved by silver - plating the coils , which should increase their q , or by working with more elaborate geometries for the resonant objects . nevertheless , the performance characteristics of the system presented here are already at levels where they could be useful in practical applications . in conclusion , we have described several embodiments of a resonance - based scheme for wireless non - radiative energy transfer . although our consideration has been for a static geometry ( namely κ and γ e were independent of time ), all the results can be applied directly for the dynamic geometries of mobile objects , since the energy - transfer time κ − 1 (˜ 1 μs − 1 ms for microwave applications ) is much shorter than any timescale associated with motions of macroscopic objects . analyses of very simple implementation geometries provide encouraging performance characteristics and further improvement is expected with serious design optimization . thus the proposed mechanism is promising for many modern applications . for example , in the macroscopic world , this scheme could potentially be used to deliver power to for example , robots and / or computers in a factory room , or electric buses on a highway . in some embodiments source - object could be an elongated “ pipe ” running above the highway , or along the ceiling . some embodiments of the wireless transfer scheme can provide energy to power or charge devices that are difficult or impossible to reach using wires or other techniques . for example some embodiments may provide power to implanted medical devices ( e . g . artificial hearts , pacemakers , medicine delivery pumps , etc .) or buried underground sensors . in the microscopic world , where much smaller wavelengths would be used and smaller powers are needed , one could use it to implement optical inter - connects for cmos electronics , or to transfer energy to autonomous nano - objects ( e . g . mems or nano - robots ) without worrying much about the relative alignment between the sources and the devices . furthermore , the range of applicability could be extended to acoustic systems , where the source and device are connected via a common condensed - matter object . in some embodiments , the techniques described above can provide non - radiative wireless transfer of information using the localized near fields of resonant object . such schemes provide increased security because no information is radiated into the far - field , and are well suited for mid - range communication of highly sensitive information . 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 . | 7 |
the present methods are directed to treating or preventing age - related retinal dysfunction in a subject via long - term administration of a pharmaceutically effective amount of a synthetic retinal derivative . as used herein , the term “ age - related retinal dysfunction ” refers to age - related decreases in retinal photoreceptor function . the term is meant to include the age - related impairments related to electroretinogram deficits and photoreceptor cell death and structural abnormalities that have been observed in both animal and human studies of aging . in one aspect , the age - related retinal dysfunction comprises a slowing of rod - mediated dark adaptation after light exposure , a decrease in night vision , and / or a decrease in contrast sensitivity . in another aspect , the age - related retinal dysfunction comprises age - related macular degeneration ( amd ). the amd can be wet or dry forms . the terms “ treating ,” treatment ,” and the like are used herein to generally mean obtaining a desired pharmacological and physiological effect . more specifically , the synthetic retinal derivatives described herein which are used to treat a subject with age - related retinal dysfunction generally are provided in a therapeutically effective amount to achieve an improvement in age - related retinal dysfunction or an inhibited development of age - related retinal dysfunction in the visual system of an ageing subject , as compared with a comparable visual system not receiving the synthetic retinal derivative . an improvement in age - related retinal dysfunction includes long - term ( e . g ., as measured in weeks or months ) improvement or restoration of photoreceptor function in a visual system , as compared with a comparable visual system not receiving the synthetic retinal derivative . improvement also includes stabilization of , or minimization of additional degradation in , a vertebrate visual system , as compared with a comparable vertebrate visual system not receiving the synthetic retinal derivative . the terms “ preventing ,” “ prevention ,” and the like are used generally to mean preventing or inhibiting deterioration or further deterioration of the visual system of an aging subject , as compared with a comparable visual system not receiving the synthetic retinal derivative . the term “ pharmaceutically effective ” as used herein refers to the effectiveness of a particular treatment or prevention regime . pharmaceutical efficacy can be measured based on such characteristics as , for example , an increased or stabilized rate of dark - adaptation , a higher or stabilized rhodpsin / opsin ratio , a higher or stabilized rhodopsin regeneration rate , or other such improvements in electrotretinographic ( erg ) responses . in the present methods , a synthetic retinal derivative is administered to a subject . as used herein , the term “ subject ” or “ patient ” refers to a vertebrate , for example a mammal such as a human . in one embodiment , the subject is an aging subject , such as a human , suffering from age - related retinal dysfunction . as used herein , an aging human subject is typically at least 45 , or at least 50 , or at least 60 , or at least 65 years old . the subject has an aging eye , which is characterized as having age - related retinal dysfunction . age - related retinal dysfunction may be manifested by one or more of the following clinical conditions : an impairment in rod - mediated dark adaptation after light exposure , an impairment in night vision , an impairment in contrast sensitivity , and age - related macular degeneration ( amd ). the synthetic retinal derivative is administered using long - term ( chronic ) dosage regimens . in one embodiment , the synthetic retinal derivative is administered intermittently for three months or longer ; and , in another embodiment , for six months or longer . the synthetic retinal derivative can be administered , for example , for a period of about three , four , five , six , seven , eight , nine , ten , eleven , or twelve months , or longer . the synthetic retinal derivative can be intermittently administered to the subject about once a day to about once every two months . intermittent administration includes administration to the subject about once every other day ; about four times a week , three times a week , and two times a week ; about once every two , three , four , five , six , seven , eight , and nine weeks ; and about once a month . in one embodiment , the synthetic retinal derivative is administered about once every three to six weeks for a period of about three months or longer ; and in another embodiment , it is administered about once a month for about six to ten months . the amount of synthetic retinal derivative administered per dose can be increased as the time period between doses is increased . for example , if the synthetic retinal derivative is administered less than once a day , the dose per administration can be greater than the effective daily dose . as used herein , an “ effective daily dose ” refers to a daily dose effective for obtaining a desired pharmacological and physiological effect ( i . e . a daily dose effective for “ treating ” and / or “ preventing ” age related retinal dysfunction in a subject as described above ). in addition , the synthetic retinal derivative can be chronically released from a controlled drug delivery formulation and / or device for an extended period of time , e . g ., for a period of about three months or longer ; or for a period of about six months or longer . a wide variety of methods for controlled release have been developed and are known to those skilled in the art , including pumps , patches , tablets , implants , microchips , and polymeric systems . suitable doses of synthetic retinal derivatives will depend on the clinical status , condition and age of the patient , the active agent , the formulation and dosage form , the frequency of dosing , and the like . in many instances the selection of an appropriate dose will be within the skill of a suitable healthcare practitioner such as a physician or nurse . in the case of eye drops , a synthetic retinal derivative can be administered , for example , from about 0 . 01 mg , about 0 . 1 mg , or about 1 mg , to about 25 mg , to about 50 mg , or to about 90 mg per single dose . in the case of injection , suitable doses are about 0 . 0001 mg , about 0 . 001 mg , about 0 . 01 mg , or about 0 . 1 mg to about 10 mg , to about 25 mg , to about 50 mg , or to about 500 mg of the synthetic retinal derivative . suitable oral doses range from about 0 . 1 to about 1000 mg of the synthetic retinal derivative . in other embodiments , about 1 . 0 to about 300 mg of synthetic retinal derivative can be administered per dose . in certain embodiments , the dose is an oral dose of about 0 . 01 to about 10 mg / kg body weight ; about 0 . 05 to about 7 . 5 mg / kg body weight ; about 0 . 1 to about 5 mg / kg body weight ; or about 0 . 5 to about 2 . 5 mg / kg body weight . for example , the synthetic retinal derivative can be administered at an oral dosage of about 6 . 4 mg / kg body weight ( i . e . about 240 mg / m 2 body surface area ). in another embodiment , the dose is an oral daily dose of about 0 . 1 to about 1 mg / kg body weight , such as an oral daily dose of about 0 . 1 , 0 . 2 , 0 . 3 , 0 . 4 , 0 . 5 , 0 . 6 , 0 . 7 , 0 . 8 , 0 . 9 , or 1 mg / kg body weight . synthetic retinal derivatives suitable for the methods of the present invention have been described in international patent publication nos . wo 2004 / 082622 a2 and wo 2006 / 002097 a2 , and in u . s . patent publication no . 2004 / 0242704 a1 . a synthetic retinal derivative suitable for the methods of the present invention is a derivative of 9 - cis - retinal or 11 - cis - retinal in which the aldehydic group in the polyene chain is modified . the synthetic retinal derivative can be converted directly or indirectly into a retinal or a synthetic retinal analog . thus , in some aspects , the compounds according to the present invention can be described as pro - drugs , which upon metabolic transformation are converted into 9 - cis - retinal , 11 - cis - retinal or a synthetic retinal analog thereof . metabolic transformation can occur , for example , by acid hydrolysis , esterase activity , acetyltransferase activity , dehydrogenase activity , or the like . the synthetic retinal derivative can be a retinoid replacement , supplementing the levels of endogenous retinoid . in some embodiments , the synthetic retinal can bind to opsin , and function as an opsin agonist . as used herein , the term “ agonist ” refers to a synthetic retinal that binds to opsin and facilitates the ability of an opsin / synthetic retinal complex to respond to light . as an opsin agonist , a synthetic retinal can spare the requirement for endogenous retinoid ( e . g ., 11 - cis - retinal ). a synthetic retinal also can restore or improve function ( e . g ., photoreception ) to opsin by binding to opsin and forming a functional opsin / synthetic retinal complex , whereby the opsin / synthetic retinal complex can respond to photons when part of a rod or cone membrane . synthetic retinal derivatives can be administered to restore or stabilize photoreceptor function , and / or to ameliorate the effects of a deficiency in retinoid levels . photoreceptor function can be restored or stabilized , for example , by providing a synthetic retinal derivative as an 11 - cis - retinoid replacement and / or an opsin agonist . the synthetic retinal derivative also can ameliorate the effects of a retinoid deficiency on a vertebrate visual system . the synthetic retinal derivative can be administered prophylactically or therapeutically to a vertebrate . suitable vertebrates include , for example , human and non - human vertebrates . suitable non - human vertebrates include , for example , mammals , such as dogs ( canine ), cats ( feline ), horses ( equine ) and other domesticated animals . in one aspect of the invention , the synthetic retinal derivatives are derivatives of 9 - cis - retinal or 11 - cis - retinal in which the aldehydic group in the polyene chain is converted to an ester , ether , alcohol , hemi - acetal , acetal , or oxime , as further described herein . such synthetic retinal derivatives include 9 - cis - retinyl esters , 9 - cis - retinyl ethers , 9 - cis - retinol , 9 - cis - retinal oximes , 9 - cis - retinyl acetals , 9 - cis - retinyl hemiacetals , 11 - cis - retinyl esters , 11 - cis - retinyl ethers , 11 - cis - retinol , 11 - cis - retinyl oximes , 11 - cis - retinyl acetals and 11 - cis - retinyl hemiacetals , as further described herein . the synthetic retinal derivative can be metabolized to release a natural or synthetic retinal , such as for example , 9 - cis - retinal , 11 - cis - retinal or a synthetic retinal analog thereof , such as those described herein or in international patent publication nos . wo 2004 / 082622 a2 and wo 2006 / 002097 a2 . in one aspect , the synthetic retinal derivative is a retinyl ester . in some embodiments , the retinyl ester is a 9 - cis - retinyl ester or an 11 - cis - retinyl ester having a . the ester substituent can be , for example , a carboxylic acid , such as a mono - or polycarboxylic acid . as used herein , a “ polycarboxylic acid ” is a di -, tri - or higher order carboxylic acid . in some embodiments , the carboxylic acid is a c 1 - c 22 , c 2 - c 22 , c 3 - c 22 , c 1 - c 10 , c 2 - c 10 , c 3 - c 10 , c 4 - c 10 , c 4 - c 8 , c 4 - c 6 or c 4 monocarboxylic acid , or polycarboxylic acid . suitable carboxylic acid groups include , for example , acetic acid , propionic acid , butyric acid , valeric acid , caproic acid , caprylic acid , pelargonic acid , capric acid , lauric acid , oleic acid , stearic acid , palmitic acid , myristic acid or linoleic acid . the carboxylic acid also can be , for example , oxalic acid ( ethanedioic acid ), malonic acid ( propanedioic acid ), succinic acid ( butanedioic ), fumaric acid ( butenedioic acid ), malic acid ( 2 - hydroxybutenedioic acid ), glutaric acid ( pentanedioic acid ), adipic acid ( hexanedioic acid ), pimelic acid ( heptanedioic ), suberic acid ( octanedioic ), azelaic acid ( nonanedioic acid ), sebacic acid ( decanedioic acid ), citric acid , oxaloacetic acid , ketoglutaratic acid , or the like . in an exemplary embodiment , the retinyl ester is a 9 - cis - retinyl ester or an 11 - cis - retinyl ester including a c 3 - c 10 polycarboxylic acid substituent . ( in this context , the terms “ substituent ” or “ group ” refer to a radical covalently linked to the terminal oxygen in the polyene chain .) in another exemplary embodiment , the retinyl ester is a 9 - cis - retinyl ester or an 11 - cis - retinyl ester including a c 2 - c 22 or c 3 - c 22 polycarboxylic acid substituent . the polycarboxylic acid substituent can be , for example , succinate , citrate , ketoglutarate , fumarate , malate or oxaloacetate . in another exemplary embodiment , the retinyl ester is a 9 - cis - retinyl ester or an 11 - cis - retinyl ester including a c 3 - c 22 di - carboxylic acid ( di - acid ) substituent . in some embodiments , the polycarboxylic acid is not 9 - cis - retinyl tartarate or 11 - cis - retinyl tartarate . in some embodiments , the retinyl ester is not a naturally occurring retinyl ester normally found in the eye . in some embodiments , the retinyl ester is an isolated retinyl ester . as used herein , “ isolated ” refers to a molecule that exists apart from its native environment and is therefore not a product of nature . an isolated molecule may exist in a purified form or may exist in a non - native environment . in another aspect , the retinal derivative can be a 9 - cis - retinyl ester or ether of the following formula i : in some embodiments , a is ch 2 or , where r can be an aldehydic group , to form a retinyl ester . a suitable aldehydic group is a c 1 to c 24 straight chain or branched aldehydic group . the aldehydic group also can be a c 1 to c 14 straight chain or branched aldehydic group . the aldehydic group can be a c 1 to c 12 straight chain or branched aldehydic group , such as , for example , acetaldehyde , propionaldehyde , butyraldehyde , valeraldehyde , hexanal , heptanal , octanal , nonanal , decanal , undecanal , dodecanal . r can be a c 1 to c 10 straight chain or branched aldehydic group , a c 1 to c 8 straight chain or branched aldehydic group or a c 1 to c 6 straight chain or branched aldehydic group . r further can be a carboxylate group of a dicarboxylic acid or other carboxylic acid ( e . g ., a hydroxyl acid ) to form a retinyl ester ( some of which are also referred to as retinoyl esters ). the carboxylic acid can be , for example , oxalic acid ( ethanedioic acid ), malonic acid ( propanedioic acid ), succinic acid ( butanedioic ), fumaric acid ( butenedioic acid ), malic acid ( 2 - hydroxybutenedioic acid ), glutaric acid ( pentanedioic acid ), adipic acid ( hexanedioic acid ), pimelic acid ( heptanedioic ), suberic acid ( octanedioic ), azelaic acid ( nonanedioic acid ), sebacic acid ( decanedioic acid ), citric acid , oxaloacetic acid , ketoglutaratic acid , or the like . r can also be an alkane group , to form a retinyl alkane ether . suitable alkane groups include , for example , c 1 to c 24 straight chain or branched alkyls , such as , for example , methane , ethane , butane , isobutane , pentane , isopentane , hexane , heptane , octane or the like . for example , the alkane group can be a linear , iso -, sec -, tert - or other branched lower alkyl ranging from c 1 to c 6 . the alkane group also can be a linear , iso -, sec -, tert - or other branched medium chain length alkyl ranging from c 8 to c 14 . the alkane group also can be a linear , iso -, sec -, tert - or other branched long chain length alkyl ranging from c 16 to c 24 . r further can be an alcohol group , to form a retinyl alcohol ether . suitable alcohol groups can be linear , iso -, sec -, tert - or other branched lower alcohols ranging from c 1 to c 6 , linear , iso -, sec -, tert - or other branched medium chain length alcohols ranging from c 8 to c 14 , or linear , iso -, sec -, tert - or other branched long chain length alkyl ranging from c 16 to c 24 . the alcohol group can be , for example , methanol , ethanol , butanol , isobutanol , pentanol , hexanol , heptanol , octanol , or the like r also can be a carboxylic acid , to form a retinyl carboxylic acid ether . suitable alcohol groups can be linear , iso -, sec -, ted - or other branched lower carboxylic acids ranging from c 1 to c 6 , linear , iso -, sec -, ted - or other branched medium chain length carboxylic acids ranging from c 8 to c 14 , or linear , iso -, sec -, tert - or other branched long chain length carboxylic acids ranging from c 16 to c 24 . suitable carboxylic acid groups include , for example , acetic acid , propionic acid , butyric acid , valeric acid , caproic acid , caprylic acid , pelargonic acid , capric acid , lauric acid , oleic acid , stearic acid , palmitic acid , myristic acid , linoleic acid , succinic acid , fumaric acid or the like . the retinyl derivative can be a retinyl hemiacetal , where a is ch ( oh ) or . r can be any of the r groups set forth above in formula i . r is typically a lower alkane , such as a methyl or ethyl group , or a c 1 to c 7 saturated and unsaturated , cyclic or acyclic alkane , with or without hetero atoms , as described herein . the retinyl derivative can be a retinyl acetal , where a is ch ( or a ) or b . each of r a and r b can be independently selected from any of the r groups set forth above in formula i . r a and r b are typically a c 1 to c 7 saturated and unsaturated , cyclic or acyclic alkane , with or without hetero atoms , as described herein . the retinyl derivative also can be a retinyl oxime , where a is ch : noh or ch : nor . r can be any of the r groups set forth above in formula i . r is typically a hydrogen , or an alkane . examples of suitable synthetic retinal derivatives include , for example , 9 - cis - retinyl acetate , 9 - cis - retinyl formate , 9 - cis - retinyl succinate , 9 - cis - retinyl citrate , 9 - cis - retinyl ketoglutarate , 9 - cis - retinyl fumarate , 9 - cis - retinyl malate , 9 - cis - retinyl oxaloacetate , 9 - cis - retinal oxime , 9 - cis - retinal o - methyl oximes , 9 - cis - retinal o - ethyl oximes , and 9 - cis - retinal methyl acetals and hemi acetals , 9 - cis - retinyl methyl ether , 9 - cis - retinyl ethyl ether , and 9 - cis - retinyl phenyl ether . in a related aspect , the retinal derivative can be an 11 - cis - retinyl ester or ether of the following formula ii : a can be any of the groups set forth above in formula i . examples of suitable synthetic retinal derivatives include , for example , 11 - cis - retinyl acetate , 11 - cis - retinyl formate , 11 - cis - retinyl succinate , 11 - cis - retinyl citrate , 11 - cis - retinyl ketoglutarate , 11 - cis - retinyl fumarate , 11 - cis - retinyl malate , 11 - cis - retinal oxime , 11 - cis - retinal o - methyl oxime , 11 - cis - retinal o - ethyl oximes and 11 - cis - retinal methyl acetals and hemi acetals , 11 - cis - retinyl methyl ether , 11 - cis - retinyl ethyl ether . in additional aspects , the synthetic retinal derivatives can be , for example , a derivative of a 9 - cis - retinyl ester , a 9 - cis - retinyl ether , an 11 - cis - retinyl ester or an 11 - cis - retinyl ethers such as , for example , an acyclic retinyl ester or ethers , a retinyl ester or ether with a modified polyene chain length , such as a trienoic or tetraenoic retinyl ester or ether ; a retinyl ester or ether with a substituted polyene chain , such as alkyl , halogen or heteratom - substituted polyene chains ; a retinyl ester or ether with a modified polyene chain , such as a trans - or cis - locked polyene chain , or with , for example , allene or alkyne modifications ; and a retinyl ester or ether with a ring modification ( s ), such as heterocyclic , heteroaromatic or substituted cycloalkane or cycloalkene rings . the synthetic retinal derivative can be a retinyl ester or ether of the following formula iii : a can be any of the groups set forth above for formula ( i ). r 1 and r 2 can be independently selected from linear , iso -, sec -, tert - and other branched alkyl groups as well as substituted alkyl groups , substituted branched alkyl , hydroxyl , hydroalkyl , amine , amide , or the like . r 1 and r 2 can independently be lower alkyl , which means straight or branched alkyl with 1 - 6 carbon atom ( s ) such as methyl , ethyl , propyl , isopropyl , butyl , isobutyl , tert - butyl , pentyl , hexyl , or the like . suitable substituted alkyls and substituted branch alkyls include , for example , alkyls , branched alkyls and cyclo - alkyls substituted with oxygen , hydroxyl , nitrogen , amide , amine , halogen , heteroatom or other groups . suitable heteroatoms include , for example , sulfur , silicon , and fluoro - or bromo - substitutions . r 1 or r 2 also can be a cyclo - alkyl such as , for example , hexane , cyclohexene , benzene as well as a substituted cyclo - alkyl . suitable substituted cyclo - alkyls include , for example , cyclo - alkyls substituted with oxygen , hydroxyl , nitrogen , amide , amine , halogen , heteroatom and / or other groups . suitable heteroatoms include , for example , sulfur , silicon , and fluoro - or bromo - substitutions . the synthetic retinal derivative also can have a modified polyene chain length , such as the following formula iv : a can be any of the groups set forth above for formula ( i ). the polyene chain length can be extended by 1 , 2 , or 3 alkyl , alkene or alkylene groups . according to formula ( iv ), each n and n 1 can be independently selected from 1 , 2 , or 3 alkyl , alkene or alkylene groups , with the proviso that the sum of the n and n 1 is at least 1 . the synthetic retinal derivative also can have a substituted polyene chain of the following formula v : a can be any of the groups set forth above for formula ( i ). each of r 1 to r 8 can be independently selected from hydrogen , alkyl , branched alkyl , cyclo - alkyl , halogen , a heteratom , or the like . suitable alkyls include , for example , methyl , ethyl , propyl , substituted alkyl ( e . g ., alkyl with hydroxyl , hydroalkyl , amine , amide ) or the like . suitable branched alkyls can be , for example , isopropyl , isobutyl , substituted branched alkyl , or the like . suitable cyclo - alkyls can include , for example , cyclohexane , cycloheptane , and other cyclic alkanes as well as substituted cyclic alkanes such as substituted cyclohexane or substituted cycloheptane . suitable halogens include , for example , bromine , chlorine , fluorine , or the like . suitable heteroatoms include , for example , sulfur , silicon , and fluoro - or bromo - substitutions . suitable substituted alkyls , substituted branch alkyls and substituted cyclo - alkyls include , for example , alkyls , branched alkyls and cyclo - alkyls substituted with oxygen , hydroxyl , nitrogen , amide , amine , halogen , heteroatom or other groups . for example , the synthetic retinal derivative can be selected from the following : a 9 - ethyl - 11 - cis - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; a 7 - methyl - 11 - cis - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; a 13 - desmethyl - 11 - cis - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; an 11 - cis - 10 - f - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; an 11 - cis - 10 - cl - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; an 11 - cis - 10 - methyl - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; an 11 - cis - 10 - ethyl - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; a 9 - cis - 10 - f - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; a 9 - cis - 10 - cl - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; a 9 - cis - 10 - methyl - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; a 9 - cis - 10 - ethyl - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; an 11 - cis - 12 - f - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; an 11 - cis - 12 - cl - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; an 11 - cis - 12 - methyl - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; an 11 - cis - 10 - ethyl - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; a 9 - cis - 12 - f - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; a 9 - cis - 12 - cl - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; a 9 - cis - 12 - methyl - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; an 11 - cis - 14 - f - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; an 11 - cis - 14 - methyl - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; an 11 - cis - 14 - ethyl - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; a 9 - cis - 14 - f - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; a 9 - cis - 14 - methyl - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; a 9 - cis - 14 - ethyl - retinyl ester , ether , oxime , acetal or hemiacetal ; or the like . the synthetic retinal derivative further can have a modified ring structure . suitable examples include , for example , derivatives containing ring modifications , aromatic analogs and heteroaromatic analogs of the following formulae vi , vii and viii , respectively : a can be any of the groups set forth above for formula ( i ). each of r 1 to r 6 , as applicable , can be independently selected from hydrogen , alkyl , substituted alkyl , hydroxyl , hydroalkyl , amine , amide , halogen , a heteratom , or the like . suitable alkyls include , for example , methyl , ethyl , propyl , isopropyl , butyl , isobutyl or the like . suitable halogens include , for example , bromine , chlorine , fluorine , or the like . suitable heteroatoms include , for example , sulfur , silicon , or nitrogen . in formulae vii , x can be , for example , sulfur , silicon , nitrogen , fluoro - or bromo - substitutions . similarly , 9 - cis - synthetic retinal derivatives containing ring modifications , aromatic analogs and heteroaromatic analogs of those shown in formulae vi , vii and viii are contemplated . the synthetic retinal derivative also can have a modified polyene chain . suitable derivatives include , for example , those with a trans / cis locked configuration , 6s - locked analogs , as well as modified allene , alkene , alkyne or alkylene groups in the polyene chain . in one example , the derivative is an 11 - cis - locked analog of the following formula ix : a can be any of the groups set forth above for formula ( i ). r 3 can be , for example , hydrogen , methyl or other lower alkane or branch alkane . n can be 0 to 4 . m plus 1 equals 1 , 2 or 3 . in one embodiment , the synthetic retinal derivative can be an 11 - cis - locked analog of the following formula x : n can be 1 to 4 . a can be any of the groups set forth above for formula ( i ). the synthetic retinal derivative is a 9 , 11 , 13 - tri - cis - 7 - ring retinyl ester or ether , an 11 , 13 - di - cis - 7 - ring retinyl ester or ether , an 11 - cis - 7 - ring retinyl ester or ether or a 9 , 11 - di - cis - 7 - ring retinyl ester or ether . in another example , the synthetic retinal derivative is a 6s - locked analog of formula xi . a can be any of the groups set forth above for formula ( i ). r 1 and r 2 can be independently selected from hydrogen , methyl and other lower alkyl and substituted lower alkyl . r 3 can be independently selected from an alkene group at either of the indicated positions . the synthetic retinal derivative can be a 9 - cis - ring - fused derivative , such as , for example , those shown in formulae xii - xiv . a can be any of the groups set forth above for formula ( i ). the synthetic retinal derivative also can be of the following formula xv or xvi . a can be any of the groups set forth above for formula ( i ). each of r 2 to r 5 , r 7 to r 14 , r 16 and r 17 can be absent or independently selected from hydrogen , alkyl , branched alkyl , halogen , hydroxyl , hydroalkyl , amine , amide , a heteratom , or the like . suitable alkyls include , for example , methyl , ethyl , propyl , substituted alkyl ( e . g ., alkyl with hydroxyl , hydroalkyl , amine , amide ), or the like . suitable branched alkyl can be , for example , isopropyl , isobutyl , substituted branched alkyl , or the like . suitable halogens include , for example , bromine , chlorine , fluorine , or the like . suitable heteroatoms include , for example , sulfur , silicon , and fluoro - or bromo - substitutions . suitable substituted alkyls and substituted branch alkyls include , for example , alkyls and branched alkyls substituted with oxygen , hydroxyl , nitrogen , amide , amine , halogen , heteroatom or other groups . each of n and n 1 can be independently selected from 1 , 2 , or 3 alkyl , alkene or alkylene groups , with the proviso that the sum of the n and n 1 is at least 1 . in addition , r 3 - r 4 and / or r 2 - r 16 can comprise an alkene group in the cyclic carbon ring , in which case r 17 is absent . r 10 and r 13 together can form a cyclo - alkyl , such as a five , six , seven or eight member cyclo - alkyl or substituted cyclo - alkyl , such as , for example , those shown in formulae ix , x , xii , xiii and xiv . methods of making synthetic retinals and derivatives are disclosed in , for example , the following references : anal . biochem . 272 : 232 - 42 ( 1999 ); angew . chem . 36 : 2089 - 93 ( 1997 ); biochemistry 14 : 3933 - 41 ( 1975 ); biochemistry 21 : 384 - 93 ( 1982 ); biochemistry 28 : 2732 - 39 ( 1989 ); biochemistry 33 : 408 - 16 ( 1994 ); biochemistry 35 : 6257 - 62 ( 1996 ); bioorganic chemistry 27 : 372 - 82 ( 1999 ); biophys . chem . 56 : 31 - 39 ( 1995 ); biophys . j . 56 : 1259 - 65 ( 1989 ); biophys . j . 83 : 3460 - 69 ( 2002 ); chemistry 7 : 4198 - 204 ( 2001 ); chemistry ( europe ) 5 : 1172 - 75 ( 1999 ); febs 158 : 1 ( 1983 ); j . am . chem . soc . 104 : 3214 - 16 ( 1982 ); j . am . chem . soc . 108 : 6077 - 78 ( 1986 ); j . am . chem . soc . 109 : 6163 ( 1987 ); j . am . chem . soc . 112 : 7779 - 82 ( 1990 ); j . am . chem . soc . 119 : 5758 - 59 ( 1997 ); j . am . chem . soc . 121 : 5803 - 04 ( 1999 ); j . american chem . soc . 123 : 10024 - 29 ( 2001 ); j . american chem . soc . 124 : 7294 - 302 ( 2002 ); j . biol . chem . 276 : 26148 - 53 ( 2001 ); j . biol . chem . 277 : 42315 - 24 ( 2004 ); j . chem . soc . - perkin t . 1 : 1773 - 77 ( 1997 ); j . chem . soc - perkin t . 1 : 2430 - 39 ( 2001 ); j . org . chem . 49 : 649 - 52 ( 1984 ); j . org . chem . 58 : 3533 - 37 ( 1993 ); j . physical chemistry b 102 : 2787 - 806 ( 1998 ); lipids 8 : 558 - 65 ; photochem . photobiol . 13 : 259 - 83 ( 1986 ); photochem . photobiol . 44 : 803 - 07 ( 1986 ); photochem . photobiol . 54 : 969 - 76 ( 1991 ); photochem . photobiol . 60 : 64 - 68 ( 1994 ); photochem . photobiol . 65 : 1047 - 55 ( 1991 ); photochem . photobiol . 70 : 111 - 15 ( 2002 ); photochem . photobiol . 76 : 606 - 615 ( 2002 ); proc . natl acad . sci . usa 88 : 9412 - 16 ( 1991 ); proc . natl acad . sci . usa 90 : 4072 - 76 ( 1993 ); proc . natl acad . sci . usa 94 : 13442 - 47 ( 1997 ); and proc . r . soc . lond . series b , biol . sci . 233 ( 1270 ): 55 - 76 1988 ) ( the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein ). retinyl esters can be formed by methods known in the art such as , for example , by acid - catalyzed esterification of a retinol with a carboxylic acid , by reaction of an acyl halide with a retinol , by transesterification of a retinyl ester with a carboxylic acid , by reaction of a primary halide with a carboxylate salt of a retinoic acid , by acid - catalyzed reaction of an anhydride with a retinol , or the like . in an example , retinyl esters can be formed by acid - catalyzed esterification of a retinol with a carboxylic acid , such as , acetic acid , propionic acid , butyric acid , valeric acid , caproic acid , caprylic acid , pelargonic acid , capric acid , lauric acid , oleic acid , stearatic acid , palmitic acid , myristic acid , linoleic acid , succinic acid , fumaric acid or the like . in another example , retinyl esters can be formed by reaction of an acyl halide with a retinol ( see , e . g ., van hooser et al ., proc . natl . acad . sci ., usa , 97 : 8623 - 28 ( 2000 )). suitable acyl halides include , for example , acetyl chloride , palmitoyl chloride , or the like . retinyl ethers can be formed by methods known in the art , such as for example , reaction of a retinol with a primary alkyl halide . trans - retinoids can be isomerized to cis - retinoids by exposure to uv light . for example , all - trans - retinal , all - trans - retinol , all - trans - retinyl ester or all - trans - retinoic acid can be isomerized to 9 - cis - retinal , 9 - cis - retinol , 9 - cis - retinyl ester or 9 - cis - retinoic acid , respectively . trans - retinoids can be isomerized to 9 - cis - retinoids by , for example , exposure to a uv light having a wavelength of about 365 nm , and substantially free of shorter wavelengths that cause degradation of cis - retinoids , as further described herein . retinyl acetals and hemiacetals can be prepared , for example , by treatment of 9 - cis - and 11 - cis - retinals with alcohols in the presence of acid catalysts . water formed during reaction is removed , for example by al 2 o 3 of a molecular sieve . retinyl oximes can be prepared , for example , by reaction of a retinal with hydroxylamine , o - methyl - or o - ethylhydroxyl amine , or the like . the synthetic retinal derivative can be substantially pure , in that it contains less than about 5 % or less than about 1 %, or less than about 0 . 1 %, of other retinoids . a combination of synthetic retinal derivatives can be administered . synthetic retinal derivatives can be delivered to the eye by any suitable means , including , for example , oral , intravenous , intramuscular or local administration . modes of local administration can include , for example , eye drops , intraocular injection or periocular injection , or delivery via a controlled release drug delivery formulation and / or device . periocular injection typically involves injection of the synthetic retinal derivative into the conjunctiva or to the tennon ( the fibrous tissue overlying the eye ). intraocular injection typically involves injection of the synthetic retinal derivative into the vitreous . the administration can be non - invasive , such as by eye drops or oral dosage form . synthetic retinal derivatives can be formulated , for example , as pharmaceutical compositions for local administration to the eye and / or for intravenous , intramuscular or oral administration . synthetic retinal derivatives can be formulated for administration using pharmaceutically acceptable vehicles as well as techniques routinely used in the art . a vehicle can be selected according to the solubility of the synthetic retinal derivative . suitable pharmaceutical compositions include those that are administrable locally to the eye , such as by eye drops , injection or the like . in the case of eye drops , the formulation can also optionally include , for example , ophthalmologically compatible agents such as isotonizing agents such as sodium chloride , concentrated glycerin , and the like ; buffering agents such as sodium phosphate , sodium acetate , and the like ; surfactants such as polyoxyethylene sorbitan mono - oleate ( also referred to as polysorbate 80 ), polyoxyl stearate 40 , polyoxyethylene hydrogenated castor oil , and the like ; stabilization agents such as sodium citrate , sodium edentate , and the like ; preservatives such as benzalkonium chloride , parabens , and the like ; and other ingredients . preservatives can be employed , for example , at a level of from about 0 . 001 to about 1 . 0 % weight / volume . the ph of the formulation is usually within the range acceptable to ophthalmologic formulations , such as within the range of about ph 4 to 8 . suitable pharmaceutical compositions also include those formulated for injection . for example , the synthetic retinal derivative can be provided in an injection grade saline solution , in the form of an injectable liposome solution , or other carriers or vehicles . intraocular and periocular injections are known to those skilled in the art and are described in numerous publications including , for example , ophthalmic surgery : principles of practice , ed ., g . l . spaeth , w . b . sanders co ., philadelphia , pa ., u . s . a ., pages 85 - 87 ( 1990 ). a synthetic retinal derivative also can be administered in a time release formulation and / or device , for example in a composition which includes a slow release polymer . the synthetic retinal derivative can be prepared with a carrier ( s ) that will protect the compound against rapid release , such as a controlled release formulation , including implants and microencapsulated delivery systems . biodegradable , biocompatible polymers can be used , such as ethylene vinyl acetate , polyanhydrides , polyglycolic acid , collagen , polyorthoesters , polylactic acid and polylactic , polyglycolic copolymers ( plg ). many methods for the preparation of such formulations are known to those skilled in the art . suitable oral dosage forms include , for example , tablets , pills , sachets , or capsules of hard or soft gelatin , methylcellulose or of another suitable material easily dissolved in the digestive tract . suitable nontoxic solid carriers can be used which include , for example , pharmaceutical grades of mannitol , lactose , starch , magnesium stearate , sodium saccharin , talcum , cellulose , glucose , sucrose , magnesium carbonate , and the like . ( see , e . g ., remington “ pharmaceutical sciences ”, 17 ed ., gennaro ( ed . ), mack publishing co ., easton , pa . ( 1985 ).) the following examples are provided merely as illustrative of various aspects of the invention and should not be construed to limit the invention in any way . both single dose and long - term monthly dosage regimens with 9 - cis - r - ac were used to assess the effect of artificial chromophore augmentation on the visual function of mice . the chromophore used was 9 - cis - r - ac , a pro - drug which is metabolized and converted to 9 - cis - retinal to form isorhodopsin ( batten , m . l ., et al . plos medicine 2 , e333 ( 2005 )). twenty mice were employed for the single dose experiments ( fig1 a , table 1 ), whereas 210 were used for the long - term monthly treatments ( fig1 a , 1b , table 1 ). mice were also gavaged with all - trans - r - ac ( n = 10 ) and its long - term effects was evaluated by selected analyses . 9 - cis - r - ac , 9 - cis - retinyl acetate ; a2e , n - retinylidene - n - retinyl ethanolamine ; erg , electroretinogram ; lrat , lecithin : retinol acyltransferase ; ros , rod outer segments ; rpe , retinal pigment epithelium ; rpe65 , a rpe - specific 65 kda protein . forty eight hr dark - adapted , 10 - month - old mice were gavaged with a single dose (˜ 80 mg / kg body weight ) of 9 - cis - r - ac or control vehicle and exposed to strong illumination for 20 min ( 500 cd · m − 2 that bleached ˜ 90 % rhodopsin ). next , mice were dark - adapted for 16 hr after which various analyses were performed ( fig1 a ). single - flash erg conducted on treated and untreated mice showed that functional a - and b - wave amplitudes of treated mice were slightly increased as compared with the amplitudes in control mice ( a - waves , p & lt ; 0 . 01 ; data not shown ). to investigate whether 9 - cis - retinal was utilized to form isorhodopsin and to assess how much unliganded opsin was present in the mouse eyes , rhodopsin , isorhodopsin and opsin were purified by immunoaffinity chromatography from treated and control groups of mice . the regeneration ratio of rhodopsin was calculated by the ratio of rhodopsin and isorhodopsin ( absorbance at 498 nm ) to purified protein ( absorbance at 280 nm ) in each fraction , was significantly higher in eyes from treated than from control mice whereas the total amount of purified protein did not significantly differ ( fig2 ). when retinoids were extracted from purified proteins to identify bound chromophore , a significant amount of 9 - cis - retinal was detected in samples from treated mice , suggesting that 9 - cis - retinal was utilized to regenerate opsin to form isorhodopsin ( data not shown ). significant amounts of 9 - cis - retinal were detected in eyes of exposed to intense light and treated mice ( fig3 a and 3b ), whereas the amounts of 11 - cis - retinal and all - trans - retinyl esters were not significantly affected in all groups of mice ( fig3 b and 3c ). in these treated and exposed to intense light mice , the rpe also stored significant amount of 9 - cis - retinyl esters , a precursor of the retinal ( fig3 c ). only trace amounts of 9 - cis - retinal were detected in control mouse eyes and unbleached treated mouse eyes ( fig3 b and c ). these results clearly demonstrate that 9 - cis - r - ac is metabolized its esters to form functional 9 - cis - retinal and in wild - type c57bl / 6 female mice . after bleaching , 9 - cis - retinal is bound to opsin even in the presence of a functional retinoid cycle that produces 11 - cis - retinal to regenerate rhodopsin . eyes from non - bleached or bleached and dark - adapted untreated mice contained a small amount of free opsin . for the long - term studies ( fig1 b and 1c ), c57bl6 female mice were gavaged with 9 - cis - r - ac , all - trans - r - ac or control vehicle monthly for 6 or 10 months . to evaluate the effects of rod - and cone - mediated light responses after long - term 9 - cis - r - ac treatments , mice were examined by non - invasive erg methods . the first set of analyses was done at 4 and 10 months of age . under scotopic conditions , the amplitudes of a - waves decreased with age , especially at high flash intensities ( c 1 versus c 0 group , fig4 a , left top panel ), whereas the changes in b - waves were less evident ( fig4 a , right top panel ). under photopic conditions , no differences were observed for either a - or b - waves ( fig4 a , lower panels ). when treated and untreated groups were compared ( n 1 versus c 1 ) slight improvement was observed for the n 1 group with respect to a - or b - waves at high flash strengths ( p & lt ; 0 . 01 , one - way anova ) under both photopic and scotopic conditions with the exception of a - waves under photopic conditions ( fig4 a , left lower panels ). the second set of analyses was done at 14 months of age . no significant differences were found in a - and b - wave amplitudes between control ( c 2 ) and treated groups of mice ( n 2 and n 3 ) under either scotopic of photopic conditions ( fig4 b ). from a - wave maximal responses in dark - adapted mice , sensitivities and maximal a - wave amplitudes were estimated and these parameters were found not to be significantly different either ( data not shown ). recovery of the erg response ( dark adaptation ) following bleach was measured by monitoring the amplitude of a - waves after retinal exposure to intense constant illumination ( 500 cd · m − 2 , ˜ 90 % bleached rhodopsin ) for 3 min . recovery of the responses was significantly faster in the 9 - cis - r - ac treated groups compared with the control groups of mice at both 10 months ( n 1 vs . c 1 , fig5 a ) and 14 months of age ( n 2 and n 3 vs . c 2 , fig5 b )( p & lt ; 0 . 001 , one - way anova ). retinoid kinetics in the eyes of each group were quantitatively evaluated during 60 min of dark adaptation after 3 min of bleaching at four subsequent time points of dark adaptation ( 0 , 10 , 30 , and 60 min ). at 10 months of age , the regeneration level of 11 - cis - retinal in a treated group ( n 1 ) was significantly higher than in the control group ( c 1 ) ( p & lt ; 0 . 01 ) 60 min after the bleach . but there was no significant difference in kinetics of all - trans - retinal and all - trans - retinyl - esters between these groups and between treated and untreated mice at 14 months of age . neither 9 - cis - retinal nor 9 - cis - retinyl esters were found in eyes from untreated groups ( data not shown ). in additional control experiments , mice were gavaged with an inactive isomer , all - trans - r - ac ( n = 10 ) for 10 months and evaluated at 14 months age . erg examination showed no significant difference compared with control ( c 2 ) in single flash erg a - and b - wave analyses or in dark adaptation recovery ( n = 3 ). these results showed that erg effects are specific for 9 - cis isomer . analyses of rhodopsin , a2e and retinoid acids in control and 9 - cis - r - ac treated mice regeneration ratios ( rhodopsin / opsin ) and total amounts of purified rhodopsin showed no significant differences between control and treated groups of mice at both 10 and 14 months of age . the amounts of purified protein recovered from the treated groups at 14 months of age ( n 2 and n 3 ) were significantly lower than these from control mice ( c 2 ), whereas the amount was only slightly attenuated in at 10 - month - old treated mice ( n 1 versus c 1 ) ( data not shown ). to evaluate the safety of long - term administration of 9 - cis - r - ac , a2e accumulation was measured ( fig6 a ), because retinals spontaneously condense to this compound ( mata , n . l ., weng , j . & amp ; travis , g . h . proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america 97 , 7154 - 7159 ( 2000 ); parish , c . a ., hashimoto , m ., nakanishi , k ., dillon , j . & amp ; sparrow , j . proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america 95 , 14609 - 14613 ( 1998 )). a2e and iso - a2e were detected at similar levels in treated and control mice at both 10 - and 14 months of age ( fig6 b ). in pre - treatment controls ( c 0 , 4 months old ), a2e accumulation was below detectable levels ( fig6 b ). although long - term treatment with retinyl esters might produce elevated levels of mitogenic retinoic acid in the liver , hepatic retinoid - acid levels were below detectable levels in all groups ( data not shown ). animals were evaluated weekly for activity and changes in coat and skin appearance . no changes in these parameters were observed during the experimental period aside from these due to natural aging . body weights of mice evaluated at pre - treatment , 10 months and 14 months showed no significant differences between control ( c 1 - 2 ) and treated groups ( n 1 - 3 ) ( data not shown ). light microscopy revealed no major abnormalities in the retinas of vehicle , 9 - cis - r - ac or all - trans - r - ac ( n = 2 ) treated mice at 10 and 14 months of age and retinas from these two 9 - cis - r - ac treated groups were indistinguishable . lengths of rod outer segments ( ros ) were similar in control and treated groups at 10 - and 14 months of age but were significantly decreased as compared to ros lengths of 4 - month - old mice ( c 0 ) whose retinal histology is shown in fig7 . the thickness of each major layer in the retina was also similar between control and treated groups . em analysis of the outer retina and rpe layer revealed no gross differences between control and treated mice . higher resolution of the interface between the rpe and ros also showed no abnormalities ( data not shown ). dna microarray analyses were used to document possible changes in gene expression profiles after the long - term treatment with 9 - cis - r - ac . expression levels of mrna in the eye , liver and kidney were determined and compared between treated ( n 2 ) and control ( c 2 ) groups using a 37 , 364 gene array provided by nimblegen system inc . in the eye , 9 - cis - r - ac treatment elevated expression of 290 genes by a factor of 2 or more and attenuated expression of more than 1057 genes by a factor of 0 . 5 or less ( fig8 ; table s1 ). in the liver of treated mice , expression of only 7 genes was increased by a factor of 2 or more and expression of only 20 genes was suppressed by a factor of 0 . 5 or less ( fig8 ; table s2 ). in the kidney of treated mice , 90 genes increased their expression by a factor of 2 or more and 3 genes suppressed it by a factor of 0 . 5 or less ( fig8 ; table s2 ). the phototransduction - specific , retinoid processing and function - categorized genes whose expressions were affected in the eye are listed in tables s2 . protein levels of transducin ( gt ), rhodopsin kinase , guanylate cyclase - activating protein 1 and guanylate cyclase - activating protein 2 , guanylate cyclase 1 , retinol dehydrogenase 12 and lrat were not affected in all groups of mice as assessed by immunoblotting ( data not shown ). as shown in these studies , age - related deterioration of dark adaptation in mice is attenuated by artificial cis - retinoid treatment . this finding is analogous to age - related declines in human vision manifested by the dramatic slowing of rod - mediated dark adaptation directly attributed to delayed rhodopsin regeneration ( jackson , g . r ., owsley , c . & amp ; mcgwin , g ., jr . vision research 39 , 3975 - 3982 ( 1999 )). two different types of studies were done . single dose studies revealed that 9 - cis - retinoids could enter the eye , and a second set of experiments showed that long - term administration of 9 - cis - r - ac significantly improved the deterioration of retinal function in aging mice . these experiments were designed to test whether 9 - cis - retinoids enter the eyes of 10 - month - old mice and improve visual function . the erg response measurably declined with age and small but measurable amounts of free opsin was present in these old mice . 9 - cis - retinal entered the eye when these treated mice were exposed to intense light and tested 18 hr later . the precursors of 9 - cis - retinal , 9 - cis - retinyl esters , were easily detectable in the eyes of these mice and the rhodopsin / opsin ratio improved as well . erg responses to a single light flash were significantly improved in 10 - month - old mice that were treated for 6 months with 9 - cis - r - ac as compared with the oil - treated controls ( fig4 a ). this therapeutic effect largely disappeared in 14 - month - old mice treated for 10 months ( fig4 b ), possibly due to the masking effect of debilitation in the older mice . however , these older mice did display a significant effect involving dark adaptation ( fig5 b , n 2 and n 3 groups ). that long - term gavage of 14 - month - old mice with all - trans - r - ac had no effect on measured erg parameters is not surprising because only the cis - form of the chromophore can recombine with opsin ( reviewed in palczewski , k . annual review of biochemistry 75 , 743 - 767 ( 2006 ); filipek , s ., stenkamp , r . e ., teller , d . c . & amp ; palczewski , k . annu rev physiol 65 , 851 - 879 ( 2003 )). thus , all - trans - retinoid would only add substrate for the isomerization reaction but not supplement the active chromophore if isomerization was attenuated . importantly , mice in captivity are maintained on high vitamin a diet , thus observed effects of cis - retinoids is already on the top of all - trans - retinoid supplementation . long - term treatment ( 6 - 10 months ) was well tolerated by c57bl / 6 female mice . age - related detectable morphological changes in the retina were observed in both treated and control mice were not affected by treatment . potential toxic by - products of retinoid treatment , a2e and retinoic acid , did not accumulate in these mice . in this study , 9 - cis - r - ac was incorporated into free - opsin within the retina resulting in increased regeneration ratio of rod pigments . however , the amount of all - trans - retinal induced by physiological light conditions is constant regardless of the amounts of rod pigments and the regeneration ratio . therefore , it is not surprising that a2e levels were not affected by 9 - cis - r - ac administration . thus , the beneficial effect of cis - retinoid supplementation seems more advantageous from this perspective than from the anti - oxidant properties generally attributed to retinoids ( maxwell , s . & amp ; greig , l . expert opinion on pharmacotherapy 2 , 1737 - 1750 ( 2001 )). we did not detect any accumulation of retinoic acids . moreover , gene expression changes were minimal in the liver and kidney while several proteins were unregulated in the eye . our detailed analysis of these genes did not reveal any particular expression patterns . humans begin to lose their ability to dark adapt beginning in the 3 rd - 4 th decade ( jackson , g . r ., mcgwin , g ., jr ., phillips , j . m ., klein , r . & amp ; owsley , c . vision research 46 , 1422 - 1431 ( 2006 )). a decline in the visual function is functionally manifested by reduction in the ability to perform activities such as driving at night and reading in darkened environments ( schilling , o . k . & amp ; wahl , h . w . psychology and aging 21 , 703 - 714 ( 2006 )). such symptoms become more debilitating with age and can result in reduced independence and activity in the elderly . the problem becomes more acute as people live longer . results of our experiments demonstrate that oral 9 - cis - retinoid is useful as a long - term prophylactic agent and as a therapeutic compound . the beneficial effects and relative safety of 9 - cis - retinoids extends to age - related macular degeneration , the leading cause of legal blindness in the u . s . and europe ( zack , d . j ., et al ., mol vis 5 , 30 ( 1999 )). here , we have shown that there are biochemical changes in the visual cycle that occur with age , namely an increase in free opsin and the opsin / rhodopsin ratio . when such biochemical changes are excessive they can lead to retinal degenerations such as seen in lca ( fan , j ., woodruff , m . l ., cilluffo , m . c ., crouch , r . k . & amp ; fain , g . l . j physiol 568 , 83 - 95 ( 2005 )). in addition , free opsin results in spontaneous initiation of the visual cascade in rod photoreceptors ( lisman , j . & amp ; fain , g . nat med 1 , 1254 - 1255 ( 1995 ); fain , g . l ., matthews , h . r ., cornwall , m . c . & amp ; koutalos , y . physiol rev 81 , 117 - 151 ( 2001 ); surya , a ., foster , k . w . & amp ; knox , b . e . j biol chem 270 , 5024 - 5031 ( 1995 ); hofmann , k . p ., pulvermuller , a ., buczylko , j ., van hooser , p . & amp ; palczewski , k . j biol chem 267 , 15701 - 15706 ( 1992 ); palczewski , k ., et al . biochemistry 33 , 13741 - 13750 ( 1994 ); jager , s ., palczewski , k . & amp ; hofmann , k . p . biochemistry 35 , 2901 - 2908 ( 1996 )). this results in a decreased signal - to - noise ratio in the visual system , increased metabolic overload in the rpe , resulting in the formation of more waste products , free radicals and , eventually , drusen . decreasing free opsin with 9 - cis - retinoid therapy will therefore lead to a reduction in the precursors that are believed to initiate amd . pigmented age - matched c57bl / 6 female mice obtained from charles river laboratories were maintained on a normal diet in complete darkness or on a 12 - hr light / dark cycle . all animal experiments utilized procedures approved by the university of washington and case western reserve university animal care committees and conformed to recommendations of the american veterinary medical association panel on euthanasia and the association of research for vision and ophthalmology . 9 - cis - r - ac was prepared as previously described ( batten , m . l ., et al . plos medicine 2 , e333 ( 2005 ); batten , m . l ., et al . j biol chem 279 , 10422 - 10432 ( 2004 )). a dose of ˜ 80 mg / kg body weight of 9 - cis - r - ac in 150 μl vegetable oil was administered via gavage to each treated animal . prior to single dose experiments ( fig1 a , table 1 ), 10 - month - old mice were dark - adapted for more than 48 hr , gavaged with 9 - cis - r - ac or vehicle control solution 1 hr before bleaching , exposed to light for 20 min at 500 cd · m − 2 and dark - adapted for 16 hr before analysis . for the long - term study ( fig1 b and 1c , table 1 ), mice were obtained at 3 months of age and raised until 4 months of age before the experiments were initiated . mice then were gavaged with 9 - cis - r - ac or vehicle solution once a month for different durations . six groups of mice were studied ( fig1 b ). the first 3 groups ( c 0 c 1 and c 2 , total n = 35 for each group ) were treated as controls and tested at 4 , 10 and 14 months of age . the other 3 groups ( n 1 , n 2 and n 3 , n = 35 ) were gavaged with 9 - cis - r - ac . group n 1 was gavaged for 6 months and tested at 10 months of age . group n 2 was gavaged with 9 - cis - r - ac for 10 months and tested at 14 months of age . group n 3 , was gavaged with vehicle until 10 months of age and then received 9 - cis - r - ac monthly until testing at 14 months of age . in another control group not shown in fig1 b , 10 mice were gavaged with ˜ 80 mg / kg body weight of all - trans - r - ac ( sigma - aldrich , corp .) for 10 months and tested at 14 months of age . two weeks after the last gavage with either , 9 - cis - r - ac , all - trans - r - ac or vehicle , groups of 48 hr dark - adapted mice were analyzed for recovery of dark adaptation after light exposure , purified rhodopsin / opsin and retinoids in the eye and retinal morphology ( fig1 c ; methods ). mice were exposed to light of intensity 500 cd · m − 2 that bleached ˜ 90 % of rhodopsin , anesthetized and monitored by erg for one hr to evaluate recovery of dark adaptation . rhodopsin was purified and rhodopsin / opsin ratios was determined . retinoid analyses were performed on dissected eyes removed at 0 , 10 , 30 , and 60 min after exposure to the same amount of light . mice used to evaluate retinal morphology were not exposed to photobleaching prior to analysis . rhodopsin purification was done under dim red light as previously described ( zhu , l ., et al . j biot chem , 279 , 53828 - 53839 ( 2004 )). purified anti - rhodopsin c terminus antibody 1d4 ( mackenzie , d ., arendt , a ., hargrave , p ., mcdowell , j . h . & amp ; molday , r . s . biochemistry , 23 , 6544 - 6549 ( 1984 )) was immobilized on cnbr - activated sepharose 4b and a 4 . 6 × 12 - mm column was packed with 2 mg of 1 d4 antibody / ml of sepharose beads . mouse whole eyes were homogenized in 137 mm nacl , 5 . 4 mm na 2 hpo 4 , 2 . 7 mm kcl and 1 . 8 mm kh 2 po 4 ( ph 7 . 5 ) with a glass - to - glass homogenizer . soluble proteins in the supernatant were removed by centrifugation at 14 , 000 × g for 5 min and the pellet was solubilized in buffer containing 1 % dodecyl - β - maltoside in 10 mm bis - tris propane ( ph 7 . 5 ) containing 500 mm nacl . the supernatant was cleared by centrifugation at 125 , 000 × g for 20 min and loaded onto an antibody 1 d4 - packed immunoaffinity column which was then thoroughly washed at a flow rate of 0 . 5 ml / min with 10 mm bis - tris propane ( ph 7 . 5 ) containing 500 mm nacl and 0 . 1 % dodecyl - β - maltoside . purified mouse rhodopsin was eluted with 100 pm nonapeptide ( tetsqvapa ) in 10 mm bis - tris propane ( ph 7 . 5 ) containing 500 mm nacl and 0 . 1 % dodecyl - β - maltoside at room temperature . purified rhodopsin concentration was determined at 500 nm and total amount of opsin and rhodopsin at 280 nm with a hewlett - packard 8452a uv - visible spectrophotometer ( palczewski , k ., carruth , m . e ., adamus , g ., mcdowell , j . h . & amp ; hargrave , p . a . vision research , 30 , 1129 - 1137 ( 1990 )). all experimental procedures related to extraction , derivatization and separation of retinoids were carried out under dim red light provided by a kodak no . 1 safelight filter ( transmittance & gt ; 560 nm ) as described previously ( van hooser , j . p ., et al . proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america 97 , 8623 - 8628 ( 2000 ); van hooser , j . p ., et al . j biol chem , 277 , 19173 - 19182 ( 2002 ); maeda , a ., etal . j biol chem 280 , 18822 - 18832 ( 2005 ); van hooser , j . p ., garwin , g . g . & amp ; saari , j . c . methods enzymol 316 , 565 - 575 ( 2000 )). eluted fractions of purified rhodopsin from 6 mouse eyes were combined ( total 3 . 0 ml ) and mixed with an equal volume of 100 % methanol . the mixture was vortexed and incubated on ice for 15 min . retinoids were extracted twice with an equal volume of 100 % hexane ( 6 ml total ). the combined extracts were dried under argon and retinoids were separated by normal phase hplc ( beckman , ultrasphere - si , 5 μm , 4 . 6 × 250 mm ) with 10 % ethyl acetate and 90 % hexane at a flow rate of 1 . 4 ml / min and detected at 325 nm by an hpi 100 hplc with a diode array detector and hp chemstation a . 03 . 03 software . a2e was analyzed as previously described ( maeda , a ., et al . j biol chem , 280 , 18822 - 18832 ( 2005 )). analysis of retinoic acid in the liver was carried out as described before ( batten , m . l ., et al . plos medicine 2 , e333 ( 2005 )) by an agilent 1100 hplc with two tandem normal phase columns : a varian microsorb silica 3 μm , 4 . 6 × 100 mm ( varian , palo alto , calif .) and an ultrasphere - si , 5 μm , 4 . 6 × 250 mm column . an isocratic solvent system of 1000 : 4 . 3 : 0 . 675 hexane : 2 - propanol : glacial acetic acid ( v / v ) was used at a flow rate of 1 ml / min at 20 ° c . with detection at 355 nm . calibration was done with standards of all - trans - ra and 9 - cis - ra purchased from sigma - aldrich . immunoblotting was done according to standard protocols using immobilon - p to adsorb proteins ( polyvinylidene difluoride ; millipore corp .). monoclonal anti - rhodopsin antibody ( 1d4 ) was provided by dr . r . molday . the anti - lrat ( mab ) ( moise , a . r ., golczak , m ., imanishi , y . & amp ; palczewski , k ., j biol chem ( 2006 )), anti - transducin ( gt ) ( mab ) ( unpublished ), anti - guanylate cyclase 1 ( 1s4 , mab ); haire , s . e ., et al . investigative ophthalmology & amp ; visual science 47 , 3745 - 3753 ( 2006 )), anti - guanylate cyclase - activating protein 1 ( uw14 pab ) ( gorczyca , w . a ., et al . j biol chem , 270 , 22029 - 22036 ( 1995 )), anti - guanylate cyclase - activating protein 2 ( uw50 pab ) otto - bruc , a ., et al . proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america 94 , 4727 - 4732 ( 1997 )), anti - rhodopsin kinase ( zhao , x ., huang , j ., khani , s . c . & amp ; palczewski , k . j biol chem 273 , 5124 - 5131 ( 1998 )), and anti - retinol dehydrogenase 12 ( pab ) ( maeda , a ., et al . j biol chem 281 , 37697 - 37704 ( 2006 )) were generated in our laboratory . alkaline phosphatase - conjugated goat anti - mouse igg or goat anti - rabbit igg ( promega ) were used as secondary antibodies . protein bands were visualized with 5 - bromo - 4 - chloro - 3 - indolyl phosphate / nitro blue tetrazolium color development substrate ( promega ). proteins ( 30 μg per each well ) were separated by 12 . 5 % sds - page . for light microscopy , mouse eyecups were fixed with 2 . 5 % glutaraldehyde and 1 . 6 % paraformaldehyde in 0 . 08 m 1 , 4 - piperazinediethanesulfonate buffer ( pipes ) ( ph 7 . 4 ) containing 2 % sucrose for ˜ 1 hr at room temperature followed by 23 hr at 4 ° c . eyecups then were washed with 0 . 13 m sodium phosphate buffer ( ph 7 . 3 ) and dehydrated through a ch 3 oh series and embedded in jb4 glycol metacrylate . sections ( 6 μm ) were stained by immersion in 5 % richardson &# 39 ; s stain for 1 . 5 - 2 min at room temperature and destained in 0 . 13 m sodium phosphate ( ph 7 . 3 ) until the retinal layers were visible by light microscopy ( about 8 - 15 min ). for transmission electron microscopy , mouse eyecups were analyzed as described previously ( maeda , a ., et al . j blot chem 280 , 18822 - 18832 ( 2005 ); maeda , t ., lem , j ., palczewski , k . & amp ; haeseleer , f . investigative ophthalmology & amp ; visual science 46 , 4320 - 4327 ( 2005 )). rna was isolated from 10 eyes , 100 mg of liver or 100 mg of kidney from groups c 2 and n 2 mice ( fig1 b ) with a ribopure kit ( ambion , austin , tex .). quality of the preparation was verified by rna agarose gel electrophoresis and the agilent bioanalyzer . aliquots of total rna isolated from the different tissues and from mice undergoing various treatments were detection - labeled and hybridized on the mouse genomic microarray using a service provided by nimblegen system inc . ( madison , wis .). the microarray contained the 37 , 364 genes and covering the entire mouse transcriptome as represented by the university of california , santa cruz database ( build hg 17 ) with a minimum of 11 probes per gene . gene expression was normalized according to probe signal , and the average signal for each gene was normalized for each sample replicate . array data for samples across the whole study were normalized by nimblegen systems inc . ( madison , wis .) that employed the robust multichip analysis feature of the data analysis package contained in the bioconductor open source and open development software project for the analysis and comprehension of genomic data . project - wide spreadsheets of robust multichip analysis results were exported to microsoft ® exel ® and expression level ratios were calculated for all the possible pair - wise comparisons comprising one control and one treated sample . these pair - wise ratios were imported to microsoft access and mined for credible - fold changes in gene expression . changes greater than or equal to a 2 - fold increase or less than or equal to a 0 . 5 - fold decrease were considered significant . differentially expressed genes were then exported from access as excel files and were assigned functional annotations by lucidyx searcher ™ software by lucidyx llc . the previous examples were provided to illustrate but not to limit the scope of the claimed inventions . other variants of the inventions will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art and are encompassed by the appended claims . all publications , patents , patent applications and other references cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference . | 0 |
it will be readily understood that the components of the present invention , as generally described and illustrated in the drawings herein , could be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations . thus , the following more detailed description of the embodiments of the system and method of the present invention , as represented in the drawings , is not intended to limit the scope of the invention , as claimed , but is merely representative of various embodiments of the invention . the illustrated embodiments of the invention will be best understood by reference to the drawings , wherein like parts are designated by like numerals throughout . referring to fig1 through 10 , while referring generally to fig1 through 16 , a wave attenuation system 10 or breakwater 10 may involve several individual units . an individual unit 10 is composed of two floats 12 or float tubes 12 that ride on the surface by the buoyant actions of the water lifting the tubes 12 to the surface thereof , as a result of the contained air therewithin . two “ units ” are typically connected end - to - end to make a “ unit assembly .” a unit assembly is typically anchored individually as part of an array of such assemblies protecting a length of shoreline , a harbor , a property , or the like . meanwhile , a ballast 14 or ballast tube 14 is fixed to the float tubes 12 to ride therebelow . the ballast tube 14 is provided with several large ( one eighth to one quarter diameter ) apertures 15 . typically , the apertures 15 may be about four inches in diameter in a two - foot diameter ballast tube 14 . the float tubes 12 and ballast tube 14 in one embodiment are typically formed of a nominal two - foot - diameter , high - density , polyethylene tubing . the apertures 15 may be spaced at a suitable distance along the length of each of the ballast tubes 14 . structurally they should not be less than three of their diameters apart . six is better . likewise , the apertures 15 may be distributed around the circumference of the ballast tubes 14 , typically being perforated along the bottom , and at 90 degrees thereto along the sides , and opposite thereto along the top center line along the ballast tube 14 . comparatively larger apertures reduce strength but can increase form drag . the tubes 12 , 14 are secured to one another by struts 16 or braces 16 . typically , the struts 16 are also long tubes 16 of the same material ( e . g ., high density polyethylene ) as the float tubes 12 and ballast tubes 14 . the struts 16 are typically welded by heat welding to fit with the principal tubes 12 , 14 . a diameter of a nominal 12 inches for the struts 16 has been found satisfactorily . certain of the struts 16 extend straight between adjacent tubes 12 , 14 . others of the struts 16 extend at an angle , typically at an angle corresponding to principal stresses ( about 45 degrees and 90 degrees ) with respect to a center line of an associated tube 12 , 14 supported thereby . in the illustrated embodiments , the struts 16 are provided with apertures 17 to permit entry of water 37 . the apertures 17 need not be particularly large , and have been found suitable at a dimension of from about one to about three inches . a diameter of from about one to about two inches has been found completely suitable . it has been found advisable to form larger apertures 15 in the ballast tube 14 in order to provide additional fluid drag in the process of operation of the breakwater 10 . the wave attenuator system 10 or breakwater 10 is secured by an anchor 18 of any suitable type and a tether 20 running between the anchor 18 and one or more of the tubes 12 , 14 . u . s . patent application ser . no . 14 / 267 , 612 , filed may 1 , 2014 for corrosion - and - chafing - resistant , mooring system and method is incorporated herein by reference and contains a detailed description of various suitable embodiments for an anchor 18 and tether 20 . the cavities 22 in the float tubes 12 operate as air chambers 22 to maintain the floats 12 riding high or at any suitable distance above the surface 36 of the water 37 . as a practical matter , the cavities 23 and the struts 16 are alternately filled and evacuated of water to some extent to increase buoyancy or mass , acting opposite each other . that is , due to the apertures 17 and the struts 16 , water may enter and leave the cavities 23 and the struts 16 . the wall 24 around each of the tubes 12 , 14 may be of any suitable size , but has been found to be adequate at the manufacturing nominal size manufactured in conventional nominal 24 inch high density polyethylene tubing . it has been found suitable to leave the walls 24 as manufactured . engineering calculations indicate suitable strength , durability , and longevity in service . one will note a guard 26 , typically formed of high density polyethylene tubing , such as about an eight inch nominal diameter tubing . the guard 26 is welded to each of the float tubes 12 in order to protect ports 28 a , 28 b . the ports 28 a are short , penetrating into the wall 24 of a float tube 12 in order to receive air or water therein . meanwhile , the ports 28 b are secured to include or communicate with a tube 29 extending down through each of the float tubes 12 toward the bottom surface thereof in order to purge water therefrom . by adding air through the port 28 a , the cavity 22 of each float tube 12 may be filled with air while the stand pipe 29 or tube 29 empties water from within the float tube 12 and passes it outside thereof through the port 28 b . the amount of air or water in each float tube 12 may be selected for best performance . each of the float tubes 12 and ballast tubes 14 is provided with a flange 30 at one end 32 a thereof . the opposite end 32 b is simply sealed with an end wall 32 b . as a practical matter , the end walls 32 a , 32 b provide stiffening of the cylindrical tubes 12 , 14 , thus adding structural integrity and stiffness . meanwhile , the end walls 32 a , 32 b on the float tubes 12 seal the tubes 12 in order to render them sealed and buoyant on the surface of the water . the tether 20 may be threaded through a sleeve 34 of polyethylene tubing 34 that wraps around one or more of the tubes 12 , 14 . the sleeve 34 provides chafing protection for the tether 20 . typically , the tether 20 may be a suitable marine rope of a synthetic polymer ( e . g ., nylon , polyester , and polypropylene ) that has long life when subject to the attack of marine organisms , chemicals , biological activity , and so forth . accordingly , the sleeve 34 provides a long term chafing protection against the abrasion of the tether 20 on the outer surface of any of the tubes 12 , 14 , to which the tether 20 may be secured . multiple segments 10 or unit systems 10 may be concatenated or connected . typically , the systems 10 may be made in units 10 or segments 10 of about 60 feet in length . two of these 10 may be secured together to make another single longer assembly 10 by securing fasteners 31 through flanges 30 on the ends 32 a of each of the tubes 12 , 14 . the effect then is to provide a longer assembly 10 or wave attenuator system 10 of about 120 feet in length , having three tubes 12 , 14 forming an isosceles triangle . the bottom tube 14 acts as the ballast tube 14 providing damping of motion of the system 10 in response to wave action . referring to fig1 through 16 , while continuing to refer generally to fig1 through 16 , the system 10 operates by floating on the surface 36 or at the surface level 36 of a body of water 37 defined as extending between the water level 36 on the top thereof and a floor 38 or bed level 38 therebelow . the bed level 38 represents an upper surface 38 of a sea bed 40 . the sea bed 40 or floor 40 may be a concrete bottom , natural rock , soil , or whatever else may underlie a body of water 37 . in the illustrated embodiment , an anchor 18 may be fixed near but well below the surface 38 of the bed 40 . here , the illustration shows an anchor 18 that has been embedded within the sea bed 40 below the floor 38 or bed level 38 . the tether 20 extends continuously from the anchor 18 up through the water 37 to engage one or more of the tubes 12 , 14 of the breakwater 10 . the tether 20 may secure by a bowline knot , a re - woven loop or the like as understood in the marine arts . referring to fig1 through 13 , various embodiments of the tether 20 may engage one or more of the tubes 12 , 14 . one advantage to the embodiment of fig1 and that of fig1 is that the float tubes 12 are both permitted free motion on the surface 36 of the water 37 except to the extent that the tether 20 may restrain them with respect to the anchor 18 . the embodiment of fig1 would cause more wear between the sheath 34 or sleeve 34 against the tubes 12 as a result of relative motion . typically , the tether 20 will extend at an angle 41 with respect to the floor 38 as a result of action of the waves tending to push the breakwater 10 toward shore . whether the angle 41 is measured with respect to a vertical direction rising from the floor 38 , or with respect to the floor , is a matter of arbitrary choice . however , the resulting angle 41 that the tether 20 deviates from vertical provides a vector of force on the float tubes 12 . for example , when the level 36 of the water 37 rises with a wave , the tether 20 of fig1 may draw the tubes 12 laterally 11 b to be more directly over the anchor 18 . the tension in the tether 20 acts as a vector drawing the breakwater 10 toward the anchor 18 . mathematically , that force vector does not change value substantially , but direction . it is resolved into a component parallel to the surface 36 of the water 37 , and an orthogonal component in a vertical direction 11 a . in fig1 , the force vectors do not change direction , due to permanent constraint . force values , however change substantially in operation . wave action causes pulling by buoyancy forces and lateral 11 b as well as vertical 11 a momentum . the directions 11 identify various directions 11 with respect to the system 10 . herein , a trailing letter is a specific instance of a reference number . the direction 11 a is nominally vertical , while the direction 11 b is laterally or horizontally orthogonal thereto . meanwhile , the direction 11 c is longitudinally orthogonal to both the directions 11 a and 11 b , and extending along the length or longitudinal axis of the tubes 12 , 14 . referring to fig1 through 16 , and fig1 through 16 , generally , the directions 11 may represent up or down , forward or backward directions , as needed . however , one may think of the direction 11 a as the vertical direction of rise and fall of the apparatus 10 in response to waves , with the lateral direction 11 b being the back and forth , shoreward and windward , direction with the wave and against the wave that the apparatus 10 may move . similarly , the system 10 may rotate or roll about any of the axes 11 a , 11 b , 11 c . thus , the breakwater 10 will tend to roll in the direction 11 e as a wave strikes the leading float tube 12 a and will then counterrotate in the direction 11 d as the wave passes the float tube 12 a and lifts the float tube 12 b . of course , one may speak of the leading float tube 12 a as that which strikes or receives the wave first , and the trailing float tube 12 b as that which receives the remainder of the wave thereafter . one may see that a float tube 12 a in rising with a wave 44 on the surface 36 of the water 37 will necessarily rotate the overall structure of tubes 12 , 14 . as the wave 44 passes the leading tube 12 a also identified by an l , juxtaposed to the trailing identified by the letter t , a rocking motion will persist forward 11 d and backward 11 e with respect to the breakwater 10 facing in its own “ forward ” direction 11 b toward the incoming wave 44 advancing “ forward ” 11 a in its motion ( see fig1 ). any time the system 10 tries to lift with a wave 44 , several forces act . those forces act to redirect energy , momentum , and material ( water 37 ) in various directions that randomize the influence of a wave 44 . the result is turning mechanical energy into thermal energy heating ( ever so slightly ) the water 37 by mixing vigorously . one may note that the connection scheme for the tether 20 about the float tubes 12 a , 12 b in fig1 will induce a somewhat different dynamic effect from that of the example of fig1 . for example , the comparatively lighter of overlying air 42 above the surface 36 of water 37 provides negligible resistance to waves 44 . waves 44 rise as the floor 38 rises , momentum shifts , and the water 37 finds it easier to move up into the air 42 rather than contend with the resistance of surrounding water 37 . in the embodiment of fig1 and fig1 , the tube 12 a will rise first , rotating with respect to the tube 12 b , since a tether 20 is secured about each of both the leading tube 12 a and trailing tube 12 b . the influence of the ballast tube 14 remains effectively the same . that is , it must move through the water 37 in order for either of the tubes 12 a , 12 b to move . to move within the vertical plane ( the page ) illustrated in fig1 , the tube 12 a must lift on the wave 44 . the trailing tube 12 b does not follow the same magnitude of motion as the wave 44 is redirected . referring to fig1 , securing a tether 20 about the ballast tube 14 permits rocking or rotating by the ballast 14 and float tubes 12 a , 12 b . however , if double tethers of fig1 are used on the ballast tube 14 , to keep it in place , the tether 20 resist the necessary rocking action and fails to operate well . thus , it has been found suitable to use a configuration of fig1 and 12 , although the configurations of fig1 and 13 may also be used . alternative configurations may also be used , including securing the tether 20 to the struts 16 , to an anchor point or points along the tubes 12 , 14 , or the like . however , it has been found effective to minimize tight ( comparatively small , on the order of a few radii diameters of the tether 20 ) radii in loops of the tether 20 , and to eliminate metal . in the illustrated embodiment , no metal is required within the system 10 . in certain embodiments , the fasteners 31 for securing the flanges 30 together may be formed of metal for expediency . metal provides substantial strength per unit of cross - sectional area , and may be fabricated from suitable materials , such as stainless steel , that resist corrosion . as the only metallic component , the fasteners 31 cannot set up di - metallic galvanic cell promoting corrosion . referring to fig1 , a wave 44 may encounter an array 46 of the systems 10 in accordance with the invention . in one manner of speaking , the tubes 12 , 14 are also configured in an array of three tubes . likewise , an array 46 may represent several breakwaters 10 , each anchored by suitable tethers 20 , and assembled in pairs secured by intermediate flanges 30 . as a wave 44 approaches , an extensive region of water 37 may be protected by the array 46 of attenuators 10 or breakwaters 10 . thus , one may speak of a breakwater 10 as the entire array 46 , or a single unit 10 , or some intermediate combination 10 thereof . referring to fig1 and 16 , while continuing to refer generally to fig1 through 16 , a system 10 in accordance with the invention maintains a very sophisticated and effective pattern of movement . materials floating on a surface 36 of a body of water 37 are common . buoys and vessels , from dinghies to ocean - going ships , float on the surface 36 of various bodies of water 37 . similarly , conventional breakwaters 10 may involve platforms of floating materials , such as logs , or fixed barriers , such as sea walls , rock embankments , and so forth . always the wave energy and momentum ( speaking of newtonian physics and the laws of motion as defined by newton as understood in the sciences of physics and engineering ) demonstrate the transfer of energy and momentum from waves 44 to fixed or moving masses along the surface 36 of water 37 . redirecting mechanical energy ( force times distance ) or power ( force times velocity ) requires redirecting momentum ( mast times velocity ), which necessarily requires redirection of forces and pressures ( force per unit area ). meanwhile , redirection requires structures capable of supporting the tremendous energies and forces of waves 44 . large forces , large momentum , and large size imply large costs , extensive time , and other artifacts of construction thereof . in an apparatus and method in accordance with the invention , a very sophisticated and complex motion occurs in the breakwater 10 based on an almost rudimentary triangular envelope . for example , in the illustrated embodiment , a leading tube 12 a is identified by the letter l while a trailing tube 12 b is identified by the letter t . a ballast tube 14 identified by a letter b completes the array 10 of tubes 12 , 14 . the struts 16 have been idealized schematically as straight lines . in the illustrated embodiment , various forces occur . upon the advance of a wave 44 toward the assembly 10 , the wave 44 effects motions in each of the tubes 12 , 14 . for example , motion 54 in the vertical direction 11 a results from the swell or the rise of a wave 44 as it advances . meanwhile , the wave 44 is traveling and therefore contains energy and momentum directed in the direction 11 b . the result is a buoyant force 50 b tending to lift the tube 12 a or the leading tube 12 a . likewise , the tethers 20 each exert a force 50 a tending to restrain the leading tube 12 a and trailing tube 12 b toward their anchors 18 . the forces 50 c , 50 d that may exist within the strut 16 between the leading tube 12 a and the ballast tube 14 also contribute forces restraining the leading tube 12 a because of fluid drag on the ballast 14 whenever it moves relative to the water 37 . by the same token , forces 50 e , 50 f within the struts 16 between the leading tube 12 a and the trailing tube 12 b also contribute to the force balance . the net effect is a resultant force 52 that acts to move the leading tube 12 a into a net effective direction 56 of the leading tube 12 a . any motion 56 or direction 56 of movement in response to the resultant force 52 on the leading tube 12 a results in a resistance force 50 c on the tube 12 a exerted by water 37 surrounding itself and by the ballast tube 14 and struts 16 being dragged through the water 37 . the leading tube 12 a cannot ever move without moving the interconnected trailing tube 12 b , ballast tube 14 , and intervening struts 16 . one can immediately see that the forces 50 d , 50 j on the ballast tube 14 , imposed by the struts 16 extending toward the leading tube 12 a and trailing tube 12 b , respectively , tend to move the ballast tube 14 against a resistance force 50 k . the resistance force 50 k is applied as a “ form - drag ” of the water 37 acting on the ballast tube 14 . form drag occurs in response to any motion in any direction . thus , any tendency of the ballast tube 14 to move in the direction 56 with the lead tube 12 a will be resisted by force 50 k in the direction illustrated . however , the force 50 k will be directed opposite any movement through the water 37 . thus , translation vertically in the direction 11 a , horizontally or laterally in the direction 11 b as well as in rotation 11 d , 11 e about any longitudinal axis of any of the tubes 12 , 14 , or any central axis of the assembly 10 will result in churning of the water 37 and resistance to any movement therethrough by the tubes 12 , 14 . referring to fig1 , the progression of motion of the assembly 10 is illustrated through various phases . progressing from left to right through this schematic illustration , one may envision a system 10 having a leading tube 12 a and trailing tube 12 b above a ballast tube 14 . upon arrival of a wave 44 , the level 36 of the water 37 rises below the leading tube 12 a . the result of the resultant force 52 imposed by a combination of the buoyance of the tube 12 on wave 44 , fluid drag , and the tether 20 is a rising and pulling back against the anchor 18 of the leading tube 12 a . meanwhile , the lifting of the leading tube 12 a results in rotating the assembly 10 . such motion results in necessarily displacing the trailing tube 12 b sitting at a lower level 36 of the water 37 , and correspondingly displacing the ballast tube 14 against the resistance of surrounding water 37 . thus one sees the net translation motion 54 a of the center of mass that may be a net result , and the rotation 54 b about some axis of rotation . as the wave 44 progresses to the right in the schematic illustration , the level 36 a of the water 37 under the leading tube 12 a drops as the swell of the wave 44 tends to lift the level 36 b of the water 37 under the trailing tube 12 b . this motion reverses the direction of a rotation 54 d , and also may result in a rise 54 c . as a practical matter , any lift 54 a , 54 c in any rotation 54 b , 54 d will necessarily be a result of the vector of all forces 50 operating on the system 10 . eventually , the weight of the system 10 and the receding of the level 36 of the water 37 to a flat and level surface 36 results in the leading tube 12 a and trailing tube 12 b once again dropping 54 e and rotating back 54 f to their original equilibrium position . at each point of motion , each of the tubes 12 a , 12 b , 14 thrashes through water 37 for every motion required therethrough . drag factors may be found in standard textbooks identifying the form drag or fluid drag of various fluids at various densities as they pass over inner or outer surfaces of solid structures . accordingly , the tubes 12 , 14 present form drag to the passing wave 44 , churning and thrashing the water 37 in response to their motions 54 resulting from the balance of resultant force 52 on the system 10 in each of its components 12 , 14 , 16 passing through the water 37 . in experiments , it has been found that an apparatus and method in accordance with the invention is very effective at reducing the momentum , energy , crest height , and deleterious effects of waves 44 progressing toward shore lines and shore - bound structures . referring to fig1 through 16 , several principles have been found significant in providing a suitable breakwater 10 . initially , the size and spacing of the tubes 12 , 14 appear to be significant . for example , it has been found that the diameter of the floating tubes 12 should be of about the same size or order of magnitude as the typical swells 44 or waves 44 . a wave 44 expected should typically be not more than about two or three tube diameters in height between crest and trough of a wave 44 . this assures that a significant amount of any cresting wave does not pass over the breakwater 10 upon breaking of the wave 44 . another feature is the spacing between the floating tubes 12 . the distance between tubes should also be about two diameters . a greater distance is satisfactory , but changes performance . a lesser distance tends to leave problems with residual water passing over the entire breakwater 10 , interferes with the rocking or rotational component of motion , and reduces the leverage that the ballast tube 14 can exert against the float tubes 12 . also , the fill amount in each of the float tubes 12 has been found to be a significant factor in engagement of the ballast tube 14 . the specific gravity ( an engineering and physics term , well understood in the art , and indicating the ratio between the density of a particular material compared to the density of water as the denominator ) of the high density polyethylene ( hdpe ) embodiment of the apparatus 10 is around 0 . 92 to about 0 . 95 . typically , it seems to be in the range of about 0 . 93 to 0 . 94 . this means that the hdpe will actually float in water , but barely . it is slightly less dense than water , but only by less than ten percent . the breakwater 10 can still function with the float tubes 12 containing a substantial amount of water . filling the float tubes 12 with a fraction of water ( any amount is feasible ) typically from about one third to about two thirds provides good flotation and increases the overall mass of the float tubes 12 . thus , the tube 12 on a swell 44 or wave 44 does not tend to have as much buoyancy . this results in less force to lift the float tubes 12 with the swell 44 , and to drag with them the ballast tube 14 through the water 37 . this means that the float tubes 12 , themselves , represent an obstruction that must be faced by an oncoming wave 44 . to the extent that the float tubes 12 have a greater fill or fraction of water inside them , they can no longer float as easily upon the top of the rising wave 44 . this results in the breakwater 10 operating more like a rigid emplacement , with less float tube 12 response . however , even with water inside the float tubes 12 , greater than one third of the volume thereof , the pushing by the wave 44 or swell 44 against the float tubes 12 still results in rotation or rocking of the assembly 10 . the corresponding churning of the water below the swell 44 arises from being thrashed by the ballast tube 14 . the ballast tube 14 operates according to the principles of form drag of a solid object in a fluid . drag force is proportional to half the density multiplied by the presented area and velocity squared . constants of proportionality depend on the shape of the body moving in a fluid . they are available as correlations to a value of reynolds number . to a certain extent , this may be modified by some passage of water through the apertures 15 in the ballast tube 14 . both can be modeled by principles of fluid mechanics to provide the net fluid form drag on the ballast tube 14 . drag resists it in response to its need to rock . rocking occurs in reaction to the driving of the float tubes 12 by oncoming wave 44 or swell 44 . as to the spacing between the float tubes 12 , vigorous wave 44 approaching the point of breaking , as that term is understood in the marine arts , a wave 44 will often be forced to break by the resistance to motion imposed by the leading float tube 12 a . again , the spacing between the float tubes 12 or top tubes 12 is effective to receive any wash or crest passing over the lead tube 12 a . the trailing tube 12 b then provides a similar resistance to passage by the water from the crest , thus encouraging it to flow down between the tubes 12 . tethering has been experimented with in several embodiments . in all the illustrated embodiments , a tether 20 is not rigid . that is , for example , the breakwater 10 is not fixed to a wall , rigidly fixed in space by any other superstructure , or the like . the breakwater 10 is always permitted to move in response to oncoming waves 44 . several embodiments have been experimented with , teaching much about the hydrodynamic response of the breakwater 10 in a body of water 37 . the float tubes 12 are urged by the rising water level 36 of an advancing wave 44 to float upward . moreover , the cyclic flow and ebb of the oncoming wave 44 also encourage a shoreward and windward motion 11 b or lateral 11 b motion in addition to the vertical 11 a rise and fall of the top tubes 12 in sequence . the leading tube 12 a first rises , followed by the trailing tube 12 b . meanwhile , the trailing tube 12 b will typically not respond as dramatically to flotation forces , nor the dynamic impact forces of an oncoming wave 44 . this occurs because the leading tube 3 12 a already meets the forces , and initially breaks up the direction of flow of the oncoming wave 44 , and redirects the water , forces , momentum , and energy thereof . the trailing tube 12 b and ballast tube 14 steady the leading tube 12 a at all times . tethering may be done in one of several ways . the currently contemplated embodiment of fig1 may involve tethers 20 angling down both shoreward and windward at a modest angle of from about 50 to about 20 degrees . typically , an angle from about 30 to about 45 degrees from horizontal has been found a reasonable compromise . for example , a certain downward resistance force is presented by the tethers 20 , as well as a lateral force . the force component in the vertical direction 11 a is significant in resisting ready flotation by the top tubes 12 . likewise , forces in the lateral direction 11 b also stabilize against the flow and ebb forces of a wave 44 . thus , if each is to be resisted equally , then a 45 degree angle is most appropriate . on the other hand , additional length of tethering 20 may result in reducing that angle . herein , that angle is defined with respect to the horizontal direction 11 b , such as a seabed level 38 . in most embodiments , the double tethering in both of the lateral directions 11 b ( e . g ., ebb and flow , windward and shoreward , or windward and leeward ) and the downward direction 11 a is important on each of the free ends 32 b . however , the typical length of one assembly of a breakwater 10 is about 60 feet . accordingly , when two are connected together by their flanges 30 , they represent a length of about 120 feet . to avoid bending , it has been found suitable to tether the top tube 12 a near the flanges 30 with at least one other tether 20 providing resistance or force applied to the top tube 12 a ( leading tube 12 a ) in the windward direction . it has been found that the use of a tether 20 made of a twisted or braided polymeric rope , such as nylon , polyester , or the like provides a certain useful amount of elasticity . other elastic members may be interposed along or as part of the tether 20 . the effect of the elasticity in the tether 20 , from either source ( rope , elastic member , mass of system 10 , air , etc .) is an additional resistance that the force and momentum of a wave 44 must work . thus , the resistance to rocking of the breakwater 10 occurs as a result of the mass of the top tubes 12 , including any enclosed water , the mass of the ballast tube 14 , form drag of fluid over and through the system 10 , and the forces exerted by the tethers 20 in the vertical direction 11 a as well as the lateral direction 11 b . referring to fig1 through 16 , while also focusing on the views of fig3 and 4 , one will notice that a void fraction exists as any wave 44 passes in a vertical direction 11 a through the maze of top tubes 12 , struts 16 , and the ballast tube 14 . similarly , referring to fig5 and 6 , a void fraction and an interference fraction ( occupied space ) are presented to an oncoming wave 44 approaching from a lateral direction 11 b or horizontal direction 11 b . the effects are different . the effect of encountering a wall around a circular cross - section or a tubular ( e . g ., right , circular cylinder ) shape is that no area is directly presented normal ( perpendicular ) to the tubes 12 , 14 and struts 16 . theoretically , only a line is normal to any direction of approach to the outer surface of a round tube . in every event , the waves 44 must strike obliquely the surface area of the outside surface of any of the tubes 12 , 14 and struts 16 . this deflects the water mass , momentum , and energy away from its original direction of travel . it immediately induces a new direction and path calculated to cause interference between the various redirected flows . as a result , momentum is taken out of the principal directions of the vertical direction 11 a of the rising swell 44 , and the horizontal direction 11 b or lateral direction 11 b of its progress toward the shore behind ( beyond ) the breakwater 10 . meanwhile , the net momentum is not completely reversed . in fact , it is hardly reversed at all except for splashing and collisions . if the wave 44 were to strike a solid wall , all momentum must be transferred into the wall , and a certain proportion of that momentum that was not dissipated would then be thrust out away from the wall . here , the momentum is directed obliquely away from the obstructing tubes 12 , 14 and struts 16 , toward the openings therebetween . the void fraction is the fraction of unobstructed area that can be seen passing through the maze of tubes 12 , 14 and struts 16 . however , considering only void fraction is informative , but not complete . the void fraction will allow the passage of a certain amount of the water 37 from a wave 44 . however , even that water 37 has been influenced , mixed , struck , and redirected by the water 37 flowing around each of the tubes 12 , 14 and struts 16 . the apertures 17 in the struts 16 are calculated to be comparatively small , and may actually be neglected in any hydrodynamic analysis . the apertures 15 in the ballast tube 14 are considerably larger , amounting to approximately one sixth the diameter of that ballast tube 14 . thus , they may be ignored in some analyses , but may also be accommodated by analyzing their tortuous flow path . however , the resistance to flow , unless apertures 15 are directly opposite one another to permit flow through the ballast tube 14 in a lateral direction 11 b or even a vertical direction 11 a , will be substantial , and may properly be ignored in a first order analysis of the fluid dynamic drag of the water 37 passing over or around any particular member 12 , 14 , 16 . the triangulation of the tubes 12 , 14 in the illustrated embodiment forms an isosceles triangle . it is not required to have an isosceles triangle . however , one must realize that anything other than an isosceles triangle changes the net leverage of any particular tube 12 , 14 with respect to any other tube 12 , 14 . for example , if the struts 16 between the top tubes 12 and the ballast tube 14 are longer than those between the float tubes 12 , than the ballast tube 14 has greater leverage in resisting the natural rocking . the rocking is important , and is substantial . even in small , modeled , laboratory experiments , an attempt to apply force to the ballast tube 14 in order to steady it against rocking was completely ineffective . the energy of the wave 44 is applied to every tube 12 , 14 the breakwater 10 , and the rocking and churning will not be denied . however , that rocking is resisted at all times by the form drag of the surrounding water 37 against all tubes 12 , 14 , 16 moving therein . the planes defined by the center lines of each set of struts 16 , passes through the center line of each pair of adjacent tubes 12 , 14 . one will see that even these planes are oblique to the oncoming wave 44 . in addition , only the front most contact line of any tubular member 12 , 14 , 16 could ever be normal to the direction of a wave 44 . thus circular tubes 12 , 14 , 16 divide and redirect the water , rather than stopping or reversing it . the void fractions or open spaces seen through the maze of members 12 , 14 , 16 are not required . however , a solid or uninterrupted surface would defeat several beneficial functions . tubes 12 , 14 , 16 provide redirection of water and form drag against such relative motion . thus , to balance forces to effective levels , redirected water needs a path that does not reverse . in order to obtain the proper operation , it has been found that a diameter of each of the tubes 12 , 14 should be related to the maximum expected wave height , crest to trough . a range of from about one wave height to about five works , and three wave heights has been found suitable , economical , and effective . meanwhile , a diameter of each of the struts 16 has been found to be best suited for both mechanical and hydrodynamic purposes at about one quarter to about three quarters of the diameter of the operational tubes 12 , 14 . a diameter of the struts 16 equal to about half the diameter of each of the tubes 12 , 14 has been found highly suitable , providing a void fraction that provides a workable and effective void fraction , adequate rocking , and excellent effectiveness at breaking waves , while providing structural integrity of the entire breakwater 10 , its structural connections , anchors 18 , and tethers 20 . decreasing the void fraction can be expected to cause more momentum transfer of “ redirection ” into the breakwater 10 . eventually this risks potential damage to tethers 20 , anchors 18 , and structures of the breakwater 10 . in the illustrated embodiments , it has been found advisable to provide a one - hundred - percent - coverage welding by thermal welding for all contacts between the tubes 12 , 14 and the interconnecting struts 16 . this has been cohesive welding based on a melted , thermoplastic polymer substantially identical to the base material of the other members 12 , 14 , 16 . as a practical matter , it has been found suitable to provide certain struts 16 that pass directly and orthogonally with respect to the longitudinal direction to each of the tubes 12 , 14 . initially , these provide inter - tube spacing initially in a straightforward manner , so that the diagonal struts 16 can then be installed . they also provide a certain amount of support by way of tensile and compressive force transfer directly between the tubes 12 , 14 . they do not provide as good longitudinal support as the diagonal struts 16 in operation . in the illustrated embodiment , the system 10 is virtually corrosion proof . no galvanic cells are set up . no differences in metallic constituents are present . it has been found that the flanges 30 are best secured together by fasteners 31 formed of nonreactive , non - corroding , stainless steel . all other connections and members , from the anchor 18 up through the tether 20 , and including all the other structural members 12 , 14 , 16 , are formed of polymers . the polymers ( such as hdpe ) are nonreactive with sea water or normal constituents of fresh water or salt water . in the illustrated embodiment , virtually no flow propagated by a wave 44 is allowed escape . the illustrated embodiment was installed in certain locations where the maximum expected wave height was about five feet . the two - foot diameter of the tubes 12 , 14 , coupled with the eight foot ( e . g ., greater than one wave height ) outer dimension across any base or side of the triangle formed by the tubes 12 , 14 . this relation assured that the effect of the wave 44 was intercepted directly by at least one of the members 12 , 14 , 16 . moreover , even any fraction of flow that may persist below the surface 36 of the water 37 deeper than the position of the ballast tube 14 , is nevertheless affected by the vortices and churning occasioned by movement of the ballast tube 14 . thus , there is substantially no “ free stream ” ( e . g ., unperturbed , distant ) flow at the wave velocity in either the vertical direction 11 a or the horizontal direction 11 b or lateral direction 11 b without a system width of ( across ) the breakwater 10 . instead , all the surrounding water 37 is subjected to impact , change of direction , mixing , and so forth occasioned by the rocking of the breakwater 10 in the waves 44 . as a practical matter , one will notice that forces applied to the breakwater 10 are triangulated by the tubes 12 , 14 and struts 16 . thus , the system 10 is very stable . forces are transferred in tension and compression directly . the wall thicknesses of the materials of the members 12 , 14 , 16 may be selected at nominal values for such structures and still provide adequate stiffness , strength , section modulus , and so forth as needed for the mechanical properties thereof . the maximum or minimum size at which a breakwater 10 may still successfully operate appears to be within an order of magnitude , and most likely within half an order of magnitude of the wave height . that is , diameters of the tubes 12 , 14 should typically be within one third to one half an order of magnitude of the maximum wave height from crest to trough . a void fraction in the projected area normal to a wave has been found to be adequate in the range of about twenty five percent to about sixty six percent . higher void fractions will simply reduce the effectiveness at redirecting all of the water from the wave 44 . one function is redirection without having to absorb the momentum and energy into the breakwater 10 . those properties need to be redirected as randomly as possible . the resulting mechanical energy is thus reduced to heat by “ mixing .” smaller void fractions will put greater stress on the anchors 18 and tethers 20 , and may result in more momentum and energy transferred to the breakwater 10 , rather than redirecting the energy and momentum of the waves 44 into a churning effect . the fundamental charter of a breakwater 10 is to reduce the momentum and energy striking the shoreline or shore structures . a wave attenuation system ( was ) 10 illustrated in the accompanying fig1 through 16 is designed to reduce the amplitude of wind - generated surface waves in marine , sea and fresh water , environments . wind - generated surface waves 44 have wave periods ( time of passage from crest to crest ) that range from less than 0 . 1 seconds to 30 seconds but may range up to 5 minutes . in the areas where wass 10 are being tested , typical wave amplitudes ( height from trough to crest ) of wind - generated surface waves 44 vary from mere inches ( ripples ) upward to amplitudes of 5 to 6 feet . wavelengths ( distance from crest to crest ) are from about 25 feet , for small waves on the order of 1 - foot high , to 100 feet for 5 - ft high waves . the typical installation for a was 10 is contemplated to be in the nearshore environment as a means of protecting marinas and boats , shoreline structures , and other human - made floating and shoreline features from wave damage . it functions as an alternative to other types of breakwater systems , such as floating logs and rock , earthen , and concrete berms , and various wood , rock , or concrete sea walls . the was 10 in experiments was constructed almost entirely of high - density polyethylene ( hdpe ) for its high strength - to - density ratio . its density , 0 . 93 to 0 . 97 grams per cubic centimeter , is slightly less than that of water (˜ 1 . 0 g / cm3 ). it has a sufficiently high tensile strength and tends to tear and draw ( strain ) when it fails or is damaged , rather than brittle fracturing , thus not producing sharp , jagged edges or pieces . it resists corrosion , leaching of chemical constituents and their derivatives into the surrounding waters , and degradation caused by solar radiation , particularly in the ultraviolet wavelengths . the structural components 10 , 12 , 14 , 16 , 30 , 32 composing the was were joined by thermal welding . the operation of the was is based on the premise that amplitudes of wind - generated waves can be reduced by disrupting , reflecting , and randomizing the trajectory of the wave energy away from its initial path toward shore . traditional floating breakwaters function in large part by simply presenting a considerable floating mass extending over a significant fraction of the length of a wave that depresses the crest of waves . the shape of each the three tubes 12 a , 12 b , 14 and the array of struts 16 as cross members , presents a curved ( e . g ., a right , circular cylinder ) face to approaching waves , virtually regardless of the direction of wave propagation . this causes the wave mass , momentum , and energy contacting the structure to be deflected and redirected away from the individual elements of the structure 10 . the redirected streams are churned or thrashed by each other and subsequent encounters with other elements 12 , 14 , 16 of the breakwater 10 and surrounding water 37 . the result is extensive dissipation of momentum and energy . specular reflection is virtually non existent . the top two , buoyant , surface tubes 12 function to maintain the orientation of the was in the water . together , they intercept and redirected surface waves or the water moved by them . water that does manage to pass over the windward tube 12 a then encounter , the shoreward tube . again , the mass is redirected to mix with and slow down with the bulk liquid water in the region . the perforated submerged ballast tube 14 weighs little , because of the nearly neutral density of hdpe in the water . it has almost no weight relative to the surrounding water . it has considerable mass and an area that creates substantial form drag resisting passage of water thereacross . this mass , and the resistance force of drag that the tube itself exerts in moving through the water , increase the effectiveness of the two buoyant surface tubes in redirecting water near the crests of passing surface waves . passing waves 44 cause the entire structure 10 to rock in a direction 11 e perpendicular to the direction 11 b of wave propagation . as the crest of a wave 44 passes the windward buoyant surface tube 12 a , it exerts an upward lift . this causes the top of the structure 10 to tilt toward the shore , causing the submerged , perforated ballast tube 14 to rock toward the windward direction , opposite to the shoreward direction of the way 44 e . as the remaining crest of the wave 44 encounters the shoreward buoyant tube 12 b , the submerged ballast tube 14 swings in pendulum - like fashion , churning through the water 37 toward the shore . as a result , the submerged ballast tube 14 causes the entire structure 10 to resist moving up and down due to form drag and contained mass . it resists rocking back and forth , yet does so , dissipating energy because of the mass , shape , and area of the tube 12 , 14 , 16 resistance to moving though the water . performance of the entire was 10 is excellent , dissipating wave energy and momentum by churning and mixing it in a multitude of trajectories around the tubes . two - foot high wave virtually completely dissipated . more vigorous waves self destruct under more vigorous rocking of the system 10 . the arrangement of struts 16 is structurally robust . arrangement along principal stress lines resists failure of the system 10 . the differences in orientation present a complex structural path to oncoming waves , regardless of the direction of propagation . thus they further redirect and dissipate wave energy and momentum by providing additional round faces to redirect and collide mass flows of wave energy in a complex array of directions within , through , and around the structure 10 . a wave attenuator 10 was constructed with a six foot surface width by eight foot depth . making the wave attenuator to have a six foot width did not allow for effective diagonal bracing . therefore , the surface braces were parallel to the wave coming in . the system worked very well . the ports 28 were added to add or remove ( as required ) water to the upper tubes 12 . in the summer water was added to lower the attenuator 10 and make it more massive ( added weight of water ) and less visible . in the winter water was pumped out , raising the attenuator 10 , making it more buoyant . two one a half inch diameter pipes were welded into the 24 inch tube 12 ( one pipe 29 was 23 inches , the other very short ). air blown into the short pipe ( at five psi or less ) forced water out through the long pipe 29 . flotation ( buoyancy ) can be infinitely adjusted . a wave attenuator 10 ( of 100 foot length ) had an eight foot width across adjacent main float tubes 12 with diagonal , cross - bracing struts 16 worked well , an improvement over the six foot width with struts 16 running straight between . combining the wave attenuator 10 with a dock float system , was tested at a wave testing facility with scaled prototypes for testing . when hooked to pilings or other docks to reduce rocking the wave attenuator system 10 did not function satisfactorily . the attenuator 10 needs to move in response the wave 44 . prototype wave attenuators 10 in accordance with the invention were constructed to include three 24 inch diameter high - density polyethylene ( hdpe ) pipes 12 , 14 . two of the three pipes , used as flotation tubes 12 with captive air , were on the surface 36 separated at an overall outside distance of eight feet ( the first one was six feet ). the ballast tube 14 was underwater and separated from the upper tubes 12 by the same distance , eight feet outside measure . these were held together with diagonal 12 - inch - diameter hdpe struts 16 . tubes 12 , 14 cut 60 feet in length are shippable by common carrier . a width of 8 feet or less is shippable without special highway permits . these flanges 30 connect the 60 foot sections of tubing together . flanges 30 bolted together on the ends of all three tubes 12 , 14 . the wave attenuators 10 were held in place by tying rope around the upper 24 - inch - diameter tubes 12 . this rope was threaded through sleeves 34 of small hdpe pipe ( which is flexible ) acting as chafe guard 34 . therefore , hdpe tubes 12 are rubbing on hdpe pipe and the rope is protected . this rope goes to the seabed 40 where it is attached to an anchor system 18 . the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its purposes , functions , structures , or operational characteristics . the described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative , and not restrictive . the scope of the invention is , therefore , indicated by the appended claims , rather than by the foregoing description . all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope . | 8 |
fig1 generally depicts a spreadsheet 10 , a text document 110 , a metatag listing 210 , and a values listing 310 . spreadsheet 10 generally includes a plurality of columns 21 - 25 , and a plurality of rows 31 - 37 . cells occur at the intersection of the columns and rows , including cells 41 and 42 at the intersection of columns 21 and 22 with and row 31 , respectively , cells 43 - 44 at the intersections of columns 21 - 22 and row 32 , respectively , and cells 45 - 46 at the intersections of column 21 with rows 33 - 34 , respectively . notwithstanding the drawing , it should be appreciated that spreadsheet 10 is exemplary only , and all sizes and configurations of possible spreadsheets are contemplated . cells 41 , 42 contain metatag names . document 110 is preferably a microsoft ™ word ™ file , but may be wordperfect ™ or any other type of text document , or even a non - text document . especially contemplated are other types of documents including powerpoint ™ presentations , web pages , and so on . document 110 may therefore have any suitable content , including personal or business letters , advertisements , formal or informal notes , and images and other types of images . in the particular example of fig1 , item 121 is text or other material that is of no particular consequence to the discussion herein , and is therefore shown merely as squiggled lines . items 122 - 125 are data items that are stored in cells 43 - 46 , respectively . right clicking on data item 125 causes the software to produce a metatag listing 210 as depicted by arrow 150 . in this particular example , the listing would contain the metatag names 221 - 225 stored as data in the cells of row 31 . metatag listing 210 is preferably sorted alphabetically as shown , but may be sorted in any other suitable manner such as by recency of use or relative frequency or use , or may be entirely unsorted . drop down navigation button 261 advantageously accesses the various options . the display of metatag listing 210 also includes navigation button 262 that closes the display . vertical or horizontal sliders ( not shown ) may also be included . right clicking on any of the metatag names in metatag listing 210 produces an optional values listing as depicted by arrow 152 . in this instance , right clicking on metatag name 224 corresponds to the name stored in cell 41 ( due to the sorting ), and produce a values listing 310 comprising a list 320 of all the data items in the cells of column 21 , including data in cells 43 , 45 , and 46 . the display of values listing 310 also include navigation button 361 that access sort functions , and navigation button 361 that closes the display . vertical or horizontal sliders ( not shown ) may also be included . fig2 depicts steps 410 - 460 that are preferably embodied in software 400 . in practice , one would likely store software 400 in the internal memory ( not shown ) or the mass storage ( not shown ) of a computer system ( not shown ). alternatively , the software or portions of it could be accessed as needed from the internet or other network . in some or all of these steps the “ user ” is generally a human user . it is , however , also contemplated that the user can be an electronic entity , such as a computer program or virtual robot . step 410 involves identifying the item of data in a document . here the user identifies what data is to be metatagged . this is preferably accomplished by blocking , which in the microsoft ™ world can currently be accomplished by typing a special code ( currently f8 ), and using the arrow keys . another current method is to hold down the left mouse button while “ dragging ” the cursor across area to be blocked . still another method , which is often used in spreadsheets , is to double click on a cell of the spreadsheet . non - microsoft ™ systems may have other corresponding methods of accomplishing identification of data , and all such methods are contemplated . it is specifically contemplated that non - contiguous data can be blocked or otherwise identified , and brought together as a single set of data to be metatagged . step 420 involves activating an activation code . the software 400 would be likely activated by a hot key such as a right mouse click , although it should be appreciated that the term “ right clicking ” as used herein can be substituted by any number of other software accessing codes , including keystrokes and combinations of keystrokes . step 430 involves providing a listing of metatag choices . such a listing can be derived from any number of sources . in the example of fig1 , the various metatags are stored in the cells of the first row 31 of the first sheet of the spreadsheet 10 . in other embodiments the metatags may be stored on another sheet of the same spreadsheet 10 , or in an entirely different file such as a database file . there are numerous advantages to cross - utilizing metatags among many different users , and it is especially contemplated that collections of metatags can be made available across the internet or some other shared electronic resource . among other things it is contemplated that cross - utilization would encourage consistency among metatag databases , which ultimately can be extremely useful if any such databases need to be combined or accessed as a unit . in a favored embodiment , a web page or other executable public file could analyze text , keywords , or other data from the document being metatagged . the result of such analysis could then be used to select a subset of potentially useful metatags . for example , if a person is metatagging a web page that refers to automobiles , the system may select a subset of metatags having to do with automobiles , including for example make , model , year , color , condition , price . on the other hand if a person is metatagging a web page that refers to bananas , the system may select a subset of metatags having to do with fruit , including for example source country , producer , weight per box , price per box , ripeness , and so forth . it is also contemplated that subsets of metatags may be chosen based upon a group tag . in fig1 , for example , bracket pairs 126 a , 126 b are symbolic of group metatags used to designate that data items 122 and 123 are related to each other , and that data items 124 and 125 are related to each other . contemplated designations for group metatags include classifications such as automobiles , boats , real estate , foods , attorneys , and so forth . such designations may advantageously be stored in rows along with associated data . thus , the literal for the group designation of data items 122 and 123 is stored in the cell 48 , and the literal for the group designation of data items 122 and 123 is preferably stored in the cell 49 . cell 47 preferably includes a metatag literal such as “ group ”. it is still further contemplated that subsets of metatags may be chosen based upon those metatags that have already been utilized in the document . thus , in further metatagging of the document 10 of fig1 , a preferred method would be to recognize that group metatags literals are stored in cells 48 , 49 , and that individual metatag literals are stored in cells 41 , 42 . any or all of that information could be used to locate a subset of perhaps forty to fifty other metatag literals that are commonly used in conjunction with these metatag literals . search for such a subset can be performed using a local or networked database or other resource . the listing of metatag choices is preferably sorted alphabetically as discussed above with respect to list 210 , and is preferably provided to a user using a crt , laptop screen , or other visual type display . alternatively , however , the listing can be provided by any other suitable means , such as by performing an audible reading of the list , or printing a paper copy of the listing . step 440 involves selecting a metatag from the listing of metatag choices . in this instance a user examines the listing of possible metatag choices provided in step 430 , and selects an appropriate metatag for the data being tagged . selection can be accomplished by any suitable method , including clicking on a particular choice within a visual display , audibly stating the choice , and so forth . where there are no suitable choices , the system may allow the user to enter a new metatag , which can then be made available to others . step 450 involves identifying the selected metatag with a column in the spreadsheet . this step can be performed manually for very small spreadsheets , but should be performed automatically for any spreadsheet of substantial size . one method of accomplishing the identification is through a standard search command , preferably searching only those cells of the spreadsheet that are likely to contain a literal matching the selected metatag . thus , if the metatags are stored in cells of the first row of the spreadsheet , as in fig1 , it is desirable if the search is directed to the first row only . step 460 involves storing at least a portion of the item of data in a cell of the column . once the column containing the selected metatag is identified , that column is used to store the earlier identified item of data . if this is the first item of data for a group , or if there is no group , then the item of data can be stored in a blank row . if previously associated items of data have already been stored in the spreadsheet for a given group , then the new item of data should be stored in the same row as the previously stored data , but in the recently identified column . although it is likely that the entire item of data will be stored in the spreadsheet as just discussed , it is also possible that only a subset of the item of data will be stored . this may occur for several reasons , including oversize of the item . in such instances the data may be truncated , with or without providing a warning of the same to the user . another reason for storing less than the entire item of data include a desire to eliminate undesirable words or phrases from the database . thus , specific embodiments and applications of data storage using spreadsheets and metatags have been disclosed . it should be apparent , however , to those skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those already described are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein . the inventive subject matter , therefore , is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims . moreover , in interpreting both the specification and the claims , all terms should be interpreted in the broadest possible manner consistent with the context . in particular , the terms “ comprises ” and “ comprising ” should be interpreted as referring to elements , components , or steps in a non - exclusive manner , indicating that the referenced elements , components , or steps may be present , or utilized , or combined with other elements , components , or steps that are not expressly referenced . | 6 |
an improved cat litter is provided , according to the present invention , comprised of a composition which includes the following ingredients : polysaccharide ( modified corn starch ); zeolite ; yucca schidegira ; distillers dried grains ; salt compound ( sodium bicarbonate ); and anti - microbial agents . the distillers dried grains utilized in the improved cat litter is manufactured via a mash distillation process to be described in greater detail below . each of the aforementioned ingredients may have one or more sub - components . for example , the salt compound is preferably sodium bicarbonate , however , potassium carbonate and calcium carbonate are envisioned as being selected alone or in combination . yucca schidegira , as a natural saponin , is an emulsifying or foaming agent which functions to inhibit urease enzyme action and to prevent the formation of nh 3 ( ammonia ), thereby binding and neutralizing annoying and harmful odors associated therewith . yucca schidegira further serves to help neutralize feces odor . the anti - microbial agents , preferably including sodium propionate and calcium propionate , facilitate protection against the formation of microbes , bacteria , or molds . zeolite is a natural mineral consisting of silica and alumina . zeolite has a unique interconnecting lattice structure arranged to form a honeycomb framework of consistent diameter interconnecting channels and pores . negatively - charged alumina building blocks and neutrally - charged silica building blocks are stacked thereby producing an open , three dimensional honeycomb framework . odors and gases such as ammonia are attracted to and trapped within the zeolite crystalline structure . zeolite also adsorbs and desorbs water , thus eliminating and preventing mildew formation . modified corn starch is a polysaccharide which serves in the production of alcohol and provides cohesiveness , or clumping of litter . while other cereal grains such as wheat , barley , and rye may be selected , modified corn starch is preferred . in addition , other suitable agents facilitating occlusivity or clumping may include a mixture of detrins , maltodetrins , flours , and arabinoxylans . in practicing the present invention , the general method of manufacture is comprised of a mash distillation process which includes grinding corn into a coarse modified flour called meal . the meal is mixed with water and a malt enzyme , preferably alpha - amylase , and is passed through cookers where starch is liquefied . heat is applied to enable liquefaction using cookers with a high temperature stage and a lower temperature holding period , wherein a mash product is produced . the high temperature stage facilitates reduced bacteria levels in the mash product . the mash product is then cooled and an additional malt enzyme is added to convert liquefied starch to fermentable sugars . the additional malt enzyme selected includes gluc amylase and beta - amylase , however , gluc amylase is preferred . yeast , preferably saccharomyces cerevisiae , is then added in order to ferment the sugars to ethanol and carbon dioxide . saccharomyces cerevisiae is the preferred yeast species because it facilitates quick , efficient production of alcohol and possesses a high alcoholic concentration tolerance . fermented mash results and is sent to distillation , wherein ethanol is extracted , leaving spent mash . the spent mash is centrifuged , where liquid is separated therefrom . the liquid , or stillage , is reintroduced into the cooking system and sold as livestock feed , or is partially dehydrated into a syrup . the aforementioned mash distillation process is executed under controlled ph being adjusted and readjusted in a suitable manner as is commonly practiced in such industry . the mash distillation process creates two main co - products in the production of ethanol , namely carbon dioxide and distillers grains . the distillers grains are rich in protein , fat , minerals , vitamins , and amino acids , and thus serve as a highly valued livestock feed ingredient . next , centrifuged spent mash ( distillers dried grains ) is suitably dried into a powder to which the following ingredients are added to form a litter product : modified corn starch , zeolite , yucca schidegira , sodium bicarbonate , and anti - microbial agents . the litter product is suitably dried to a powder and is processed through a pelletizer via an extrusion technology process so as to form particles each having a size approximating the size of a grain of wheat . the particles are then bagged and sealed . the following example represents the general formulation for the improved cat litter of the present invention . ingredients composition by weight polysaccharide 19 . 5 - 21 %, preferably 20 . 00 % ( modified corn starch ) zeolite 4 . 5 - 5 . 5 %, preferably 5 . 00 % yucca schidegira 0 . 15 - 0 . 25 %, preferably 0 . 20 % distillers dried grains 71 . 50 - 71 . 75 %, preferably 71 . 70 % sodium bicarbonate 2 . 95 - 3 . 05 %, preferably 3 . 00 % anti - microbial agents 0 . 085 - 0 . 105 %, preferably 0 . 10 % to use the present invention , user simply opens the improved cat litter from its sealed packaging and pours a suitable volume thereof within a container fabricated of a material specifically adapted for use as an animal litter storage receptacle . therefore , the foregoing description is included to illustrate the operation of the preferred embodiment and is not meant to limit the scope of the invention . as one can envision , an individual skilled in the relevant art , in conjunction with the present teachings , would be capable of incorporating many minor modifications that are anticipated within this disclosure . the foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description . they are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed , and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching . the embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application , to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated . it is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents . therefore , the scope of the invention is to be broadly limited only by the following claims . | 0 |
the numerous innovative teachings of the present application will be described with particular reference to the presently preferred embodiment . however , it should be understood that this class of embodiments provides only a few examples of the many advantageous uses of the innovative teachings herein . in general , statements made in the specification of the present application do not necessarily delimit any of the various claimed inventions . moreover , some statements may apply to some inventive features but not to others . [ 0023 ] fig1 shows a plasma etching system 100 for semiconductor wafers . the system includes an rf source 102 powering a plasma etching system 104 . an impedance matching network 106 , consisting of variable capacitors 108 , 110 and resistors 112 , 114 , 116 , connects the source 102 to the plasma system 104 . the plasma system 104 includes two electrodes 118 , 120 in a chamber . during fabrication , a wafer 122 is placed on electrode 120 . the wafer 122 has a resist mask of a pattern to be etched . the rf source 102 applies an alternating electric field to the gas in the chamber , varying the voltage of the plates 118 , 120 . this causes the gas to go plasma ( with the addition of a process gas ). the plasma etches the surface of the wafer 122 . in order to maintain maximum power output , the matching circuit 106 is used to match the impedances of the rf source 102 and the plasma system 104 . the circuit in fig1 shows how the vdc signal from the plasma system is measured . any shift in chamber condition , either electrical or chemical , will cause a resulting change in the matching network 106 . such changes will cause the matching circuit 106 to adjust its c1 and c2 settings to match the shift and minimize the reflected rf power . thus changes in plasma parameters are reflected in the impedance and phase of the rf system , including the matching network 106 . as etching proceeds , the dc voltage across the plasma system changes &# 39 ; 104 . this dc shift is caused by both a change in the sheath voltage and by change in the thickness of the oxide layer that is being etched . refer to fig2 . a mask 200 covers an oxide layer 202 to control etching of the oxide . beneath the oxide layer is a nitride layer 204 , followed by a substrate 206 . as the oxide layer 202 becomes thinner , the charge 208 deposited on the surface of the etched oxide 202 attracts charge 210 from the far side of the nitride 204 to form a capacitance . as the oxide layer 202 thins , this capacitance changes . the change in the system is reflected in the voltage across resistors within the matching circuit that are connected between the high node of the plasma chamber and ground . it is believed to be particularly advantageous to measure the dc voltage from a resistor rather than from a capacitor . discrete resistors normally include a substantial parasitic inductance . ( by contrast , in a discrete capacitor , any inductive reactive component due to the parasitic inductance of leads or wiring will be cancelled by the capacitive reactance .) in fig1 two resistors 114 , 116 are shown between node a and ground . since endpoint is signalled by a relative in change of vdc , a voltage drop across either or both resistors 114 , 116 will serve as an endpoint detection signal . a simple multimeter ( not shown ) can thus be used to detect endpoint without adding hardware or the need for a probe within the plasma system itself . this innovative method of endpoint detection shows significant change in the measured vdc parameter even with small percentage open areas . also , early endpoint detection is possible because the capacitance of the plasma model depends on the thickness of the oxide layer . since the endpoint signal relies on an indicator that shows change before the etched layer is completely gone , the endpoint detection can be signaled before etching is complete . experimental data were gathered using drm ( dual - plate rotating magnet ) chambers on tel unity ii frame . the chamber is equipped with sic focus ring , slit baffle , and lower pressure monitor . plasma parameters are measured by measurements circuits within the matchbox . in the preferred embodiment fluorine / carbon based chemistry , such as co / c 4 f 8 / ar or c 4 f 8 / chf 3 / o 2 / ar , is used because carbon and fluorine concentration can be tuned easily across a large range . the pilot wafers used in the experiment had a structure of psg / nitride stack with contact pattern and open area percentages of 10 %, 4 %, and 1 %. a 30 nm nitride stop layer is beneath 6 . 5k psg ( phosphorous - doped silicate glass ) film . high nitride selectivity ( oxide : nitride = 7 : 1 ) is used to prevent extensive etching of the nitride layer . fig3 - 5 show the signals for both optical emission spectrum and vdc endpoint detection . both curves are normalized , and smoothing techniques have been applied to the oes signal but not to the vdc signal . measuring the end point through monitoring vdc shows the same trends as appear in optical methods . in vdc monitoring , the endpoint step is triggered by a change in voltage drop across a resistor positioned to measure total dc voltage drop across the plasma system . since this change in the plasma system occurs before the change causing emission spectrum signal changes , the vdc signal provides endpoint detection before optical methods . the change in vdc output as measured from the matching circuit occurs before the optical emission change because different mechanisms in the plasma system cause the changes . for optical emission spectra to change , the actual material that is being etched changes because the oxide layer has been breached and the underlying nitride layer adds its material to the reacting gases in the plasma chamber . as can be seen from fig3 the emission spectrum for optical endpoint detection is a much smoother curve , and a sharp decrease is found at approximately 80 seconds . the vdc data produce a less smooth plot , but a clear drop is seen ahead of the optical endpoint indication , as early as 65 seconds . the oes endpoint detection is shown as intensity ratios of emission spectra from co and sif . when the etch front reaches the nitride layer , co increases and sif decreases , causing a change in the intensity ratio . this change is seen on the graph as a drop at about 80 seconds on fig3 . a 5 % step drop in the signal is seen on a 10 % open area sample . as open area decreases , the signal - to - noise ratio gets worse as seen in fig4 and 5 . fig4 used a sample with open area of 4 % and fig5 used an open area of 1 %. the signal indication is difficult to read at smaller open areas and oes is difficult to use as endpoint control for open areas of 1 %. smoothing techniques near their limits for oes signals . the signals for both oes and vdc endpoint detection decrease in step size with decrease in open area . with large open area ( greater than 10 %) the chemistry in the chamber changes significantly when the oxide layer is finally etched through and the nitride layer is exposed . the electrical properties of the plasma adjust to reflect this change , and the matching circuit therefore also shows significant change . with decreasing open area , the changes become smaller . the reason for this is because the plasma electrical properties are strongly a function of the reactive chemical species . with smaller open areas , the reactive species concentrations differ less when layers are fully etched . charging of the nitride layer as the oxide layer thins enhances the vdc signal , but not the optical signal . therefore measuring vdc will allow endpoints for smaller open areas to be detected . the plots also show that the change occurs prior to completion of oxide etching , allowing proactive endpoint triggering . the step in vdc ends before the beginning of the optical signal , showing that vdc signals before the etch reaches the nitride layer . vdc signal begins when there is about 50 - 80 nm oxide thickness remaining . note that the measurement of the dc voltage across the plasma system is not necessarily dependent on the impedance matching circuit . the resistor could be placed outside the matching box to directly measure the voltage drop from a node common to the top ( ungrounded ) plate of the plasma system to ground . also since only relative voltage drop need be determined , one of several such resistors in series from the top node of the chamber to ground could be measured to give the endpoint signal . following are short definitions of the usual meanings of some of the technical terms which are used in the present application . ( however , those of ordinary skill will recognize whether the context requires a different meaning .) additional definitions can be found in the standard technical dictionaries and journals . oes : optical emission spectrum . this is a method of endpoint detection based on measuring the emission spectra of etchants , etch products , or their fragments . optical instruments are set to detect a spectral line of interest and track its intensity during an etch cycle . endpoint is determined by a particular shift in intensity . matching circuit : a circuit that matches the source and load impedances to maintain optimum power output . as will be recognized by those skilled in the art , the innovative concepts described in the present application can be modified and varied over a tremendous range of applications , and accordingly the scope of patented subject matter is not limited by any of the specific exemplary teachings given , but is only defined by the issued claims . the innovations of the present application may be implemented by measuring the relevant voltage of the plasma chamber in other ways . for instance , a resistor outside the matching network can also give the necessary voltage change and indicate endpoint for the etch . similarly , other embodiments of the present application &# 39 ; s teachings may include measuring voltage drop across other elements of the matching network , or across other elements that are in contact with the system , provided they give an indication of dc voltage changes within the plasma system . for instance , dc voltage drop may be measured from different nodes to ground , or across elements other than resistors . the present innovations may also be used to indicate a change in etch parameters , not just the proper time to stop the etch . where successive etches or stack etches are performed and require distinguishing between levels of material , the different phases of such etching may be determined by the innovative methods of the present application . other process parameters that must be detected and which are detectable in the presently disclosed innovative way are also within the contemplation of the present application . additional general background , which help to show the knowledge of those skilled in the art regarding variations and implementations of the disclosed inventions , may be found in the following documents , all of which are hereby incorporated by reference : coburn , plasma etching and reactive ion etching ( 1982 ); handbook of plasma processing technology ( ed . rossnagel ); plasma etching ( ed . manos and flamm 1989 ); plasma processing ( ed . dieleman et al . 1982 ); and the semiannual conference proceedings of the electrochemical society on plasma processing . | 7 |
fig2 is a diagram showing a system for data reproducing from an optical storage device according to one embodiment of the invention . the cd drive 1 reads data from an optical disk 2 to a host 3 such as a computer , cpu or storage accessing device such as a sound card and hard disk drive . the cd drive 1 comprises a reading device 12 to read data from the optical disk 2 , a decoder 13 to decode the data that is read from the optical disk 2 , a buffer memory 11 to temporarily store the data that is read from the optical disk 2 , the data decoded by the decoder and the decoded data transferred to the host 3 , a transferring device 14 to transfer the decoded data to the host 3 , and a microprocessor 15 . as shown in fig3 , the buffer memory 11 has a maximum size of n ( e . g . megabyte ) and is divided into three areas 121 , 122 and 123 . the data read from the optical disk 2 is stored in an address r 111 , the decoded data is stored in an address d 112 and the transferred data is stored in an address t 113 . the boundary address of the buffer memory is b 114 . the area 121 comprises the addresses between r 111 and d 112 . the area 122 comprises the addresses between d 112 and t 113 . the area 123 comprises the addresses between t 113 and b 114 . the addresses in the area 122 and 123 are for cache hit and , addresses in the area 121 are for cache miss due to the data stored therein not being decoded . the addresses d 112 and t 113 are variable , and the address r 111 and the maximum size n of the buffer memory is fixed . therefore , the range of the addresses for cache hit is also variable . the addresses for cache hit are located between t + x2 + b − n and t + x1 , wherein x2 is a difference between addresses r 111 and t 113 respectively of the read data and the transferred data , and x1 is a difference between addresses d 112 and t 113 respectively of the decoded data and the transferred data . boundary b is used to prevent the buffer memory to be overwritten by the data from the disk . fig4 a and 4b are diagrams showing the method for data reproducing from an optical storage device according to one embodiment of the invention . the method will be explained in conjunction with fig4 a and 4b as well as fig2 . in step 100 , the host 3 requests the cd drive 1 to read data from the optical disk 2 . in step 101 , the cd drive 1 begins tracking and reads data from the optical disk 2 . processing proceeds to step 102 . in step 102 , the data is read from the optical disk 2 and stored in the area 121 of the buffer memory 11 . processing proceeds to step 103 . in step 103 , the data stored in the area 121 is decoded by the decoder 13 , and the decoded data is stored in the area 122 of the buffer memory 11 . processing proceeds to step 104 . in step 104 , the microprocessor 15 determines whether or not the buffer memory 11 is full . the data is continuously read from the optical disk 2 ( step 102 ) and decoded by the decoder 13 ( step 103 ) until the buffer memory 11 is full . if the buffer memory is full , processing proceeds to step 105 . otherwise , processing then returns to step 102 . in step 105 , when the buffer memory 11 is full , the cd drive 1 stops reading data from the optical disk 2 , and the decoded data stored in the area 122 is transferred to the host 3 by the transferring device 14 and stored in the area 123 until all the data stored in the area 122 is transferred . processing proceeds to step 106 . in step 106 , when the data reproducing is not finished , the reading device 12 again begins to read data from the optical disk 2 . that is , if no , processing returns to step 102 . if the data reading is finished , processing proceeds to step 107 . in step 107 , the host 3 again requests the cd drive 1 to read data from the optical disk 2 . processing proceeds to step 108 . in step 108 , the microprocessor 15 determines whether or not the data that is read already exists in the area 122 and 123 of the buffer memory 11 . if yes , the cd drive need not do tracking again and processing proceeds to step 109 . if no , the data is read from the optical disk 2 and stored in the area 121 of the buffer memory 11 when it is not in the area 122 and 123 . processing returns to step 101 . in step 109 , the cd drive 1 transfers the data that is read directly from the area 122 and 123 of the buffer memory 11 to the host 3 by the transferring device 14 when the data exists in the memory area 122 and 123 . the processing is completed in this step . in conclusion , the present invention provides a method for data reproducing from an optical storage device . by extending the range of memory addresses for cache hit to the transferring block of the buffer memory , the cache hit ratio is increased . this achieves high data reproducing efficiency for optical storage devices . while the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiment , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments . on the contrary , it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements as would be apparent to those skilled in the art . therefore , the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements . | 6 |
in the following description , numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention . the present invention may be practiced without these specific details . the description and representation herein are the means used by those experienced or skilled in the art to effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art . in other instances , well - known methods , procedures , components , and circuitry have not been described in detail since they are already well understood and to avoid unnecessarily obscuring aspects of the present invention . reference herein to “ one embodiment ” or “ an embodiment ” means that a particular feature , structure , or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one implementation of the invention . the appearances of the phrase “ in one embodiment ” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment , nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments . further , the order of blocks in process , flowcharts or functional diagrams representing one or more embodiments do not inherently indicate any particular order nor imply limitations in the invention . as used herein , the singular forms “ a ”, “ an ”, and “ the ” are intended to include the plural forms as well , unless the context indicates otherwise . it will be further understood that the terms “ comprises ” and / or “ comprising ” specify the presence of stated features , steps , operations , elements , and / or components , but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features , steps , operations , elements , components , and / or groups thereof . embodiments of the present invention are discussed herein with reference to fig1 - 5b . however , those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the detailed description given herein with respect to these figures is for explanatory purposes only as the invention extends beyond these limited embodiments . typically , broadcasting a live event involves these major parts , audio and / or video capture , signal acquisition , content encoding , and delivery or distribution . the first piece of any live event is audio and video content . some events consist of just an audio component , such as a quarterly corporate release call , while others consist of video as well as audio , such as oscar award evening . the first step in any live event is being able to record and film the content , otherwise known as “ audio and / or video capture ”. once the audio / video content is captured , a signal acquisition process is immediately followed . the signal is transmitted to a location where it can be encoded . this process is typically done a few different ways depending on the event . the signal can be sent to a satellite in the sky ( typically refereed to as “ uplinking ”) where it is then pulled down ( otherwise known as “ downlinking ”) at the service provider &# 39 ; s offices for encoding . another way to capture the signal can be via a phone bridge , say if the live event content consists of just a conference call . the signal can also be sent via connectivity at the event location if the content is being encoded on - site from the venue . after the signal has been acquired , it needs to be encoded for distribution over the internet . encoding the content includes taking the audio / video signal and transforming it into a streaming media file format ready for distribution on the internet . encoding is done by using an “ encoder ”, a hardware based device with capture cards and software that allows the signal to be digitized into one of file formats that can be placed back on a computer device . now that the content has been captured , acquired and encoded , it is ready for delivery , which also can be referred to as “ distribution ”. in the context of the present invention , broadcasting a live program includes broadcasting a live event , further it includes broadcasting data that is preferably viewed / listened / executed at the time the data is being released over the internet . accordingly , one aspect of the present invention pertains to distributing the encoded data ( that may also be compressed ) using distributed networks with a minimum delay in time . for convenience , it is assumed herein data ( e . g ., audio and / or video ) representing a live program is presented in a data stream ( or a streaming data file ) that comes in until the live program ends . when an order for a live program is placed , a corresponding stream ( namely , the beginning portion thereof ) must be available for playback . to take advantage of the available bandwidths on the side of the client machines ( e . g ., boxes ), and minimize the delay caused by the distribution of the data over the network , the data stream is preprocessed as shown in fig2 . as a live program is going on , a data stream 240 representing the live program is divided into a plurality of interleaved data substreams , for example , 50 - 100 substreams . to illustrate what an interleaved data substream is , fig2 shows that a data stream 240 is being preprocessed to form eight interleaved data substreams 247 - 254 . the data substreams 247 - 254 are produced or formed by respectively sampling the data stream 240 in a decimated manner . in operation , as the data stream 240 comes in ( until the live program ends ), a certain sized data block goes to ( or is sampled to ) each of the substreams 247 - 254 , in a sequential order repeatedly . for example , there are eight substreams , a 1st block goes to a first substream , a 2nd data block goes to a second substream , and a 8th data block goes to a eighth substream . as 9th , 10th , . . . 16th data block come , they go to the first , the second , . . . and the eighth substreams , respectively . in another perspective , an n - th data block in each of the substreams 247 - 254 is one of the eight successive data blocks in the data stream 240 . in one embodiment , a data block comprises a chunk of data , for example , 256 kbytes or 1 mbyte . as a result , each of the data substreams 247 - 254 includes a plurality of interleaved data blocks from the data stream 240 . as shown in fig2 , the data stream 240 is expressed in data blocks as follows : b 11 , b 21 , b 31 , b 41 , b 51 , b 61 , b 71 , b 81 , b 12 , b 22 , b 32 , b 42 , b 52 , b 62 , b 72 , b 82 , . . . b 1 n , b 2 n , b 3 n , b 4 n , b 5 n , b 6 n , b 7 n , b 8 n . with the decimated sampling , the eight substreams 247 - 254 obtained can be respectively expressed as follows : substreams 1 ={ b 11 , b 12 , b 13 , b 14 . . . }; substreams 2 ={ b 21 , b 22 , b 23 , b 24 . . . }; substreams 3 ={ b 31 , b 32 , b 33 , b 34 . . . }; substreams 4 ={ b 41 , b 42 , b 43 , b 44 . . . }; substreams 5 ={ b 51 , b 52 , b 53 , b 54 . . . }; substreams 6 ={ b 61 , b 62 , b 63 , b 64 . . . }; substreams 7 ={ b 71 , b 72 , b 73 , b 74 . . . }; and substreams 8 ={ b 81 , b 82 , b 83 , b 84 . . . }. where b stands for “ data block ”, numerals after “ b ” are mere reference numbers . as used above , the data blocks b 11 , b 21 , b 31 , b 41 , b 51 , b 61 , b 71 , b 81 , b 12 , b 22 , b 32 , b 42 , b 52 , b 62 , b 72 , b 82 , . . . b 1 n , b 2 n , b 3 n , b 4 n , b 5 n , b 6 n , b 7 n , b 8 n are sequential while , for example , data blocks b 11 , b 12 , b 13 , b 14 . . . b 1 n in substreams 1 are not sequential ( interleaved ). in other words , the data blocks in each of the substreams are non - sequential . data streams from all substreams must be multiplexed to reproduce useful ( sequential ) data for playback on an ordering box . instead of counting on limited computation power and bandwidth of a server , one of the features in the present invention is to utilize that of the boxes in service and distributed in the network . typically , there are tens and thousands of boxes in service by a service provider . at the time of broadcasting a live program , there can be a substantial number of boxes that are not used to fulfill an order ( e . g ., playing back a movie , or browsing the internet ) or boxes that are not fully occupied . these boxes , referred to herein as being idle at the time , may contribute substantially to the required computation power as well as the required bandwidth to deliver the live program to those boxes that have ordered the live program from the service provider . for example , for a typical residential environment , a downloading speed is about 1 . 3 mbps while an uploading speed is 330 kbps , and the data stream of a live program requires a transmission speed of 900 kbps . if the data stream is being preprocessed to form sixty substreams that are being distributed to sixty idle boxes , either from the server or from other idle boxes , these sixty idle boxes can be designated to provide the substreams to ordering boxes , each substream at an uploading speed of 15 kbps that can readily achieved in the residential environment . in one embodiment , there may be many idle boxes , but only those idle boxes that have a sufficient uploading bandwidth to serve multiple ordering boxes are designated by the server to be data suppliers of the live program , thus receiving the substreams from the servers . the minimum requirement of an idle box to be a supplier is that the uploading bandwidth thereof can support at least two substreams , namely , an idle box that is qualified to be a data supplier can serve at least two others ( e . g ., ordering boxes or other idle boxes ). fig3 a shows a configuration 300 of delivering a live program using some of the idle boxes in service to serve the ordering boxes . it is assumed that a server 302 , representing a single server or a cluster of servers , distributes substreams to identified idle boxes 304 . on behalf of the server 302 , the idle boxes 304 are caused to fulfill the orders of the live program from the ordering boxes by feeding the required substreams thereto , thus alleviating the computation and bandwidth pressures on the server 302 . fig3 b shows a flowchart or process 322 of serving a live program using a distributed network according to one embodiment of the present invention . the process 322 may be understood in conjunction with fig3 a , and implemented in software , hardware , or in a combination of both . at 322 , the process 322 determines a set of seeding boxes from the idle boxes . in one embodiment , a server has a status record of all boxes in service to show which ones are currently busy ( e . g ., playing back an ordered movie or uploading a data stream to another box ) and which ones are not busy or could contribute to the delivery of the live program , also referred to herein as eligible boxes . those being eligible are identified as the potential data suppliers of the substreams to others for the live program . in another embodiment , the server determines an uploading bandwidth a box has . a box will be identified as a potential supplier when the available uploading bandwidth thereof is sufficient to serve at least two other boxes in accordance with the required transmission rate ( e . g ., related to the encoding and decoding rates for successful playback ) and the number of substreams . for example , a data stream of a live program requiring a transmission rate of 900 kbps is partitioned into 60 substreams . accordingly , if a box has an at least 30 kbps uploading bandwidth , it will be considered as a potential supplier . in any case , among the potential suppliers , the server selects a set of seeding boxes to receive the substreams directly therefrom . although it is possible to designate more seeding boxes to directly receive the substreams from the server , the more seeding boxes there are , the more computation and bandwidth are required form the server . thus depending on the computation power and the bandwidth of the server , the set of the seeding boxes may be an exact number of the substreams , one to receive a substream , or more in which two or more to receive a substream . at 324 , the data stream representing the live program is preprocessed to generate the substreams . the number of the substreams is determined in accordance with a number of factors . for example , the factors include , but may not be limited to , a required transmission rate of a video over a network , a number of data suppliers required to supply the substreams to an ordering device , a number of eligible boxes or boxes that could potentially become the suppliers , and available uploading and downloading bandwidths of the boxes in service . given the selected set of potential suppliers from the idle boxes , at 326 , the server can be configured to start to stream the substreams , respectively , to the seeding boxes . for example , one of the seeding boxes is caused to receive one substream as the substream becomes available . it should be noted that the bandwidth pressure on the server is not increased although the server is configured to feed , for example , n substreams to n boxes , which is equivalent to feed a data stream of the live program to a single box . as the seeding boxes are receiving the substreams , they are configured to propagate the received data to other eligible boxes that can be the potential suppliers at 328 . one of the purposes is to colonize more eligible boxes to receive the substrates so that more ordering boxes may be served , and at the same time , there are still sufficient data suppliers should some of the eligible boxes become ordering boxes ( e . g ., some subscribers order the live program in the middle of the program ). although there are ways to propagate the received data to other eligible boxes , according to one embodiment , a scheme is adopted to propagate the substreams to other the eligible boxes with a minimum delay in time . the details of exemplary propagating the received data of a substream to other eligible boxes will be described below . at 330 , a set of data suppliers is identified to serve an ordering box . as the eligible boxes are receiving the substreams from the server or other eligible boxes , a set of the eligible boxes is designated by the server to serve the ordering box . as described above , each eligible data supplier is capable of servicing at least two ordering boxes , an eligible data supplier may be designed to provide a substream being received to two or more ordering boxes or a combination of ordering boxes and other eligible boxes . it should be noted , however , while an ordering box is receiving all the substreams from a set of suppliers , it may be designated as a supplier to supply one or more of the substreams being streamed to another ordering box . fig4 a shows an exemplary pipeline structure to propagate a substream being received to a number of boxes that are designed to receive such a substream . as the server releases a substream block by block to c 1 that pipelines it to c 2 and so on till to cn . the completion time for this structure will be k ( n − 1 ) ticks , assuming it takes k ticks ( a time unit ) to get one data block from one device to another . the completion time in the pipeline structure depends linearly on the number of boxes to be populated with one substream . fig4 b shows a multicast tree by arranging all eligible boxes in a d - ary ( d & gt ; 1 ) tree structure . if all the eligible boxes and the server are represented by n nodes . there will be at most log d n layers , resulting in a completion time being k × log d n ticks , again it is assumed that it takes k ticks ( a time unit ) to get one data block from one device to another . the completion time in the multicast tree depends logarithmically on the number of boxes to be populated with one type of the substreams . it could be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the tree structure may be optimized to minimize the delay in time in propagating the substreams to all eligible boxes or in colonizing the eligible boxes to receive the substreams . fig4 c shows a diagram 400 of distributing the substreams to eligible boxes using what is referred to as a gossip protocol . instead of predetermining which eligible boxes are supposed to receive the substreams from which boxes , the way of colonizing the eligible boxes to receive the substreams is somehow random . when a server starts to release the substreams , it is configured to prepare the substreams into a number of data chunks . a data chunk is an atomic unit of data transfer from the server to the boxes , or between two boxes . for example , each of the data chunks may be 1 mbyte in size and uniquely identified . depending on implementation , each data chunk may contain one or more data blocks from one substream . in one embodiment , the server prepares a sourcing instruction in metadata about the substreams . the instruction , for example , describes which box gets which one of the substreams . the instruction once received causes an eligible box to retain the data blocks pertaining to the substream that it is supposed to receive . the instruction , once prepared by the server , is propagated to all eligible boxes either via direct communication between the server and a box , or by box - to - box propagation of the instruction via a gossip protocol which is an application - layer multicast - like protocol . in general , each of the eligible boxes is configured to receive a specific subset of the data chunks that make up a substream assigned thereto . in addition , the sourcing instruction itself may be represented as one or more data chunks that are to be propagated to all boxes . in operation , the server 402 initiates respective communications with a set of eligible ( seeding ) boxes 404 - 1 , 404 - 2 , . . . 404 - n and provides each of them with the data chunks in a substream that box is supposed to receive . preferably , at least one of the seeding boxes receives data chunks of a corresponding substream from the server 402 . the exact number of the seeding boxes 404 - 1 , 404 - 2 , . . . 404 - n initially to receive the data chunks does not constrain the distribution of the substreams . in one embodiment , the designation of the boxes 404 - 1 , 404 - 2 , . . . 404 - n is also fairly random . in another embodiment , the designation of the boxes 404 - 1 , 404 - 2 , . . . 404 - n is based on corresponding internet service providers ( isp ) or geographic locations . each of the seeding boxes 404 - 1 , 404 - 2 , . . . 404 - n is configured to spread data chunks to other eligible boxes based on the gossip protocol . it should be noted that not all of the boxes 404 - 1 , 404 - 2 , . . . and 404 - n have received identical data chunks . any of the boxes 404 - 1 , 404 - 2 , . . . and 404 - n may start to spread a data chunk to other boxes as soon as it has received the data chunk in its entirety . in operation , the box 404 - 1 is assigned to propagate at least some of its received data chunks to boxes 406 - 1 , 406 - 2 and 406 - 3 , communicating with one or more of these boxes simultaneously . the box 404 - 2 is assigned to propagate at least some of its received data chunks to boxes 406 - 2 and 406 - 3 . the box 406 - 2 is configured per the instruction to know exactly what data chunks to get from the box 404 - 1 , the box 404 - 2 , and any other boxes configured to feed it chunks of data . further , the box 406 - 2 is assigned to propagate at least some of its received data chunks to boxes 408 - 1 , 408 - 2 and 408 - 3 . note that the propagation of data is not necessarily hierarchical . for example , box 408 - 1 might send data chunks “ backward ” to 406 - 1 , as seen in fig4 a . in one embodiment , the data chunks are propagated only to boxes that actually desire those particular chunks in order to avoid wasteful data transmission . moreover , wasteful data transmissions may be avoided by ensuring that a data chunk is propagated to a box only if it does not already possess that chunk and is not in the process of downloading that chunk from elsewhere . in one embodiment , if any one of the boxes , for whatever reason , fails to accept data chunks , the box could be dropped as a supplier or a substitute box could be configured to receive and spread the data chunk . by repeatedly and recursively propagating data chunks via boxes after boxes ( i . e ., by pulling or pushing ), eventually all eligible boxes will be colonized to receive the substreams as they are streamed in . regardless what scheme is used to colonize the eligible boxes to receive the substreams , a map 409 identifying which box is receiving substream is established and maintained in a server . by the map 409 , whenever an order is received from an ordering box , the server can designate appropriate supplying boxes to supply the ongoing substreams to the ordering box . alternatively , the map 409 enables an ordering box to obtain source information to fetch the substreams to fulfill an order . in a case in which one of the supplying boxes could no longer supply a substream at a required speed , a substitute supplying box may be immediately called upon to continue supplying the substream . for example , an eligible box has been designated to supply a substream to a box ( either an ordering box or another eligible idle box ). this eligible box somehow becomes fully used ( e . g ., engaged to play back a movie ), its bandwidths are no longer sufficient to support the deliver of the live program . one or more eligible boxes are determined to substitute this box to continue the original assigned substream . fig5 a shows that an ordering box is receiving n substreams from other peer boxes to fulfill an order of a live program . at the same time , the ordering box may become a data supplier to supply one or more substreams to another peer box , provided the uploading bandwidth thereof is sufficient . in general , the uploading bandwidth requirement for an ordering box to become a supplier is low , compared to an idle box . in one embodiment , as long as an ordering box can upload one substream to another peer box , the ordering box may be designated to become a candidate supplier . as described above , the data blocks in each of the substreams are not sequential and can not be played back without being blended with that of all the substreams . in one embodiment , all the substreams are streamed in nearly simultaneously so that data blocks in all the substreams can be multiplexed to recover the original data stream for playback . fig5 b shows a buffer 570 in a box to receive a live program . it is assumed that the live program is originally represented by a data stream 560 . after being preprocessed , the data stream 560 is being partitioned into four substreams that are being released into a distributed network . these four substreams 578 - 581 are now being streamed in from four peer boxes . as shown in fig5 b , as the substreams 578 - 581 are being received , they are multiplexed into the buffer 570 . more specifically , a block of data from the substream 578 , a block of data from the substream 579 , a block of data from the substream 580 and a block of data from the substream 582 are multiplexed and successively fed into the buffer 570 . as a result , the original order of the data blocks is restored . the live program can be played . one skilled in the art will recognize that elements of a system contemplated in the present invention may be implemented in software , but can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software . the invention can also be embodied as computer - readable code on a computer - readable medium . the computer - readable medium can be any data - storage device that can store data which can be thereafter be read by a computer system . examples of the computer - readable medium may include , but not be limited to , read - only memory , random - access memory , cd - roms , dvds , magnetic tape , hard disks , or optical data - storage devices . the computer - readable media can also be distributed over network - coupled computer systems so that the computer - readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion . the foregoing description of embodiments is illustrative of various aspects / embodiments of the present invention . various modifications to the present invention can be made to the preferred embodiments by those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . accordingly , the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description of embodiments . | 7 |
today , federated networks exist between organizations and their business partners . for example , an organization may have one or more asserting parties for one or more resources provided by its business partners or by other domains in the organization itself . in the present state of technology , the model of trust relationships between organizations and business partners is point - to - point . in other words , every domain in an organization has a trust relationship with one or more domains in one or more business partners . the point - to - point model of trust relationships makes the management of trust relationships in federated networks very complex . as the internal federated networks of both the organization and its business partners grow more complex , the number of trust relationship to be maintained increases enormously . the following sections discuss three examples showing how the number of trust relationships grows dramatically under the conventional point - to - point model . fig2 a depicts a conventional model of trust relationships between an identity provider organization ( ipo ) with multiple domains and multiple service providers . in the illustrated example , an ipo network 201 includes multiple separate domains 202 . the domains 202 may correspond to divisions or other groupings in the organization . the specific example in fig2 a depicts an aerospace division domain 202 - a , a medical systems division domain 202 - b , and a financial services domain 202 - c . in fig2 a , three domains in the ipo are shown , but the number of domains in the organization may be more than or less than three . other organizations may have different domains . as another illustrative example , the domains may include a research group domain , a marketing group domain , a finance group domain , and an information technology domain . for such an ipo , each domain 202 may have a separate trust relationship with each of multiple service providers 203 . in fig2 a , three service providers ( 203 - a , 203 - b , and 203 - c ) are shown , but the number of service providers may be more than or less than three . if the number of domains within the ipo is defined as m , and the number of service providers is defined as n , then the number of separate trust relationships needed under this conventional model is m times n ( m × n ). as seen in the specific example of fig2 a , if m is three and n is three , then the number of separate trust relationships needed between the various domains is nine . fig2 b depicts a conventional model of trust relationships between multiple identity providers and a service provider organization ( spo ) with multiple domains . in the illustrated example , a spo network 203 includes multiple separate domains 204 . the domains 204 may correspond to segments or other groupings in the organization . the specific example in fig2 b depicts a benefits provider network with a health insurance domain 204 - a , and a dental insurance domain 204 - b . in fig2 b , two domains of the spo are shown , but the number of domains in the organization may be more than or less than two . other organizations may have different domains . for such a spo , each domain 204 may have a separate trust relationship with each of multiple identity providers 201 . in fig2 b , two identity providers ( 201 - a and 201 - b ) are shown , but the number of identity providers 201 may be more than or less than two . if the number of domains within the spo is defined as p , and the number of identity providers is defined as q , then the number of separate trust relationships needed under this conventional model is p times q ( p × q ). as seen in the specific example of fig2 b , if p is two and q is two , then the number of separate trust relationships needed between the various domains is four . fig2 c depicts a conventional model of trust relationships between an ipo with multiple domains and a spo with multiple domains . in the illustrated example , an ipo 201 includes multiple domains 202 and a spo 203 includes multiple domains 204 . the specific example in fig2 c depicts three domains of the ipo and two domains of the spo are shown , but the number of domains may vary . further , fig2 c only shows the trust relationships between a single ipo and a single spo . naturally , the ipo may have trust relationships with other service providers , and the spo may have trust relationships with other identity providers . if the number of domains within the ipo is defined as r , and the number of domains in the spo is defined as s , then the number of separate trust relationships needed under this conventional model is r times s ( r × s ). as seen in the specific example of fig2 c , if r is three and s is two , then the number of separate trust relationships needed between the various domains is six . the above - discussed examples illustrate how the number of trust relationships grows dramatically under the conventional point - to - point model . the following discusses how a federation router enables an improved model of trust relationships which can dramatically reduce the number of trust relationships needed between organizations . fig3 a depicts trust relationships when there is a federation router at an ipo with multiple domains in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . as shown in the figure , the ipo network 201 is now arranged so as to include multiple separate domains 202 and a federation router 302 . the federation router 302 may be configured as an intermediary between the domains 202 within the ipo network 201 and external service provider domains 203 . for example , as shown in fig3 a , the federation router 302 may be configured so that each of the multiple service providers 203 has a single trust relationship with the ipo network 201 . if the number of domains within the ipo is defined as m , and the number of service providers is defined as n , then the number of separate trust relationships needed using an ipo federation router is simply n . this is because there is a single trust relationship needed between the federation router 302 and each service provider 203 . in contrast , the conventional point - to - point model requires m × n trust relationships . thus , it is seen how a federation router at an ipo substantially reduces the number of required trust relationships with external service providers . fig3 b depicts trust relationships when there is a federation router at a spo with multiple domains in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . as shown in the figure , the spo network 203 is now arranged so as to include multiple separate domains 204 and a federation router 304 . the federation router 302 may be configured as an intermediary between the domains 202 within the ipo network 201 and external service provider domains 203 . similarly , the federation router 304 may be configured as an intermediary between the domains 204 within the spo network 203 and external identity provider domains 201 . for example , as shown in fig3 b , the federation router 304 may be configured so that each of the multiple identity providers 201 has a single trust relationship with the spo network 203 . if the number of domains within the spo is defined as p , and the number of identity providers is defined as q , then the number of separate trust relationships needed using a spo federation router is simply q . this is because there is a single trust relationship needed between the federation router 304 and each identity provider 201 . in contrast , the conventional point - to - point model requires p × q trust relationships . thus , it is seen how a federation router at a spo substantially reduces the number of required trust relationships with external identity providers . fig3 c depicts trust relationships when there is a federation router at a first ( identity provider ) organization with multiple domains and another federation router at a second ( service provider ) organization with multiple domains in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . here , the ipo network 201 includes multiple separate domains 202 , and the spo network 203 also includes multiple separate domains 204 . moreover , as shown in the figure , the ipo network 201 is now arranged so as to include a federation router 302 , and the spo network 203 is now arranged so as to include a federation router 304 . the ipo federation router 302 may be configured as an intermediary between the domains 202 within the ipo network 201 and external service provider domains 203 . similarly , the spo federation router 304 may be configured as an intermediary between the domains 204 within the spo network 203 and external identity provider domains 201 . in fig3 c , only one ipo network 201 and one spo network 203 are shown for purposes of ease of illustration and explanation . if the number of domains within the ipo is defined as r , and the number of domains in the spo is defined as s , then the number of separate trust relationships needed using both an ipo federation router and a spo federation router is only r + s . this is because there is a single trust relationship needed between the ipo federation router 302 and the spo federation router 304 . in contrast , the conventional point - to - point model requires r × s trust relationships . thus , it is seen how federation routers at both an ipo network and a spo network substantially reduces the number of required trust relationships between the two organizations . fig4 is a flow chart of a method 400 in which a federation router acts as a consolidated identity provider to external service providers in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . this method 400 may be performed using a federation router 302 at an identity provider organization 201 , for example , such as depicted in fig3 a and 3c . note that , while the federation router 302 in the following discussion is configured to act as a consolidated identity provider ( asserting party ), the same federation router 302 may also be configured to act as a consolidated service provider ( relying party ). in accordance with this method 400 , a user may open a web browser and navigate to a website of the identity provider . for example , the user may be an employee of the identity provider , and the identity provider may be a particular division ( for example , medical systems division 202 - b ) of a larger identity provider organization 201 ( for instance , a large industrial conglomerate ). the website of the identity provider may include a link to access a destination service provider 203 . the user may “ click ” on the link to the destination service provider 203 ( see step 402 ). the destination service provider 203 may be , for instance , a benefits provider . a computer ( server ) of the ipo authenticates the user ( see step 404 ). this may involve , for example , verifying that the username and password is correct for that user identity . the user is typically not allowed to proceed until and unless the authentication is successful . once the user is authenticated , the identity provider computer ( server ) may redirect the user to a federation router 302 of the identity provider organization 201 ( see step 406 ). a standard federation protocol may be used from the the ipo federation router 302 may then verify permission of the user to access the destination service provider 203 ( see step 408 ). in other words , the ipo federation router 302 verifies that the user is allowed to visit the destination service provider 203 according to policy rules and data . the user is typically not allowed to access the destination service provider 203 until and unless the permission verification is successful . once the permission is verified , the ipo federation router 302 may then construct a view of the user identity that is appropriate for presentation to the destination service provider 203 ( see step 410 ). the view of the user identity may select profile attributes , web - service related information , and other data which is appropriate for the particular destination service provider 203 . once the appropriate user view is generated , then the ipo federation router 302 may send the user to the destination service provider 203 ( see step 412 ). this may be done using a federation protocol appropriate to ( i . e . understood by ) the destination service provider 203 . the appropriate federation protocol is determined by the ipo federation router 302 . the federation protocol used by the ipo federation router 302 to communicate the user to the destination service provider 203 in step 412 may be different from the federation protocol used by the identity provider computer to communicate the user to the federation router 302 in step 406 . in some instances , these federation protocols ( used in steps 406 and 412 ) may be the same . fig5 is a flow chart of a method 500 in which a federation router acts as a consolidated service provider to external identity providers in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . this method 500 may be performed using a federation router 304 at a service provider organization ( spo ) 203 , for example , such as depicted in fig3 b and 3c . note that , while the federation router 304 in the following discussion is configured to act as a consolidated service provider ( relying party ), the same federation router 304 may also be configured to act as a consolidated identity provider ( asserting party ). in accordance with this method 500 , a federation router 304 at a service provider organization 203 may receive a user from an identity provider 201 ( see step 502 ). for example , the user may be an employee of the identity provider . the service provider organization 203 may be , for instance , a benefits provider with a health insurance segment 204 - a and a dental insurance segment 204 - b . the federation protocol used to receive the user may also indicate , for instance , that the user wishes to access private information at the dental insurance segment 204 - b . in this instance , the dental insurance segment 204 - b is the destination service provider 204 . the spo federation router 304 may then verify permission ( authorization ) of the user to access the destination service provider 204 ( see step 504 ). in other words , the spo federation router 304 verifies that the user is allowed to visit the destination service provider 204 according to policy rules and data . the user is typically not allowed to access the destination service provider 204 until and unless the permission verification is successful . once the permission is verified , the spo federation router 304 may then send the authorized user to the destination service provider 204 ( see step 506 ). this may be done using a federation protocol appropriate to ( i . e . understood by ) the destination service provider 204 . the appropriate federation protocol is determined by the spo federation router 304 . the federation protocol used by the federation router 304 to communicate the user to the destination service provider 204 in step 506 may be different from the federation protocol used by the spo federation router 304 to receive the user in step 502 . in some instances , these federation protocols ( used in steps 502 and 506 ) may be the same . fig6 is a schematic diagram depicting steps in a process when there is a federation router 302 at a first ( identity provider ) organization 201 with multiple domains and another federation router 304 at a second ( service provider ) organization 203 with multiple domains in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . this schematic diagram may pertain , for example , to the situation shown in fig3 c . in action a , the user “ clicks ” on the link from the identity provider 202 ( for example , a division of the ipo 201 ) to visit the destination service provider 204 ( for example , a segment of the spo 204 ). this action a corresponds to step 402 in fig4 . the identity provider 202 ( more specifically , a computer or server system at the identity provider 202 ) authenticates the user . if the user is authenticated , then , in action b , the identity provider 202 redirects the authenticated user to the ipo federation router 302 . this action b involves asserting the authenticated user identity . action b corresponds to step 406 in fig4 . the ipo federation router 302 verifies permission ( authorization ) of the user to access the destination service provider . if the user permission is verified , then , in action c , the ipo federation router 302 redirects an appropriate view of the authorized user towards the destination service provider 204 . this action c involves further asserting the authenticated user identity . action c corresponds to step 412 in fig4 . in this specific case , the spo federation router 304 acts as an intermediary for the destination service provider 204 . the spo federation router 304 verifies permission ( authorization ) of the user to access the destination service provider 204 . if the user permission is verified , then , in action d , the spo federation router 304 sends the user to the destination service provider 204 . this action d involves further asserting the authenticated user identity . action d corresponds to step 506 in fig5 . as mentioned above , the actions b , c , and d may use different federation protocols to communicate the user information . note that federation routers may be nested . in other words , a large organization may have multiple layers of federation routers to efficiently manage trust relationships . fig7 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of modules which may be adapted to implement an embodiment of the invention . the modules shown include a unified management core 702 , a user repository 704 , a privacy manager 706 , a federation repository 708 , protocol responders 710 - 1 , 710 - 2 , 710 - 3 , 710 - 4 , . . . , 710 - n , a key store 712 , and an administrative console 714 . these modules may be implemented , for example , using computer - readable code to be executed by one or more processors . the unified management core 702 may be configured to manage the user - federation - session information , federation mappings of user identities , circle - of - trust information regarding trusted partner sites , and audit events . the user management core 702 may be configured to store such federation - related information at the federation repository 708 . the federation repository 708 may be implemented , for example , as a relational database . the user repository 704 may be configured to store user authentication and user profile information . the user repository 704 may be referenced by the unified management core 702 for profile attributes of users and for verifying membership for privileged access to external applications . the privacy manager 706 may be configured to allow users to control the exchange of their personal attributes and to control their preferences about exchanging such information between trusted sites . the protocol responders 710 may be implemented , for example , as servlets configured to receive messages from either ( a ) a user - agent , such as a browser , on a “ front channel ”, or ( b ) a federation server on a “ back channel .” examples of “ front channel ” universal resource locators ( urls ) include the saml single sign - on service url and the liberty assertion consumer service url . examples of “ back - channel ” web - services include the saml attribute authority service and the liberty profile service . the key store 712 may be implemented , for example as a java cryptography architecture compliant key store . the key store 712 may be implemented in either computer - readable code ( software ), or in circuitry ( hardware ). the administrative console 714 may be implemented , for example , as a web - front - end interface . the administrative console 714 may be configured to connect to both the unified management core 702 and the user repository 704 . the administrative console 714 may be configured to allow a root administrator to monitor existing federations with trusted partners , including capabilities such as defining trusted sites , manually deleting user federations , and viewing an audit log . in the above description , numerous specific details are given to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention . however , the above description of illustrated embodiments of the invention is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed . one skilled in the relevant art will recognize that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific details , or with other methods , components , etc . in other instances , well - known structures or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention . while specific embodiments of , and examples for , the invention are described herein for illustrative purposes , various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the invention , as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize . these modifications can be made to the invention in light of the above detailed description . the terms used in the following claims should not be construed to limit the invention to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims . rather , the scope of the invention is to be determined by the following claims , which are to be construed in accordance with established doctrines of claim interpretation . | 6 |
as shown in fig1 , the threading device according to the present invention , which has been generally indicated by the reference number 1 , comprises a supporting assembly or body 2 , having a throughgoing opening 3 for supplying a refrigerating and lubricating fluid 4 . the supporting body or assembly 2 is mounted on a slide of a machine tool , not herein shown . the refrigerating and lubricating fluid passes through channels , not specifically shown , of the supporting assembly 2 , as it will be disclosed in a more detailed manner hereinafter , said fluid 4 exiting the supporting assembly 2 through an outlet channel 5 . before exiting said supporting assembly or body 2 , the refrigerating fluid 4 passes through a plurality of circumferential channels 6 of an annular body 7 encompassing the stator 8 operating in cooperation with a rotor 9 integral with a further body 10 which , at a region 11 thereof , supports a plurality of machining tools ( not shown in fig1 ) for machining a bar , schematically indicated by 12 . fig2 , is a cross - sectional view showing the body 10 of the device 1 , integral with said electric rotor 9 , which is rotatively driven through said electric stator 8 , said electric rotor 9 and stator 8 forming together an electric motor . to said electric stator 8 is operatively coupled said tubular sleeve body 7 , including said plurality of circumferential channels 6 , to which refrigerating fluid for removing the generated heat is supplied . fig2 shows moreover in a very clear manner the arrangement of the threading tools 11 for threading , as desired , the free end portion of the bar 12 . the refrigerating fluid 4 , exiting the opening or outlet 5 of the supporting assembly 2 , as is shown in fig1 , is not only used as a refrigerating fluid proper passing through the channels 6 of the annular body 7 ; in fact said refrigerating fluid 4 , upon exiting the supporting assembly 2 through the channel 5 , will moreover freely descend , to be also used as a refrigerating fluid for the machining tools 11 forming threads 13 on the free end portion of the bar 12 which threaded bar will be finally cut to any desired length . after the threading operation , the fluid 4 will be filtered and fed again to the cooling channels 6 . as is further shown in fig2 , the rotary body 10 is very accurately supported on said supporting assembly 2 by precision bearings 14 . thus , the provision of said precision bearings 14 as well as of the electric rotor 9 in a single body with the rotary body 10 and a toroidal stator 8 fixedly mounted within the supporting assembly 2 , and of the cooling channels 6 encompassing the stator 8 body , allows the machining tools 11 to be directly driven with a very high precision , without using , as in the prior art , a composite driving assembly including a series of gears , a trapezoidal drive belt or the like . moreover , the device 1 comprises an interface 20 to properly drive and control the motor 8 , 9 , which interface 20 is advantageously operatively coupled to a machine numeric control device ( not shown ). said interface , moreover , is so pressurized as to prevent machining chips from depositing in the apparatus and wearing rotary parts of the latter . thus , said single interface providing both a passage for the electric motor power supply cables and a pressurized operating environment , allows to make a compact and operatively flexible device , which can be easily and quickly supported by a slide of any desired single or multiple spindle machine tool without the need of modifying the latter . fig3 shows a schematic cross - sectional view of the portion 10 of the supporting assembly 2 , said portion 10 supporting not shown threading tools and comprising said electric rotor 9 forming , with said electric stator 8 , a synchronous brushless electric motor 8 , 9 ( for example of a type offered and produced by the company phase motion control of genoa ). fig3 also clearly shows the circumferential channels 6 formed in the sleeve 7 therethrough said refrigerating fluid 4 supplied , for example , through a channel 3 of a central unit ( not shown ) flows , said fluid 4 being so temperature controlled as to properly cool said stator 8 ; moreover said fluid upon exiting the device 1 through the channel 5 ( fig1 ) will be also conveyed to the machining tools 11 to also properly lubricate and cool the latter , and remove any machining chips from the resulting thread 13 at the free end portion of the bar 12 . in fig2 , the reference number 21 shows the fixed portion and the reference number 22 the rotary portion of a speed sensor for sensing the rotary speed of the body 10 . according to a modified embodiment of the invention , to further improve the compactness and operating flexibility of the apparatus , it would be also possible to omit the speed sensor , and detect said rotary speed by reading out the operating current of the motor thereby properly controlling said motor by a sensorless arrangement , as controlled by a mras or model reference adaptive system . thus a turbothreading device of very simple and compact construction will be obtained . | 1 |
an electrolytic cell 1 is shown in fig1 and is adapted to produce sodium hypochlorite by the electrolysis of brine . the brine is typically of a concentration of 3 % salt . in one embodiment of the invention , the cell 1 operates in a “ batch ” mode of operation wherein it is filled with brine ( fresh electrolyte ), the electrolysis is begun and once a sufficient concentration of sodium hypochlorite has been generated , the cell is emptied of the products of the electrolysis ( product electrolyte ). the electrolytic cell 1 comprises an electrolysis vessel 2 having electrodes 3 disposed therein . the vessel 2 is adapted to receive an electrolyte 4 of brine that surrounds the electrodes 3 . the vessel 2 also includes a vent 5 and an air inlet means 6 . the air inlet means 6 is located adjacent to the surface level of the electrolyte 4 , which is represented by dashed line 7 . the vessel 2 comprises a tubular body 8 having a vent tube 10 that defines the vent at the uppermost point . a tapering conical part 11 separates the vent tube 10 from the tubular body 8 . in use , the vent tube 10 is connected to a waste gas system ( not shown ). the vessel 2 has a plurality of ports in the tubular body 2 . in one embodiment , the electrolyte inlet means 13 such as a fill port 13 , is connected to a means for filling the electrolytic vessel , piping for example , with fresh electrolyte 4 . a product outlet means 14 , a product port for example , is connected to a means for allowing the processed electrolyte to leave the vessel . an upper port 12 forms the air inlet means 6 ; the fill port 13 allows electrolyte 4 to be introduced into the vessel 2 ; and the product port 14 allows the product electrolyte to be extracted from the vessel 2 . the vessel 2 also includes a base plate 15 ( shown in fig2 and 3 ) that is secured to the tubular body part 8 by bolts 16 . the bolts 16 pass through the plate 15 and are secured to an outwardly turned flange 17 on the tubular body 2 . a sealing gasket 18 is located between the base plate 15 and the flange 17 . the base plate 15 has an aperture 20 therein that allow the passage of an electricity supply cable 21 . a gland ( not shown ) forms a seal between the cable 21 and the base plate 15 . the cable 15 is connected ( not shown ) appropriately to the electrodes 3 . the electrodes 3 comprise a tubular anode 22 and a tubular cathode 23 . the cathode 23 has a smaller diameter that the anode 22 and the cathode 23 is located concentrically within the anode 22 . the electrodes 3 are adapted to be completely submerged in the electrolyte 4 . a draught tube 24 comprising a tubular member is mounted within the vessel 2 and is affixed to the base plate 15 by a spacing member 25 . the spacing member 25 ( represented by dashed lines ) allows electrolyte 4 to flow from an area 27 outside of the draught tube 24 to an area 28 within the draught tube , as represented by arrow 26 . however , it will be appreciated that electrolyte 4 could flow in the other direction . the spacing member 25 comprises a cross - shaped member and the draught tube 24 is seated thereon such that its peripheral circular edge bridges the arms of the cross - shaped member and the gaps therebetween . thus , electrolyte can flow between areas 27 and 28 via the gaps between the arms of the spacing member 25 . it will be appreciated that other arrangements of draught tube 24 will allow the flow of electrolyte around the tube 24 . for example , the draught tube 24 may be affixed directly to the base plate 15 and have a plurality of apertures located circumferentially around it adjacent the base plate 15 . in this embodiment ( not shown ), the spacing member 25 is not required as electrolyte 4 can flow through the apertures in the draught tube 24 . the draught tube 24 is also adapted to be completely submerged in the electrolyte 4 . the upper port 12 and the product port 14 are connected to a product tank 30 by conduits 31 and 32 respectively . the product tank 30 is adapted to store the product electrolyte when it has been drained from the vessel 2 and prior to its use as a disinfectant or the like . the product tank also receives an air inlet conduit 33 , which guides air under pressure into tank 30 and through conduit 31 and into the vessel 2 via the air inlet means 6 . the incoming air is placed under pressure by a fan 34 . it will be appreciated that other air pressure sources could be used , such as a compressor or pre - pressurised gas from a cylinder , for example . the product tank 30 also includes a product delivery outlet 35 to remove product from the product tank 30 for use . the vessel 2 also includes an overflow means . in this embodiment the overflow means 36 comprises the upper port 12 and thus the overflow means 36 and air inlet means share the port 12 . when the vessel 2 is filled with electrolyte 4 it is filled to the predetermined level 7 and the overflow means 36 is located adjacent to , but above , this predetermined level 7 . this ensures both that any increases above the predetermined level results in the excess electrolyte being drained into the product tank 30 , and also that the incoming air is directed over the surface of the electrolyte 4 . thus , any hazardous gases liberated during electrolysis are diluted by the incoming air as soon as the gas leaves the electrolyte 4 . it will be appreciated that the air inlet means 6 and overflow means 36 may be coupled to the vessel at different ports . however , the present embodiment is advantageous as the flow of air through the product tank 30 and conduit 31 prevents the hazardous gas or gases entering the conduit 31 and product tank 30 . in use , a valve ( not shown ) is opened which allows electrolyte 14 to flow into the vessel 2 through port 13 . the vessel 2 is filled until it reaches the predetermined level 7 , where the electrodes 3 and the draught tube 24 are submerged and the upper port 12 is adjacent the surface of the electrolyte 14 . the fan 34 is switched on to deliver the flow of air across the electrolyte surface and electricity is applied to the electrodes 3 . the electrolysis of the brine causes the following reaction to occur ; hydrogen gas is the predominantly produced gas and will rise to the surface of the electrolyte from the electrodes 3 through area 28 within the draught tube 24 . the rising gas promotes circulation of the electrolyte 4 in the direction of arrows 37 and 26 . this is advantageous as it ensures any un - reacted electrolyte in area 27 , for example , is urged nearer to the electrodes 3 . the flow of air introduced by the air inlet means 6 dilutes the hydrogen gas as it leaves the surface of the electrolyte 4 . the flow rate of the inlet air is chosen to ensure any hazardous gases , such as hydrogen , are sufficiently diluted to substantially reduce their hazardous effect . the diluted hydrogen gas can then leave via vent 5 to a waste gas system ( not shown ). once the electrolysis of the electrolyte has yielded a sufficient concentration of sodium hypochlorite the electricity supply to the electrodes is turned off . the fan 33 may also be turned off provided that the concentration of hydrogen leaving the vent 5 is less than a predetermined level below the lower explosive limit . a valve in the product port ( not shown ) is then opened to allow the product electrolyte to leave the vessel 2 and enter the storage tank 30 . the sodium hypochlorite solution can then be extracted from the product tank 30 via outlet 35 when required . it will be appreciated that hazardous gases produced during electrolysis need not be diluted by air , and instead other gases such as nitrogen may be used . further , the gas acting as a diluting gas can be chosen in accordance with the particular hazardous gas produced by the given electrolytic reaction . | 2 |
the here described steps do not form a complete flow of a method for realizing an electric connection in a semiconductor electronic device between a nanometric circuit architecture and standard electronic components and only those steps needed by an average technician of the field for the comprehension of the invention are hereafter described . it is important to note , moreover , that the figures represent schematic views of portions of an electronic circuit integrated in a semiconductor device during some steps of a method according to one embodiment of the invention , and they are not drawn to scale , but , on the contrary , realized in such a way as to stress the characteristics of one embodiment of the invention . the present invention can be implemented by using several techniques usually used in the manufacturing of semiconductor electronic devices , in particular all the lithographic methodologies ( optical lithography , uv , euv , electronic , ionic , imprint ) and the multi spacer patterning technology ( s n pt ). in particular , this latter technology is employed to realize nanowires of a nanometric circuit architecture , which is electrically connected to standard electronic components of a micro - area . although known , for a better comprehension of the invention , the peculiar aspects of the s n pt through which , advantageously , it is possible to realize the above nanometric circuit architectures with extreme precision and control are hereafter briefly summarized . more in particular it is possible to realize circuit architectures comprising arrays of high density nanowires in the semiconductor device . the s n pt ( reiteration of the space patterning technique spt ) is a technique which allows to transform the thickness of a thin layer of a predetermined material ( vertical dimension ), deposited on a substrate , into the width of a spacer or more generically of a nanowire , of the same material ( horizontal dimension ). such technique exploits the possibility of controlling , in a more precise way , the thickness of the deposited layer , as well as the capacity that a lot of materials have to adapt uniformly to the topography underlying them . the possibility of transforming a vertical dimension or extension into a horizontal one is allowed by the initial use of a seed ( sacrificial layer ), provided with at least a vertically extended wall , whereon the material is deposited . further to an anisotropic etching of the deposited layer the nanowire , adjacent to the above vertical wall , is obtained comprising in turn a vertically extended wall , wherefrom , by reiterating the process , further nanowires can be obtained . finally , the capacity of selectively removing different materials allows to obtain , subsequently to further controlled depositions and anisotropic etchings , variously complex structures . in practice , it is possible to realize a circuit architecture wherein only one dimension depends on the photolithography , whereas the remaining two dimensions ( width and height of the nanowire ) are obtained by controlling the thickness of the deposited layer , even within a few nanometers . deposited layer , as it is known herein , means a layer obtained both by means of a real controlled deposition of the material , for example with “ cvd oxide ” ( control vapor deposition ), and by means of the growth of the material from the underlying layer , for example by means of “ thermal oxidation ”. now , with reference to the above figures , a indicates a portion of a substrate of a semiconductor device whereon an integrated circuit is realized . in detail , on the substrate a there is a nanometric circuit structure 1 comprising n conductive nanowires 2 ( in the embodiment of the figures three conductive nanowires ), arranged according to an ordered configuration , alternated with insulating nanowires 3 ( fig1 ). it should be appreciated that fig1 is a plan and partially section view in that the substrate a is at a lower level than the nanowires 2 , 3 which are formed on covered portions of the substrate a . the above nanowires , and more generally the nanometric circuit architecture 1 , constitute , or in the semiconductor electronic device are part of , a so called nano - area , which is electrically connected , through conductive dies 4 , to standard electronic components , these latter being not shown in the figures . the dies 4 in turn constitute , or with the above standard electronic components are part of , a so called micro - area of the semiconductor electronic device . the electric connection between nano - area and micro - area is realized by a plurality of electric contact areas , or simply contacts 5 , between the nanowires 2 and the dies 4 . to obtain the contacts 5 , the present method first provides the realization of the above n conductive nanowires 2 alternated with the insulating nanowires 3 , which are obtained by means of the s n pt technique , starting from a seed layer 6 formed on the substrate a and having a vertical wall 7 extending upwardly from the substrate a , as shown in fig2 . the vertical wall 7 is crossed by n recesses 8 and is substantially perpendicular to the substrate a . the n recesses 8 can be formed in the seed layer 6 by any of the photolithographic techniques discussed above . in particular , the recesses 8 extend towards the inside of the seed layer 6 for the whole vertical extension of the seed layer itself which , moreover , in correspondence with such vertical wall 7 has a notched , or comb - like , profile . the recesses 8 , preferably parallel to each other , are placed at a constant distance b 0 from one another , whereas the depth and the width of each nth recess are correlated with the thickness t si of the conductive nanowires 2 and with the thickness ( t sp − t si ) of the insulating nanowires 3 and are given by the relations a n ≧( n − 1 ) t sp + a 0 and b n = 2t si + 2 ( n − 1 ) t sp respectively , where a 0 is a constant dependant on the technique employed in the realization of the seed layer 6 , as it will be more apparent hereafter in the description . a first one 2 ′ of the n conductive nanowires 2 is realized by first depositing a conductive layer , preferably polysilicon , on the substrate a and the seed layer 6 , thereby also at least partially filling the recesses . next , the conductive layer is anisotropically etched to remove the conductive layer from the horizontal surfaces of the seed layer 6 and substrate a , while leaving the first conductive nanowire 2 ′ on the vertical surface 7 of the seed layer 6 . after the anisotropic etching , the conductive layer also remains on the walls of the recesses 8 . a first one 8 a of the recesses 8 is made sufficiently narrow so that the anisotropic etching does not remove the conductive layer in the first recess 8 a , thereby forming an elbow - like portion 2 a in the first recess . the other recesses 8 are sufficiently wide such that notched profile portions 2 b of the nanowire 2 ′ remain in those recesses 8 . after the first conductive nanowire 2 ′ is formed , a first one 3 ′ of the n insulating nanowires 3 is formed in a similar manner as the first conductive nanowire 2 ′. a dielectric layer is first formed on the first conductive nanowire 2 ′, the seed layer 6 , and the substrate a and then anisotropically etched to leave the first insulating nanowire 3 ′ on the outside vertical wall of the first conductive nanowire 2 ′. the first insulating nanowire 3 ′ includes notched profile portions 3 b formed on the vertical sidewalls of the notch profile portions 2 b of the first conductive nanowire 2 ′. preferably , the dielectric layer is a thermal silicon oxide layer that is thermally grown on the underlying layers such that the first insulating nanowire 3 ′ is oxide . the s n pt technique repeats the above steps to form the remaining conductive nanowires 2 and insulating nanowires 3 , as shown in fig4 - 5 . the n conductive nanowires 2 are each thus realized with the thickness t si comprised between 5 nm and 60 nm preferably between 5 nm and 30 nm , by means of the controlled deposition , on the seed layer 6 and the substrate a , of a layer of conductive material having such thickness , preferably a polysilicon layer , followed by anisotropic etching of the deposited layer . the formation of the conductive nanowires 2 is alternated with the realization of the insulating nanowires 3 obtained according to s n pt mode by growth of a thermal oxide from the conductive material , followed in any case by anisotropic etching of the insulating material . each insulating nanowire 3 is realized with the thickness ( t sp − t si ) wherein t sp is the width , or thickness , of a pair of consecutive conductive 2 and insulating 3 nanowires and is lower than 90 nm , preferably comprised in the range 10 - 50 nm . in this way , i . e ., meeting the above relations , the realization of a conductive nanowire 2 of order n implies , as effect , the completion of the filling of the corresponding nth recess 8 of width b n . going on with the realization of the nanowires , as it can be seen in fig4 , it follows that for n = 2 the realization of the second conductive nanowire 2 ″ implies the completion of the filling of the recess 8 of second order by means of a respective elbow - like portion 2 a , and a further partial filling , by means of respective portions with notched profile 2 b , of the recesses 8 of greater order than the second . a second one 3 ″ of the insulating nanowires 3 is then formed as discussed above on the vertical walls of the second conductive nanowire 2 ″. more in general , this mechanism is repeated at each realization of a conductive nanowire of a given order , with the effect of determining the filling or the completion of the filling of a recess 8 of the same order by means of a respective elbow - like portion 2 a , and the partial filling together with the conductive 2 and insulating 3 nanowires of lower order , already realized , of the recesses 8 of greater order by means of respective notched profile portions 2 b , 3 b . the above nanometric circuit architecture 1 is thus obtained , and then an insulating layer 9 is realized on the nanometric circuit architecture 1 . such insulating layer 9 is preferably a silicon oxide layer whose thickness is comprised between 1 nm and 100 nm . however , for the realization of such layer also different materials can be employed such as , for example , silicon nitride and similar insulating materials . at this point , n windows 10 are opened on the insulating layer 9 , each window 10 being open essentially in correspondence with a respective one of the recesses 8 so as to expose part of the elbow - like portion 2 a of the conductive nanowire 2 present in the recess . in this way , each window 10 selectively exposes a conductive nanowire 2 in its elbow - like portion 2 a which advantageously has a length longer than t si , i . e ., accessible by means of electronic lithography or other lithographic techniques of new generation . the opening of the above windows 10 can be performed , for example , with electronic lithography in a conventional way , or by bombing the insulating layer 9 with an ionic beam according to the technology known as fib . in this respect , it is to be noted that for the selective opening of the windows 10 in correspondence with the respective elbow - like portions 2 a of the conductive nanowires 2 is sufficient to align a mask with the seed layer 6 whose position is identified , the mask having respective openings suitably placed in relation to the predetermined distance b 0 between the recesses 8 of the seed 6 , and suitably sized in relation to the width a 0 desired for the windows 10 . as previously remembered , a 0 is in turn linked to the technology used for realizing the seed layer 6 and preferably corresponds to the smallest size definable with the technology . in particular , according to the technology used , a 0 is comprised between 2 nm and 60 nm , preferably between 5 nm and 20 nm , whereas b 0 is typically lower than 60 nm , preferably comprised between 10 nm and 30 nm . at this point , on the insulating layer 9 in correspondence with the windows 10 , the above conductive dies 4 are realized . in detail , the dies 4 are realized in such a way as to overlap , in correspondence with the window 10 , onto a respective exposed part of the elbow - like portion 2 a of a conductive nanowire 2 , with obtainment of the above contacts 5 , and realization of the desired electric connection between nano - area and micro - area . moreover , it is to be the that the dies 4 are advantageously realized according to conventional methodologies by depositing , on the insulating layer 9 whereon the windows 10 have been opened , a layer of conductive material , this latter not shown in the figures , and by defining it by means of photolithography . the conductive material can be doped polysilicon deposited by means of cvd techniques or metal deposited by means of pvd . as regards the realization of the above seed layer 6 , it can be obtained in a conventional way with various technologies , in particular with s n pt technique or with lithographic methods such as extreme ultraviolet lithography euv , deep ultraviolet lithography duv , electronic e - beam lithography and the imprint lithography in all its possible versions ( soft lithography , nano - imprint lithography , step - and - flash imprint lithography , and superlattice nanowire pattern ). in synthesis , relatively to the cited lithographic techniques , on the above substrate a first a layer of sacrificial material is deposited ( for example a nitride , an oxide etc .) and then a resist layer is deposited on the layer of sacrificial material . at this point the resist layer is defined by means of a mask according to the desired profile for the seed layer 6 by using one of the above technologies . then , the sacrificial material exposed by the above definition is removed , i . e ., the portion is no longer masked by the resist , with obtainment of the seed layer 6 . with the present method , in practice , an electric connection is realized between the nano - area and the micro - area of the integrated electronic device by increasing the width or thickness of each nanowire in correspondence with respective elbow - like portions suitably spaced from one another and being selectively accessible . in particular , the above increase makes the nanowires 2 singularly and directly accessible for the electric connection to standard electronic components , for example micro - contacts , by means of the techniques currently used in the realization of semiconductor electronic devices , employed for realizing the conductive dies 4 . the main advantage of the method described above lies in the possibility of selectively contacting high density conductive nanowires of a nanometric circuit architecture , whose width and whose distance are below the lowest limit attainable by means of lithography . a further advantage lies in the simple realization of the method described above , which provides steps which can be easily integrated in the currently used manufacturing processes . moreover , the present method has revealed to be particularly profitable from the economic point of view . obviously , in order to meet contingent and specific requirements , a skilled in the art could bring several modifications to the above described invention , all however comprised within the scope of protection of the invention , as defined by the following claims . the various embodiments described above can be combined to provide further embodiments . all of the u . s . patents , u . s . patent application publications , u . s . patent application , foreign patents , foreign patent application and non - patent publications referred to in this specification and / or listed in the application data sheet are incorporated herein by reference , in their entirety . aspects of the embodiments can be modified , if necessary to employ concepts of the various patents , application and publications to provide yet further embodiments . these and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of the above - detailed description . in general , in the following claims , the terms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims , but should be construed to include all possible embodiments along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled . accordingly , the claims are not limited by the disclosure . | 1 |
with reference to these figures , in fig3 reference number 1 indicates generally a container for aromatic products , particularly coffee , of the flexible or semi - rigid type , for example of the type described in italian patent application mi - 91a001770 . in the example illustrated , at the top of the container there is a peelable diaphragm 2 that is removed on opening the container , which can then be closed again by means of a lid not shown in the figure . the peel - off diaphragm 2 has a hole 3 , beneath which is applied a degassing valve indicated as a whole by reference number 4 , this valve being heat - welded or glued to the sheet 2 . the degassing valve 4 , whose general structure can be considered as being substantially known , comprises a base plate 5 and a cap 6 seated in it . the cap 6 has an annular groove 7 near its lower edge that engages with a corresponding annular projection 8 provided on the bottom of the plate 5 . above the projection 8 a flat annular wall 9 is foreseen , which surrounds a central disk 10 provided with holes 11 . between the cap 6 and the plate 5 is interposed a rubber diaphragm 12 , acting as an actual valve , the peripheral part of which rests on said flat annular wall 9 of the plate , which is spread with a viscous or sticky layer 13 , in order to provide a better seal . the diaphragm 12 is pressed against the plate 5 by a contrasting projection 14 provided in the top wall of the cap 6 , in which an air - hole 15 is also provided . the bottom of the plate 5 is shaped so that underneath it , below the disk 10 , a housing 16 is provided for a filter 17 that will be described in greater detail below . the valve 4 is fixed to the sheet 2 by welding or gluing that follows an annular course 18 along the upper outside edge of the plate 5 . under normal conditions the robber diaphragm 12 is pressed against the flat wall 9 of the plate 5 and , also thanks to the presence of the sticky or tacky layer 13 , provides a seal both against the escape of the gases from inside the container 1 and against the entry of air from the outside . in the event of overpressure inside the container 1 , the diaphragm 12 lifts from the wall 9 , allowing the gases to escape , passing into the outside environment through the holes 11 , the space that is created between the diaphragm 12 and the wall 9 , the hole 15 in the cap 6 , and the hole 3 in the peel - off sheet 2 . when normal conditions are restored , the diaphragm 12 comes down again , preventing air from entering the container by the opposite route to that previously described . in order to prevent the coffee aromas from escaping too when gases are being discharged from the container , a selective type filter 17 is used . in the preferred embodiment , illustrated in fig1 and 2 , the filter 17 comprises two layers of porous paper 19 , 20 , between which is disposed an activated charcoal powder 21 . the two layers of paper 19 and 20 are glued together along their outer edge , and the whole filter 17 can then be glued or heat - welded , along its peripheral edge 22 , to the inside of the housing 16 of the plate 5 . if the housing 16 has a slightly sloping side wall 23 , so that its mouth is narrower , as shown in fig1 and 2 , the filter 17 is automatically retained inside the housing , without any need for further fixing means . with this filter structure , the gases given off by the coffee , before passing through the rubber diaphragm ( 12 ), are filtered through the activated charcoal 21 , which traps some of the gases , namely those with long molecular chains , thus absorbing and enriching itself with the aromas . once the coffee has stopped giving off gas , these aromas remain trapped at a high concentration in the activated charcoal . thus there is a very small volume ( essentially that of the filter 17 ) with a high concentration of aromas , separated from the outside environment and upon communication of the high concentration of aroma or the inside environment , i . e . the headspace 30 of the container 1 , the aromas are diluted so as to have a lower concentration of aromas than before . in other words , the gas concentration in the headspace 30 is lower than the gas concentration in the filter volume where the gases are trapped . there is inherently a pressure difference between the volume of the filter 17 and the headspace of the container due to the gas trapped with filter as described above and in order to restore the pressure balance , the gases trapped in the filter will subsequently flow back inside the container , enriching the gas with the aromas which can also penetrate the coffee alveoli , thus increasing the concentration of these gases in the coffee and providing clear advantages . the activated charcoals 21 in the filter 17 can be mixed with other substances , for example acid substances such as citric acid that neutralize basic gases , or basic substances such as sodium hydroxide , which neutralize acid gases . fig4 shows a different embodiment of the filter , indicated by 170 , according to which it comprises a single sheet of porous paper 171 , on which is spread at least one layer 172 of activated charcoal previously mixed with excipients such as water and sugar , for example . fig4 shows a plurality of layers 172 , each of which can perform specific functions , such as neutralizing basic or acid gases , for example . obviously the valve according to the invention can be applied to flexible , air - tight bags or containers of any type to contain all those products which give off odors that must not be allowed to contaminate the outside environment . | 1 |
the formulations object of the present invention must overcame several targets simultaneously , in between other things , to obtain some formulations that comply with the high quality standards of the fao / who for plant protection products ( without prejudice that other formulations may not comply with all such requirements is needed for a particular purpose ). the problem is to find easily redispersible ods of neonicotinoids , wherein the active ingredient ( s ) are not degraded significantly , with decreased wet sieving residue ( below 1 %), and with excellent emulsification properties , while maintaining the biological activity . decrease the particle size to improve the emulsion properties to obtain highly homogeneous and stable solutions to spray decrease the particle size finding an appropriate surfactant system to improve the biological efficacy instead of the prior art way of increasing the content of penetrants ( focused only in fatty alcohol ethoxylates / propoxylates ). decrease the wet sieve residue ( indirectly reflecting redispersibility ) by means of using certain surfactant systems and even improved with the use of polyvalent cationic salts milled with the formulation contain at least a neonicotinoid compound at 0 . 5 - 40 wt .-% has a median particle size when measured in emulsion in water with a laser diffraction particle mastersizer of less than 2 μm and a percentile 90 of less than 5 μm do not present bleeding over 1 % in volume of the formulation when letting it rest at room temperature for 4 days do not present neither oil nor cream separation after 2 hours in the emulsification test ( 5 % of formulation in water , in measuring cylinder of 100 ml ). the solution to the problems addressed has being found to be oil suspensions or oil dispersions ( synonym ) formulations characterized in that they contain , with regard total weight of the oil dispersion formulation : a . at least a neonicotinoid , or mixtures thereof , at 0 . 5 - 40 wt .-% b . a mixture of nonionic polymeric oil dispersants made of polyethoxylated glycol ester of a ( poly ) hydroxylated fatty acid chain with 12 - 20 carbons at 0 . 5 - 8 wt .-% with a hlb of 4 - 6 and a copolymer of type a - b - a of fatty acid with a chain of 12 - 20 carbons at 0 . 5 - 5 wt .-% c . a mixture made of polyethoxylated fatty alcohol at 0 . 5 - 15 wt .-%, and / or polypropoxylated fatty alcohol at 1 - 25 wt .-%, with a hlb of 12 - 16 d . at least a polyethoxylated and / or polypropoxylated sorbitan derivative at 3 - 30 wt .-%, with a hlb of 12 - 16 e . an alkylbenzenesulfonate sodium or calcium salt , being the alkyl chain of 10 - 14 carbon atoms , at 3 - 19 wt .-% f . a di -, tri - or tetra - valent cationic salt at 0 . 001 to 3 wt .-% g . an oil phase selected from paraffinic , naphtha aromatic , vegetable , synthetically modified vegetable oils ; and mixtures thereof , at 30 - 70 wt .-%. h . optionally , non - ionic , anionic or cationic surface active ingredients not mentioned in claim 1 b , antioxidants , uv - and sun - light protectors , antimicrobial agents , ph regulators , viscosity modifiers selected from aluminium magnesium silicates , magnesium silicates , aluminosilicates , clays , modified clays , smectite , modified smectite , and present preferably at 0 . 1 - 5 wt .-%, antifoam , colouring agents , markers for traceability of the origin of the product , wherein the sum of all such compounds is not higher than 7 wt .-%, wherein the presence of other surface active ingredients than those of b ., c ., d . and e . is up to a maximum of 5 wt .-%, preferably . a preferred formulation contains ( always referred to total weight -% of the oil dispersion ): a . at least a neonicotinoid selected from imidacloprid , thiamethoxam , thiacloprid , nitenpyram , acetamiprid , clothianidin , dinetofuran at 5 - 35 wt .-% b . a mixture of nonionic polymeric oil dispersants made of polyethoxylated glycol ester of a ( poly ) hydroxylated fatty acid chain with 12 - 20 carbons at 0 . 5 - 8 wt .-% with a hlb of 4 - 6 and a copolymer of type a - b - a of fatty acid with a chain of 12 - 20 carbons at 0 . 5 - 3 wt .-% c . a mixture made of 15 - 25 mols polyethoxylated stearyl alcohol at 0 . 5 - 10 wt .-%, 15 - 25 mols polyethoxylated oleyl alcohol at 0 . 5 - 10 wt .-% and 10 - 20 mols polypropoxylated monostearyl ether at 1 - 15 wt .-%, with a hlb of 12 - 16 d . a mixture made of 15 - 25 mols polyethoxylated sorbitan trioleate or tristearate at 5 - 20 wt .-% and 20 - 50 mols polyethoxylated sorbitan hepta - 9 - octadecenoate at 2 - 20 wt .-%, with a hlb of 12 - 16 e . calcium or sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate at 3 - 19 wt .-% f . a paraffinic or vegetable oil at 30 - 70 wt .-% g . a modified smectite at 0 . 3 - 1 . 5 wt .-% h . aluminium sulphate in anhydrous , monohydrate or any hydrated state at 0 . 005 to 0 . 3 wt .-% i . an organomodified smectite at 0 . 3 - 3 wt .-%. the presence of the inorganic salt produces an pronounced effect , synergistic with the presence of compounds included in b . above ( see comparative examples 13 to 16 ), a sulphate or chloride , or phosphate of aluminium , magnesium , manganese , zinc , iron , copper , nickel , boron , gallium , indium , or mixtures thereof , in dehydrated or any hydration state . preferred salt is aluminium sulphate , an most preferably monohydrated . the compounds in which the formulations work especially well are the neonicotinoids with compounds ( i ) as stated above with formula a -( ch2 )— b preferred neonicotinoids are imidacloprid , thiamethoxam , thiacloprid , nitenpyram , acetamiprid , clothianidin , dinetofuran , in any of their isomeric or stereoisomeric forms when present and in any of their crystallization forms , salts thereof ; and any mixtures thereof . the formulation has been intensively tested for imidacloprid . however , other neonicotinoids behave as imidacloprid . the invention is also appropriate to combine other additional biologically active ingredients with at least one neonicotinoid , wherein such additional biologically active ingredient is selected from the group : insecticide , aracnicide , raticide , herbicide , fungicide , plant growth regulator , insect growth regulator , antibiotic , vitamin , oligoelement , fertilizer . preferred combinations with neonicotinoids are the compounds : 2 , 4 - d ; 2 , 4 - db ; alpha - cypermethrin ; amitrole ; benalaxyl ; bentazone ; beta - cyfluthrin ; bromoxynil ; carbendazim ; chlorothalonil ; chlorpropham ; chlorpyrifos ; chlorpyrifos - methyl ; chlorotoluron ; cyfluthrin ; cypermethrin ; daminozide ; deltamethrin ; desmedipham ; dinocap ; diquat ; esfenvalerate ; ethofumesate ; fluoroxypyr ; flusilazole ; glyphosate ; imazalil ; ioxynil ; iprodione ; isoproturon ; lambda - cyhalothrin ; linuron ; mancozeb ; maneb ; mcpa ; mcpb ; mecoprop - p ; metiram ; metsulfuron ; molinate ; pendimethalin ; phenmedipham ; propiconazole ; propineb ; propyzamide ; pyridate ; thiabendazole ; thifensulfuron ; thiophanate - methyl ; thiram ; triasulfuron ; warfarin ; ziram ; captan ; clodinafop ; clopyralid ; cyprodinil ; dichlorprop - p ; dimethoate ; dimethomorph ; diuron ; ethepon ; ethoprophos ; fenamiphos ; fipronil ; folpet ; formetanate ; fosetyl ; glufosinate ; metconazole ; methiocarb ; metribuzin ; oxamyl ; phosmet ; pirimicarb ; pirimiphos - methyl ; propamocarb ; pyrimethanil ; rimsulfuron ; tolclofos - methyl ; tolylfluanid ; tribenuron - methyl ; triclopyr ; trinexapac ; triticonazole ; abamectin ; avermectins ; aclonifen ; amidosulfuron ; benfluralin ; bensulfuron ; bifenox ; chloridazon ; clofentezine ; clomazone ; cymoxanil ; dicamba ; difenoconazole ; diflubenzuron ; diflufenican ; dodemorph ; epoxiconazole ; fenoxaprop - p ; fenpropidin ; fenpropimorph ; fonpyroximate ; fluazinam ; fludioxonil ; flutolanil ; fuberidazole ; imazaquin ; lenacil ; calcium phosphide ; magnesium phosphide ; mepiquat ; metamitron ; metazachlor ; nicosulfuron ; oxadiazon ; picloram ; prosulfocarb ; pyriproxyfen ; quinoclamine ; sodium 5 - nitroguaiacolate ; sodium o - nitrophenolate ; sodium p - nitrophenolate ; sulcotrione ; tobuconazole ; tebufenpyrad ; tralkoxydim ; triadimenol ; bacillus thuringiensis ; beauveria bassiana ; cydia pomonella granuiosis virus ; lecanicillimu muscarium ; metarhizium anisopliae ; phlebiopsis gigantean ; pythium oligandrum ; streptomyces k61 — streptomyces griseoviridis ; trichoderma atroviride ; trichoderma harzianum rifai ; trichoderma polysporum ; trichoderma aspellerum ; trichoderma gamsii ; verticillium albo - atrum ; ethylene ; gibberellic acid ; gibberellin ; pyrethrins ; acibenzolar - s - methyl - benzothiadiazole ; ampelomyces quisqualis ; azimsulfuran ; azoxystrobin ; bacillus subtilis ; beflubutamid ; benthiavalicarb ; benzoic acid ; bifenazate ; boscalid ; carfentrazone - ethyl ; clothianidin ; coniothyrium minitans ; cyazofamid ; cyclanilide ; cyhalofop - butyl ; haloxyfop ; dimethenamid ; dimoxystrobin ; etoxazole ; ethoxysulfuron ; famoxadone ; fenamidone ; fenhexamid ; flazasulfuron ; florasulam ; flufenacet ; flumioxazin ; fluoxastrobin ; flupyrsulfuron methyl ; flurtamone ; foramsulfuron ; forchlorfenuron ; fosthiazate ; gliocladium catenulatum ; imazamox ; imazosulfuron ; indoxacarb ; iodosulfuron - methyl - sodium ; iprovalicarb ; isoxaflutole ; kresoxim - methyl ; laminarin ; mepanipyrim ; mesosulfuron ; mesotrione ; metalaxyl - m ; methoxyfenozide ; metrafenone ; milbemectin ; oxadiargyl ; oxasulfuron ; paecilomyces fumosoroseus ; paecilomyces lilacinus ; pethoxamid ; picolinafen ; picoxystrobin ; prohexadione - calcium ; propoxycarbazone ; prosulfuron ; prothioconazole ; pseudomonas chlororaphis ; pymetrozine ; pyraclostrobin ; pyraflufen - ethyl ; quinoxyfen ; s - metolachlor ; silthiofam ; spinosad ; spiroxamine ; spodoptera exigua nuclear polyhedrosis virus ; sulfosulfuron ; tepraloxydim ; trifloxystrobin ; tritosulfuron ; zoxamide ; bifenthrin ; etofenprox ; propaquizafop ; teflubenzuron ; tetraconazole ; triflusulfuron ; zeta - cypermethrin ; chlormequat ; chlorsulfuron ; cyromazine ; dimethachlor ; diphenylamine ; lufenuron ; penconazole ; quizalofop - p ; triallate ; triazoxide acequinocyl ; adoxophyes orana ; aminopyralid ; amisulbrom ; aureobasidium pullulans ; benalaxyl - m ; bispyribac sodium ; candida oleophila ; chlorantraniliprole ; chromafenozide ; cyflufenamid ; disodium phosphonate ; emamectin benzoate ; fen 560 ; flonicamid ; flubendiamide ; fluopicolide ; gamma - cyhalothrin ; halosulfuron methyl ; helicoverpa armigera nucleopolyhedrovirus ; heptamaloxyglucan ; ipconazole ; mandipropamid ; metaflumizone ; meptyldinocap ; novaluron ; orthosulfamuron ; paecilomyces fumosoroseus ; penoxsuiam ; phosphane ; pinoxaden ; profoxydim ; proquinazid ; pseudomonas sp . starin ; pseudozyma flocculosa ; pyridalyl ; pyroxsulam ; silver thiosulphate ; spinetoram ; spirodiclofen ; spiromesifen ; spirotetramat ; spodoptera littorals nucleopolyhedrovirus ; tembotrione ; thiencarbazone ; topramezone ; trichoderma atroviride ; valiphenal ; zucchini yellow mosaic virus . preferred are the combinations of imidacloprid with those abovementioned pesticides , combinations of acetamiprid with those pesticides , combinations of thiacloprid with those pesticides or combinations of thiamethoxam with those pesticides . the oil dispersions according the present invention may contain additionally suspended microcapsules enclosing neonicotinoids and / or other pesticides than neonicotinoids , as those abovementioned . the formulations according this invention are very appropriate for its use as a method to kill insects in the fields or house and garden , as well as mites , fleas ( e . g ., in capilar lotion in pharmacy ), spiders and / or ticks ( application to animals ) in agricultural , veterinary or medicinal applications . regarding the compounds used in the examples , they are widely distributed by a multitude of distributors , including active ingredient have not been addressed in the source information . the white oil must be understood as any paraffinic oil , also known in commercial products by “ basisöl ”, isopar ®, marcol ®, puccini ® ( wherein the dmso extract content is below 3 %), and many other known commercial compounds used as well as basic paraffinic oils in cosmetic formulations , with the proviso that they are , of course , excluded from any known risks of carcinogenicity . the use of naphta solvents is possible but not recommended for toxicological profile reasons . in any case is recommended the use of naphthalene depleted fractions . we have found best results with paraffinic or vegetable or modified vegetable oils . the preferred modifications to vegetable oils are those that impart to them more stability or handling advantages ( as decreased viscosity ). alkylated oils , saponified oils , transisomerized oils , epoxidized oils are to be taken in consideration when performing this invention as possible oils . however , we prefer the use of highly saturated vegetable oils ( or derivatives thereof ) since they provide stability to the formulation . we have observed that some “ pure ” vegetable oils , with moderate content of unsaturations , and worst , highly unsaturated , even in the presence of bht , produce with time hydroperoxides and then free radicals that , in combination with uv - and / or sun - light lead to a faster degradation of the neonicotinoids . in general gums ( as rosin gum ) and the like shall be understood to fall into the concept vegetable oil . note as well that paraffins are also noted sometimes as waxes , denomination that shall not affect the extent of protection . the fact in that in the examples there are no mixtures of active ingredients is due to give a broad overview of the formulation , while maintaining a reasonable amount of data . the inventors have verified that the benefit of the claimed compositions are as well present for : mixtures of different oil types , specially mixtures of vegetable ( and derivatives thereof ) and paraffinic oils mixtures of active ingredients within the group of neonicotinoids and neonicotinoids and other pesticides , preferable not in the form of salts use of non preferred ( not claimed in specific necessary features ) surface active ingredients that amount not more than 5 wt .-% use of coformulants as needed for the formulation ( antifoams , antioxidants , uv and sun - light protectors , fluorescent or other type of markers to trace the origin of the ware in the market , antimicrobial agents , ph regulators , viscosity modifiers , antifoam , coloring agents , provided that the use of non preferred surface active ingredients and / or these compounds is not higher than 7 wt .-% the skilled in the art shall immediately notice when a non - preferred surfactant ( or a non - neonicotinoid pesticide ) is not compatible with the formulation according our invention by the presence within 24 hours of precipitates in the finished formulation ( that shall be according the invention an homogeneous fluid ) or rapid decomposition ( within 24 hours more than 2 % of decomposition ) of the active ingredient neonicotinoid . this is said without prejudice in that we have not found any compound that falls under this exception , and therefore the claim works in the whole claimed range , and of course with more security , at the view of the recommendation of the description . an important aspect of the present invention is the possibility to combine the claimed od with other suitable formulation types as emulsion concentrate , emulsion in water , suspoemulsion , suspension concentrate ( in water ), and particularly with capsule suspensions . the general method for these combination was firstly published by the same inventors in ep 1844653 - a1 . we refer specially for the combination of od of neonicotinoids with any other pesticides present in other formulation types ( or even as well in the form of od whether as disclosed herein or in a prior art type , having into account that then , the total stability will decrease ), but preferably , with those parasiticides ( e . g ., ectoparasites for animal and human health ) or insecticides / acaricides that may overcome problems of resistance to neonicotinoids , in the fields of agriculture , pharmacy or veterinary and fisheries . particularly interesting are the mixtures : imidacloprid + spinosad , imidacloprid + abamectin , imidacloprid + methoprene , imidacloprid buprofezin , imidacloprid + azadirachtin , imidacloprid + cyromazine , imidacloprid + fenoxycarb , imidacloprid + lambda - cyhalothrin , imidacloprid + gamma - cyhalothrin , imidacloprid + acrinathrin , imidacloprid + allethrin , imidacloprid + alpha - cypermethrin , imidacloprid + beta - cyfluthrin , imidacloprid + beta - cypermethrin , imidacloprid + bifenthrin , imidacloprid + bioallethrin , imidacloprid + bioresmethrin , imidacloprid + cycloprothrin , imidacloprid + cyfluthrin , imidacloprid + cyhalothrin , imidacloprid + cypermethrin , imidacloprid + cyphenothrin , imidacloprid + deltamethrin , imidacloprid + empenthrin , imidacloprid + esfenvalerate , imidacloprid + fenpropathrin , imidacloprid + fenvalerate , imidacloprid + flucythrinate , imidacloprid + flumethrin , imidacloprid + imidaclopridprothrin , imidacloprid + methothrin , imidacloprid + permethrin , imidacloprid + phenothrin ( 1 - r - trans ), imidacloprid + prallethrin , imidacloprid + resmethrin , imidacloprid + ru 15525 , imidacloprid + tau - fluvalinate , imidacloprid + tefluthrin , imidacloprid + tetramethrin ( 1 - r ), theta - cypermethrin , imidacloprid + tralomethrin , imidacloprid + transfluthrin , imidacloprid + zeta - cypermethrin , imidacloprid + zxi 8901 , imidacloprid + ethiprol , imidacloprid + fipronil , imidacloprid + bistrifluoron , imidacloprid + chlorfluaturon , imidacloprid + diflubenzuron , imidacloprid + flucycloxuron , imidacloprid + flufenoxuron , imidacloprid + hexaflumuron , imidacloprid + lufenuron , imidacloprid + novaluron , imidacloprid + noviflumuran , imidacloprid + teflubezuron , imidacloprid + triflumuron , imidacloprid + szi - 121 , imidaclorpid + at least one microbial pesticide . it is also disclosed herein explicitly all the mixtures abovementioned wherein imidacloprid is substituted by thiacloprid . this applies as well to thiamethoxam , which mixtures with the abovementioned pesticides are fully disclosed . in the same way , all the above mixtures are herein disclosed in full with dinetofuran instead imidacloprid . last , such full and explicit disclosure includes mixtures of acetamiprid with the pesticides disclosed above as well as with clotianidin . we avoid unnecessary repetition of the mixtures as disclosed and claimed . it is as well disclosed ternary or quaternary mixtures of at least one neonicotinoid and at least one of the cited compounds parasiticides . of the mixtures cited for parasiticides , the preferred embodiments are ods wherein the neonicotinoids ( at least one ) are suspended in the od and the other parasiticides are enclosed in microcapsules , most preferably , polyurea or polyurea - glycoluril microcapsules ( which can be obtained as best option according prior art ep 1840145 - a1 ( casaña - giner , v . ; gimeno m . and gimeno b .). the combination of ods with other suitable formulation types are disclosed in ep 1844653 - a1 ( casaña - giner , v . ; gimeno m . and gimeno b .) such microcapsules contain in the core preferably an oily phase ( normal phase microcapsules ) but they may contain as well a water phase with dispersed or dissolved parasiticides active ingredients ( reverse phase microcapsules ). in making such mixtures , care must be taken with the use of aluminium sulfate or other used multivalent cationic salt , since values over 0 . 3 wt .-% may provoke flocculation of the microcapsules . however , as shown in the example , the benefit of such use in the od is still beneficial and at the level of the example , is not prejudicial for the stability of the cx formulation ( od + cs ). for a better understanding of the examples , the following table is provided for allowing the skilled in the art to find the many commercial options that correspond to the selected components of the formulations , and to compare with the prior art . in no way , the following list is presented in a restrictive way , and any chemical class as claimed may be replaced by other commercial ( or non - commercially made ) compounds that belong to the same classes are clearly specified in the claims . table 2b content in wt .-% 10 ex . 10 ex . 11 ex . 12 ex . 13 ex . 14 ex . 15 ex . 16 ex . 17 ex . 18 imidacloprid 20 . 6 18 . 3 27 21 . 8 21 . 8 21 . 8 21 . 8 20 20 . 67 corn oil 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 sunflower oil 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 white oil 0 42 . 75 0 48 48 . 15 49 48 . 15 40 . 69 0 methylated coconut oil 43 0 43 0 0 0 0 0 46 . 68 atlox 4894 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 atlox 4838b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 atlox 4912 4 4 . 2 3 2 2 0 0 5 2 . 1 atlox 4913 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 atlox mba 13 / 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 atlox lp1 2 2 . 5 3 2 2 0 0 5 3 . 4 atlox ps2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 atlas g - 1281 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 arlamol e 1 3 4 3 3 3 3 0 2 arlatone t 1 3 0 2 2 2 2 9 2 genapol la 050 1 . 9 3 2 0 0 3 4 19 0 brij 98 1 1 0 0 . 4 0 . 4 0 . 4 0 . 4 0 1 brij 721 1 1 0 0 . 4 0 . 4 0 . 4 0 . 4 0 1 tween 80 10 4 7 . 4 8 8 8 8 0 0 tween 85 0 12 . 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 borresperse na 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 calsogen ar 100 nd 6 4 10 12 12 12 12 0 11 bentone sd1 1 0 . 2 0 0 . 2 0 . 2 0 . 2 0 . 2 0 1 aluminium sulfate 0 . 09 0 . 1 0 . 2 0 . 15 0 0 . 15 0 0 . 1 0 . 15 bht 0 . 1 0 0 . 35 0 0 0 0 0 . 2 0 escalol 509 0 . 09 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 germal ii 0 . 02 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 trisiloxane polyether 7 . 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 silicon 1132 0 0 . 05 0 . 05 0 . 05 0 . 05 0 . 05 0 . 05 0 . 01 0 1ex . 1 is ex . 1 of wo 07 / 028 , 517 , outside of scope of the present invention ; 2ex . 2 is ex . 2 of wo 07 / 028 , 517 , outside of scope of the present invention ; 3ex . 3 is ex . 3 of wo 07 / 028 , 517 , outside of scope of the present invention ; 4ex . 4 is ex . 4 of wo 07 / 028 , 517 , outside of scope of the present invention ; 5ex . 5 is ex . 5 of wo 07 / 028 , 517 , outside of scope of the present invention ; 6ex . 6 is ex . a of table 1 of wo 08 / 155 , 108 , outside of scope of the present invention ; 7ex . 7 is a commercial formulation of confidor od 200 g / l imidacloprid , outside of scope of the present invention , and present in the greek market in 2008 as recently produced product — while the components are known to us by analysis , they are not presented here , since for the purposes of the description only the lack of some of the components is relevant —; 8ex . 8 is falling on the scope of claims 1 , 2 and 3 of wo 07 / 028 , 517 ( namely , restricted and preferred ranges of that invention ), outside of scope of the present invention . ex . 1 , ex . 10 , ex . 13 , ex . 16 and ex . 18 were exposed to natural sunlight in opened to the air metallic infrared weight plates ( 0 . 7 cm high load ) during one week . after that period , ex . 10 showed the least decomposition of imidacloprid . ex . 1 showed 45 % more decomposition than ex . 10 . ex . 13 showed only 7 % more decomposition than ex . 10 , while ex . 16 showed increase of 23 % decomposition with regard ex . 10 . ex . 18 showed 14 % more decomposition than ex . 10 . results are expressed in relative percentages for easiness of reproduction of the assay . this shows that the formulation according the invention when containing a highly saturated vegetable oil ( methylated coconut oil ) with the uv - protector escalol ® 509 , shows the least photodegradation of imidacloprid . ex . 1 , being a vegetable oil present seems to be affected by light and oxygen , probably due to induced free radical oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids of the corn oil exposed to light ( and not protected enough with the use of bht ). it is not specially surprising that the use of escalol ® increases the stability of imidacloprid , but it is surprising at the view of prior art , since up to the date the inventors do not known any proposal to use uv - protectants for neonicotinoids in od formulations . namely , the prior art seems not to be aware of this problem . ex . 16 showed better behavior ( the tests were limited and did not allowed to extract absolute confidence intervals ) than prior art ex . 1 , being surprising that the only difference with ex . 13 ( that had only 7 % decomposition ) is the presence of the crystal film - forming selected polymers atlox ® 4912 and atlox ® lp1 . this may indicate ( as the very clear results regarding stability of the formulation and bleeding ) that indeed the neonicotinoids are effectively covered by such films even in the oily state . it is noteworthy that the oil in ex . 13 , 16 and 18 is a paraffinic oil , much less prone to photooxidation than the prior art vegetable oils . while the extent of the test is not enough detailed to discriminate in between the many factors that may have affected the results , we can only say that the rests of the components present in the invention may be as well the reason for such result , and as such we can only claim the formulation as a whole in order to be consistent with the results . it is unknown the real environment of the imidacloprid crystals in a formulation of 10 to 17 components . however , according to the invention , it is observed some effect on protection of imidacloprid when exposed to sunlight and air ( what happens after spraying the product in the field ). it is proposed that the stability of imidacloprid ( and supposedly all neonicotinoids ) follows the order in paraffinic oil & gt ; in vegetable oil . for equal coformulants , the presence of lipophilic non - ionic of the type claim 2 b could provide certain uv or visible light protection . thanks to the comparison of ex . 13 , 14 , 15 and 16 , it is clear that the use of the preferred non - ionic surfactants as claimed improve the stability of the formulation over prior art , and the use of polyvalent cationic salts are even more beneficial , showing a synergistic effect . the inventors , to the difference of the closest prior art , have taken the approach to reduce to the maximum the particle size , while having excellent physicochemical properties , of the od , in order to increase the biological activity . while the skilled in the art would surely try to look for penetrants for the cuticle , maximum after the clear teaching of previous bayer &# 39 ; s patents on neonicotinoids ods , we have taken a much more complicated approach . to reduce the particle size increases the risk in that the molecules of neonicotinoid present in the emulsion pass to the water phase and crystallize irreversible . further , the emulsification power may compromise the solubility of all the ingredients in order to achieve an homogeneous liquid in which all coformulants are dissolvent or properly dispersed in crystals . more surprisingly , the simplest way to reduce the particle size ( if there is no care on later problems on stability ) is to increase significantly the quantity of surfactants . further , for this purpose , the presence of surfactants of the type atlox 4912 would be avoided since this helps to form water in oil emulsions , introducing the risk of w / o / w double emulsions with corresponding higher particle size . it is therefore absolutely unexpected that the we got mean ( and median ) particle sizes even below 1 μm , and a percentile 90 of below 2 μm . surprisingly , the size of the crystals is not the reason of such low particle size ( obviously , the crystal size , influenced by the degree of milling , must be below of 2 - 4 μm , but prior art formulations with such crystal sizes show particle sizes rarely below a mean size of 15 μm , so the reason of our astonishing small particle size resides in the synergistic formulation ). care must be taken with this : here we refer to the value of the conventional laser diffraction particle sizers ( as mastersizer ®), where it considers both crystals over 4 μm as well , but the contribution to total size is reduced by the amount of much more particles with lower diameter . this unexpected effect is proven by : the use of atlox 4912 and atlox lp1 that would produce precisely the contrary , the non - increase of total quantity of surfactants over prior art neonicotinoids ods , the non - coalescence of very small particles and non - crystallization “ out - of - the - tiny - drop ” expected for such small particle size ( the triazole fungicides , in between many pesticides , present such “ going - out of the drop ” effect , when the oil drop is so small ). this combined with the fact that the biological effect is comparable ( or even superior ) to that achieved with the massive use of penetrating agents ( normally 30 % as shown in the examples of d1 ) as the prior art teaches , is without doubt unexpected . again , in a such complex formulations we cannot without an extensive and extreme hard testing , isolate the activity of each ingredient with full certainty of its contribution to the particle size . therefore we restrict the claimed formulations to those that share a complete surfactant system within reasonable limits . it is also proven by the inventors , whichever neonicotinoid is formulated , that the particle size won &# 39 ; t depend on the active ingredient , due to their chemical similarity . 1determined in mastersizer ™ laser diffraction equipment . note that the measurement considers both the bigger crystals of imidacloprid as well as the very small emulsified droplets . the shape of the peaks shows two maximums in all samples . data given by the equipment considers all measured values . it is astonishing the quite homogeneous and leptokurtic distribution of the formulations ex . 10 , 13 and 18 according to the present invention . the material is milled conventionally to have a final average crystal size of 75 % of the crystals below 2 μm . noteworthy , the crystals of ex . 1 were milled to the same level , and microscopic observation of ex . 7 ( confidor od ) shows a particle size below 2 - 5 μm as well ( namely , the particle size of the emulsion droplets is not — only — due to the size of the crystals ). the effects may be tested in canes 30 × 30 × 30 cm with reared approximately 500 ceratitis capitata ( wiedemann ) flies fed with protein yeast hydrolizate , males and females in ratio 1 : 1 , 20 days old and spraying a 0 . 01 % w / v emulsion of each example ( 10 ml ). after 2 hours letting all droplets to settle down and diminish aerial intoxication , 500 flies &# 39 ; lots must be transferred to the test cages . time to die all flies ( e . g ., 15 minutes ) is represented by table 4 : the time to penetrate the cuticle and kill the 500 flies of each cage is lower in ex . 13 and ex . 18 , being ex . 10 in an intermediate position in between ex . 1 and ex . 7 . on the other hand , visual inspection of spreading of imidacloprid formulations of the same examples an orange leaves showed that the examples according the invention ( 10 , 13 and 18 ) was more homogeneous and within a biggest area ( deposition with pasteur pipette 50 μl in spreaded leaves , visual inspection ). therefore , not only the penetration to insect cuticle is even improved over prior art , but also the absorption onto leaves ( at least for such insect and crop ) is enhanced according our invention . here is where the invention acquires it maximum and distinguishable features over the prior art . results on the same samples as above are ( all test according fao / who specifications for plant protection products and cipac methods ): the results show that regarding bleeding , the formulations according the present invention are superior to the state of the art formulations . further , the problem of sedimentation is solved according the present invention with approximately half of the energy with respect to comparative examples , that may suppose a crucial factor when the farmer tries to redisperse the sediment in the spray tank left filled or half - filled before continuing with the spray on the following day . while not all the results are shown here , it has been observed that formulations ex . 15 and ex . 16 present irreversible sedimentation already after two hours . moreover , consistently , redispersion was much improved when using aluminium sulfate in the formulation . the concomitant use of atlox 4912 and lp1 plus aluminium sulfate clearly have consistently shown a lower energy for redispersion . the wet sieve residue according the standardized test cipac mt 185 showed for all formulations according the invention a value below 0 . 1 %. a formulation of imidacloprid od according the invention was performed , and a capsule suspension ( cs ) formulation was performed as well , separately . emulsification of one formulation into the other was performed as final step obtaining a fully functional od - cs formulation ( that we designate as cx formulation , in the absence of still an international code for this innovative formulation type ). the procedure to create the cs formulation follow the teaching of the invention of the same authors and applicant ep 1840145 - a1 . the combination of cs formulations and od formulations follow the teaching of the invention of the same authors and applicant ep 1844553 - a1 . a suitable od + cs formulation , namely , a cx formulation is obtained with the following formula : this formula shows a good control of trips and whitefly in greenhouse . its functionality against many other pests is also ensured . example 19 was repeated but using deltamethrin instead of lambda - cyhalothrin . it shows a decrease of dermal toxicity of deltamethrin when applied for the control of fleas in cats and dogs . it is therefore expected that the control of fleas in humans is as well improved over the prior art with the use of such formulation , when diluted to the usual concentration and mixed with conventional cosmetic ingredients state of the art for hair prevention and treatment of flea infestations . replacing deltamethrin by benzoylureas ( as lufenuron , proven as effective ovicide in casaña - giner et al ., j . econ . entomol . ( 1999 ) vol . 92 ( 2 ), pp . 303 - 308 ), would increase notably the antiflea effect by virtue of long lasting biological effect added to the controlled release of microcapsules . | 0 |
while the present invention may be embodied in many different forms , designs or configurations , for the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention , reference will be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same . it will nevertheless be understood that no limitation or restriction of the scope of the invention is thereby intended . any alterations and further implementations of the principles of the invention as described herein are contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates . fig1 a and fig1 b illustrate the first preferred embodiment of the current invention , where a specimen dispenser is integrated within an ultrasound skin treatment device . fig1 a shows the front view of the proposed device . fig1 b shows the cross - section view along the center line 101 of fig1 a . the first embodiment , which represents the best mode of this invention , contains the following aspects : ( 1 ) an enclosure body 11 which is made of metal , alloy or plastics ; ( 2 ) an ultrasound transmission plate 12 for contacting the skin with a smooth treatment surface 13 and transmitting ultrasonic vibration generated by an ultrasound generator 16 to the target skin area ; ( 3 ) a skin treatment specimen container and a dispenser , collectively referred to as dispenser 14 that contains skin treatment specimen 19 which can be , but not limited to , liquid , gel , cream , paste and powder ; ( 4 ) a specimen outlet 15 existing on the same continuous surface 13 of the ultrasound transmission plate 12 , through which skin treatment specimen 19 is dispensed close to or , preferably , directly on top of the surface 13 that is to be in contact with the skin during skin treatment ; ( 5 ) an electronic control unit 17 containing electrical circuits , electronic components and necessary embedded software exists within the enclosure body 11 ; and ( 6 ) an electrical interface 18 exists between the ultrasound generator 16 and the electronic control unit 17 so that the performance of the ultrasound generator 16 can be controlled by the electronic control unit 17 . the electronic control unit 17 controls ultrasonic generation from 16 , and may also provide user interface , power supply and charging functions . additionally , the electronic control unit 17 may send electrical signals to the specimen dispenser 14 or receives electrical signals from the specimen dispenser 14 to achieve required skin treatment procedure through another electrical interface 140 that connects to the electrical contacts 141 on dispenser 14 . in the most preferred mode , the enclosure body is in an easy - holding oval shape and includes two continuous pieces — front and back pieces — which are mechanically coupled together . the specimen outlet 15 is on the front piece immediately coupled to the ultrasonic transmission plate 12 . in use , the back piece is for palm - holding . the device includes a wireless charger and thus it can be charged wirelessly . so , except the specimen outlet 15 , the device does not have any other outlet or connectors . as an example , fig6 a - fig . 6 c illustrates a typical exterior shape of the device 60 according to the present invention , wherein it contains a skin treatment surface 62 as a front piece and a specimen outlet 65 on the treatment surface 62 . the device 60 can be wirelessly charged when it is placed in the recharger frame 61 as shown in fig6 b and fig6 b . the dispenser 14 may have any of the below features : ( 1 ) the dispenser 14 can be removable , in other words , it may be taken out and installed back into the enclosure body 11 by the user ; ( 2 ) the specimen 19 may be replenished within dispenser 14 by the user after depletion of the specimen during skin beatification process , i . e . dispenser 14 may be re - used ; ( 3 ) the dispenser 14 may be disposable and for one - time use only , where specimen 19 is pre - filled within the dispenser before usage ; ( 4 ) the dispenser 14 can be configured as multiple dispensers containing same or different specimens such that the dispensers can be individually selected to dispense contained specimen ; ( 5 ) the dispenser 14 can be configured as a single dispenser with multiple specimen compartments that may contain same or different specimens , such that each compartment within the dispenser can be individually selected and dispense specimen ; ( 6 ) the dispensing of the specimen 19 is fulfilled by a manually exerted force to the dispenser , upon which a pressure generation component that is part of the dispenser , for example a lead , a lever , a gauge , a cap , a piston , or a stretched porch , forces the specimen 19 to flow out of the dispenser through the outlet 15 ; ( 7 ) the dispensing of the specimen 19 is fulfilled by an electrically powered driving mechanism that is part of the dispenser and operated by the electrical interface 140 located within the enclosure 11 body ; ( 8 ) the dispensing of the specimen 19 is fulfilled by an electrically powered driving mechanism that is part of the device and electrically controlled by the control unit 17 . the driving mechanism forces the specimen 19 to flow out of the dispenser through the outlet 15 . in other words , the dispenser can be any of : a removable and replaceable dispenser ; a refillable dispenser ; a disposable and for one - time use only dispenser ; an integrated dispenser having multiple sub - dispensers containing same or different specimens , the sub - dispensers being individually selected to dispense specimen therein ; and an integrated dispenser with multiple specimen compartments containing same or different specimens , each of the compartments being individually selected to dispense specimen therein . the dispenser 14 may also have any of the following features with one or more electrical contacts 141 that exist within the dispenser 14 . the dispenser 14 may include an embedded specimen dispensing or releasing mechanism that is controlled by the electronic control unit 17 through the electrical interface 140 and the contacts 141 . the dispenser 14 may include an embedded memory or data storage device for storing information such as , but not limited to : ( 1 ) information of the specimen contained within the dispenser 14 , which can be , but not limited to , specimen brand , name , type , original , composition , production date and expiration date , specimen level within the dispenser and ordering information ; ( 2 ) information of optimal or pre - set operational mode of the ultrasonic generator 16 through the electronic control unit 17 when the specimen 19 contained in dispenser 14 is to be used , where the operational mode can be , but not limited to , timing , ultrasonic vibration strength and location of the operation to be generated on transmission plate 12 ; ( 3 ) information of optimal or pre - set operational mode of the different dispensers 14 or difference specimen compartments within a single dispenser , where the operational mode can be , but not limited to , timing of specimen application from each different dispenser or each different compartment , amount of specimen to be dispensed from each different dispenser or each different compartment ; ( 4 ) the information of historic usage data of the device , the dispenser and specimen ; and ( 5 ) information that is created or input by the user ; and ( 6 ) biographic information of the user . the electronic control unit 17 may receive data stored in the dispenser 14 to display information to the user through visual , skin contact or sound effects . alternatively , the electronic control unit 17 may receive data stored in the dispenser 14 to operate the ultrasonic generator 16 in a specific manner determined by the information stored in the said data . the control unit 17 may also comprise another embedded memory or data storage device for storing information such as , but not limited to , device operation data , user skin information data , user personal and biometrics information , dispenser identification data . such stored information may be updated as needed . control unit 17 may also contain embedded programs that utilize all the information stored in the control unit 17 and dispenser 14 to operate and control the serum dispensing from dispenser 14 , as well as the ultrasound generator 16 . such embedded programs may also be updated for better function . alternatively , the electronic control unit 17 may send data to be stored in the dispenser 14 . the dispenser 14 may be recovered by the manufacture and data stored within the dispenser 14 may be retrieved . although fig1 a and 1b show dispenser 14 residing within the enclosure body 11 , in practice the dispenser 14 may also be externally attached to the enclosure body 11 . however , when attached , the lotion 19 is still dispensed through a conduit that connects from the inside to the outside of the enclosure body 11 and finally through the outlet 15 . thus , the attached dispenser 14 still functions as an integral part of the device . fig2 a and fig2 b illustrate the second preferred embodiment of the present invention , where a specimen dispenser is integrated within an electrically powered brush device for skin treatment . fig2 a shows the front view of the device and fig2 b shows the cross - section view along the center line 101 of fig2 a . the device according to this embodiment includes the following components : ( 1 ) an enclosure body 21 made of metal , alloy or plastics ; ( 2 ) a brush head 22 , which can have any of rotational , tapping , pulsating and vibration movements during skin treatment that are powered and controlled by a brush head driver 26 ; ( 4 ) various brush fiber 23 for skin treatment being attached to the brush head ; ( 5 ) a skin treatment specimen container and dispenser 24 that contains a skin treatment specimen 29 , which can be , but not limited to , liquid , gel , cream , paste and powder ; ( 6 ) a specimen outlet 25 that is either in the form of a clearance into the brush head surface where brush fiber ( s ) 23 are disposed , or in the form of a tube extruding from the brush head surface to a height slightly shorter than the maximum length of the brush fibers , and through the specimen outlet 25 , the specimen 29 is dispensed to the surface of the brush head 22 and , preferably , to the brush fibers 23 that are to be in contact with the skin during skin treatment ; ( 7 ) an electronic control unit 27 containing electrical circuits , electronic components and necessary embedded software exists within the enclosure body 21 ; ( 8 ) an electrical interface 28 that exists between the brush head driver 26 and an electronic control unit 27 so that the performance of the brush head driver 26 can be controlled by the electronic control unit 27 , where the electronic control unit 27 controls the motion of the brush head 22 via the brush head driver 26 and may , optionally , also provide user interface , power supply and charging functions . additionally , the electronic control unit 27 may send electrical signals to the specimen dispenser 24 or receives electrical signals from the specimen dispenser 24 to achieve required skin treatment procedure through another electrical interface 240 that connects to the electrical contacts 241 on dispenser 24 . the dispenser 24 may have any of the below features : ( 1 ) the dispenser 24 is removable , i . e ., it may be taken out and installed back into the enclosure body 21 by the user ; ( 2 ) the specimen 29 may be replenished within dispenser 24 by the user after depletion of the specimen during skin beatification process , i . e . dispenser 24 may be re - used ; ( 3 ) the dispenser 24 may be disposable and for one - time use only , where specimen 29 is pre - filled within the dispenser before usage ; ( 4 ) the dispenser 24 can be configured as multiple dispensers containing same or different specimens may be installed in one enclosure body 21 , such that dispensers can be individually selected to dispense contained specimen ; ( 5 ) the dispenser 24 can be configured as a single dispenser with multiple specimen compartments that may contain same or different specimens , such that each compartment within the dispenser can be individually selected and dispense specimen ; ( 6 ) the dispensing of the specimen 29 is fulfilled by a manually exerted force to the dispenser , upon which a pressure generation component that is part of the dispenser , for example a lead , a lever , a gauge , a cap , a piston , or a stretched porch , forces the specimen 29 to flow out of the dispenser through the outlet 25 ; and ( 7 ) the dispensing of the specimen 29 is fulfilled by an electrically powered driving mechanism that is part of the dispenser and operated by the electrical interface 240 located within the enclosure 21 body ; ( 8 ) the dispensing of the specimen 29 is fulfilled by an electrically powered driving mechanism that is part of the device and electrically controlled by the control unit 27 . the driving mechanism forces the specimen 29 to flow out of the dispenser through the outlet 25 . the dispenser 24 may also include an embedded specimen dispensing or releasing mechanism within the dispenser 24 that is controllable by the electronic control unit 27 through the electrical interface 240 and one or more electrical contacts 241 embedded in the dispenser 24 . the dispenser 24 may also include an embedded memory or data storage device 242 within dispenser 24 for storing information such as , but not limited to : data stored in digital format by an embedded memory or data storage device within dispenser 24 that may contain any of the below information : ( 1 ) information of the specimen contained within the dispenser , such as but not limited to , specimen brand , name , type , original , composition , production date and expiration date , specimen level within the dispenser and ordering information ; ( 2 ) information of optimal or pre - set operational mode of the brush head 22 through the control electronics 27 when the specimen 29 contained in dispenser 24 is to be used , such as but not limited to , timing , motion type , motion strength and sequence of motions of the brush head 22 ; ( 3 ) information of optimal or preset operational mode of the different dispensers 24 or difference specimen compartments within a single dispenser , such as but not limited to , timing of specimen application from each different dispenser or each different compartment , amount of specimen to be dispensed from each different dispenser or each different compartment ; ( 4 ) information of historic usage data of the device , the dispenser and specimen ; ( 5 ) information that is created or input by the user ; and ( 6 ) biographic information of the user . the electronic control unit 27 may receive data stored in the dispenser 24 to display information to the user through visual , skin contact or sound effects . the electronic control unit 27 may receive data stored in the dispenser 24 to operate the brush head 22 in a specific manner determined by the information stored in the said data ; the control unit 27 may also comprise another embedded memory or data storage device for storing information such as , but not limited to , device operation data , user skin information data , user personal and biometrics information , dispenser identification data . such stored information may be updated as needed . control unit 27 may also contain embedded programs that utilize all the information stored in the control unit 27 and dispenser 24 to operate and control the serum dispensing from dispenser 24 , as well as the brush head driver 26 . such embedded programs may also be updated for better function . alternatively , the electronic control unit 27 may send data to be stored in the dispenser 24 . the dispenser 24 may be recovered by the manufacture and data stored within dispenser 24 may be retrieved . although fig2 a and 2b show dispenser 24 residing within the enclosure body 21 , in practice the dispenser 24 may also be externally attached to the enclosure body 21 . however , when attached , the lotion 29 is still dispensed through a conduit that connects from the inside to the outside of the enclosure body 21 and finally through the outlet 25 . thus , the attached dispenser 24 still functions as an integral part of the device . fig3 a and fig3 b illustrates the third preferred embodiment of the current invention , where a specimen dispenser is integrated within an electrically powered skin massaging device for skin treatment . fig3 a shows the front view of the proposed device . fig3 b shows the cross - section view along the center line 101 of fig3 a . the embodiment contains the following components : ( 1 ) an enclosure body 31 made of metal , alloy or plastics or a combination thereof ; ( 2 ) a skin massaging tip 32 for contacting the skin with a treatment surface 33 and transmitting the mechanical massaging motion to the target skin area , where the massaging motion of the massaging tip can be , but not limited to , vibration , pulsating , rotation , tapping , expansion and contraction ; ( 3 ) a motion generator 36 which generates the massaging motions ; ( 4 ) a skin treatment specimen container and dispenser , herein after collectively referred to as dispenser 34 , that contains specimen 39 which can be , but not limited to , liquid , gel , cream , paste and powder ; ( 5 ) an specimen outlet 35 existing on the same continuous surface 33 of the massaging tip 32 , through which skin treatment specimen 39 is dispensed close to or preferably , directly on top of the massaging tip 32 surface 33 that is to be in contact with the skin during skin treatment ; ( 6 ) an electronic control unit 37 containing electrical circuits , electronic components and necessary embedded software exists within the enclosure body 31 ; and ( 7 ) an electrical interface 38 located between the motion generator 36 and the electronic control unit 37 so that the performance of the massaging tip 32 can be controlled by the electronic control unit . the electronic control unit 37 controls the motions of the massaging tip 32 and it may , alternatively , also provide user interface , power supply and charging functions . additionally , the electronic control unit 37 may send electrical signals to the specimen dispenser 34 or receives electrical signals from the specimen dispenser 34 to achieve the required skin treatment procedure through another electrical interface 340 that connects to the electrical contacts 341 on dispenser 34 . the dispenser 34 may have any of the below features : ( 1 ) the dispenser 34 may be taken out and installed back into the enclosure body 31 by the user ; ( 2 ) the specimen 39 may be replenished within the dispenser 34 by the user after depletion of the specimen during skin beatification process , i . e . dispenser 34 may be re - used ; ( 3 ) the dispenser 34 may be disposable and for one - time use only , where the specimen 39 is pre - filled within the dispenser before usage ; ( 4 ) the dispenser 34 can be configured as multiple dispensers containing same or different specimens may be installed in a single enclosure body 31 , such that dispensers can be individually selected to dispense contained specimen ; ( 5 ) the dispenser 34 can be configured as a single dispenser with multiple specimen compartments that may contain same or different specimens , such that each compartment within the dispenser can be individually selected and dispense specimen ; ( 6 ) the dispensing of the specimen 39 is fulfilled by a manually exerted force to the dispenser , upon which a pressure generation component that is part of the dispenser , for example a lead , a lever , a gauge , a cap , a piston , or a stretched porch , forces the specimen 39 to flow out of the dispenser through the outlet 35 ; ( 7 ) the dispensing of the specimen 39 is fulfilled by an electrically powered driving mechanism that is part of the dispenser and operated by the electrical interface 340 located within the enclosure 31 body ; ( 8 ) the dispensing of the specimen 39 is fulfilled by an electrically powered driving mechanism that is part of the device and electrically controlled by the control unit 37 . the driving mechanism forces the specimen 39 to flow out of the dispenser through the outlet 35 . the dispenser 34 may also include a specimen dispensing or releasing mechanism embedded in the dispenser 34 . the embedded specimen dispensing or releasing mechanism is controlled by the electronic control unit 37 through the electrical interface 340 and various electrical contacts 341 embedded in the dispenser 34 . the dispenser 34 may also include an embedded memory or data storage device for storing information , such as but limited to : ( 1 ) the information of the specimen contained within the dispenser , such as but not limited to , specimen brand , name , type , original , composition , production date and expiration date , specimen level within the dispenser and ordering information ; ( 2 ) information of optimal or pre - set operational mode of the massaging tip 32 through the electronic control unit 37 when the specimen 39 contained in dispenser 34 is to be used , such as but not limited to , timing , motion type , motion strength and the sequence of motions of the massaging tip 32 ; ( 3 ) the information of optimal or pre - set operational mode of the different dispensers 34 or difference specimen compartments within a single dispenser , such as but not limited to , timing of specimen application from each different dispenser or each different compartment , amount of specimen to be dispensed from each different dispenser or each different compartment ; ( 4 ) the information of historic usage data of the device , the dispenser and specimen ; ( 5 ) the information that is created or input by the user ; and ( 6 ) the biographic information of the user . the electronic control unit 37 may receive data stored in the dispenser 34 to display information to the user through visual , skin contact or sound effects . the electronic control unit 37 may , alternatively , also receive data stored in the dispenser 34 to operate the massaging tip 32 in a specific manner determined by the information stored in the said data . the control unit 37 may also comprise another embedded memory or data storage device for storing information such as , but not limited to , device operation data , user skin information data , user personal and biometrics information , dispenser identification data . such stored information may be updated as needed . control unit 37 may also contain embedded programs that utilize all the information stored in the control unit 37 and dispenser 34 to operate and control the serum dispensing from dispenser 34 , as well as the motion generator 36 . such embedded programs may also be updated for better function . the electronic control unit 37 may send data to be stored in the dispenser 34 . the dispenser 34 may be recovered by the manufacture and data stored within the dispenser 34 may be retrieved . although fig3 a and 3b show dispenser 34 residing within the enclosure body 31 , in practice the dispenser 34 may also be externally attached to the enclosure body 31 . however , when attached , the lotion 39 is still dispensed through a conduit that connects from the inside to the outside of the enclosure body 31 and finally through the outlet 35 . thus , the attached dispenser 34 still functions as an integral part of the device . fig4 a and fig4 b illustrate the fourth preferred embodiment of the current invention , where a specimen dispenser is integrated within an electrically powered galvanic skin treatment device that produces electric current flowing along skin surface and / or through skin cells . fig4 a shows the front view of the proposed device . fig4 b shows the cross - section view along the center line 101 of fig4 a . the embodiment contains the following components : ( 1 ) an enclosure body 41 made of metal , alloy or plastics or a combination thereof ; ( 2 ) a galvanic skin treatment head 42 for contacting the skin with one or more electrodes 43 and producing electric voltage and current on the target skin area ; ( 3 ) a voltage or current driver 46 which generates the electric voltage or current ; ( 4 ) a skin treatment specimen container and dispenser , collectively referred to as dispenser 44 that contains specimen 49 that can be , but not limited to , liquid , gel , cream , paste and powder ; ( 5 ) a specimen outlet 45 existing on the surface of the treatment head 42 where the electrodes 43 reside , through the specimen outlet 45 , the skin treatment specimen 49 is dispensed close to or , preferably , directly on top of one or more of the electrodes 43 that are to be in contact with the skin during skin treatment ; ( 6 ) an electronic control unit 47 containing electrical circuits , electronic components and necessary embedded software exists within the enclosure body 41 ; and ( 7 ) an electrical interface 48 located between the voltage or current driver 46 and the electronic control unit 47 so that the voltage or current exerted by the electrodes 43 on the skin can be controlled by the electronic control unit . the electronic control unit 47 controls the electrode 43 by the voltage or current driver 46 , and may also provide user interface , power supply and charging functions . additionally , the electronic control unit 47 may send electrical signals to the specimen dispenser 44 or receives electrical signals from the specimen dispenser 44 to achieve required skin treatment procedure through another electrical interface 440 that connects to the electrical contacts 441 on dispenser 44 . the dispenser 44 may have any of the below features : ( 1 ) the dispenser 44 is removable , i . e ., may be taken out and installed back into the enclosure body 41 by the user ; ( 2 ) the specimen 49 may be replenished within dispenser 44 by the user after depletion of the specimen during skin beatification process , i . e . dispenser 44 may be re - used ; ( 3 ) the dispenser 44 may be disposable and for one - time use only , where the specimen 49 is pre - filled within the dispenser before usage ; ( 4 ) the dispenser 44 may be configured as multiple dispensers 44 containing same or different specimens , such that dispensers can be individually selected to dispense contained specimen ; ( 5 ) the dispenser 44 may be configured as a single dispenser with multiple specimen compartments that may contain same or different specimens , such that each compartment within the dispenser can be individually selected and dispense specimen ; ( 6 ) the dispensing of the specimen 49 is fulfilled by a manually exerted force to the dispenser , upon which a pressure generation component that is part of the dispenser , for example a lead , a lever , a gauge , a cap , a piston , or a stretched porch , forces the specimen 49 to flow out of the dispenser through the outlet 45 ; ( 7 ) the dispensing of the specimen 49 is fulfilled by an electrically powered driving mechanism that is part of the dispenser and operated by the electrical interface 440 located within the enclosure 41 body ; ( 8 ) the dispensing of the specimen 49 is fulfilled by an electrically powered driving mechanism that is part of the device and electrically controlled by the control unit 47 . the driving mechanism forces the specimen 49 to flow out of the dispenser through the outlet 45 . the dispenser 44 may also include an embedded specimen dispensing or releasing mechanism within the dispenser 44 . the embedded specimen dispensing or releasing mechanism is controlled by the electronic control unit 47 through the electrical interface 440 and various electrical contacts 441 embedded in the dispenser 44 . the dispenser 44 may also include an embedded memory or data storage device for storing information , such as but not limited to : ( 1 ) the information of the specimen contained within the dispenser , such as but not limited to specimen brand , name , type , original , composition , production date and expiration date , specimen level within the dispenser and ordering information ; ( 2 ) the information of optimal or pre - set operational mode of electrodes 43 through the control electronics 47 when the specimen 49 contained in dispenser 44 is to be used , such as but not limited to , timing , voltage or current type ( dc or ac ), voltage or current level , voltage or current temporal waveform , and frequency of the voltage or current applied by the electrodes 43 to the skin ; ( 3 ) the information of optimal or pre - set operational mode of the different dispensers 44 or difference specimen compartments within a single dispenser , such as but not limited to , timing of specimen application from each different dispenser or each different compartment , amount of specimen to be dispensed from each different dispenser or each different compartment ; ( 4 ) the information of historic usage data of the device , the dispenser and specimen ; ( 5 ) the information that is created or input by the user ; and ( 6 ) the biographic information of the user . the electronic control unit 47 may receive data stored in the dispenser 44 to display information to the user through visual , skin contact or sound effects . the electronic control unit 47 may receive data stored in the dispenser 44 to operate the electrodes 43 in a specific manner determined by the information stored in the said data . the control unit 47 may also comprise another embedded memory or data storage device for storing information such as , but not limited to , device operation data , user skin information data , user personal and biometrics information , dispenser identification data . such stored information may be updated as needed . control unit 47 may also contain embedded programs that utilize all the information stored in the control unit 47 and dispenser 44 to operate and control the serum dispensing from dispenser 44 , as well as the voltage or current driver 46 . such embedded programs may also be updated for better function . the electronic control unit 47 may send data to be stored in the dispenser 44 the dispenser 44 may be recovered by the manufacture and data stored within dispenser 44 may be retrieved . although fig4 a and 4b show dispenser 44 residing within the enclosure body 41 , in practice the dispenser 44 may also be externally attached to the enclosure body 41 . however , when attached , the lotion 49 is still dispensed through a conduit that connects from the inside to the outside of the enclosure body 41 and finally through the outlet 45 . thus , the attached dispenser 44 still functions as an integral part of the device . fig5 a and fig5 b illustrates the fifth preferred embodiment of the current invention , where a specimen dispenser is integrated within an electrically powered light illumination device for skin treatment . fig5 a shows the front view of the proposed device . fig5 b shows the cross - section view along the center line 101 of fig5 a . the embodiment contains the following components : ( 1 ) an enclosure body 51 made of metal , alloy or plastics or a combination thereof ; ( 2 ) a lightening housing 52 for treating skin with light illumination generated by one or more lightening units 53 which are powered by a light controller 56 ; ( 3 ) a skin treatment specimen container and dispenser , collectively referred to as dispenser 54 that contains specimen 59 which can be , but not limited to , liquid , gel , cream , paste and powder ; ( 4 ) a specimen outlet 55 existing on the surface of the lighting housing 52 where lightening units 53 reside , through the outlet 55 , the skin treatment specimen 59 is dispensed either on the surface of the housing unit , or directly onto the skin area to be treated ; ( 5 ) an electronic control unit 57 containing electrical circuits , electronic components and necessary embedded software exists within the enclosure body 51 ; and ( 6 ) an electrical interface 58 located between the light controller 56 and the electronic control unit 57 so that the light emission from the lightening unit 53 can be controlled by the electronic control unit 57 . the electronic control unit 57 controls the lightening unit 53 via the lightening controller 56 . it may also provide user interface , power supply and charging functions . additionally , the electronic control unit 57 may send electrical signals to the specimen dispenser 54 or receives electrical signals from the specimen dispenser 54 to achieve required skin treatment procedure through another electrical interface 540 that connects to the electrical contacts 541 on dispenser 54 . the dispenser 54 may have any of the below features : ( 1 ) the dispenser 54 is removable , i . e ., it may be taken out and installed back into the enclosure body 51 by the user ; ( 2 ) the specimen 59 may be replenished within dispenser 54 by the user after depletion of the specimen during skin beatification process , i . e . dispenser 54 may be re - used ; ( 3 ) the dispenser 54 may be disposable and for one - time use only , where specimen 59 is pre - filled within the dispenser before usage ; ( 4 ) the dispenser 54 may be configured as multiple dispensers containing same or different specimens , such that the dispensers can be individually selected to dispense contained specimen ; ( 5 ) the dispenser 54 may be configured as a single dispenser with multiple specimen compartments that may contain same or different specimens , such that each compartment within the dispenser can be individually selected and dispense specimen ; ( 6 ) the dispensing of the specimen 59 is fulfilled by a manually exerted force to the dispenser , upon which a pressure generation component that is part of the dispenser , for example a lead , a lever , a gauge , a cap , a piston , or a stretched porch , forces the specimen 59 to flow out of the dispenser through the outlet 55 ; ( 7 ) the dispensing of the specimen 59 is fulfilled by an electrically powered driving mechanism that is part of the dispenser and operated by the electrical interface 540 located within the enclosure 51 body ; ( 8 ) the dispensing of the specimen 59 is fulfilled by an electrically powered driving mechanism that is part of the device and electrically controlled by the control unit 57 , where the driving mechanism forces the specimen 59 to flow out of the dispenser through the outlet 55 . the dispenser 54 may also include a specimen dispensing or releasing mechanism which is controlled by the electronic control unit 57 through the electrical interface 540 and various electrical contacts 541 embedded in the dispenser 54 . the dispenser 54 may also include a memory or data storage device embedded in the dispenser 54 that may store information , such as but not limited to : ( 1 ) the information of the specimen contained within the dispenser such as but not limited to , specimen brand , name , type , original , composition , production date and expiration date , specimen level within the dispenser and ordering information ; ( 2 ) the information of optimal or pre - set operational mode of lightening unit 53 through the control electronics 57 when the specimen 59 contained in dispenser 54 is to be used , such as but not limited to , timing , light power , light duration , light wavelength and sequence of different lightening schemes that are emitted by the lightening unit 53 ; ( 3 ) the information of optimal or pre - set operational mode of the different dispensers 54 or difference specimen compartments within a single dispenser , such as but not limited to , timing of specimen application from each different dispenser or each different compartment , amount of specimen to be dispensed from each different dispenser or each different compartment ; ( 4 ) the information of historic usage data of the device , the dispenser and specimen ; ( 5 ) the information that is created or input by the user ; ( 6 ) the biographic information of the user . the electronic control 57 may receive data stored in the dispenser 54 to display information to the user through visual , skin contact or sound effects . the electronic control 57 may also receive data stored in the dispenser 54 to operate the lightening units 53 in a specific manner determined by the information stored in the said data . the electronic control 57 may also send data to be stored in the dispenser 54 . the control unit 57 may also comprise another embedded memory or data storage device for storing information such as , but not limited to , device operation data , user skin information data ; user personal and biometrics information , dispenser identification data . such , stored information may be updated as needed . control unit 57 may also contain embedded programs that utilize all the information stored in the control unit 57 and dispenser 54 to operate and control the serum dispensing from dispenser 54 , as well as the light controller 56 . such embedded programs may also be updated for better function . the electronic control unit 57 may send data to be stored in the dispenser 54 the dispenser 54 may be recovered by the manufacture and the data stored within dispenser 54 may be retrieved . although fig5 a and 5b show dispenser 54 residing within the enclosure body 51 , in practice the dispenser 54 may also be externally attached to the enclosure body 51 . however , when attached , the lotion 59 is still dispensed through a conduit that connects from the inside to the outside of the enclosure body 51 and finally through the outlet 55 . thus , the attached dispenser 54 still functions as an integral part of the device . the present invention has numerous advantages over the prior arts . for examples : ( 1 ) the integrated specimen dispenser with various electronic skin treatment devices enhances the portability and flexibility of the skin treatment process ; ( 2 ) the integrated specimen dispenser with electrical interface , together with the embedded memory within the dispenser or the control unit , enables customizability of the various electronic devices to provide treatment methods that are specific for each individual &# 39 ; s own skin care need , including personalized skin care product synthesized at the spot of treatment ; and ( 3 ) with the integrated dispenser containing product information , best mode of operation , pre - set beautification process and usage data , the device greatly increases the positive effect of the skin beautification process , reduces the complexity of the user &# 39 ; s operation and provides means of feedback from user to manufacture for further improvement on the skin care products . while one or more embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated above , the skilled artisan will appreciate that modifications and adoptions to those embodiments may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention . | 0 |
in relation to fig3 a and b have the root of the tree as their parent ; c1 - c3 have object a as their parent . objects a and b have attributes a1 - a3 and b1 - b3 respectively ; objects c1 c3 each have attributes a1 and c1 - c3 . for the purposes of this example it is also assumed that attributes a1 , b1 and c1 hold a unique identifier for their respective objects , i . e . a , b and c1 - c3 . thus the attribute a1 of c1 - c3 relates these objects to their parent a . one useful table mapping is suggested immediately by the table structure , i . e . three object tables as below : where ta , tb and tc hold the objects ( tuples ) at the nodes in the tree , i . e . ta and tb each hold just objects a and b in this case , and tc holds objects c1 - c3 . the column names ta1 , ta2 etc . hold the correspondingly named attributes a1 , a2 etc . these three base tables represent an efficient relational database representation of the directory contents . however although simple , they are unsuited for generalised query because they expose the directory structure , in the sense that the tree has become fragmented into three tables . the way that the tables combine to reconstruct the information content of the original is not obvious in the general case . even when it can be deduced , the reconstruction ( full or partial ) must be added to the query logic . a solution to the problem is to define the universal relation , which as explained earlier is essentially a single view of the directory , with a column for every attribute present in the directory and a row for each object ( in this simplification many aspects have been omitted for simplicity , e . g . naming clashes , multi - valued attributes , optional attributes , relationship to object classes and so on ). the construction of the universal relation can be most easily appreciated by considering it as a three - stage process : stage 1 : a new set of base tables is created such that all objects now also include the attributes and values of all their antecedents . in the example above , this only affects table tc which is extended to include columns a2 and a3 . in general the base object tables previously proposed are joined with their ancestors up the tree . this new set of base tables will be called extended base tables and in the example , will be denoted by tea , teb and tec . stage 2 : for each extended base table a complementary table is defined that contains all the attributes not present in the extended base table . each such complementary table contains a single entry with null values for each attribute . in the example , these complementary tables and their attributes are : stage 3 : to create the view , each extended base table is multiplied by its complementary table ; the universal relation is then the union of these results . in the example the universal relation has attributes a1 - a3 , b1 - b3 and c1 - c3 with five rows , one for each object . if substantiated , such a table , where columns in the table representing attributes not possessed by that object have a null value , would be suited to ad - hoc query because it alone represents the directory and has all the objects pre - associated with their ancestors up the tree . in the present invention , the universal relation is , however , only established as a view on the base relations , i . e . it will not exist as an explicit set of rows in the relational database ( since it is in general far too large to store in this way ). ad - hoc queries on the directory are formulated as relational expressions on the universal relation . it is important , however , to emphasise that in the evaluation of these expressions , the universal relation does not get substantiated . from a relational database viewpoint , the directory application is unusual in that the universal relation used in the query has the general structure of a union of many tables , each of which is multiplied with a complementary relation which has a single entry of all null values . although conventional relational databases include optimisers to improve query responsiveness , these optimisers have no special provision for this case . however , it is crucial to achieving acceptable query performance that the unusual properties of these complementary tables are taken into account . the data retrieval system of the present invention enables optimisation of relational expressions , by transforming a supplied expression into one which is faster ( less resource consuming , etc .) to evaluate . an important part of the optimisation is to eliminate unnecessary operations and possibly re - order others ; this results in the elimination of certain base relations from an expression , where possible . in order to explain the optimisation process , it is necessary to explain the syntax of a relational expression . for simplicity , the present description is expressed in the relational algebra employing a notation defined by c . j . date in “ an introduction to database systems ”. examples of operators in this notation are ( syntax is provided where this is not the same as the operator ): union : creates a relation consisting of all the objects appearing in either operand relation intersect : creates a relation consisting of all the objects appearing in both operand relations difference : creates a relation consisting of all the objects appearing in one operand relation but not in the other operand product : creates a relation consisting of all the possible combinations of objects taken from each operand relation , ( syntax : * or times ). project : restricts a relation to a specified list of attributes , ( syntax : [ ]). restrict : restricts a relation to those objects that satisfy given criteria , ( syntax : where ). join : is a synthetic operator representing a sequence of operations on operand relations . first common attributes are renamed in one relation , then a product of the relations is carried out , a restrict then eliminates objects from the resultant relation where initially common attributes differ , followed by a project to remove the renamed common attributes from the resultant relation . update : changes the contents of attribute ( s ) of any selected objects in a relation . using the example of fig3 a typical database query may be to retrieve the value of an attribute given a certain predicate . for example : list attribute c2 for the cases where c3 & gt ; 4 . using the above notation and assuming the universal relation is identified as v , a relational expression can be written as : this expression is passed to the relational database , and given that the universal relation is defined by : this expression can be executed , since it is now an expression involving just base tables . however , to do so without further transformation would involve the substantiation of the universal relation . an optimum form of the query for this example is : this is because the extended base tables tea and teb contribute nothing to the answer , nor do the complementary tables tca , tcb and tcc . 1 . tracks the origin of columns through the pseudo - evaluation of the expression , in particular being aware of which columns have arisen only from complementary tables ; and 2 . tracks the cardinality ( number of objects ) of the tables , again through the pseudo - evaluation of the expression . although these two techniques are described independently below , in practice they are simultaneously applied . conventionally , expressions are evaluated by parsing the complete expression to find where it can be split into an operator and two self - contained operands . the operator is then pushed onto a stack , whilst the two operands are recursively parsed in turn , repeating the process . when an operand is no longer an expression ( but a table ) then this too is pushed on to the stack . when parsing is complete , execution begins by popping the operands off the stack until an operator is found ; the popped operands are then the operands of that operator . the operator is evaluated and the result pushed back onto the stack . the process continues until the stack comprises a single value , which is the result of the original expression . in the case of optimisation , a pseudo - evaluation takes place . the operations are not actually evaluated to get the actual result ; instead the nature of the result is determined . this is sufficient to allow the pseudo - execution to continue . based on an understanding of these intermediates , many operations involving them can be eliminated . the origin of columns is tracked by the use of a parallel stack , synchronised with the main stack described above . the parallel stack , for each operand , maintains a list of those columns whose values are known to be entirely null ( or non - existent ). in the pseudo - evaluation , nulls are pushed on to this parallel stack , except when a table operand is a complementary table . in this case all the column names are pushed onto the stack instead . when operators are evaluated , only those columns of the result that are null have their names saved on the parallel stack . knowing the column origin allows assumptions to be made on the cardinality ( see below ) which can then be used to optimise the operations . in an analogous manner a second parallel stack is maintained to keep track of the cardinality of operands . this cardinality is not the true cardinality because the real operations are not being evaluated ; instead only the following situations are distinguished : cardinality null ( scn ): defined as the table having a single all null entry cardinality real ( rc ): the table has an indeterminate number of entries , about which nothing is known . initially , all non - complementary tables are assumed a real cardinality ; complementary tables are known to have a null cardinality . the rules to be used in the optimisation are as detailed below . application of the rules is an iterative process where each rule is considered in turn and applied if relevant ; after one rule has been applied , the full set of rules is then to be re - considered in sequence . optimisation is complete when no further rules are applicable . rule 1 . if one of the parameters of a product or join operation is a relation of zero degree ( a relation with no attributes ), or an expression that results in a relation of zero degree , then that relation ( or expression ) and the associated product or join operation is eliminated . for example , if b is a relation of zero degree , then : rule 2 . if one of the parameters of a selected operation is either ( a ) a relation with zero cardinality ( a zc relation )— or an expression that results in a relation with zero cardinality , or ( b ) a relation which is either a zc relation or has single cardinality with all of its values null ( an scn relation ), then specific optimisations are sometimes possible . the precise rules are : restriction on a zc with any filter or on an scn with a ‘ real ’ filter . if either operand is a zc operand ( replace with the other operand ); if one operand is an scn and the other is neither an scn nor a zc operand , then replace with that other operand . one operand is a scn ( replace with the scn ). difference : an operand with itself ( replace with a zc ); the first or second operand has zero cardinality ( replace with the first operand ). the first / last operand is a zc operand ( replace with a zc operand ); both operands are scn operands ( replace with an scn operand ). the operand is an scn and the filter selects ‘ real ’ entries ( replace with a zc ); the operand is an scn and the filter selects ‘ non - real ’, entries ( replace with an scn ). product : if either operand is a zc operand then the result is a null operand with the sum of the attributes of the constituent operands . if either operand is a zc operand then the result is a null operand with the sum of the unique attributes of the constituent operands . project : if the operand is a zc operand , the result is a null operand with the attributes of the project . for example , if b is a relation of zero cardinality , then : in all cases there is no distinction made between a relation or a relational expression ; this therefore requires that equivalent relational expressions can be identified even when they are differently specified . for example , trivially a union b is identical to b union a ; many more complex examples exist . the equivalence of sub - trees needs to established without execution of the expressions . the knowledge that certain attributes arising from zc or scn relations is also maintained by the optimiser through algebraic operations . this allows a subsequent projection operation specifying only such attributes to be identified as such a relation - this is important in not losing information through , for example , a join of an scn relation with a normal relation . rule 3 . restrictions are sub - divided where possible in order to minimise attribute coupling , e . g . rule 4 . projections , restrictions , renames , updates , extends , inserts and deletes , are moved forward unchanged through unions , intersections and differences , e . g . rule 5 . restrictions and renames immediately following a product or join between two relations are re - cast , where possible , as operations on the constituents of the product or join . the filter list or rename list is split according to the attributes present in the constituent relations , e . g . assume relations a ( a1 , a2 , a3 ) and b ( a1 , a2 , b1 , b2 ), then : in certain restrictions it may not be possible to split the filter list and , if so , the optimisation cannot be applied . rule 6 . projections on a relation that include new attribute ( s ) not present in that relation , are transformed to include prior relational product ( s ) with ‘ new attribute ’ relation ( s ) with the same name ( s ) as the new attribute ( s ), e . g . assume a relation a ( a1 , a2 , a3 ), then if a4 represents a new attribute : a [ a1 , a2 , a3 , a4 ] becomes ( a times a4 ) [ a1 , a2 , a3 , a4 ] rule 7 . the union of a sequence of update ( or rename , extend , insert or delete ) operations , is transformed into individual update ( or rename , extend , insert or delete ) operations , e . g . assume relations a ( a1 , a2 , a3 ) and b ( a1 , a2 , a3 ), then : rule 8 . expressions in update ( or rename , extend , insert or delete ) operations comprising products of a single base relation with one or more ‘ new attribute ’ relations , are transformed into a prior assignment statement to that base relation , e . g . assume a base relation a ( a1 , a2 , a3 ) and ‘ new attribute ’ relation b then : rule 9 . in all expressions the attributes that must be present for all intermediates to generate the final result are calculated . for : ( a ) a project operation the attributes specified are replaced by the minimum necessary set , and ( b ) immediately after each relation is inserted a project operation that retains only the minimum attributes . e . g . assuming a relation a ( a1 , a2 , a3 , a4 ): (( a [ a1 , a2 , a3 ]) where ( a1 = x and a2 = y )) [ a1 , a3 ] ( a rename a1 as b1 ) [ a2 , b1 , a3 ] becomes (( a [ a1 , a2 , a3 ]) rename a1 as b1 ) [ a2 , b1 , a3 ] rule 10 . consecutive projections on a relation are eliminated by removing all but the last projection , e . g . assume a relation a ( a1 , a2 , a3 ), then : ( a [ a1 , a2 , a3 ]) [ a2 , a3 ] becomes a [ a2 , a3 ] redundant projections are also removed , i . e . those that specify all the attributes of a relation or intermediate . rule 11 . occurrences of the view relation are substituted with the equivalent expressions involving the base relations . rule 12 . consecutive restrictions on a relation are combined , e . g . assume a relation a ( a1 , a2 , a3 ), then : none of the rules above will adversely affect any arbitrary relational query operation that does not involve directory data . rule 1 allows simplification of many expressions and is important because relations of zero degree often arise from the action of other rules on the expansion of the view relation . rule 2 likewise exploits the properties of the complementary directory relations and the effects of other rules and operations upon them . rule 3 is present to allow sub - division of restrictions such that maximum exploitation can be made of them in rule 5 . rule 4 is present to allow user specified operations to trickle down to the expansion of the view relation , as is rule 5 . rules 6 to 8 are peculiar to update processing and allow base directory relations to be updated through operations expressed on the view relation . rule 9 ensures that the minimum subset of the database is used where possible . rules 10 and 12 attempt to mitigate harmful effects of optimisation by eliminating operations introduced through the other rules . rule 11 is the important substitution of the view relation . application of the rules is an iterative process where each rule is considered in turn and applied if relevant ; in general , after one rule has been applied the full set of rules is then re - considered once more , in sequence from the start . elimination : removing expressions that do not contribute to the result ( rules : 1 , 2 , 10 ) fragmentation : breaking up an expression into more primitive sub components ( rule : 3 ) to a first approximation , the order of consideration of the rules matches this analysis ; substitution expands the query introducing new operations ; elimination is then performed to simply the resulting expression ; fragmentation prepares the result for the other rules ; sequencing applies the main elements of optimisation , pushing down sub - setting operations to the base relations . the combination rules are performed last , simplifying the query by the joining together of primitive operations . in practice , however , it has been found beneficial to defer substitution until after sequencing ; although the results are the same the algorithm operates more efficiently . the technique allows the base query ( as specified by the user ) to be simplified first , before a second such phase takes place on the expanded query . the rule order suggested previously is not critical to the algorithm and various other sequences also provide valuable optimisation . it is expensive to consider all the rules in sequence all of the time — many of the rules involve much processing . it will be seen that rule control can be introduced in which a history is maintained for each rule showing what else has been applied since that rule was itself last invoked . most of the rules above depend upon a subset of the other rules having been applied for them to have further effect on a subsequent pass ; other rules should ( in some cases must ) be applied only once ( e . g . rules 3 and 11 ). it will also be seen that other rules can be employed , for example , a join operation which is a synthetic operation made up of a number of simpler operations could advantageously be broken down into it sequence of simpler operations , thus allowing for possible optimisation of these simpler operations . thus , assuming relations : a ( a1 , a2 , a3 ) and b ( a1 , a2 , b1 , b2 ), then : | 8 |
fig1 shows a configuration and a block diagram of a first embodiment of a camera in accordance with the present invention . a main mirror 2 and sub - mirror 3 are mounted in a camera body 1 . the main mirror 2 is a half - mirror , and a light beam from a lens barrel 6 is directed by the sub - mirror 3 to an image sensor 4 which detects shake . the image sensor 4 is positioned at a distance which is equal to a distance from the sub - mirror 3 to a film surface , and detects an object image . an output of the image sensor 4 is sent to a shake detector 5 which calculates a positional displacement ( shake x ) of the object image based on the output sent from the image sensor 4 and supplies the calculated shake to a shake control unit 9 arranged in a lens barrel 6 through a contact 10 . when the shake detector 5 receives a mirror drive - up signal from a release control circuit ( not shown ) or when an output level from the image sensor 4 is lower than a predetermined level , it sends a detection disable signal to the shake control unit 9 . one angular sensor 7 for detecting the shake is arranged in the lens barrel 6 along a vertical axis of the lens barrel 6 and another angular sensor 7 is arranged along a horizontal axis . outputs of the angular sensors 7 are sent to the shake control unit 9 . a pair of shake compensation drivers 8 are arranged along the vertical axis of the lens barrel 6 and another pair of shake compensation drivers 8 are arranged along the horizontal axis . the shake compensation drivers 8 drive shake compensation lenses 11 and 12 in accordance with the outputs from the shake control unit 9 . when the shake control unit 9 does not receive the detection disable signal from the shake detector 5 , it supplies drive signals to the shake compensation drivers 8 in accordance with the positional displacement ( shake amplitude x ) of the object image supplied from the shake detector 5 through the contact 10 , and when it receives the detection disable signal from the shake detector 5 , it calculates the shake x based on the output of the angular velocity sensor 7 by a formula ( 3 ) to be described later , and supplies the drive signals to the shake compensation drivers 8 in accordance with the calculated shake amplitude . fig2 shows waveforms of a motion of the object image as determined by a camera body and a motion of the camera body as determined by the angular sensor 7 . a waveform 1 shows an output waveform of the shake amplitude x from the shake detector 5 , and a waveform 2 shows an output waveform of the shake amplitude x calculated based on the output of the angular velocity sensor 7 . the shake amplitude x of the image on the film surface is generally given by : where θ is an angular change of the image to the optical axis due to the shake , and f is a focal length of the lens . accordingly , the angular velocity ω and the shake amplitude x have the following relation : when the output of the angular velocity sensor 7 includes an offset δ to be described later , the shake amplitude x is given by : if the shake velocity is zero , the detection by the angular velocity sensor 7 is to be zero , but a definite value other than zero may sometimes be detected . such a detection is called the offset of the angular velocity sensor 7 . when the angular velocity sensor 7 includes positive offset , the offset δ is integrated in the calculation of the shake amplitude x . as a result , an error ( f · δ · t ) which is proportional to the time is added to the shake amplitude x and the waveform 2 rises as it goes toward a right end . ( if the offset is negative , the error of the shake amplitude x is -( f · δ · t ) and the waveform 2 falls as it goes toward the right end . fig3 shows a flow chart of an operation of a cpu in the shake control unit 9 . in the present embodiment , when the detection of the shake by the optical shake detection device is not permitted during the photographing or when an environmental brightness is low , the output of the mechanical shake detection device which calculates the shake amplitude x by detecting the angular velocity is used . further , in the present embodiment , the angular velocity sensor of the mechanical shake detection device detects the angular velocity even when the shake is compensated by using the optical shake detection device . the flow chart of fig3 is explained below . when a power switch ( not shown ) is turned on , the flow is started . in a step 1 , whether the output level from the image sensor is lower than the predetermined level because of a low environmental brightness , the detection disable signal indicating the detection of the shake amplitude x is disabled is produced by the shake detector 5 and it is supplied to the shake control unit 9 or not is determined . if it has been supplied , the process proceeds to a step 7 , and if it has not been supplied , the process proceeds to a step 2 . the detection disable signal is produced not only when the environmental brightness is low but also when a release button ( not shown ) is fully depressed to turn on a release switch ( not shown ). in the step 2 , the shake amplitude signal x produced by the shake detector 5 is received through the contact 10 . in a step 3 , the shake amplitude x supplied in the step 2 is differentiated by time to calculate a shake velocity . in a step 4 , whether the shake velocity calculated in the step 3 is zero or not is determined . if the shake velocity when the shake amplitude is inputted is zero ( that is , the shake amplitude is zero ), the offset δ of the angular velocity sensor 7 is checked in a step 5 , and if the shake velocity is not zero , the process proceeds to a step 6 . in the step 5 , the output of the angular velocity sensor 7 is monitored and the output δ is stored . the stored value δ is used as the offset of the angular velocity sensor 7 . each time the zero speed is detected in the step 4 , the stored offset is updated . thus , the shake amplitude x can always be calculated by a formula ( 3 ) to be described later with the latest offset δ . in a step 7 , whether the offset δ has been calculated and stored in the step 5 or not is determined . if it has been stored , the process proceeds to a step 8 , and if it has not been stored , the process proceeds to a step 9 . in the step 8 , an angular velocity which is the output of the angular velocity sensor 7 less the offset δ stored in the step 5 is integrated by time t as shown by the formula ( 3 ) to calculate the shake amount x . then , the process proceeds to the step 6 . in the step 9 , the output ( angular velocity ) of the angular velocity sensor 7 is integrated by time t as shown in the formula ( 3 ) with δ = 0 to calculate the shake amplitude x . then , the process proceeds to the step 6 . where ω s is the angular velocity detected by the angular velocity sensor 7 . the angular velocity ω s detected by the angular velocity sensor 7 , the actual angular velocity ω and the offset δ have the following relationship : in the step 6 , if the detection disable signal has not been received in the step 1 , a drive signal is supplied to the shake compensation driver 8 in accordance with the shake amplitude x received in the step 2 , and the process returns to the step 1 . if the detection disable signal has been received in the step 1 , a drive signal is supplied to the shake compensation driver 8 in accordance with the shake amplitude x calculated in the step 8 or 9 , and the process returns to the step 1 . the process of receiving or calculating the shake amplitude x and supplying the drive signal to the shake compensation driver 8 in accordance with the shake amplitude x is repeated until the power switch ( not shown ) is turned off . fig4 shows a flow chart of an operation of a cpu in the shake compensation driver 8 . like the flow chart of the shake control unit 9 shown in fig3 the flow is started when the power switch ( not shown ) is turned on . in a step 10 , whether the drive signal from the shake control unit 9 has been received or not is determined . if it has been received , the process proceeds to a step 11 , and if it has not been received , the process waits for the input of the drive signal . in the step 11 , the shake compensation lenses 11 and 12 are driven in accordance with the input drive signal . in a step 12 , whether the input and the drive signal used to drive the shake compensation lenses 11 and 12 in the step 11 are equal or not is determined . if the input and the drive signal are equal and the shake compensation has been completed , the process returns to the step 10 . if the input and the drive signal are not equal and the shake compensation has not been completed , the process returns to the step 11 where the shake compensation lenses 11 and 12 are driven until the shake compensation is completed . a second embodiment of the present invention is now explained . a difference between the second embodiment and the first embodiment lies in the use of an angular acceleration sensor ( not shown ) in place of the angular velocity sensor . since the angular acceleration sensor is less expensive than the angular velocity sensor , it is easier to implement from a cost standpoint . the configuration and block diagram of the second embodiment are same as those of the first embodiment except that the angular velocity sensor 7 has been substituted by the angular acceleration sensor ( not shown ). fig5 shows a flow chart of an operation of a cpu in the shake control unit 9 . the flow chart of fig5 is explained below . the flow from the start to the step 22 is same as that from the start to the step 2 in fig3 and the explanation thereof is omitted . in a step 23 , the shake amplitude x inputted in the step 22 is differentiated by time t twice to calculate the shake angular acceleration . in a step 24 , whether the shake angular acceleration calculated in the step 23 is zero or not is determined . if the shake angular acceleration when the shake amplitude x was received is zero , the offset γ of the angular acceleration sensor is checked in the step 25 . if the shake angular acceleration is not zero , the process proceeds to a step 29 . in the step 25 , the output of the angular acceleration sensor is monitored and the output γ thereof is stored . the stored value γ is used as the offset of the angular acceleration sensor . in the step 25 , each time the offset γ is monitored , the offset is stored to update the stored offset . in this manner , the shake amplitude x can be calculated by a formula ( 5 ) to be described later with the offset γ which complies with a photographing condition for each photographing . in a step 26 , the shake amplitude x is received from the shake detector 5 , and the shake amplitude x is differentiated by time t to calculate a shake velocity v from the detection output of the shake detector 5 . in a step 27 , the shake angular acceleration is integrated by time t as shown by the formula ( 4 ) by using the output of the angular acceleration sensor ( not shown ) and the offset γ of the angular acceleration sensor stored in the step 25 to calculate the shake velocity v from the detection output of the angular acceleration sensor . where a s is the angular acceleration detected by the angular acceleration sensor . the detected angular acceleration a s , the actual angular acceleration a and the offset γ have the following relationship : in a step 28 , the integration constant c 1 of the formula ( 4 ) is calculated by setting v = v , where v is the velocity calculated in the step 26 , and v is velocity calculated in the step 27 . in a step 29 , a drive signal is supplied to the shake compensation driver 8 in accordance with the shake amplitude x inputted in the step 22 , and the process returns to the step 1 . in a step 30 , whether the offset γ has been stored in the step 25 or not is determined . if it has been stored , the process proceeds to a step 31 , and if it has not been stored , the process proceeds to a step 32 . in the step 31 , the shake velocity v is integrated by time t as shown by the formula ( 4 ) by using the output of the angular acceleration sensor ( not shown ), the offset γ of the angular acceleration sensor stored in the step 25 and the integration constant c 1 calculated in the step 28 to calculate the shake amplitude x from a formula ( 5 ). ## equ1 ## in the step 32 , the angular acceleration is integrated by time t to calculate the velocity , and an integration constant c 2 in the velocity formula is calculated in order to calculate the shake amplitude by integrating the velocity formula by time t . the calculation of the integration constant c 2 is explained below . the acceleration a is a function of the time t and is given by a s - γ = α ( t ). in order to calculate the velocity v , α ( t ) is integrated by time t : ## equ2 ## where a ( t ) is the integration of α ( t ) by time t . in order to calculate the velocity v from a time t 1 to a time t 2 , the acceleration a s is integrated from t 1 to t 2 : assuming that the acceleration α ( t 1 ) at the time t 1 is a boundary of switching from a positive acceleration to a negative acceleration , relationships among the shake position x , the velocity v and the acceleration a with the time t 1 being an origin point ( the time t 1 is 0 ) are shown in fig6 a - 6c . since the velocity v is zero as shown in fig6 b , thus , the integration constant c 2 in the formula ( 6 ) of v = a ( t ) can be calculated . after the calculation constant c 2 has been calculated , the velocity v after the time t = 0 can be calculated by putting a desired time t into the formula ( 6 ). in the step 33 , the velocity v is integrated by time t as shown by a formula ( 7 ) by using the output of the angular acceleration sensor ( not shown ), the integration constant c 2 calculated in the step 32 and γ = 0 to calculate the shake amplitude x . ## equ3 ## in a step 29 , a drive signal is supplied to the shake compensation driver 8 in accordance with the shake amplitude x calculated in the step 31 or 33 , and the process returns to the step 1 . the process of inputting or calculating the shake amount x and supplying the drive signal to the shake compensation driver 8 in accordance with the shake amplitude x is repeated by the cpu of the shake control unit 9 until the power switch ( not shown ) is turned off . the operation of the cpu in the shake compensation driver 8 of the second embodiment is identical to that of the cpu shown in fig4 in the first embodiment , and the explanation thereof is omitted . in the first and second embodiments , the detection disable signal is produced by the shake detector 5 not only when the environmental brightness is low but also when the release button ( not shown ) is fully depressed to turn on the release switch ( not shown ) so that the shake detector 5 receives the mirror drive - up signal from the release control circuit ( not shown ). in the first and second embodiments , when the shake control unit 9 receives the detection disable signal from the shake detector 5 , it switches the shake detection output from the detection output of the optical shake detection device to the detection output of the mechanical shake detection device . alternatively , the mirror drive - up signal produced by the release control circuit ( not shown ) which indicates the depression of the release button ( not shown ) may be supplied directly to the shake control unit 9 without routing the shake detector 5 so that the detection output is switched by the mirror drive - up signal . fig7 is a block diagram showing the third embodiment of the apparatus according to the present invention for detecting an unintentional movement of hands . in this embodiment , a control circuit 105 including a computer further has a second a / d conversion input terminal 105c , to which the output s from an lpf 102 is applied . the rest of the constitution is the same as the above - mentioned constitution shown in fig1 . fig8 a to 8e are views showing waveforms obtained in respective units while the power source is turned on ( t = t0 ) and in case that the camera is shaken with the unintentional movement of hands . the waveforms shown in fig8 a to 8c are the same as the above - mentioned waveforms shown in fig1 a to 12c , respectively . that is , fig8 a shows the angular displacement ω caused by the movement of hands and detected by the angular sensor 101 , fig8 b shows the angular velocity v caused by the movement of hands , which is the output of the angular velocity sensor 101 , and fig8 c shows the output s of the lpf 102 . fig8 d shows the angular acceleration α obtained by differentiating the output s of the lpf 102 , and fig8 e shows the output out of an operational amplifier 104 . now , the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in fig9 . first , when the power source is turned on at time t0 ( step # 101 ), whether the time t1 required for the angular velocity sensor 101 to obtain stationary state has elapsed or not is judged ( step # 102 ). if the time t1 has already elapsed , the control circuit 105 differentiates the output s of the lpf 102 applied to the input terminal 105c to obtain the angular acceleration α ( step # 103 ). next , the time when the amount of change of the angular acceleration α becomes equal to 0 , that is , the time when the value of the angular acceleration α reaches its peak is detected ( step # 104 ). and at that time the switch 106 is turned off ( step # 105 ). in this embodiment , the switch 106 is turned off at time t3 . as the angular velocity v is then equal to 0 , the output s of the lpf 102 and the angular velocity . increment . v are also equal to 0 . accordingly , the output out of the operational amplifier 104 gives exact angular velocity immediately after the switch 106 is turned off . and the control circuit 105 immediately starts detection of the angular velocity ( step # 106 ), integrates the result of the detection of the angular velocity and obtains the angle of the shake ( step # 107 ), and detects the angular velocity ( step # 108 ). the above calculation of the angle of the shake (# 107 ) and detection of the angular velocity ( step # 108 ) are repeated . now , the operation of another embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in fig1 . though , in the above - mentioned embodiment , the time to turn off the switch 106 when the angular acceleration α reaches its peak , that is , when the angular velocity becomes equal to 0 , is detected on the basis of the output s of the lpf 102 , said time when the angular velocity is equal to 0 can be detected more exactly on the basis of the output out of the operational amplifier 104 , for the signals are amplified . in this embodiment , in consideration of this , the time when the angular velocity v becomes equal to 0 is more exactly detected . incidentally , the processes from step # 111 to step # 116 are the same as those from step # 101 to step # 106 described before , and description thereof will be omitted . in step # 115 , if the time to turn off the switch 106 when the angular velocity v is equal to 0 is not exactly detected , the angular velocity . increment . v , that is , the error arises as in the prior art . accordingly , in order to detect said error , the output s of the operational amplifier 104 is differentiated to obtain angular acceleration β ( step # 117 ) and whether the angular acceleration β reaches its peak or not is judged ( step # 118 ). if the angular acceleration reaches its peak , the output s at that time of the operational amplifier 104 is stored and defined as . increment . v . after that , exact angular velocity can be obtained by subtracting thus defined . increment . v from the values of angular velocity obtained afterward ( step # 119 ). then , as in the above - mentioned embodiments , the corrected angular velocity is integrated to obtain the angle of the shake ( step # 120 ), and the angular velocity is detected from the output of the operational amplifier 104 ( step # 121 ). and then , the operation returns to step # 117 , thus the above processes are repeated . in accordance with the present invention , the mechanical shake detection device and the optical shake detection device having a better performance than the mechanical shake detection device are used , and the shake is compensated by using the detection output of the optical shake detection device when the optical shake detection device is able to detect the relative positional displacement of the object image , and using the calculated output of the mechanical shake detection device which calculates the shake amplitude while taking the error inherent to the mechanical sensor into consideration when the optical shake detection device is unable to detect the relative positional displacement of the object image . accordingly , the optimum shake compensation is always attained before and during the photographing . according to the present invention , the time when the angular velocity becomes equal to 0 is detected and the output of the angular velocity sensor starts to be taken in at that time . or , even if the output of the angular velocity is not taken in exactly at the time when the angular velocity is equal to 0 , the error caused by said time lag is corrected . therefore , exact angular velocity can be obtained immediately after the switch is turned off , which makes it possible to rapidly detect the shake of the camera caused by the unintentional movement of hands in taking a picture . | 7 |
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